I said I'd never do it but I'm thinking of moving over to DJing with a laptop.

My day job is as a web designer so I've always enjoyed getting away from a screen and using my trusty Numark CDmix, but it's 11 years old now and I worry it'll die soon.

So I was thinking I may as well take my Macbook as a backup and then I thought I could use the extra space in the car as I'm after some new lighting, so I might as well go the whole hog and ditch the CDs and put my collection onto my hard drive and start taking out my laptop.

What I'm interested in finding out is what software you would recommend for use with a Mac? I've done a bit of research and Megaseg or Traktor look pretty good.

Also do I need an external soundcard or mixer to connect my mic etc?

Any advice gratefully received.

I have Traktor Pro, great app.

Personally, I'd get a proper mixer and controller. Something like a Denon X500 for mixing and a Denon HD4500 for controlling Traktor. That way it's just like controlling your CDs and you have a Mic input on the mixer as well as fader start and all the other benefits of a proper mixer.

A cheaper option would be something like a Vestax USB MIDI controller but I'm not sure if or how you could connect a mic to a system like that. I'm sure the laptop jocks could advise.

I use Traktor Pro. Fantastic and reliable.

Native Instruments Audio 8 is a great external soundcard.
Used with the Vestax USB controllers is a decent solution.

An all in one solution is the Allen & heath Xone series - quiet expensive but great build quality, great sound and reliable.

DJay is quite good, radiologic is better though, both designed for Mac, I have both on my Mac,.













Don't actually use any though, must get around to doing so !

I can't advise you on the Mac software but I can on the hardware. There are a number of possible combinations of soundcards, mixer, controller but in most cases you will need a mixer, even if you are not using it to mix, simply to plug a microphone in and alter EQ etc, as few controllers come with a mic input. Exactly what setup you choose will depend on your personal preference and of course your budget.

You will almost certainly want a soundcard, as even if you only need one channel out of the laptop, the laptop soundcard will not have very good sound quality. You can either have an external soundcard, a controller with a built in soundcard or a mixer with a built in soundcard.

In order to mix songs together, unless you want to use the automix function on your software or the onscreen crossfader, you will need either a mixer or a controller. The onscreen crossfaders are renowned for being a pain and the automix function on most software sounds dreadful.

As you can see there are a number of combinations and possibilities that make it less than obvious what to choose. If you give us an indication of your budget and any other requirements then I can advise you on specific equipment.

I use http://www.ultramixer.com/download.html for windows, but there is a Mac version as well.
Excellent software , I have tried loads of demo`s , but this beats them all ( IHMO )


Daryll

Well I was thinking initially a couple of hundred quid for the budget, but not too sure about that now!

I would probably prefer a hands on physical controller rather than using a virtual controller on my laptop.