So over the last year I’ve been inspired by this forums attitude to a bit of House Music and it’s derivatives. Soooooo having read about folks on here into mixing their own, doin’ stuff, knocking out a few tunes and the like, I thought I’d have a go myself.
Now now, this won’t be for human consumption, I’m not about to slam it on soundcloud or anything silly like that.
But what I’d like to do is use some free software that’ll run happily on a laptop that I’ll be able to use easily in front of the telly whilst now’t decent on and I’m morphing into hotel double beds during the week (as seems to be the norm at the mo).

I’ve a couple of mates who mix, bu they use that Apple Stuff, me, me I’m a PC man myself.

Ta.

Anyone any ideas?

Mixxx is great (and open source), assuming you mean sampling etc rather than creating stuff from scratch?

Ohhh mucho thanks, just dl’d it, looks good that.
Sampling yes, creation ermmm no.

Here’s my mates reply (via Facebook) – he’s a ‘virtual’ DJ with a laptop too, although no doubt he kills it on vinyl and CD deck too…

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Serato is just like using decks, no bells, no tricks, no auto beats, no synch- you beatmatch n phase match with your ears, phones and pitch faders.. Just like it used to be done- i aint used serato itch for controllers yet but if its as good as serato, it will be the bomb. Best for beginners, but also good enough to go pro (DJ Robert Djiceman Anderson for one off the top of my head) is Virtual DJ –
Traktor is amazing but not very beginner friendly- it relies on a lot of prior preparation of all your tracks. It totally relies on beatgridding, it does this automatically when you load a tune, but a lot of time it gets it wrong, needing you to correct, or even add multiple beat grids to the same tune if it shifts tempo. You can of course turn all the auto shite off and beatmatch with your ears and cans the good old fashioned way. But then a lot of the nice effects that rely on beatgrid wont work. For my money if your gonna prepare your tunes in this way Ableton Live 8 is the best way.

Someone mentioned Mixx, its great too, can map all major controllers and is of course FREE!, Torq is a bit weird, its good but instead of beatgridding, it warps the beats in to quantisation like Ableton Live 8_But i think M audio are gonna be stopping support for this soon
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I have massive respect for anyone who has the patience and manages to make their own music. i love d&b and thought i would give it a go. Got free software with a magazine. After a few hours mucking about with a synth i managed to produce something that sounded like a wet fart! Gave up in the end. Good luck though.

Basically, pretty much what Xiphon said…

I’d download Virtual DJ and have a play for a while, it’ll keep you entertained for a long time as essentially it offers most of what Traktor or Serato do, but it’s free. It’s not as polished as the others for sure, but again, it is free (or a version of it is at least).

When you decide to progress from Virtual DJ (or if you get that far), have a think about properly including some form of controller (or perhaps even a set of decks, be they vinyl or CD), to integrate with whatever path you want to take…

Or just say “sod it, I wanna be young, skint, and have no life again” and go buy some Technics, a mixer, and shitloads of records! 😀

I WILL NOT be held responsible for your actions though if you choose the latter… 😉

I have massive respect for anyone who has the patience and manages to make their own music. i love d&b and thought i would give it a go. Got free software with a magazine. After a few hours mucking about with a synth i managed to produce something that sounded like a wet fart! Gave up in the end. Good luck though.

Hehehehe 😀

It takes time, a whole lot of patience, some experimentation, but above all good tutoring IMO. I’m still learning a hell of a lot, but so far have at least managed to finish a few of my own tracks…

Just decided to pop by after Ali (Xyph) messaged me on Facebook-
Nuthin’ wrong with Virtual DJ once you get the full version, It is my “Go To” software of choice for practice sesh in the house. Ill even play it out.
The freebie of VDJ has no headphone out or MIDI controller abilities which is really limiting. No headphone means no cueing or manual beatmatching ability. Not Good. BUUUUT
This can be overcome with prior prep and the mighty synch button.
You can put cue points on the tracks in your set for mix in/ mix out/ vocals/ breakdowns etc and use these instead of the cans.

