Small portable DJ backup options?

[DJ Matt]

what would be the smallest most portable options for providing music backup?

i bring a spare laptop with me, but looking to travel lighter.

i dont want to use my phone as backup because its very unreliable, bad battery and besides it already has a job: its a phone

what do you think? maybe some kind of tablet?

[Alex Murphy]

ipod


[/thread]


I used an ipod mini before and a small MD recorder, just in case. Never used it except for a couple of occasions when I played a request that I did not have on CD. Also I agree with you, I would never consider using a phone for that purpose, besides the sound coming out of the jack isn't too good. I have seen people using ipads too, though it doesn't fit in your pocket and you have to be slightly extra careful with it. Just with 16 gb you can already put a ton of music at 320kbs in there.

Though my ipod mini reference is a bit flawed, I would recommended a larger version of an ipod, purely because of battery life. The mini isn't great in that aspect.

I also have a dual CD player backup, just in case. I have had that problem once of buying a brand new pair of decks, and that went south only a couple of gigs later, would only play when lifted and propped up sideways, not great.

[DJ Bobcat]

I see other DJ's asking this question, and my response is... What kind of backup do you want? While an iPad is a good get-you-by for a few minutes, it's NOT likely something you'd want to use for a four hour performance. If you're using a computer with a controller, either one can fail. If you're looking for a backup computer, a laptop still makes the most sense. Since you never know at what point a component might fail, I try to plan contingencies for the possibility something will fail the moment they're first powered up.


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[Nicadraus]

I see other DJ's asking this question, and my response is... What kind of backup do you want? While an iPad is a good get-you-by for a few minutes, it's NOT likely something you'd want to use for a four hour performance. If you're using a computer with a controller, either one can fail. If you're looking for a backup computer, a laptop still makes the most sense. Since you never know at what point a component might fail, I try to plan contingencies for the possibility something will fail the moment they're first powered up.


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I agree with this.

[JackStalk]

I have an ipod and ipad, while I wouldnt want to, I could probably survive with just those two components hooked into a 2 channel mixer.

[DJ Matt]

thanks guys, very informative responses. i might go for a small mp3 player. in my case im cycling to the gig and i dont wanna carry a spare laptop anymore. most of the time i only would need the music for about 5 minutes until i could restart my pc , should it shut down unexpectedly. or perhaps 30 minutes or so if i ran into a more serious problem

incidentally:
what would be the smallest device that lets you mix the music?

[KLH]

I personally use my phone (in airplane mode) and keep a 5-7m track ready to go. In that time, I can generally assess, address, reboot, and get my controller/laptop ready to mix into the track playing. In the past ten years of gigging, I've only had this happen once... and that was when I began to DJ.

I still have a backup though... because you just never know.

[light-o-matic]

It depends on what kind of DJ you are and what kind of system you normally use. A friend of mine uses Traktor Z1 controller with an iPad mini and Traktor for IOS. It's a super portable setup with good sound
I have a Z1 which I use with regular Windows Traktor sometimes, and like it. Its not the smallest but small enough and you can really mix on it. If you are already using Traktor this makes a lot of sense.. Since if you have got the tablet and laptop traktor they will sync tracks with each other. And then if you have got a Z1 and a full size controller.. either one will work with tablet or laptop. So you're totally backed up in every way.


Then there are some other apps for example I think djay-pro (algoriddim) works with many different controllers and they have an android tablet version too.. So that's helpful so far as price and not being locked in.

[bumpyjonas]

I have my Ipad and DDJSX as a backup to my DDJSZ, I found this as a good alternative for just in case scenarios.

[djeternal]

I have DJ Pro and Traktor DJ on my iPad.

[AlaskaJaxx]

Since the release of the new iPad Pros; both 12.9” & the 10.5” models have 4GB RAM (a lot for iOS and its ability to control/compress memory). I have both 12.9” models and the second, along with my 10.5” models are perfect. I’ve had just a couple issues with the older 12.9” - possibly more to do with the A series chips used as the latest models are damn near twice as fast as their predecessors. LTE/cellular model’s mandatory IMO, & we now solely use them for ceremonies and as a second source for main wedding. Clubs, I use my 15”MacBook Pro, but it’s only four pounds and I switched from Serato to dJay about a year ago for good. The ability to use the same software on all my devices, sync them, & the integration of Spotify on the fly’s invaluable.

I’m also going to try the latest MacBooks - the two pound little guys. They’re in their third or fourth iteration and people who own em speak highly. The internal speeds (PCIe SSDs) of the MacBook and MacBook Pros has gone crazy the last 5 years. I have a 2012 original 15” retina MBP that still flies and works great. A 2015 15” that’s, IMO, the last great all encompassing I/O Mac we’ll see and while read/write speeds on the ‘12 are fast (650/600), My 2015 easily doubles the write and triples nearly, read speed. The 2017 is very very fast. Accessing, analyzing, & song input is almost immediate. The iPad is quick if you’ve downloaded the playlists but if you’re streaming, you’ll be slave to your speeds.

