Hi, I'm George! I started to involve with dj-ing in 1992. I have been a Digital Jockey since 1998, and from year 2000 and afterwards I've been a Digital Jockey ONLY (meaning that I don't use other media for my gigs). I have been involved with some dj software titles development and beta testing all these years, and of course I've been an active member of various dj communities. I have worked as an audio engineer for several years, mainly in the PA field covering various live performances from small bands up to some big names of the industry. Currently I'm a resident Dj on a small bar of a small town in Greece, and in collaboration with a friend of mine we own a small professional recording studio aimed at Radio Commercial Spots. It has always been a pleasure for me to share my knowledge on various fields and aspects of the "personal computer dj-ing" art. If you want to ask me anything, just drop me a PM! Thanks!

Fri 16 Dec 11 @ 1:57 am

Πρώτα απ' όλα σιγουρευτείτε οτι έχετε εγκατεστημένο το τελευταίο firmware στα DENON DN-S3700: http://www.denondj.com

Εγκαταστείστε τους τελευταίους DENONDJ ASIO drivers στον υπολογιστή σας που υποστηρίζουν τα DN-S3700 (Αυτή τη στιγμή η έκδοση 2.2.1)

Συνδέστε τα decks απ' ευθείας πάνω σε δύο θύρες USB στον υπολογιστή σας για να εγκαταστήσετε τους drivers. Αργότερα μπορείτε να χρησιμοποιήσετε ένα "powered USB hub" (δηλαδή USB hub με εξωτερική τροφοδοσία) εαν δεν έχετε αρκετές ελεύθερες θύρες USB στον υπολογιστή σας.

Αφού συνδέσετε τα decks με το PC πατήστε το κουμπί "MIDI" πάνω στα S3700.
Η λέξη "MIDI" πρέπει να εμφανιστεί στην οθόνη, και το Parameters Knob πρέπει να αρχίσει να αναβοσβήνει:


Εαν η οθόνη γράφει "Hybrid MIDI" αντί για "MIDI" τότε περιστρέψτε το parameters knob μέχρι η οθόνη να γράφει "MIDI"
Πατήστε το Parameters knob. Τα decks θα μπουν σε PC mode, και τα Windows θα εγκαταστήσουν τους drivers.
Όσο τα decks κάνουν αρχικοποίηση της επικοινωνίας τους με το PC οι λέξεις "PC MODE" και "Connecting" θα εμφανιστούν στην οθόνη:


Όταν η αρχικοποίηση τελειώσει οι λέξεις "PC MODE" και "Completed!" θα εμφανιστούν στην οθόνη. Τώρα τα decks είναι έτοιμα!


Ανοίξτε τον DENONDJ ASIO Control Panel και σιγουρευτείτε οτι βλέπετε δύο συσκευές και οτι έχουν ΚΑΙ ΟΙ ΔΥΟ ένα "V" μπροστά τους!


Κλείστε το DENONDJ ASIO control panel, ανοίξτε το VirtualDj και ανοίξτε το παράθυρο ρυθμίσεων (Config)
Σιγουρευτείτε οτι οι ρυθμίσεις σας είναι όπως παρακάτω:

Inputs: None
Outputs: External Mixer
Sound card: ASIO -> DENON DJ ASIO Driver


Κάντε κλικ στο APPLY.

Τώρα είστε έτοιμοι να χρησιμοποιήσετε τα DN-S3700 με το VirtualDj!!!


Υ.Γ.: Εαν το αριστερό deck ελέγχει την δεξιά πλευρά του VirtualDj τότε πατήστε το κουμπί "Eject" σε ΕΝΑ απο τα δύο decks (όχι και στα δύο).



Αναπαραγωγή από CD ή USB flash drive:

Εαν αλλάξετε κατάσταση αναπαραγωγής στα DN-S3700 ενώ το VirtualDj τρέχει αυτό θα έχει σαν αποτέλεσμα να "κοπεί" η κάρτα ήχου και ο MIDI driver και να εμφανιστεί ένα μήνυμα σφάλματος στο VirtualDj. (Είναι σαν να βγάζετε το καλώδιο USB από τον υπολογιστή σας)
Όταν ξαναγυρίσετε σε PC Mode μπορείτε να μεταβείτε στις ρυθμίσεις (CONFIG) -> Sound Setup και να πατήσετε APPLY για να κάνετε reset τον ήχο. Επίσης θα πρέπει να κάνετε map ένα πλήκτρο στο πληκτρολόγιο σας με την εξής εντολή: rescan_controllers & refresh_controller ώστε το VirtualDj να μπορέσει να επανακτήσει και το έλεγχο MIDI των decks.

