I got to do my first gig with VirtualDJ and I'd like to post some recommendations based on it:
I tried to search for a song, and while typing in a search I noticed I was in the wrong folder, so I clicked another folder and began to type again. When I clicked on the new folder the software decided I was done searching, so my typing resulted in activating keyboard shortcuts. I accidentally killed the active track. I wouldn't label this a flaw, but maybe something I'd offer as a setting in the future.
I cannot drag m3u playlists into virtualDJ, either into the "playlists" section under browse, or have it created as a virtual folder. It would be really nice to be able to drop an m3u and have a virtual folder created with that name containing all the songs in the playlist.
Deleting songs from virtual folders doesn't seem to work.
I notice that in the playlist created from my gig tonight that only a rare few tracks have length and bpm values by them, although most of the tracks from my virtual folders do.
The crossfader can be manually controlled with either keyboard shortcuts or with the mouse. I found both to be rather jerky when done slowly. I didn't want to use the auto crossfader, I wanted to do it manually. When I used a keyboard shortcut (set to +24 and -24 crossfade) and held down the key, the crossfading was done in a jerky fashion. It shouldn't be too hard to watch for a held key and treat it as a smooth motion. The same goes for the mouse. If I move the mouse quickly to crossfade it appears as a smooth motion, but I didn't always want a quick transition. If I try to move the mouse slowly the crossfade appears quite jerky. Again, the software should take into account the relative speed of the mouse and create a smooth transition from it, much like creating a spline curve from individual scattered points.
The scratch wheel is difficult to do any continuous motion. One other piece of software, (BPM studio, traktor, PCDJ, I can't remember which) would allow you to drag the mouse continuously in one direction and continue to turn the platter. For instance, I would be able to click the mouse button on the platter, slide the mouse a foot to the right, and the software would respond by turning the platter a couple of rotations. In VirtualDJ if I click on the bottom of the platter, and move the mouse to the right indefinitely, I will only cause a 90 degree turn of the platter. This makes continuous motion, such as turning the platter back 3 turns to catch a break, quite difficult. The behavior of the effects knobx seems to work properly.
If an effect cannot be controlled by the CTRL knob, it should be indicated somehow rather than just a broken knob. Maybe a X, maybe making the knob grey.
If you are crossfading from a video into just a song with no effect chosen, the video stays on until the crossfade in fully to the audio track, then just cuts off abruptly. Might be nice to go ahead and transition to a black video. It would look strange with some of the francy transitions, but a plain wipe would be nice.
Milkdrop as a visualization for an audio track. 'nuff said.
Add an option to auto-unload a track when played out to the end.
Some of my xvid/lame encoded videos distorted the first second of audio, usually with silence followed by a loud chirp. VirtualDub and Zoom Player had no problems playing the audio. I had no problems with VOBs pulled from DVD (promoonly stuff).
It would be nice to create virtual folders out of searches.
With all that said, this is a great piece of software. Mixmeister can't touch it, but you'll have some still competition when PCDJ drops their video package.
I tried to search for a song, and while typing in a search I noticed I was in the wrong folder, so I clicked another folder and began to type again. When I clicked on the new folder the software decided I was done searching, so my typing resulted in activating keyboard shortcuts. I accidentally killed the active track. I wouldn't label this a flaw, but maybe something I'd offer as a setting in the future.
I cannot drag m3u playlists into virtualDJ, either into the "playlists" section under browse, or have it created as a virtual folder. It would be really nice to be able to drop an m3u and have a virtual folder created with that name containing all the songs in the playlist.
Deleting songs from virtual folders doesn't seem to work.
I notice that in the playlist created from my gig tonight that only a rare few tracks have length and bpm values by them, although most of the tracks from my virtual folders do.
The crossfader can be manually controlled with either keyboard shortcuts or with the mouse. I found both to be rather jerky when done slowly. I didn't want to use the auto crossfader, I wanted to do it manually. When I used a keyboard shortcut (set to +24 and -24 crossfade) and held down the key, the crossfading was done in a jerky fashion. It shouldn't be too hard to watch for a held key and treat it as a smooth motion. The same goes for the mouse. If I move the mouse quickly to crossfade it appears as a smooth motion, but I didn't always want a quick transition. If I try to move the mouse slowly the crossfade appears quite jerky. Again, the software should take into account the relative speed of the mouse and create a smooth transition from it, much like creating a spline curve from individual scattered points.
The scratch wheel is difficult to do any continuous motion. One other piece of software, (BPM studio, traktor, PCDJ, I can't remember which) would allow you to drag the mouse continuously in one direction and continue to turn the platter. For instance, I would be able to click the mouse button on the platter, slide the mouse a foot to the right, and the software would respond by turning the platter a couple of rotations. In VirtualDJ if I click on the bottom of the platter, and move the mouse to the right indefinitely, I will only cause a 90 degree turn of the platter. This makes continuous motion, such as turning the platter back 3 turns to catch a break, quite difficult. The behavior of the effects knobx seems to work properly.
If an effect cannot be controlled by the CTRL knob, it should be indicated somehow rather than just a broken knob. Maybe a X, maybe making the knob grey.