IMO, a 2 pound MacBook w/16GB RAM & 512 SSD, with a 12.9” 512GB iPad. Yes, it’s a bit spendy, and I’d buy the iPad second hand or wait’ll the new release. That said. Crap in. Crap out. You’re discussing your ‘source’, inarguably the most important piece of equipment in your chain. You need reliability, speed, efficiency, and possibly support. Algoriddim mskes dJay, supports mapping and several off the shelf controllers out of the box, is intuitive and easy to teach my new guys/gals and, again, works on my iPhone iPad MacBooks and iPod Touch (I don’t have the latter, but do carry a 160GB iPod Classic). The first couple iterations were great, #2 ready for live performances. The latest release of dJay Pro’s taken it to a new level and is a great example of why spending a bit extra (amongst plenty of others) on a Mac isn’t the price difference heard often on forums & the net. The Mac tax. I spent $35 to get dJay Pro on all devices. Bought Logic X for 200 saving hundreds I’d have to spend (in Windows world, if not thousands) to equal their abilities. The other cool option w/Apple is iTunes Match. $25/year and it’ll store 100,000 of your songs/slices of audio (iTunes purchases don’t count against your cap).
iTunes Match is a GodSend as it matches what it can and the replaces yours (if a lower bit rate) @ 256 AAC, & if it’s a unique track, audio or any ‘song’ it doesn’t get it just uploads your audio to your digital CD rack. Allowing you to easily access your library from any device any time. I’m also subscribing to Apple Music & Spotify, the latter with amazing integration w/dJay, Apple Music for its ability to interact with my music and bands that don’t stream - BMI/ASCAP is easily paid using purchased (owned) tracks or through the streaming services and the integration/aggregation between macOS iOS tvOS (Apple TV can make for some awesome visuals through a relatively cheap projector) and even watchOS (you’re able to control dJay from your watch if it’s taking longer than anticipated to relieve yourself:)

MacBook core i7/512GB/16GB (RAM) + 12.9” iPad Pro = 4 pounds of muscle. Certain to work for ya for plenty of years with, get this, resale value when it’s time to upgrade!
I’m still carrying 15” MacBook Pro and 12.9” iPad Pro but looking forward to delivery of the new MacBook and testing it - as they’re finally fitted with some grunt hopefully capable of peace of mind @ the gig. The biggest pro to using said gear. Peace. Of. Mind. I just don’t see them fail. Period.

PS: the percipitous drop in solid state drive prices is amazing. While a T3 or WD portable SSD’s a sweet investment, you can save yourself a 50 or 100 dollar bill buying an internal SSD w/external enclosure. I just put a TB SSD together for less than 200 bucks. Storing high quality music and videos along side @ 1080p in quantity has arrived! (& we’re talking 6-8oz to hold a 100,000 songs!)

[addysmith97]

It’s hard to say what the ideal backup plan is because it depends on what gear you use to DJ. But if you are using iPad then djay Pro is the best DJ Controller for you.

[c-hawk]

what would be the smallest most portable options for providing music backup?

i bring a spare laptop with me, but looking to travel lighter.

i dont want to use my phone as backup because its very unreliable, bad battery and besides it already has a job: its a phone

what do you think? maybe some kind of tablet?

How 'bout something like a light all-n-one system? Not this one specifically but something similar.

https://www.numark.com/images/sized/images/product_large/MixdeckExpress_1200x750_web-624x390.jpg

[DJ Bobcat]

It’s hard to say what the ideal backup plan is because it depends on what gear you use to DJ. But if you are using iPad then djay Pro is the best DJ Controller for you.

Yep... That’s sorta what I use... I use a Surface Pro with DJay Pro as my backup...
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180912/109499c3b4ba897b91db5cc50337523f.jpg
... That’s it on the left in the above pic.



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[Crushgroove]

Lately I've been handling 5 to 7hr long gigs solo and was using Numarks Idj pro with ipad running djay pro.
Unfortunately (for me) djay pro is not ready to use as my main system. I've had it totally freeze on me and the app close out of nowhere. leaving me looking like a complete fool.
My friends party this past Saturday that rig left me screwed from hour 2.... I was forced to play pre recorded mixes the rest of the night. which I didn't mind. I was Djng that night as a favor to him so it's not like I was getting paid. still sucked ass though. It was probably the most embarrassing moment I've ever experienced as a dj. lol
So now I was asking myself Why did this happen?? Honestly there's just way too many variables that could've caused failure that are out of my control. Which isn't ok with me.
I do not want to rely on a Wifi signal or an app alone. Because obviously... shit happens. I need access to physical music. To me that's the only real solution.
To have a time tested cd deck with optional USB drive.
I would gladly take back up CDs to mix off of.
That's just my experience.

