HI.....
I have used Virtual DJ for a year now and i have done about 13 gigs live with the program.....I love the interface so much that i have stuck with the program despite some problems I have had. One problem is that I dispute that the beatmatch engine works at all. I have had to learn to mix by ear (not a bad thing) because so many times the beatlock engine was way off from reality. I insist that no matter what anyone says.....in some cases it just does not work. Also, I am totally baffled by why the program is such a resource hog on my computer. I defrag my hard drive, use anivirus software, and have all the settings correct (timestretch off, reactivity at medium etc etc) and I still have had cases of skipping when playing live. I have a 997mhz processor with 512mb of RAM. Should I upgrade my RAM? Is there anything else I can do at this point to make the program more professional? I have Ableton Live and it is starting to look more attractive every day......
Help!
-Jeff
I have used Virtual DJ for a year now and i have done about 13 gigs live with the program.....I love the interface so much that i have stuck with the program despite some problems I have had. One problem is that I dispute that the beatmatch engine works at all. I have had to learn to mix by ear (not a bad thing) because so many times the beatlock engine was way off from reality. I insist that no matter what anyone says.....in some cases it just does not work. Also, I am totally baffled by why the program is such a resource hog on my computer. I defrag my hard drive, use anivirus software, and have all the settings correct (timestretch off, reactivity at medium etc etc) and I still have had cases of skipping when playing live. I have a 997mhz processor with 512mb of RAM. Should I upgrade my RAM? Is there anything else I can do at this point to make the program more professional? I have Ableton Live and it is starting to look more attractive every day......
Help!
-Jeff
Posted Wed 10 May 06 @ 8:13 am
ktilak
997 mhz is a sure lagger
512 perhaps okay as long as your machine is configured during gigs to only use vdj
but i agree (to some degree) with the beatmatch... it is very useful to analyze your library with mixmeister's BPM analyzer and keep it open in the background. If something is not matching well and i have the time to avoid matching by ear(not so good at it yet), then i just open that window and use that BPM if it is different, between VDJ and BPM Analyzer, few songs are not analyzed correctly. (and try both the house/techno and "any music" settings on vdj BPM analysis)
-Kedar
512 perhaps okay as long as your machine is configured during gigs to only use vdj
but i agree (to some degree) with the beatmatch... it is very useful to analyze your library with mixmeister's BPM analyzer and keep it open in the background. If something is not matching well and i have the time to avoid matching by ear(not so good at it yet), then i just open that window and use that BPM if it is different, between VDJ and BPM Analyzer, few songs are not analyzed correctly. (and try both the house/techno and "any music" settings on vdj BPM analysis)
-Kedar
Posted Wed 10 May 06 @ 8:37 am
A Man and His Music
I don't own Ableton, so don't know what the features are. Are you saying that it will do the same things as VDJ? It also does all of these things better? If that's the case, I should go get this software. Maybe I have been blinded by using this software, 8 to 15 hours a day, in a club, 5 days a week. Mobile gigs on the weekends. Hours and hours of video. I only mix by ear, so you're right, it is not a bad thing. I do not use the beat-lock, but it seems to work. You say in some cases it just does not work. In what cases, DOES it work? I do use the beat-match, which just matches the bpms. Your processor seems to be a little slow, but don't know if that is a factor. What else is running on your machine? Have you done any tweaks? VDJ is not a resource hog on my machine. Getting more RAM, will not hurt you. As far as being more professional, most of the users here think it is quite professional.
Posted Wed 10 May 06 @ 9:30 am
xgl_dj
I would agree that vdj is resource intensive - vdj on occasions(very rarely) slight stutters when loading a new track but i have a p4 2.4 with 1gig ram - which is below the recommended config..
@A Man and His Music -> your definition of "only by ear" is not exactly "only by ear" LOL.. but that's cool too...
@A Man and His Music -> your definition of "only by ear" is not exactly "only by ear" LOL.. but that's cool too...
Posted Wed 10 May 06 @ 10:07 am
frd1963
Stuttering on load is more likely to be caused by slow storage medium than by your CPU. The only time I ever had that problem was when I was using a USB2 drive for my music/videos and also using the USB for sound and control (Hercules DJC.) USB is just not robust enough to handle all of that traffic efficiently enough. Since then, I have moved my music/video drive to firewire and have never had the problem since.