Εαν θέλετε να κάνετε εναλλαγή μεταξύ VirtualDJ και CD ή USB χωρίς καμία διακοπή τότε θα χρειαστεί να χρησιμοποιήσετε μια εξωτερική κάρτα ήχου με δύο τουλάχιστον στερεοφωνικές εξόδους όπως η Numark DJIO, η Native Instruments Audio 2 DJ, κτλ. Παρόλα αυτά θα εξακολουθείτε να χρειάζεστε την εντολή που αναφέραμε παραπάνω για να παίρνετε τον πλήρη έλεγχο της λειτουργίας MIDI των decks.


Troubleshooting:
Παρακαλώ σιγουρευτείτε οτι έχετε αναβαθμίσει τα decks σας με το την τελευταία έκδοση firmware: http://www.denondj.com - Εαν τα decks έχουν παλιότερη έκδοση του firmware μπορεί να μην δουλεύουν σωστά.
Σιγουρευτείτε οτι και τα δύο decks είναι ρυθμισμένα να λειτουργούν στο MIDI channel 1 (Μην αλλάζετε το δεύτερο deck στο MIDI channel 2 γιατί το VirtualDj δεν θα μπορεί να το αναγνωρίσει.)
Σιγουρευτείτε οτι το Unit Number είναι ρυθμισμένο στο 1 και στα δύο decks. Επίσης σιγουρευτείτε οτι το Jog Pulse είναι ρυθμισμένο σε 1480/Cycle. Αυτή την στιγμή η ανάλυση 2960/Cycle δεν υποστηρίζεται!

TODO:
Πως να χρησιμοποιήσετε τα decks σας σε Hybrid Mode!

Thu 15 Dec 11 @ 5:56 pm

First of all please ensure that you have the latest firmware installed on each DENON DN-S3700: http://www.denondj.com

Install the latest DENONDJ ASIO drivers on your PC for your DN-S3700 (Currently Ver. 2.2.1)

Connect your decks directly on your PC USB ports for the first time in order to install the drivers. Later you can use a powered USB hub if you don't have enough free USB ports on your PC.

Once you connect your decks on the PC press the "MIDI" button on S3700.
The word "MIDI" should flash on the display and the Parameters Knob should start flashing:

If the display shows "Hybrid MIDI" instead of MIDI just turn the parameters knob until you see"MIDI" on your display.
Push the Parameters knob down. Your decks will enter PC mode, and Windows will install the drivers.
While the decks initialize their communication with your PC the words "PC MODE" and "Connecting" should appear on the display:

When the initialization is over, the words "PC MODE" and "Completed!" will appear on the display. Now your decks are ready!


Open the DENONDJ ASIO Control Panel and make sure that you see two devices listed, and that BOTH has a check mark in front of them!


Close DENONDJ ASIO control panel, start VirtualDj and open the configuration window.
Make sure that your settings are as follows:

Inputs: None
Outputs: External Mixer
Sound card: ASIO -> DENON DJ ASIO Driver


Click APPLY.

Now you are ready to enjoy your DN-S3700 with VirtualDj!!!

PS: If your left deck controls the right side of VirtualDj then you should press the "Eject" button on ONE of your decks (not on both). This will invert the decks.



Playing CD's or USB media:

If you switch to CD or USB media mode while VirtualDJ is running this will cut off the sound card and the MIDI driver (The equivalent of pulling out the USB cable) and you will get a sound card error in VirtualDJ.
Once you have switched back to PC mode, you can go to CONFIG -> Sound Setup and click APPLY to reset the sound. You will also have to map a button on your keyboard with the following VDJ Script code: rescan_controllers & refresh_controller in order to re-detect the decks in order to take back the control.

If you wish to switch seamlessly between VirtualDJ and CD's or USB media, then you will need to use an external sound card with at least two stereo outputs such as Numark DJIO, Native Instruments Audio 2 DJ, etc. However you'll still have to use the VDJ script command mentioned above in order to re-detect your decks.


