1. Thats good to hear you will hav no problems with there files

2. You would think so, yet I run SDJ ME3 and Resolume which Resolume puts twice the stress on my computer that both ME and SDJ do. I do video 1-2 night a wekk for the last 4 years, and the only issue I have run into all related tyo Serato DJ and nothing todo with video.

3. I used to ask people that even before I did video. You could tell them I only ge single (which is all promo only would send me back in the day) so if there was no video it wasnt a single and I couldn't play it.

4. The force is growing with this one.

5. Video is you "Unique Selling Feature". I charge $100 more than every other DJ in town because I do video. Use video to your advantage.

6. Great advice.

7. Ummm..... Thats very intresting. When was the last time you rebuilt you Serato's V2Database file? I would like to know your specs and setup. Thats shouldn't be happening and I'm sure someone on here if not me can help you fix that.

8. I'm just going to leave that one alone.

9. Remeber, you area DJ 1st, don't let your Djing suffer because your paying too much attention to the video. I ran into that a while back and I just had to re think that way I had everything mapped. Now I could shut off ME's preview window and just play serato and produce a really great looking video show.

I'll jump in on the Youtube issue...

HD videos... sure. But sound quality sucks (Code E - surprised you didn't mention that.)

As far as the legality of it... well, it's about the same boat as copying music from someone else's hard drive or pirating movies from hokey internet sites. If you didn't pay for it, then technically, it's not legal. Youtube exists for private entertainment (most of their content). They do not post those videos for independent DJ's to make money by downloading them.
This is definitely a slippery slope. It's fast, easy, and free to use youtube. Especially when you can't find your videos anywhere else (trust me I know). Professional DJ's will always seek out the best quality and the most legit method of building their library. It's more of an ethics game than evading the "Youtube Police". What does your business mean to you?

On another note - have you looked into "Disco Brick"? A great visualization program for any occasion.

"Any port in a storm"

YouTube should never be your go to.
There's more things at play than just a aspect ratio..
Remember a 4k video isn't a 4k video if it's at 4500kbs
It's just on a 4k resolution size

And like said; the audio....ech

Having that been said, you have a oddball track that no service carries, and smash and xtenda can't fill the request quick enough.
^
No one is gonna cut you down too hard for that.


Crash on exit?
If you are in Mavericks or Yosemite it's a "know issue"

"I don't have a, there isn't a video..."
^this is a negative aspect we as video DJ's have been fighting for years.
Sure it's an easy way to deter a request;
But it's also basically admitting mediocrity
Which gives us as video DJs a bad rep.

There's quite a few ways around not having a video.

Keep on man; it only gets better

There's a lot to be said about that topic and I really just don't have the energy or time to address that properly. I honesty don't even think I could take on that topic by myself.
Oh yes. And to me those are the most exciting.
There`s this. But I like Resolume. Look into Syphon and you will start to see the possibles you can create. syphon.v002.info

Thanks all for chiming in.

Firstly to the youtube police, I have active subscriptions to both Xtend and Smash. They are fantastic pools.

These pools are starting to service AFROBEATS but i cant even do a 1 hour peak time set with both pools videos combined right now. I have over 5000 afrobeats tracks on my HD so its not like when playing i play two or three tracks. I'm talking DJing a whole night just banging out afrobeats.

A typical promo email from the artists (african) will include the MP3 of the promoted track and a link to the YouTube video. I know the sound on the video is always crappy, so i do a quick trip into FCP and Handbrake.

I have considered just layering visuals on the audio but then this is just too much work.

Youtube is not my go too, but its what fills the cracks now. Point me in the direction of a pool that has the following tracks lol

Olamide - Durosoke Watchwww.youtube.com
Olamide - Bobo Watchwww.youtube.com
Olamide - Falila Ketan Watchwww.youtube.com
Terry G - Terry G Watchwww.youtube.com
Korede Bello - #Godwin Watchwww.youtube.com
Reakado Banks - Chop Am Watchwww.youtube.com

[Thats Afrobeats 101]


My specs
Yosemite 10.10.3
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014)
CPU 2.5ghz Intel Core i7
NVIDA 750M 2gig card
RAM 16gb
Internal SSD 500gb
Lacie Thunderbolt 2gig HD (Partitioned into 2 equal parts - 1Tb for videos, 1Tb for Audio)

Gear
Rane 62
Stanton ST150 with Shures M44-7
Pioneer SP1
Pioneer DDJ SX (back up and when playing audio only)

I will look into rebuilding my db at some point. My go to will be Serato DJ for playing live with ME3. It was ME3 that was crashing on exit not serato dj. It also crashed midset on saturday night. I'm in touch with Nick and hopefully he will be able to point me in the right direction.

