Gadgets Only a DJ Could Love

I have been a DJ for over 10 years and have accumulated some pretty cool DJ equipment. I must say that my wife remains unmoved. She is my Rock of Gibraltar. Anyway, I have 5 gadgets that are essential to allowing me to be at my most creative and flexible at a gig. I always need at least a couple of ways to do something just in case I want to change it up. So here they are.

1) Laptop with a Pentium or Centrino type processor and Cd burner. I would say that the other laptop specifications are up to you. Even the software that you use is up to you. The processor, the important part, will allow smooth play of your music without skipping. The Cd burner will at the least be useful in getting your music onto a playable format for your car or your friends to listen to. You can ramp up the use of your laptop to being the center piece to your set by adding DJ software and peripherals to it to expand, but this is completely up to you and your style. For me, I like the flexibility. If I need to do that, I can.

2) Cortex Dmix300. I love this thing. I have done whole DJ sets with nothing more than this and a thumb drive. The Cortex Dmix300 is one of the newest pieces to enter the fray of DJ equipment and I was one of the first to get mine. It is basically two DJ Mp3 players and a mixer in one piece of equipment. I am going to upgrade to the Dmix600 which is a more tricked out version. It has greater loop and cue features. The Dmix600 also has touch sensitive platters. Its release has been on-going because of perfecting the item before it hits the markets. It should be a winner with the newbie DJs because of its all-in-one concept. The advantage for me on both the Dmix300/600 styles is that it has second inputs. I can use it as the center piece of my DJ set and expand it from there. With the built in mixer and eventually the effects, on the 600, I can integrate my software application into my set, some standard turntables, or best yet my next two items.

3) Stanton C.324. I was searching for a way to play and control Cd's and Mp3 Cd's along side my Cortex Dmix300. The Dmix300 has a feature for that but I wanted to keep myself more fluid and flexible. The C.324s were perfect. The C.324s have actually better control of the media than my Dmix300. Each Cd turntable has its own effects which are BPM controllable. It has a cues, loops, and samples. Touch sensitive turntables. Scratching options. Reverse. You name it, this little Cd/Mp3 player will definitely do it. The value of these are great too. For the amount of control you get, it was a no brainer for me. I can also have this as the center of my set because with a few Mp3 Cd's, I can create a full and lively set as long as I have a great mixer. This brings me to my next item.

4) Gemini PS-626USB. This is on my wish list. It is a 5 line 3 channel mixer. Which means, you can have 5 different pieces plugged into it and you can mix them down to the cross-fader which controls what you hear. It has a cool USB feature which will allows you to plug in your laptop or PC. The PC can then record digitally anything that you play through the mixer. Also you can play your laptop through your mixer as a sixth line! Is that cool or what! Sorry getting a little excited. Anyway the flexibility this will allow me would enable me to utilize all my gear or just one or two pieces efficiently and with flair.

5) Korg Kaoss Pad. Now what if you took all the sound that you created from the above equipment and sent it through some effects processor, you would have chaos right? Nope, you would have Kaoss. The Korg Kaoss Pad is also on my wish list. It would provide me the ability to add any kind of effect onto my mix or an individual piece of equipment, depending on how I hook it up. It has a smooth finger touch pad. When you touch it, you change the way the sound reaches the speakers, instantly. It has several different effects of course like filters, delays, re-verb, flanging, isolator, slicer, and auto panning. There are 100 effects programs. This will boost my creativity 1000%. You can also sample on it as well and in turn put that back into your mix. It is an elegant and cool addition to anyone's equipment.

Well these are my Top 5 DJ gadgets that provide me the best flexibility, sound, and enjoyment for me and my listeners. Maybe you like some of them and the others, not so much. Its OK. All DJs and their gadgets are different and that is the best thing about us.