DJ with laptop. What is required?

[Johnny Canuck]

Hey guys, looking for some help here.

I have been a DJ for about 10 years now, part time, weddings, parties, etc. I used to spin records, then it was tapes, then CD's came out and life was so much easier. Now, it's MP3's. I recently bought a laptop computer to use for my gigs. My question is, what is required to do such a thing? I know I need a mini plug out of the laptop to RCA's to a mixing board. What is the best DJ software and do I need an additional sound card? A friend told me about this Alcatech BPM studio. I tried it and it's pretty cool. How does one monitor another song with headphones while one is playing? I guess I need something with normalizing features as well. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.

 

[superstar]

Mixvibes

Mixvibes for a pro job.

For something really easy to use, you don't even need to read the manual, simply select the source and mix away, try the Vdj. I have the older version Vdj3 but the newest one has Karaoke compatability

 

[Johnny Canuck]

I have been using the Alchatech BPM studio for a week now and it is amazing. Does everything and there can't be a better product for what I need. Thanks for your recommendation though!!

JC

 

[auujay]

Depends on what you want...

What do you want to be doing?
Do you want a way to spin mp3s using your current hardware? Or do you want to do it all on the laptop?

Rane's Serato Scratch Live is the best for basic manipulation of mp3s (or wavs) using turntables or cdjs.
There is a lot of hype about M-Audio Torq, it is newer and may not be as stable but offers more features (like VSTi support).

If you want to use just your laptop, NI Traktor DJ Studio.
Ableton Live is also a populor choice if you want to be closer to the "production" side of things. Basically you can use Live like a basic DJing tool or also add new loops/beats/hooks.