That's what the Media Bank in ME is for (Media crate in Serato Video).

Yeah, but that means one visual loop running repeatedly.
It might not be audio reactive to the song playing.

So load the Media crate up with audio reactive qtz files and problem solved or use Resolume.

Also with ME or SV it'll use a different file every time you load a track.

whats the learning curve for resolume?

Although some veteran video forum members have mentioned minor quality issues - another goto pool site for video that you may want to look at is www.vjstreet.com before you resort to Youtube.

They have a some vids that you don't run across on Smash or Xtenda and offer mash ups and alternative mixes (think just this side of Crooklyn Clan) and even mini megamixes (good for opening set like playing a mixtape before the crowd gets there).

Just another option to investigate once you run out of content on Xtenda and Smash....

watch all of there vimeo tutorials - 1 hour
Read the manual cover to cover (I did, it helped a lot) - 1-2 hours depending on reading speed and comprehension level.
Within 5 hours you should have a good grasp of the program. You seem to know a lot, your using FCP, and handbrake. I can't imagine it taking you too long to get a good grip.

I have this kid who promotes for me, He's very green to DJing, doesn't understand anything about MIDI or DMX, and never use DAW or Video editing program and in a 3 hour session I had him grasping everything including the advanced output menu (he really blew me away on how quick he caught on). I figured I would need to go over it all a 2nd time, e hes already bugging me for more control and now he's learning DMX so we can link Resolume with Martin Light Jockey.

with the grid driver effects and Sequencer you can fool most people into thinking the video your playing actually goes with the tracks...
done it more times than I can count.... and its super-duper-middle-School-easy.

I downloaded the demo of Resolume and will mess with it a bit in my down time.

The good folks of this forum always helped me when I'm lost.

I never thought I could load QTZ has visualisation in the Media Bank. Thought they were for layering via the sample player.

Are there recommended sourced where one could obtain QTZ packs?

Don't forget to check out DocOptic.com

He's got great tutorials on both Resolume and ME plus badass content for sale (no I don't work for him, it's just that good) 👍

Omg. The fx sequencer. Iz. The. Business.
And you can have so many presets for it.

@skinnyguy are you referring to the one in Mix Emergency?

Yes.

Finally went through ME bit by bit today. Now that's an app on steroids

I hope Nick is getting paid seriously for the immense amount of work he has put in. Seriously.

I downloaded a Bass FX preset from docoptic. They are gonna get it this weekend at the spot I play at.

Hi all,

Will i lose bpm if i convert MP4 into HAP (MOV files). I downloaded some visuals that are MP4 with bpm. I'm thinking of converting them to MOV (HAP) files to use in ME3.

I have a MOV Scanner qtz. Which i have found very helpful for what it does. I'm not sure it recognises MP4 files.

I meant "encoding with the H.264 codec" as recommended by Inklen

Dont convert your music videos to HAP. Hap is for the sample bank. Your tracks still need to be in MP4.

H.264 is a type of MP4. Thats not exactly right, but its right enough for you or me to need to understand. Any video you get from xtendamix or VJ pro is already a MP4 H.264 file.

Hap is only for clips to be played from the ME sample bank.

Don't convert any files you have unless you have to. every time you convert you loose quality.

Thanks Code:E, i downloaded the videos from Serato (DJ EGO HD Free packs).

I have a quartz file (from Radikarl.de) that can scan through .Mov files placed in a specific folder, It wont read MP4 and i'm only trying to get them to work too.

I like the scanner as it changes the visual loops every 32 Beats or so.

Its only for video loops that i wanted to do this.

i dont reencode the videos i get from Xtend/Smash

"MP4 files" are actually just a "container" (or think of them as a "folder" if you want) that can hold various types of video streams, audio streams, and metadata.

Certainly you do not want to convert music videos to HAP. The file sizes would get ridiculous for a given quality level. Conservation of CPU/GPU resources is the main reason to convert samples to HAP, though in my experience it's not really necessary with a higher-end recent MBP.

Marv, just so you know Mark is the guy I ask my questions too. Hes got all smarts.

Thanks Mark and Code: E

I didn't convert the MP4 I downloaded. I understand that they are really H.264 in MP4 container and you can have the same H.264 in MOV containers.

My questions came because I have a quartz composition file that can scan MOV files placed in a particular folder. It doesn't read MP4 files.

I use ME and placed the MP4 (original downloaded) in the Sample Slots.

I have other files from other sources eg Docoptic that are MOV and they work equally in the Sample Slots and also in the Mov files Quartz scanner I mentioned earlier.

They are not music videos just very short visual loops 4 to 10 seconds long. My music videos are all MP4 from Xtendamix and Smashvision.

