This time Sam demonstrates how to extend a simple powered speaker into a club style system by adding an active sub bass. The Wharfedale Pro Titans have an in-built mixer so you can plug a smart phone, i-Pod or i-Phone directly in with just one TRS cable. Additionally you could plug in a mic, DJ rig or even an instrument like a guitar. Add the sub and hear the bass drop! Sam’s had over 20 years using audio and lighting equipment and is an expert in installation and production work. And he’s a bit of a character!
Fantastic news! GEMINI’s products just landed and are available at Lightsounds! CDJ700 professional CD/Media Player, CDMP2700 professional Dual CD/Media Player, CDMP1400 1RU rack-mount CD player (perfect for venues) CNTRL7 - the new GEMINI 2 Channel controller – bundled with Virtual DJ, Studio Grade Monitors SR5, SR8 and much more! Gemini’s goal was to design products that offer value and innovation in the DJ and Pro Audio markets. Since 1974, Gemini has evolved and thrived by understanding the needs of the customers and recognizing industry trends.
The International Dance Music Awards have announced the category winners at the 27th annual winter music conference in Miami. Some of the usual suspects are there like Skrillex, Swedish House Mafia, Avicii and Guetta but the product categories had the biggest surprises with Pioneer taking out a swag of awards including best mixer, best CD player, best headphones and best manufacturer. Possibly the biggest surprise however is the DDJT1 taking out best new product of the year ahead of Natïve Instruments’ TraktorS4.
It’s a new era for Lightsounds. The customer’s needs – in both equipment and service – have changed. And Lightsounds have changed. That famous landmark yellow building on Parramatta Road is no more. And now there’s a new flagship outlet that goes with the times.
Conveniently located at 459A Canterbury Road Campsie, the new Lightsounds superstore is a revelation. Across one level all your staging, lighting, DJ, and audio needs right there for you.
This new space is bigger, brighter. Expanded and new product lines will give you options and choices you never thought possible. The brands you know are still there:
Pioneer, Native Instruments, Ableton, AKAI, Numark, KRK, Mixvibes, Traktor, Wharfedale Pro, UDG, and more.
And it isn’t just about the products – beside simple advantages like on-site parking, the room to demonstrate everything from lasers to PA systems, karaoke jukeboxes to intelligent LED lighting at their best, and the ease of direct street-level loadout – there’s new services to make your Lightsounds experience that much better.
New production and installation departments will guide your needs. Onsite training facilities and even a DJ Academy, will have you making the best of the gear Lightsounds have got for you – whether beginner or pro, and whatever your budget. An expanded hire department will handle your one-off party and event requirements.
Some things won’t change. Lightsounds will still be offering the best value deals and prices, bar none. Guaranteed. The new superstore will offer trade-in services, and terms to suit – to get your business, and keep it. The superstore will have sales, and special offers. Clearance and ex-demo stock will be available at unbeatable cost.
It’s a whole new Lightsounds experience. Be part of it.
For those who aren’t familiar with The Mix Vibes Cross pack, it is a software/hardware package, designed to interface with your pre existing DJ equipment, which allows you to mix music from your computers music library. A lot of DJ’s these days are looking to integrate this software in to their set up’s as it saves on vinyl and CD purchases and allows downloaded tracks to be available to mix immediately.
The Mix Vibes Cross Pack comes with the software CD, audio interface hardware, cables, two control vinyl and two control CD’s.
Mix Vibes is only a recent addition to the Australian DJ market, only recently become available here after being on sale in Europe and championed by some big name DJ’s since 2003. In that time, software developers have spent time streamlining the program, adding features and improving the quality of the interface hardware to deliver the best quality sound.
Compared with the better known DJ’ing programs, the ‘Cross Pack’ does offer a value alternative while still delivering a professional standard features.
The software is compatible with Windows 7, XP, Vista and Mac OSX. It’s easy to install and works with just about any sound card. The installation process takes minutes and from there you can load in your music or iTunes library and start mixing right away.
The program does allow you to import play lists from a few other DJ’ing programs without losing cue points and loops created within those programs. Mix Vibes is also big on media organisation, enticing you to create and keep track of sets, flag tracks for future use, view the album covers and keep track of your performances with a history function.