Posted Wed 10 May 06 @ 3:18 pm
bagpuss
@jrrusse1, in regards to your system: Your CPU is very weak, I use a 2.6ghz which is about mid-range and VDJ runs very smoothly. 512mb of Ram, this is a good minimum (what I have), if your main background apps are closed it should run flawlessly, I can run MSN and VDJ (Audio only) with this amount of Ram without a single glitch.
About the beatmatching, VDJ is not like abletion, VDJ is more manual with the option to use Auto features as an Aid (if you like), if VDJ's features are all fully taken advantage of then beatmatching should be a doddle, which does depend on what style of music you play (to some degree).
I don't recommend that anyone activates beatlock and then goes into the mix 'blindly', not only is that boring for the DJ but it's also highly unlikely your gonna make perfect transitions, what I would recommend however, is if you do want help beatmatching then you should:
Analyse BPM's in VDJ, don't depend on them being 100% accurate for 100% of your songs, either test their accuracy at home (while you practice) or run the risk of the odd song being off, in which case you'd need to engage in manual pitch correction.
Long Side note:
Mixmeisters BPM analyser is NOT more accurate than VDJ's by any stretch of the imagination, I've used both extensively and can clarify that VDJ's all music algorithm is much more accurate then mixmeister for analysing complex beat structures (typically found in R'n'B, Hip Hop etc), it also goes without saying that VDJ gets 4/4 music accurate 99.9% of the time. What I would add to that is this: No BPM detector is 100% correct 100% of the time, period, so therefore it's a good thing to have other BPM detection softwares, whilst I found that VDJ's BPM's were generally more accurate than mixmeister's, I also found that the odd song VDJ 'got wrong' was correct in mixmeister, you want 100% correct BPM's?, then mix all the songs in your library and don't depend on a single BPM algorithm, in this case VDJ is a God send because it comes with Two engines, if a song is wrong, the other is usually right!
Use the Sync button, using Sync is very accurate with 4/4 music although hit and miss with more complex beat structures, hitting sync multiple times provides alternative matches, therefore you need to pre-listen in order to know which is the most accurate.
Know the power of the waveform, The waveform is an excellent practical Aid, it's visual accuracy is by default very good, but having perfect BPM's also means perfect waveform accuracy, useful for all styles of music. Learn to work without it but be better with it ;).
Don't aim to be a button pusher! all of these aids are well and good, and when taken full advantage of it not only makes your job easier and quicker but it also adds another dimension to the creativity you can apply on the fly, certainly my main justification for using 'Auto' features. But aside from this, as a DJ, you should learn how to mix completely manually (not only because it's really fun!) but also because it can be demanded of you, if your gigging one night and your computer breaks down you need to exercise your talent on another piece of kit, such as a turntable or CD player(where Auto features can't always be adopted). If you aren't a multi-talented DJ then chances are you wont go far, for this reason the open minded Vinyl DJ will have learnt how to use new tools with a passion, whilst those who start out with software DJ'ing would be very smart to go 'back' and learn the roots of Mixing :).
About the beatmatching, VDJ is not like abletion, VDJ is more manual with the option to use Auto features as an Aid (if you like), if VDJ's features are all fully taken advantage of then beatmatching should be a doddle, which does depend on what style of music you play (to some degree).
I don't recommend that anyone activates beatlock and then goes into the mix 'blindly', not only is that boring for the DJ but it's also highly unlikely your gonna make perfect transitions, what I would recommend however, is if you do want help beatmatching then you should:
Analyse BPM's in VDJ, don't depend on them being 100% accurate for 100% of your songs, either test their accuracy at home (while you practice) or run the risk of the odd song being off, in which case you'd need to engage in manual pitch correction.
