DJ's & MacBook Pros

[imme]

Im just wondering why lots or most DJ's have and use macbook pro's? I have noticed this on films and when im out n about in clubs and bars where they seem to have MBP's attatched to the sound system.

Why do they tent to use macbook's over a normal notebook?

What software do you think they are using when they are live DJ'ing?

 

[imme]

Anyone?

 

[D.Schwartz]

Anyone?

they use programs like ableton and reason as they are spinning sometimes, big house dj's use them as mini editors for live edits, aside from the fact that its the "cool" thing to do/have

 

[jediracer]

the music industry uses macs pretty much for the same reasons the movie and publishing industries use macs.

 

[David Househead]

DJ's use macbook & macbook pros
I use macbook.

most of the time the macs are used with a program called Serato Scratch Live, with the hardware made by Rane. it allows you to manipulate mp3's, aiffs etc with turntables. (or cdj's), using special records/cds with a timecode similar to a fax signal.

there are many other DJ programs, such as Virtual Vinyl, Traktor, Torque, etc... that do the same thing.

Reason, on the other hand, is for creating tracks, not Djing.
very similar to Logic.

 

[imme]

To use scratch live, do you have to have the hardware to go with it?

So this serato stuff sort of works like thoes tape recorders that you put in a tape player and attatch an MP3 player to?

 

[imme]

Im looking for prefeshional rate software that turns my mac into a live DJ system so I can mix up two different MP3 files as if they were vynal on my mac desktop.

any suggestions for this?

 

[jediracer]

well first off i think you would need at least two sounds cards...?

 

[mr.s4ndm4n]

yeah, you're gonna need two sound cards, you can buy a USB soundcard online from places like newegg.com; that's where i got mine.

There is also a fairly cheap program called Deejay 2.1 that is specifically for the Mac that integrates with iTunes seamlessly; i currently use it for house parties and what not.

 

[peterquinones2]

serato

no no u do not need a second sound card or any specific hardware to run serato SCRATCH live.. it comes with the one component of hardware needed to get signal off the vinyl turntables and connect it tot he software.. it can blend 2 files two do almost anything u want.. there is also a video version to blend music and video at the same time.. i.e. the music video and the song can be merged with the video and song of another.. check out some youtube videos to see this in action.. also for beginners definetly check out torq with m-audio.. great system that is in theroy better than serato but DJ's commonly mock it because it does the job so well where as serato u have to work more..

 

[DJ-TRAXXX]

It amazes me how many people will respond to a post not knowing a thing about what they're talking about. There seemed to be one person in this thread who did know and you know who you are. If you don't know for sure what the correct answer is, please don't pretend that you do!

Thanks to those people who corrected the incorrect information that people put out so I didn't have to!

 

[6string]

It amazes me how many people will respond to a post not knowing a thing about what they're talking about. There seemed to be one person in this thread who did know and you know who you are. If you don't know for sure what the correct answer is, please don't pretend that you do!

Thanks to those people who corrected the incorrect information that people put out so I didn't have to!

It amazes me how arrogant some people are (and you know who you are)!

This is a public forum, and people have their opinions, and methods of doing things.

For anyone who had a harder way of doing things, or was corrected in what they thought, that is just what it is.

You can still LOL, but perhaps you should first practice humility!

 

[RD423]

A lot of people in the music business use Macs because they "just work" I use protools on a daily basis and when we first started our studio we were using a windows machine and we would have unexpected crashes during the middle of a session. Once we switched 2 a Mac we no longer had a problem with that. And just a fyi Serato is the S**t. Best DJ'ing program that integrates hardware.

 

[thomas998]

It amazes me how arrogant some people are (and you know who you are)!

This is a public forum, and people have their opinions, and methods of doing things.

For anyone who had a harder way of doing things, or was corrected in what they thought, that is just what it is.

You can still LOL, but perhaps you should first practice humility!