Well if you need to convert files use Mpeg Stream clip

Thanks Code:E

Stumbled across a vwbatch program.

Looks like the all for the job.

Started watching tutorials for Resolume. Looks like I will need an extra pair of hands to be able to manage Serato, ME and Resolume!

*all = app

Its all about MIDI controllers, and figuring out how to link things. Every button on my mixer and midi controllers for controlling the audio also affect the video (or lighting) in some way.

Yeah. I know. Must be mind numbing trying to remember what button does what.
Easy to get lost
Good thing is that even if the video is behaving funny audio remains unaffected.

Kinda noticed with Midi things can go strangely. I mapped a Kontrol X1 to use with ME since then my SX has been behaving strangely. Like Effects being triggered by the SX even when I don't have the X1 connected.
I'm guessing the midi messages must be the same.

Another funny thing is that I don't know what button on the SX is doing it...spent the whole afternoon pushing all the buttons on the SX and I can't replicate it. But once i start mixing and all I see it. I'm guessing it must either be the transport buttons and/or the EQs.

No its not.

Never.
I have a system.

Yep thats exactly it.

Before you get started you need to understand MIDI. what different typer of MIDI signals there are and how you can manipulate them to do what you want.
Next you need tools for testing. Mainly software, and hardware, you need to own all the controllers you plan to use, and you need to have the corresponding software. Lastly get the program MIDI Monitor (for mac) its free and can and will be your best friend when it comes to troubleshooting.

Lastly you need to be able to set up your entire rig at home so you can test everything out. Practise setting it up and taking it down, know work around for common issues (like the X1 not sending midi data to serato) MIDI ports not working, using MIDI over usb with powered hubs only. You need to be able to get it right everytime. MIDI channel conflicts

DJing is all about prep work. I have had to drill it into many club owners, You are not paying me to DJ, you are paying me to BE THE DJ, Which means your paying for all my prep work. I wouldnt be able todo my show if I didnt do the prep.

Now when people say my setup who dont know me they always go, wow that complicated, thats because I run as many MIDI controllers as I can fit on a table. Why so many you ask, because (and here's the key) ONE-to-ONE mapping. Every button does ONE thing and ONLY one thing and that SAME thing everytime no matter what! As soon as you start dealing with pages and things changing what control they are doing you will get fucked up and fuck up.

I really want a DDJ sp1, but fucking PAGES, I hate pages. I was thinking about dropping the CDJ2000's and moving to DDJSZ, but again PAGES!!! I want access to my cues all the time, the loops and effects like the beat slicer. Serato still ahsn't got it right so I can use 1 or 2 DDJsp1's with each one of different pages todo different things!!!! Again ONE-to-ONE mapping is key. I might get a NS7iii when it comes out because you get cues in 2 places. Thats another rant.

What i do is make each controller it's own MIDI channel. As soon as I walk into a club I changes the CDJ's MIDI channels 5,6,7,8 (decks 1,2,3,4 when using 4 decks, usually 2-3 decks), I used to change the mixer to channel 13, but Fucking DJM800's require a restart to change channel and sometimes thats not possible because the club/event is already going. My MPD is on channel 3 and x1 on channel 4. ipad on channel 11. Then I don't have issues with crosstalk. Now you will need to test your DDJsx to see what channels are being use and what notes are being sent out.

Back to the one to one mapping. Just because each button does the same thing every time doesnt mean it cant do 2 things as long as it always do those 2 things. Example, my 16 pads on my MPD are setup for loop's (by beat, 8,4,2,1,1/2,1/4,1/8,1/16). Each of those loops also set a Video effect into motion on ME. I have also mapped my Loop Exit button on the CDJ to clear the video effect. So now you might be getting some idea's on how to have 1 button do 2 things.

It's about prep I know. I will figure out how to make all these things work together.

I like a simple workflow too, I hate page shifting to access another layer.
In terms of midi I own the X1 , DJ- SP, SX and Rane 62. (Serato and Lemur on IPad)

I've got a powered hub (from my Pioneer CDJ 900 HID days)

during the week I'm prepping and conjuring new ways to increase my productivity, thats when i run into all sorts of headaches. This usually leads to me just doing my gigs with what im used to...back to comfort zone i guess. My gigs are all Fri - Sun.

I will spend some time this today using some of your tips and keep you updated.

Do you know what the "bank has individual trigger" button does?

The button on the lower left of the presets windon in ME

Success. Changed the Midi channel for the X1 to 16 and now mapped.

Some of the encoders had conflicting midi messages so i used other channels (14/15) for those ones.

I downloaded the midimonitor, DDJSX uses loads of midi channels...lol

So i'm proper mapped now.

