Project: Computerised DJ Deck

BigDom - Cheers BigDom - Looking into it now....

Seft - Ipods, no thanks...

jaxon - a laptop doesn't give me much upgrade scope. Also I want to get away from decks all together; we carry around 5 flight cases worth of cds!

Plus in the future I want to be able to run karaoke off this thing as well as maybe have a video feed of the crowd etc... all gimmicks I know, but you can't do this with any of the other things. Hopefully once i've built it, somebody will agree with me lol.

Anyway... heres the situation at the moment with it!!



Its a thumbnail btw... click to enlarge!
 
what case's are you using mate? Sounds like a fun project to me. Selecting the song on the pc, then sending it through to the mixer where you can output to a stereo.

Would be cool using the touch screen's.

Re. software, don't really know. Would windows media player not do the job? Winamp can be fiddly at times. How good are you at programming? maybe you could make your own program?
 
cheers mate... i'm actually custom building a case, which will end up looking like a rectangle shaped box with the top face slanting downwards for ease of use etc. The box is going to be made out of MDF, and then carpeted with dark grey carpet. Then going to use corner reinforcers for strength. Also have bright white LEDs on a switch to light up the whole thing so easy to use in the dark.

Software wise, I haven't decided yet. There is a program called touchtone audio system, which i'm thinking of using in conjunction with winamp. This is so I can use the LCD plugin to output current song playing and time left on the blue LCDs in the picture.
 
but if your songs were converted to mp3 you would seriously reduce the ammount of discs you would be carrying about. i think what your doing is quality, just saying that it would be a good idea to have a cdj as a backup incase ** software went down.

whatever happens make sure you keep us updated :)
 
Thought I would bring this thread back from the dead... as you can see my first post was in February... since then I've been and got myself a degree!

And I've started to make some headway with the actual deck unit! (See pics below)

Here's the inside so far... I have to build a frame to house all of the components inside. I also want to light up the inside with ultrabright white LEDs so it is easy to plug things in and out.



The case has been made from 12mm MDF and then coated in hardwearing felt. There are bulgin switches on each side of the deck - one for each pc. All the components have been made flush with the case. Still to do on the outside is light up the mixer with ultrabright LEDs so I can see it in the dark!





Tell me what you think so far....
 
you're going to need to connect all the parts up onto a metal base plate (like the motherboard tray inside a case) this is important so that the EARTH is commen to ALL the parts (motherboard, PSU etc), this is not a worry in most cases as they are metal and thus fully earthed though the PSU, but in this case I'd REALY sugest buying a sheet of metal for the base or taking some trays out of old cases.
 
chet84 said:
Cheers for the advice mate... the mixer had a ground on it (I was wondering how I would ground everthing else!
Click to expand...
the standoffs on the motherboards are normaly ground, as are the cases of the hard drives and cds (unless any of it is double insulated) but its REALY important that you have a good ground with things like this! I don't realy think I can stress that point enough, if there is no ground and you touch a component that has a short on it (however unlikly) you COULD DIE.
 
VeNT said:
you're going to need to connect all the parts up onto a metal base plate (like the motherboard tray inside a case) this is important so that the EARTH is commen to ALL the parts (motherboard, PSU etc), this is not a worry in most cases as they are metal and thus fully earthed though the PSU, but in this case I'd REALY sugest buying a sheet of metal for the base or taking some trays out of old cases.
Click to expand...

Have you got any ideas on how I would properly ground all of the equipment mate?
 
a piece of software i recommend is called Jazler Show.

we used it at the student radio station, and found it very good, also lets you have preset "jingles" and stuff. nice and BIG for touch screen usage. It also works as one half of the system - i.e. it would work well with two computers.

you can get a free trial too, too see if you like it.

a few things i would add:
-is the sound quality good enough from those poxy boards, would it not be better w/ each machine having some kind of decent sound card to pump out choons. after all, it is their primary purpose. (i might have missed you mentioning something about this earlier in the thread and if i did, i apologise)
-i'd consider getting a small UPS - so that an unexpected powercut doesn't hard your very precious hard drives in the middle of a gig (and finding yourself a dj without any music). for that reason too, consider taking a removable usb hdd with "emergency music" on you, that you can plug directly into the mixer if it all goes to poo.

the case looks nice though! v.impressed.
 
welshtom said:
connect up every mobo stand off to a grounding wire
Click to expand...

Why didn't I think of that! :rolleyes:

gibbs said:
type of keyboard?
Click to expand...

I have 2 mini usb keysonic keyboards but on-screen touch is preffered!

pinkegobox

I've looked into that software - looks really good. I'll have to try it out. The sound quality sounded fine when I tried it but if not I have 2 x audigy 2's on standby!

I thought about a ups as well... again I'll probably end up buying one!

Cheers for all the advice - keep it coming! Comment also welcome!
 
pinkegobox said:
a piece of software i recommend is called Jazler Show.

a few things i would add:
-is the sound quality good enough from those poxy boards, would it not be better w/ each machine having some kind of decent sound card to pump out choons. after all, it is their primary purpose. (i might have missed you mentioning something about this earlier in the thread and if i did, i apologise)
-i'd consider getting a small UPS - so that an unexpected powercut doesn't hard your very precious hard drives in the middle of a gig (and finding yourself a dj without any music). for that reason too, consider taking a removable usb hdd with "emergency music" on you, that you can plug directly into the mixer if it all goes to poo.

the case looks nice though! v.impressed.
Click to expand...

I had a think about this mate... the sound cards are built into the mixer!!! Loading software on it now... will post results here!
 
you could try itunes, best just trying some programs and see which one you prefer. itunes sounds like it would suit your needs though. Case is brill nice job!
 
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