If you want to talk about politics then opinions are expected to vary. But the person asked a question. Then people started throwing out supposed facts like the need for two sound cards. I think that is where the poster got a bit miffed and I can understand why. Someone that doesn't know might end up wasting money by listening to someone Cliff Clavin type that really has no clue.

Frankly I don't know why DJs might appear to use MBPs... And since I've never gone out looking to see what a DJ is using I don't really know if they truly use them more than window machines or not. I might guess that you simply notice a DJ using a MBP because you see the glowing Apple logo, and if a DJ is using some other windows machine you likely don't see anything or notice it.... as for using them in films, well there could be reasons beyond what the DJ wants to use in those instances such as Apple paying the film some cash to use there computers just as car manufacturers and tobacco companies have done in the past. Now those are opinions, not things intended as fact... you can agree with those opinions or not and it wont cost you any money at all... but if you agree with someones "opinion" on having to have two sound cards then you've just wasted some money on a second sound card you didn't need.

 

[6string]

well first off i think you would need at least two sounds cards...?

Did no-one notice "I think" and "?"
This was not stated as a fact, but more so to be corrected if that was not the case, & the poster was not deserving of being shot down for asking to be corrected if he/she was mistaken.

If you want to talk about politics then opinions are expected to vary. But the person asked a question. Then people started throwing out supposed facts like the need for two sound cards. I think that is where the poster got a bit miffed and I can understand why. Someone that doesn't know might end up wasting money by listening to someone Cliff Clavin type that really has no clue.

Frankly I don't know why DJs might appear to use MBPs... And since I've never gone out looking to see what a DJ is using I don't really know if they truly use them more than window machines or not. I might guess that you simply notice a DJ using a MBP because you see the glowing Apple logo, and if a DJ is using some other windows machine you likely don't see anything or notice it.... as for using them in films, well there could be reasons beyond what the DJ wants to use in those instances such as Apple paying the film some cash to use there computers just as car manufacturers and tobacco companies have done in the past. Now those are opinions, not things intended as fact... you can agree with those opinions or not and it wont cost you any money at all... but if you agree with someones "opinion" on having to have two sound cards then you've just wasted some money on a second sound card you didn't need.

Politics, I hate politics, but as a musician, I know why I use a mac.
They are simply stable, and I have not lost any of my work due to crashing during recordings in the years that I have used them.

As for wasting money on a second sound card, well, I think my response after the post which I quoted above answers that!

 

[jediracer]

yikes.

I had a friend who used Traktor (on a PC). In order to allow one song to play on the speakers and queue up the next song in his headphones, he needed two sound cards. That is why I suggested that two sound cards may be necessary.

 

[6string]

Sorry jediracer, I didn't know that this thread was going to go in that direction, but that poster had it coming, and never came back for obvious reasons
It's all good... this is a forum, and we are all here to either learn, or help others with what we know, or both!

 

[JUKE179r]

The older way of DJing with a computer it was better to use 2 sound cards but now-a-days an external audio interface can do away with that.

 

[oprrator]

Yes, you must have some sort of firmware/program to be able to scratch on a computer. otherwise you would be scratching live on the actual turntables/cdjs (hardware/instrument) that run Traktor, Serato or Rekordbox . Those programs are industry standard.

No, Serato is a program that you load your mp3s, wavs and aiff files (music) into so the tracks can be analyzed (to see what the bpm/ key is of each track and see the file as a big sound wave) so that you can set your own cues (places to start the song from) and ultimately be able to make playlists so that music can be easily played through cdjs.

To use scratch live, do you have to have the hardware to go with it?

So this serato stuff sort of works like thoes tape recorders that you put in a tape player and attatch an MP3 player to?

 

[techiesteve]

Why do they tent to use macbook's over a normal notebook?

A MacBook Pro is a normal laptop.

My daughter's (a Mac user) husband DJ's with a PC laptop. I suspect as it's cheaper to replace when it regularly has beer spilt over it.