Long Side note:
Mixmeisters BPM analyser is NOT more accurate than VDJ's by any stretch of the imagination, I've used both extensively and can clarify that VDJ's all music algorithm is much more accurate then mixmeister for analysing complex beat structures (typically found in R'n'B, Hip Hop etc), it also goes without saying that VDJ gets 4/4 music accurate 99.9% of the time. What I would add to that is this: No BPM detector is 100% correct 100% of the time, period, so therefore it's a good thing to have other BPM detection softwares, whilst I found that VDJ's BPM's were generally more accurate than mixmeister's, I also found that the odd song VDJ 'got wrong' was correct in mixmeister, you want 100% correct BPM's?, then mix all the songs in your library and don't depend on a single BPM algorithm, in this case VDJ is a God send because it comes with Two engines, if a song is wrong, the other is usually right!
Use the Sync button, using Sync is very accurate with 4/4 music although hit and miss with more complex beat structures, hitting sync multiple times provides alternative matches, therefore you need to pre-listen in order to know which is the most accurate.
Know the power of the waveform, The waveform is an excellent practical Aid, it's visual accuracy is by default very good, but having perfect BPM's also means perfect waveform accuracy, useful for all styles of music. Learn to work without it but be better with it ;).
Don't aim to be a button pusher! all of these aids are well and good, and when taken full advantage of it not only makes your job easier and quicker but it also adds another dimension to the creativity you can apply on the fly, certainly my main justification for using 'Auto' features. But aside from this, as a DJ, you should learn how to mix completely manually (not only because it's really fun!) but also because it can be demanded of you, if your gigging one night and your computer breaks down you need to exercise your talent on another piece of kit, such as a turntable or CD player(where Auto features can't always be adopted). If you aren't a multi-talented DJ then chances are you wont go far, for this reason the open minded Vinyl DJ will have learnt how to use new tools with a passion, whilst those who start out with software DJ'ing would be very smart to go 'back' and learn the roots of Mixing :).
Posted Wed 10 May 06 @ 3:52 pm
d rocks
@Anybody would you say that the BPM listed on the sleeve's of the cd's are accurate? I have found them to be off slightly as well. Not sure what they use. But it stands to reason that if they use some type of analyzer that it could be off as well.
Posted Thu 11 May 06 @ 12:29 am
djsherz
My experience of the bpm engine is that it gets the bpm spot on for pretty much all 4/4 dance music, and gets the hip-hop / r&b stuff right around 50% of the time. I've found the beat grid to be a little hit & miss though - often the downbeat is right in the middle of two grid points, or is just very slightly to one side of the mark. I often use the beat engine to find the bpm, but align the two tracks manually - sometimes the old ways are still the best!
Posted Thu 11 May 06 @ 8:49 am
asymptote
With regard to BPMs
Some musical producers change the tempo during the song to give a more analogue feel or to try to reproduce what live acts do when they 'push the beat'. I've noticed recently that a lot of the newest vocal house tracks are doing this. If you watch the bpm analysis on some CD players you can see it going up and down at certain points, or you can just sense it.
VDJ i think gives an average for the track, and if you try to mix using it you might come slightly unstuck. I've noticed this when I'm mixing visually using TCCD and I set the tempos to be the same using the pitch on the CD player. sometimes the tracks drift slightly and the bars on VDJ don't align.
I tend to play safe and check the tempo of the track I am going to mix to using the phones and watching the waveform first, comparing with the playing track just to make sure that they are OK.
I recommend to anybody to use TCCD for house / dance. It's cheap to setup and easy to use.
Asymptote
Some musical producers change the tempo during the song to give a more analogue feel or to try to reproduce what live acts do when they 'push the beat'. I've noticed recently that a lot of the newest vocal house tracks are doing this. If you watch the bpm analysis on some CD players you can see it going up and down at certain points, or you can just sense it.
VDJ i think gives an average for the track, and if you try to mix using it you might come slightly unstuck. I've noticed this when I'm mixing visually using TCCD and I set the tempos to be the same using the pitch on the CD player. sometimes the tracks drift slightly and the bars on VDJ don't align.
I tend to play safe and check the tempo of the track I am going to mix to using the phones and watching the waveform first, comparing with the playing track just to make sure that they are OK.
I recommend to anybody to use TCCD for house / dance. It's cheap to setup and easy to use.
Asymptote
Posted Thu 11 May 06 @ 10:35 am
sbangs
i have a spare 400 megahertz pc with 256 of ram it works fine on it
Posted Thu 11 May 06 @ 4:04 pm