Thanks Code:E i owe you a beer or two

I'm not going to quote all of Code:E's post, but he's got it right about prep work! Great thoughts - goes for just about every aspect of DJing, not just MIDI.

Idk about you guys I ran into the same problem that I did not find videos I was looking for. So I took it upon myself to create my own video remixes with Files at 3:20 KBS which I found that having my own personalized videos my sex allow a different story than just what the video pools provide. Although I still pay for it to a different video pools and in a matter of six months I have been able to re-create my whole library and pileup 30,000 videos of just straight Bangers . The only question I asked myself every weekend because I DJ Friday Saturday and Sunday and I also do private events very often. Question is is video going to be the future? And the only reason I ask is because I want to know if this is still worth investing it it’s been taking many hours, many nights, and a decent amount of money. But I have found that people are more into entertained with the visuals rather than just hearing the song.What I ended up doing was installing a 500 SSD and a 3 TB building to my MacBook with 16 gigs of RAM and till present day I haven’t had any hick ups and I DJ three days in the weekend so as far as I know it’s pretty solid depending on what hardware you placing your computer. But I am curious to hear what are your opinions about how you guys feel video is going to be is it that we are just way too ready in advance or his video just going to stay in same place?

Sets not sex lol

Video has always been around and will continue to be around.

However it's still a limiting factor for tracks that don't have a conceptual or even live version of the track to use.

It's not going to replace audio stuff just because of the additional eq it requires and some venues just don't want to deal with it. I've been doing it 17 years at this point and don't plan on stopping.

well the only thing i can say is send me you're fb and i can certainly guide you with the resources i have but when i dj i no longer use my external .but if you need help making some vids hmu .not going to put my number but send me an email thru my site www.iamswaggap.com

Seems that Pioneer is "In it to win it" with their whole Pioneer DJ branding and the Rekordbox software especially now that it does video too.

They are becoming the new Native Instruments aka taking - or soon will be - the NI marketshare and I am wondering since Rekordbox also does Video and since Serato DJ is not as rock solid as ScratchLive was will some of the Serato Video and MixEmergency DJs jump ship to Pioneer.

Virtual DJ has done video for years but seemed to be used by "undercutting" - buy a craigslist hard drive DJs whereas Pioneer and Rekordbox seem to be targeted at "professionals"like Serato and Traktor.

I think it will always have "a place" but may take some more time to become "commonplace"

I agree with the VDJ market being the undercutting one. Which is sad, most of the goobers I know that use it, are using pirated versions!

I continue to reevaluate Rekordbox each version update because of the improvements they make.

Hahaa!! Come on you can't judge VDJ by some shit bricks who are out undercutting people, how is that VDJ's fault?? I know many Serato/Pioneer djs who bought hard drives when they started out 🤦‍♂️

I for one do not use pirated shit and pay my dues every month and get my videos from legit sources.

VDJ is a professional software and works very well via timecodes or midi.

Depending on what I want to do I'll use VDJ on the PC side because there's a lot of things that can't be done even with Mix Emergency on the Mac side and don't get me started on the script. It's stupid powerful!!

I guess you can't really knock it until you try it and if your really worried about what people will about you for using it, then you probably shouldn't be dj anyways if that's all it takes.

Not trying to cause trouble but just know there's legit VDJ users out here 🤙🏾

I Agree With This I Have 4 Video Services and if i don't find one i Make my own Video edit so Far About 200 videos personalized i have its an incredible feeling to have a unique set .one can't be uniques ,kinda of unique .its only one Word "Unique" I've spent so much to catch up and remake my library but well worth it its double sworded blade you can use the video or mix without activating the video plug in and rock out as audio files.

Don't knock VirtualDJ and then say Rekordbox video is looking good… it's absolute garbage. VDJ runs circles around it.

I just gave rekordbox video a spin this afternoon, not bad but not there yet. i'm getting freezing videos but that could be due to the fact that i'm analysing and playing simultaneously. I like the lyrics plug in but its a headache to use with XTENDZ/DJ INTROS videos. The lyrics start up before the vocals kick in on those. It has a lyric "delay" setting but i haven't messed with that yet.

It's not the software, it's the cheap asses that pirate it that make it look bad.

To bad VDJ loses points for the un-stylized text that RB now has

But.........

You can make your own lyric videos and edit every verse so things match up correctly. Ive done this with VDJ for older hiphop videos for a hiphop only Karaoke night, lmao!! Cheesiest thing Ive ever done but it is fun and its always a packed house.

But back to RBV, it is getting better with every update.

RBV, will challenge SDJ + ME for my use once they get a sidefill filter for those old 4:3 videos.

Yeah most definitely.