If you are crossfading from a video into just a song with no effect chosen, the video stays on until the crossfade in fully to the audio track, then just cuts off abruptly. Might be nice to go ahead and transition to a black video. It would look strange with some of the francy transitions, but a plain wipe would be nice.
Milkdrop as a visualization for an audio track. 'nuff said.
Add an option to auto-unload a track when played out to the end.
Some of my xvid/lame encoded videos distorted the first second of audio, usually with silence followed by a loud chirp. VirtualDub and Zoom Player had no problems playing the audio. I had no problems with VOBs pulled from DVD (promoonly stuff).
It would be nice to create virtual folders out of searches.
With all that said, this is a great piece of software. Mixmeister can't touch it, but you'll have some still competition when PCDJ drops their video package.
Posted Sun 19 Nov 06 @ 9:33 am
Superstom
Nice post. First of all, I would never do a gig with demo software, keep in mind that the demo is only working for 20 days.
You're right. After selecting a folder, the search bar does not have the focus. I had the same incident also, but now Im so used to it that I could work with it without problems. It would be nice if it was implemented as this: The search bar has the focus, you start clicking in the browser, after each click the search bar should remain focussed.
What I find usefull is storing playlists in a folder. Create a favourite folder of this folder. Then when you select this folder all playlists are displayed. If you double click one of the playlists, all the files are displayed in the File list
Might be a bug, but have you scanned your harddrive for files?
You could select different crossfader bahaviours in the config menu. VDJ config menu->Options->Crossfader
It could be improved like you describe. Have you tried a mouse with scroll wheel? However for this point and the previous point about the crossfader, I recommend to use external gear for this. An external mixer and a midi controller or timecode
Other points are valid and most of those are already mentioned in the new features forum, like the milk drop visuals. Please also post the changed / new items in the new features forum. The development team has a close watch at the requests over there
I don't know about the "chirp" at the start of the video, maybe Cyder (our video guru) has an idea? Ewout
Quote :
I tried to search for a song, and while typing in a search I noticed I was in the wrong folder, so I clicked another folder and began to type again. When I clicked on the new folder the software decided I was done searching, so my typing resulted in activating keyboard shortcuts. I accidentally killed the active track. I wouldn't label this a flaw, but maybe something I'd offer as a setting in the future.
You're right. After selecting a folder, the search bar does not have the focus. I had the same incident also, but now Im so used to it that I could work with it without problems. It would be nice if it was implemented as this: The search bar has the focus, you start clicking in the browser, after each click the search bar should remain focussed.
Quote :
I cannot drag m3u playlists into virtualDJ, either into the "playlists" section under browse, or have it created as a virtual folder. It would be really nice to be able to drop an m3u and have a virtual folder created with that name containing all the songs in the playlist.
I cannot drag m3u playlists into virtualDJ, either into the "playlists" section under browse, or have it created as a virtual folder. It would be really nice to be able to drop an m3u and have a virtual folder created with that name containing all the songs in the playlist.
What I find usefull is storing playlists in a folder. Create a favourite folder of this folder. Then when you select this folder all playlists are displayed. If you double click one of the playlists, all the files are displayed in the File list
Quote :
I notice that in the playlist created from my gig tonight that only a rare few tracks have length and bpm values by them, although most of the tracks from my virtual folders do.
I notice that in the playlist created from my gig tonight that only a rare few tracks have length and bpm values by them, although most of the tracks from my virtual folders do.
Might be a bug, but have you scanned your harddrive for files?
Quote :
... crossfader...
You could select different crossfader bahaviours in the config menu. VDJ config menu->Options->Crossfader
Quote :
... scratch wheel ...
It could be improved like you describe. Have you tried a mouse with scroll wheel? However for this point and the previous point about the crossfader, I recommend to use external gear for this. An external mixer and a midi controller or timecode
Other points are valid and most of those are already mentioned in the new features forum, like the milk drop visuals. Please also post the changed / new items in the new features forum. The development team has a close watch at the requests over there
I don't know about the "chirp" at the start of the video, maybe Cyder (our video guru) has an idea? Ewout
Posted Sun 19 Nov 06 @ 4:11 pm
sbangs
lower your proformance tab
Posted Sun 19 Nov 06 @ 4:14 pm
Ahh... *that* performance slider. I stand corrected.
As for the durations, I had *not* scanned my whole harddrive, I feared that could take days to parse a few thousand VOB files. Keep in mind the durations showed up in the virtual folder where I had placed the videos, just not in the playlist created from the gig.
As for the durations, I had *not* scanned my whole harddrive, I feared that could take days to parse a few thousand VOB files. Keep in mind the durations showed up in the virtual folder where I had placed the videos, just not in the playlist created from the gig.
Posted Sun 19 Nov 06 @ 8:43 pm
sbangs
there are toolst to speed up this for pro users ;)
Posted Sun 19 Nov 06 @ 9:40 pm
djderricke
Also in 4.1 there is now a checkbox under keyboard shortcuts to use the keyboard for searching only which turns off the shortcut keys.
Posted Mon 20 Nov 06 @ 2:59 am