[DJ Bobcat]

Lately I've been handling 5 to 7hr long gigs solo and was using Numarks Idj pro with ipad running djay pro.
Unfortunately (for me) djay pro is not ready to use as my main system. I've had it totally freeze on me and the app close out of nowhere. leaving me looking like a complete fool.
My friends party this past Saturday that rig left me screwed from hour 2.... I was forced to play pre recorded mixes the rest of the night. which I didn't mind. I was Djng that night as a favor to him so it's not like I was getting paid. still sucked ass though. It was probably the most embarrassing moment I've ever experienced as a dj. lol
So now I was asking myself Why did this happen?? Honestly there's just way too many variables that could've caused failure that are out of my control. Which isn't ok with me.
I do not want to rely on a Wifi signal or an app alone. Because obviously... shit happens. I need access to physical music. To me that's the only real solution.
To have a time tested cd deck with optional USB drive.
I would gladly take back up CDs to mix off of.
That's just my experience.

Good to know. I’m only using DJay Pro on the Microsoft Surface Pro as a backup, but the tablet also has Traktor installed on it. No matter, any of these DJ apps can fail. I had Traktor lock up on me once at a gig. You hope you never have it happen, and it’s no fun having to resort to using a backup system, but things happen. I used this system about a week ago, and it worked fine. I even let my tablet play a short mix while I was on a quick restroom break, and it worked flawlessly... thank goodness.😊

I was a little concerned. I just recently had to have the motherboard replaced in the main computer of the system I posted a picture of previously. This was the first time using since. I’m glad it’s doing OK. I had also recently added some other components to my rack... more stuff that can go wrong, but it didn’t.😊

[Crushgroove]

@djbobcat Indeed! I love the app and Spotify integration, but I simply can't trust it.
I'm definitely looking forward to receiving my PHASE DJ setup soon! Once that comes in I'll be using my Technics 1200m3ds and Traktor z2 mixer for gigs... With Phase DJ I won't have to worry about buggy calibrations or connection issues via the Needle or tonearm which was one of the main reasons I stopped taking my 1200's out.

[DJ Matt]

How 'bout something like a light all-n-one system? Not this one specifically but something similar.

https://www.numark.com/images/sized/images/product_large/MixdeckExpress_1200x750_web-624x390.jpg

it is definitely a good, and interesting option to have a controller that plays multiple media formats, in a way I wish all of them could at least play from a USB key.
although there is one Achilles heel to it: that is the fact that it is not entirely independent of your main system.
like, if your computer gives trouble then this will help but if the controller needs to be restarted, for example (which sometimes can be the case) then you would still need another form of backup
that is why i dont get too excited anymore about controllers that double up as mixers.

this happened to a friend of mine recently when playing in a club, some kind of glitch occurred that required her to turn off and back on the controller to fix it. we were chatting later about how to deal with this.
one of the ideas we came up with was brining along a miniature mixer like the DJ Tech Handy Kutz mixer, and simply running both your devices (primary and backup) through it.
its a handy thing to have also when two controller DJs are working together, if you dont want to carry around a large mixer

https://i.postimg.cc/Y0cX8Ntz/preview.jpg

[DJ Bobcat]

it is definitely a good, and interesting option to have a controller that plays multiple media formats, in a way I wish all of them could at least play from a USB key.
although there is one Achilles heel to it: that is the fact that it is not entirely independent of your main system.
like, if your computer gives trouble then this will help but if the controller needs to be restarted, for example (which sometimes can be the case) then you would still need another form of backup
that is why i dont get too excited anymore about controllers that double up as mixers.

this happened to a friend of mine recently when playing in a club, some kind of glitch occurred that required her to turn off and back on the controller to fix it. we were chatting later about how to deal with this.
one of the ideas we came up with was brining along a miniature mixer like the DJ Tech Handy Kutz mixer, and simply running both your devices (primary and backup) through it.
its a handy thing to have also when two controller DJs are working together, if you dont want to carry around a large mixer

https://i.postimg.cc/Y0cX8Ntz/preview.jpg

That’s an interesting looking option. I have two rack systems... one large and one small. I have Denon MC6000MK2’s mounted in the tops of both. The large system has a Denon DN-410X mounted in the front. For some time, the small one didn’t have a secondary mixer because it only has 2U in the front. It’s getting to the point that fewer manufacturers are building 1U rack-mountable mixers. My wireless mic system occupies 1U, and I recently added a Rolls RM69 mixer, through which I can attach my main and backup systems, as well as the outputs from both wireless mics. It works pretty good. Not as nice as the DN-410X, but good enough.


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