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 DJing Discussion
Setup for alternating between live DJ-ing and autoplay
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Setup for alternating between live DJ-ing and autoplay

dmestriner 3:35 PM - 3 April, 2011
Hi everyone,

A friend of mine asked me to play at his birthday. I like playing music at a birthday, especially for my friends, but I was wondering how to setup my gear, because I don't want to be actively DJ-ing the whole night (there won't be that much people, and I want to be able to talk to my friends as well during the evening). So I was looking for a good way to alternate between having a playlist that automixes, and when I feel like it, step behind the turntables and start mixing live.
As SSL does not have an automix feature, and Virtual DJ does, how do I connect all the wires properly? when I used to use VDJ I connected a plug into my laptop's headphone jack, and split it into the mixer, but SSL runs via the SL3 hardware, is there any convenient way to combine these 2? I don't mind switching between VDJ and SSL, but I do mind if I have to reconnect a lot of cables into different plugs all the time. Is there some way of letting VDJ sound output run through the SL3 hardware or something like that? Does anyone of you have experience in this?

Thanks for your help in advance.
Danny
razcal_ger 4:04 PM - 3 April, 2011
Maybe if you hooked up a friend's laptop with VDJ on a separate channel?
brkdncr 6:25 PM - 3 April, 2011
VDJ can recognize and play through the SSL box as an ASIO device. It actually works very well I was surprised to find out.
dmestriner 6:39 PM - 3 April, 2011
could you tell me exactly what your settings are in VDJ and how you have your cables running? I selected "output -> external mixer" in VDJ, and set sound card as ASIO driver, and it gave me an error saying "error in the ASIO driver: not enough channels", and after that immediately another error saying something like "error, sound card could not be found, your sound card is probably not connected". What an I doing wrong here?
dmestriner 7:04 PM - 3 April, 2011
okay so I found where my SL1 driver is hiding (I have an SL3 connected via USB), see dl.dropbox.com but when I click apply, it still gives me an error saying the soundcard is probably not connected...
Logisticalstyles 10:26 AM - 4 April, 2011
You could also make some mixes or if you have some mixes just load them into you library. When you want to take a break during the party throw that mix on and go mingle.
HandsomeRobDJ 6:01 PM - 4 April, 2011
I have a second old cheap laptop and I run a windows media player playlist on one of my extra mixer channels.
dj_soo 7:51 PM - 4 April, 2011
just put on some of your mixes or something when you want to take a break - sounds a little easier than trying to run vdj through the sl3 while serato is still running...
sacrilicious 4:30 AM - 5 April, 2011
Tell VDJ to use your internal sound card and output through the 1/8" jack and use the AUX in on your mixer.
DJ metaphor 4:59 AM - 5 April, 2011
Look at this screenshot:

www.americansongwriter.com

Right above REL mode. there is a button that says " auto. "

Build a crate of songs that you want to auto mix, Select it, load the first song, and then press Auto. and your done.
Dj Shamann 5:15 AM - 5 April, 2011
^ I was just going to ask what's wrong with just autoplaying a crate?
DJ metaphor 5:25 AM - 5 April, 2011
Quote:
^ I was just going to ask what's wrong with just autoplaying a crate?


thats what i was thinking :p
dmestriner 8:05 AM - 5 April, 2011
I don't know, I guess I don't like the short silences between songs. I'm now figuring out how to let another program's audio output run through my SL3 box (like VDJ or Winamp) through the asio drivers, but I'm still struggling with it (also see serato.com where I've made some posts in the latest 10 or so).
Using aux on the mixer also sounds like a good alternative though...
HandsomeRobDJ 12:23 PM - 5 April, 2011
You're just making it harder on yourself. Build a windows media player playlist with radio mix versions of songs. Go to "view", "enhancements", "Crossfading and Auto Volume Leveling", and set it at 10 seconds. That's the solution for your short silence issue. Take your broke ass to Radio shack and buy a stereo 1/8" to stereo RCA adapter for five bucks and feed your headphone out on your laptop into an open slot on your mixer. Total cost of this solution- $5. Find a good 45 second audio movie clip or think of something to shout out on the mic while you're switching from WMP to SSL and PRESTO! Ready to go! You can even set the order of the songs in the playlist if you're advanced and you know how to play the bpm wave and/or mix in key!
dmestriner 12:59 PM - 5 April, 2011
I hadn't really thought about using the aux yet, because I was used to splitting the audio to 2 channels for my mixer when using VDJ, but now I realize that I don't need that in order to just play some music without touching anything. Thanks!
The Return of Dj Sparky 1:04 PM - 5 April, 2011
or dump a load of songs into serato's prepare area, set ssl for auto play and it will play down through your list, it won't mix them just one play one after another
DJ.Tyme 2:45 AM - 10 October, 2011
yeah (the return of dj sparky) he said = I don't like the short silences between songs. so the so called auto dont work in SSL or itch. this is one of the main reasons i like to use VDJ because i can truely automix