Traktor is brilliant for modern house, from digital original sources.
If the music is from live drummers, hardware Roland drum machines, or ripped from Vinyl (wow & flutter problems ) you have almost had it as far as beatgridding is concerned but there are get arounds.
Find a lead in section were the beats are consistent, beat grid this section, then find a mix out section and do a second beat grid for the master clock to synch to and mix out on, these can be saved as cue points.
All a royal pain the arse for anyone who’s used TT’s or CDJ where you do all this by instinct, which is why i suggested to Ali Virtual DJ or Serato.
Serato is about as pure as it gets, decks, phones, pitch faders off you go. it requires skill and hours of practice to learn to beat match for a beginner. Very frustrating and requires dedication. So frustrating, just look on the ‘Bay for used DJ kit from wanna be Sasha dreamers.

Virtual DJ will do all the beat matching and even phase matching for you, and this can give you the confidence to turn the synch off and learn to do it yourself, knowing a hit of a key can get it all back and get you out the pooh if you trainwreck.

And do not believe the hype that any software DJ kit can “Hit a button and it does all the mixing for you” rubbish.
Nearest i came across is Ableton and that took a hard long month of learning how to use, then every single track in every set needed “Warping” (Abletons version of beatgridding where it quantises in to a 4/4 beat by stretching and and squashing the beats to fit a perfect metronome for any given BPM without affecting the musical key- unless you actually want to alter the key).
Perfect Sasha or Digweed-esque transitions every single time but the work put in before hand is tedious, and mixing in Ableton for me is dull as ditchwater.

Any how, Ali (Xyphon) is a member of my FB group, if you want some inspiration come and join us, most of us are Oldskool DJ’s from the old Revenge days around Blackburn 20 year ago, but myself and a few others do play more modern house sets too…
Be warned though, the language and humour may be a bit ripe from time to time
http://www.facebook.com/groups/245023252223973/

Lol, just recalled, after last nights gig, at an after party i did a set on a netbook with virtual DJ with no headphones… 4 am,and totally mullered!
it Is possible!

Oh yeah.. Serato is free…
Of a fashion!
You buy the hardware for Serato, either an SSL box that connects the decks to your laptop, one of the Rane mixers that has ssl built in, or if you are going controller and Serato Itch, you buy a Serato supported modellike the Vestax VCI 300, Novation Twitch, Allen & Heath X1, numark NS6 or 7 and a few others.
Once you buy supported hardware, the download and all subsequent updates are freemans.

Serato also have a new beginner software released, Serato DJ Intro, for controllerists, which has support for the Numark Mixtrack or Mixtrack whicich is without doubt the best bang per buck entry level controller, which smashes Traktor, Virtual DJ, Mix and now Serato

Edit for double post, i see the forum code aint improved while i been away 😉

Thanks for stopping by mate!

Well well, many thanks fellas. I’ve d’ld Mixxxxxxxx (like) and so far I’ve managed to record a drum beat I nicked off Soundcloud that some guy put samples on, he’s done loads (so have many others) so it’s keeping me busy for sure.

I’m not yet into decks (phah, that’s going to be so funny) I’ve a lot of practicing to do. But so far my results are quite good, even though I say it myself.

It goes a bit like this:
dufe, dufe, dufe, dufe, dufe, dufe, dufe, dufe, dufe, dufe, dufe etc. for 20mins so far. Next is some deephouse funky sexy bass line…”something sexy wonderful”

Inspired STW again.

Traktor or VirtualDJ

It goes a bit like this:
dufe, dufe, dufe, dufe, dufe, dufe, dufe, dufe, dufe, dufe, dufe etc. for 20mins so far.

Nah, you’re doing it all wrong…

Needs to go “DOOF DOOF DOOF” not “dufe dufe dufe”, and for 8 hours straight, not 20 measly minutes! 😉

bikebouy, what’s your email addy, I can upload some loops if you’d like, that you can sample, reloop, do what the hell you want with etc… Be careful though, you WILL become addicted, and you’ll be trying to make your own tunes ASAP and trust me, THAT IS YOUR LIFE OVER!!! hehe

Only other bit of advice im gonna give is record and listen back everything you do- stuff can sound ace live, and can be bobbins when re played…
Recording lets you listen to any mistake, or even any bit you dont think is quite right, and lets you figure how to do it differently