Mix Vibes keeps you fairly busy with a variety of features built in the program – An FX bank, visual beat synchronization, easy to use loop functions and MIDI compatibility. These tools allow you to develop and improve your playing style over time and require some study to get the best out of them. Visually at first there seems to be a lot happening on screen with a variety of options and buttons. Floating the mouse over each of the icons tells what each button does. Sounds silly, but this actually quelled my frustration by telling me what I needed to know immediately as I was getting to know the program. The beat synchronisation is fairly accurate, sometimes seeming a little out, but I’m willing to forgive that as I have ears and I use them.
Part of the Mix Vibes mission statement is to be ‘open’ allowing DJ’s to interface there hardware with the program. This is good news for Producers, with a preset list as long as your arm of compatible MIDI controllers available on the MIX Vibes site. (www.mixvibes.com)
The program also comes equipped with a ‘learning function’ that allows you to add your MIDI controller if the program is unfamiliar with it.
Mix Vibes is compatible with both CDJ’s and turntables and comes with free control medium for both. I personally use control vinyl, as I prefer the hands on experience that only come from handing a record. The control vinyls are hardwearing and highly responsive. So far they have withstood my heavy handed scratching and adjustments during performances.
The hardware interface it’s self, known as U46MK2, has several inputs for your CDJ, turnies or MIDI as well as an input for a microphone if so desired. Mine has copped a fair amount of abuse, being dragged from gig to house party to Jam session and being unplugged and replugged. It has proven to be reliable and durable over time and *beer resistant over time.
(*Spilling alcoholic beverages on the U46MK2 is not recommended.)
So if you’re on the lookout for a new DJ’ing program to integrate with your equipment or just starting out I would seriously suggest taking a look at what they Cross Pack has to offer. It’s a value alternative to others DJ’ing programs on the market, boosts many useful features and handles to rough life of a performing DJ.
Myself and Sasha went to LightSounds in Darlinghurst to check out the CDJ2000′s and the Pioneer DJM2000 Mixer that is available for use. The equipment was brand spanking new and the space was really comfortable. There were LED lights in the booth coupled with a really nice clear sound. Made the whole experience really good, nice and easy to get started and ended up coming out learning new skills on this equipment as well as honing existing skills.
Lightsounds was the company behind two of Sydney’s more prestigious events this recent New Year’s eve, having produced the lighting and sound for Hed Kandi’s Glitter ball, and the $1000 per ticket Fort Denison Cocktail party. The Daily Telegraph had listed these two events as being high on the social calendar and essential places to be for NYE 2011, with uninterrupted views of the harbor and fireworks, along with stunning audio and entertainment lighting on show. Lightsounds Production Manager Ben Vickers pulled these two events together with a high degree of proficiency and professionalism ensuring that revelers would have an evening to remember.
Hed Kandi’s Glitterball at Cruise Bar
With 5 bars split over 3 levels and floor to ceiling windows, Hed Kandi’s swanky Glitter Ball was sure to be a premium New Year’s Eve destination. There were 2 different parties to choose from, Level 1 & 2 featuring the Main Arena and Disco Revenge, and Level 3 the exclusive Players Penthouse. 3000 party-goers packed into the Crusie Bar and partied the night away to a slick line-up of local and overseas DJs and producers bringing anunforgettable experience to herald in 2012. An Audiocentre vertical line array was employed for the main stage area offering 26,000 watts of thumping yet pristine audio. Over 80m of trussing was used with 12 PR moving heads and an additional 60 lighting fixtures including full colour lasers and LED disco lights.
A comment from Hed Kandi’s promoter:
“When planning our Sydney 2011 New Years Eve party, THE GLITTERBALL, we wanted it to be the biggest and best Hed Kandi party in Australia yet. That’s why we contacted Lightsounds.
Production Manager Ben Vickers and the Lightsounds team delivered in a big way. From concept to creation their attention to detail left nothing to chance. Stunning lighting and truss structures combined with the blisteringly loud, yet clean and clear new Audiocentre Line Array made it an event to remember. We could not be happier with the result.
