DJ Program needed

[Karanight]

Since I've been doing karaoke shows I've never needed a DJ program and for background music I've always used iTunes. Recently I've been ask more and more to do DJing and iTunes is just not up to it. I'm looking for recommendations for a DJ program.

[dave]

MegaSeg is the one i've heard the most.

[DeusExMachina]

The main heavy hitters are Traktor Pro, Serato Scratch Live, Virtual DJ, and djay. IMHO, Megaseg really doesn't make the cut. (Sorry)

[Karanight]

Thanks. I'm surprised you say Megaseg doesn't cut the mustard cos I've looked at it and so far I'm impressed with what they say about it, but I'll look at the ones you mention except Virtual DJ. I've used that helping someone out once and I didn't like it. I'll do the research and then It'll be a case of Pay's your money and takes your chance.

[DeusExMachina]

If you read professional DJ reviews, you will find that Megaseg is almost universally panned as sub par. While the interface is pretty, it does not do many things necessary for professional DJ work, at all, and those it does do are often poorly implemented. Even more importantly, it has a tendency to be VERY CPU intensive, to the point of making tracks stutter.

[Tashmoo]

I've been using Megaseg 4-5 days a week for five years, no complaints. I find it has way more features than I need, so many that I find no need to even upgrade to the latest version. I'm running it on a Powerbook G4 with 2 megs of ram, and I often have Itunes and Safari open too. It has stuttered a couple times, but I can't duplicate the bug.
I am not familiar with the other programs mentioned, they probably would do a great job too.
Good luck with whatever decision you make.

[Karanight]

Thanks to those that have commenter here. I've now made my mind up, here's what and why.
I've just got back from the BPM in Birmingham UK, the show for professional DJ's. I couldn't help but be struck by two very visual things. One was that virtually every computer on the stands were Apple/Macs. When I asked why I was told Apple/Macs give the best sound without any crashing problems. "Can you imagine a crash whilst giving a demonstration" is one quote "or me giving a demonstration to a punter and the punter then produced an Apple with better sound than us" the guy continued, say's it all really.
The other thing I couldn't help noticing is the fact the the only DJ software I saw (on all the stands that demonstrated music kit) was Tractor Pro, so thats what I bought.
It was sad that there was an extremely small amount for KJ's but than there's only one KJ program to be had and thats obviously kJams. I'm sure thats what we'll see there when Dave's finished.
It was very reassuring that (as far as I'm aware) I'm the only Presenter in Stockport that puts sound (Apple/Mac) and a smooth running show (kJams & Apple/Mac) first for the punters.
Keep up the good work Dave

[DeusExMachina]

Right. I tried to put my recommendations in the order that I felt people who used the software would rank them, and that is definitely Traktor Pro, Serato, and VDJ.
Traktor is kinda expensive, but if you can afford it, and the cost makes sense to you, you will NOT be disappointed. Other than video mixing (virtual DJ's claim to fame) Traktor Pro has more features than most people will ever need, and will perform glitch free night after night.
That said, if all you are doing is playing one track after another, with pauses for announcements or whatnot, Any of them are fine, including Megaseg. But as soon as you start doing any hard core mixing, beat matching, back cue scratching, etc., that is where you will see the issues start to surface, and Traktor and Serato earn their keep. Especially if you are using external vinyl controllers to drive the software.

And Dave, if you want to hit up the trade shows and show off kJams, but are just too busy, I could probably find the time!

[dave]

I would be utterly stoked to be represented at a trade show. wow that's awesome.

[Karanight]

You should be.
The next one will be 12 months from now so if you get it together by then It might be worth while doing. Problem is, these trade shows are phenomenally expensive to present at them, I know, I've done it.

[DeusExMachina]

Heck, just fly me over with two pieces of poster
board shaped like purple CDs with microphones and I'll stand in front wearing them as a sandwich board. ; )

"C'mon down to kJamsville!"

[tetzel]

FWIW ... I have used several programs, but for simplicity-sake, I like DJ 1800. www.dj1800.com.

My only fear is that it hasn't been upgraded for quite a while. It lacks some features, granted, but it has a commonly used interface (looks just like a dual CD player, plus it has 4 separate trays to load songs into). It's pretty basic, but I have never had any crashing issues with it, and it uses iTunes libraries pretty nicely. Get some demos and find what you are most comfortable with for your type of gigs.

[tetzel]

On second thought, maybe Dave should just develop something since kJams is so awesome.

[dave]

if i actually make my million bucks from this venture and can retire from my "day job" and can hire some programmers and testers, then yes, kJams will morph into a full DJ/KJ/MediaPresenter software. If you'd like to see that, please tell everyone you know to buy kJams, and tell them to tell everyone they know, ad infinitum.

[relax924]

Before I bought a computer fast enough to run Kjams and Megaseg at the same time I exported all of my Karaoke to Quicktime and just used Megaseg to dj and karaoke. Both of the men that are behind these two programs are easy to work with and customer support is great. Megaseg has never let me down. Kjams gets better every day.