Troubleshooting:
Please ensure that you have the latest firmware installed on each Denon DN-S3700: http://www.denondj.com - If the units have older firmware installed, they may not work correctly.
Make sure both players are set to the default MIDI channel 1 (Do not change the second player to channel 2 or it will not be detected by VirtualDJ.)
Make sure that Unit Number is set to 1 on both decks. Also make sure that Jog Pulse Sel is set 1480/Cycle. Currently 2960/Cycle is not supported!

TODO:
How to use your decks in Hybrid Mode!

Fri 04 Nov 11 @ 9:00 am

The CDS4 (Community Driven Skin 4 Decks) has been released and it's available for download from HERE
First of all I would like to thank (and give credit) to MeowMix for his original concept.
After that I would like to thank all the members of VirtualDj Forum Community that provided ideas during the development of the skin. This skin was named "Community Driven Skin" after them...
Before I start my presentation of the skin, I would like to say that because of the complexity of some functions users asked for, this is the second skin that relies on an external plug-in to work 100% as designed.
In order to get the most out of it you will have to download and install TWO plug-ins:
WatchDog and
SBDJ Battery Status

Enough with the talking, let's get some pics!

CDS4 Comes with three different color schemes. Just choose the one you like most:


You should now see the "default" view of CDS4:


Take a few time to hover your mouse over the buttons of the skin. You should notice that EVERY SINGLE button has a tooltip that describes it's function. This is something that you should pay attention! Most of the buttons do several things, and not only what's printed on them. Normal Click with Right Click is different on most cases, while there are cases that holding (or right click holding) a button will also do different things.
PS: If you don't see any tooltips at all, go to Configuration of VirtualDj and enable them until you become familiar with the functions of the skin.

Take a closer look on the top bar:
You should see the battery meter, the clock, the Premium Membership indicator (it turns RED if you are a premium member) and the CPU meter.
On the center of the screen you should see the beatkeeper area. It consists of a 4 beat pattern visualization for each deck, and a phaser which works with a Left/Right logic.
Next to the beatkeeper you should see the master volume and pfl controls. Hover your mouse over the white speaker... This is a "PANIC" button. It will mute the main sound of VDJ. However for security reasons it will ONLY work with a right-click (just in case you hit it accidentally while you're trying to adjust the main volume or balance... ;)
Finally there are 5 buttons: The first three control the central area of the skin. They change it between "Mixer", "Scratch" and "Video"
The fourth button hides the rythm view with a normal click or changes the rythm view pattern with right click.
Finally the last button has 3 functions for use with controllers: Left Click: "Refresh Controllers" , Left Click Holding: "ReInit Controllers" and Right Click: "ReScan Controllers"

As it has been mentioned already, the rythmview window can be hidden:


If it's visible you may notice that at it's left side there are 4 buttons: "L-R","ALL", "1-2", "3-4"
These buttons change which decks you see on the rythmview window.

Tue 01 Nov 11 @ 5:25 pm

First of all:
CDS4 ? What's this?
CDS4 is a 4 deck skin for VirtualDj PRO 7.0.5
Why this name?
Well, this name come up as a joke :) I'm from Greece, and due to a deep economical crisis words as "Spreads", "Swaps" and "CDS" become part of our everyday lives. "CDS" stands for "Credit Default Swap" in economical terms: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_default_swap
However, in our case "CDS" stands for "Community Driven Skin"
This name is justified because of the fact that several people from the VirtualDj Community Forums involved on this project by providing various ideas DURING the development of this skin.
The original thread can be found here: http://www.virtualdj.com/forums/153373/VirtualDJ_Skins/Skin_concept.html
Why a blog entry instead of a typical forum thread?
Simply put, I needed a way to present the skin and give instructions for it's usage (and it's possible modifications) while I needed to maintain a way to EDIT the provided info, to keep everything in one place.

___________________________________________________________________________
The inside view:
CDS is a simple skin to use, but very complex when it comes on it's scripting.
You can do several modifications on it's XML code to alter some functions to fit your liking/needs. However you must know/understand it's internals before actually trying to edit it. I strongly suggest you to use an advanced text editor like the open source "Notepad++" http://notepad-plus-plus.org/ to edit the XML file. It will help you to visualize the code and it will make it a lot easier to edit the parts you need.