For anyone looking for a higher standard in party production I have no hesitation in recommending Lightsounds to handle the job.”
Teko Dwyer Creative Director Hedkandi Australia /Artistic Licence International
Mix Maestro DJ Ravine gets busy on the Mixvibes U Mix Control Pro.
Featuring a digital/analogue controller, software and soundcard the U Mix Control Pro is all you need to drop some serious beats. Watch Ravine bust out a teaser mix from his his latest CD Hardcore Addiction Vol 5. Mental!
There are now so many different DJ products on the market for interfacing with computer software, and while many seem to be just an answer to market demand, some go that extra step and give the users features they can utilise to improve their performance. The American Audio VMS4 is one of those products. This unit manages to give the DJ more options and flexibility than just about anything else on the market. Let’s take a look at what it has to offer.
UNIVERSAL CONTROL
The VMS4 is a DJ controller designed to integrate with any software, and in doing so make it possible for the user to set it up to their liking. It comes with all the features you would expect from such a unit; tempo control faders, volume faders, cross-faders, jog wheels and rotary controls for gain, as well as high, mid and low EQ. But it also gives you more where other units leave you wanting. All four channels have their own gain, EQ and volume controls, so there is no need to switch between two sets. The front panel gives you all sorts of options, such as cross fader curve adjustment and channel assignment, headphone cue, mix and volume controls, and also gain and EQ controls for the two microphone inputs supplied.
NOT JUST A MIDI CONTROLLER
The VMS4 goes one step further than being just a controller for your software. It is actually an analogue mixer with two microphone inputs as well as both line and phono inputs for each of the four audio channels. As this is combined with the USB interface for MIDI control, the VMS4 also acts as an audio interface for your computer, giving you 16-bit 44.1 kHz audio transfer via USB. That means you can use it to record mixes from analogue devices, use it to control your DJ software or, in the unwanted event that your computer should crash mid set (which they so often can), it will operate as a traditional DJ mixer for other audio sources. Not to mention you can have two vocal signals running along with your mix from the microphone inputs.
MIDI MAD
The VMS4 gives you complete control with whatever software package you choose to run with it, whether it be the bundled Virtual DJ LE or any other software with MIDI learn capabilities. With 62 assignable MIDI buttons, four assignable rotary encoders, 34 assignable rotary controllers and five assignable linear fader controllers, there is not much within your software that will require you to go to the mouse. And even if you do, there is a mouse touch pad built into the centre of the console. So, plug it in and let the computer do the processing. You get to control the VMS4. That’s where the fun begins.
American Audio is proud to announce that 3 times USA DMC champion, DJ Etronik is now an ambassador for the VMS4 digital work station. The first DJ to have represented the United States at the DMC World Finals in all three categories, Los Angeles-based Etronik won the 2010 USA competition and went on to compete for the third time at the world finals, only narrowly missing out on the top spot in the World DJ Championship category. Along with Etronik’s spectacular re-mixing and beat-juggling performances on the VMS4, he also has his debut album ready for release entitled ‘Terror Bull’. The VMS4 has 4 selectable dual-purpose MIDI or analogue channels, so it can be used either with a computer and USB for digital DJ-ing or as a regular mixer without a computer. The Virtual DJ LE software that comes with the unit makes it easy for even total novices to get started in the digital DJ-ing world. And if you prefer to use other DJ software programs, the versatile VMS4 platform can accommodate those too, via free driver downloads on this American Audio’s VMS4 website. Go to lightsounds.com.au for your nearest outlet.
The program does allow you to import play lists from a few other DJ’ing programs without losing cue points and loops created within those programs. Mix Vibes is also big on media organisation, enticing you to create and keep track of sets, flag tracks for future use, view the album covers and keep track of your performances with a history function.
Mix Vibes is compatible with both CDJ’s and turntables and comes with free control medium for both. I personally use control vinyl, as I prefer the hands on experience that only come from handing a record. The control vinyls are hardwearing and highly responsive. So far they have withstood my heavy handed scratching and adjustments during performances.