CDS Main Panel structure:
First of all CDS consists of several panels and sub-panels. Almost all elements of the skin belong to a panel. You should keep that in mind every time you want to add your own code. You must "find" the correct panel to put the code into.
The two main panels of CDS are named "RVON" and "RVOF". They stand for RythmViewON and RythmViewOFf. These are the panels that "hold" every other sub-panel on the skin. They represent the two main views of the skin: One with the rythm window visible, and one without. Actually, besides the rythmview panels, these two main panels have EXACTLY the same elements moved by -84 pixels on the y axis, and only the browser area is taller by 84 pixels.
If you open the XML file, you will see that these two panels are separated by a few "block" lines somewhere in the middle of the skin (line 9040)
From now on I will be describing only the code and sub-elements of the "RVON" panel unless named otherwise. Everything that will be mentioned grom now on will still apply for the RVOF panel too. Any modifications you make on the one side will HAVE to be made to the other too!

The LEFT & RIGHT decks:
I needed a way to change the graphics of the LEFT/RIGHT deck control area based on the active leftdeck/rightdeck. This is only possible with the use of panels. So, instead of using "deck left" and "deck right" commands I created 4 sub-panels (1 for each deck) merged in two groups where I use "deck 1", "deck 2", "deck 3" and "deck 4" commands. These panels are sub-panels of the main "RVON" panel.
They are named: RVONDECK1L, RVONDECK3L, RVONDECK2R and RVONDECK4R. They start on line 1998 of the XML code.
The Central Area:
In the center of the screen there is an area that holds 4 different "views". These "views" are: Automix View, Mixer View, Scratch/TimeCode View and Video View
However while there are 4 views there are more than 4 panels for this area.
First of all inside the main "RVON" panel there are TWO sub-panels named "RVON_C_AMON" and "RVON_C_AMOFF". (line 5619)
These panels switch the views based on whether the Automix is active or not.
Each of these sub-panels features more sub-sub-panels.
The "RVON_C_AMON" sub-panel features 8 sub-sub-panels: There are 2 sub-sub-panels for each deck, 1 when the video is active, and 1 when it's not (4decks x2 states = 8 sub-sub-panels) You can find these panels starting on the line 5630.
The "RVON_C_AMOFF" sub-panel features 3 sub-sub-panels: One for the mixer, one for the video, and 1 for the scratch view. (line 6320)
The Mixer:
The mixer itself is held inside the "RVON_C_MIX" sub-sub-panel of the "RVON_C_AMOFF" sub-panel of the "RVON" main panel.
However, the mixer itself has also TWO sub-sub-sub panels. They are named "RVONMIX1234" and "RVONMIX3124" (line 6352)
These 3xsub-panels are responsible for the two different logical layouts of the mixer: Ch1-Ch2-Ch3-Ch4 VS. Ch3-Ch1-Ch2-Ch4
The Video:
The mixer itself is held inside the "RVON_C_VID" sub-sub-panel of the "RVON_C_AMOFF" sub-panel of the "RVON" main panel.
The Video panel also follows the logic of the mixer and has 2 sub-sub-sub-panels, one for each logical layout. They are on line 7408 and they are named "RVONVID1234" and "RVONVID3124"

Tue 19 Apr 11 @ 6:53 am

Laptops:
ASUS A7C Intel Core 2 Duo T5600 @ 1.83GHz w 1GB RAM & ATI Radeon X1450 256MB Display Adapter
TOSHIBA Qosmio X500-12N Intel Core i7 740QM @1.73GHz w 8GB RAM & nVidia GF GT360M 1GB Display Adapter

Soundcards:
Maya 44 USB
Terratec Phase 26 USB
Focusrite PRO 40

External Controllers:
Numark DMC-1
Numark Total Control
DENON DN - HC4500
DENON DN - MC6000
DENON DN - S3700 (x2)

Mixers:
Pioneer DJM-500
Vestax VMC 004 XLu

Mixing Boards:
Soundcraft Spirit M12

Microphones:
AKG C414B-XLS
Shure SM58 (x3)


Amplifiers:
InterM L-2400 (x2)

Speakers:
PROEL TFLV-12P8 (x4)
PROEL TFLV-115SP8 (x2)
Fostex PM1 MKII Studio Monitors (x2)

Others:
dbx Driverack PA Complete Equalization & Loudspeaker Control System
dbx 166XL Compressor/Limiter/Gate