another DJ question / recommendation thread...?

[Ahamari]

Greetings... and possibly cue the groans. lol. I tend to be a little wordy so I must apologize if this is TL;DR material for some.

I have already cased a few places that are hiring (to get a feel for whether or not the fairly extensive music collection I've been working on ripping from CDs to my computer would satisfy their needs) and decided that this is what I would like to do for at least some of my spare time here. This is jumping the gun since I'm not certain yet what broadcasting program I intend to use, but due to the requirements of most of the places I actually *want* to apply, I have to be able to do voiceovers.

I have done some searching on the SL forums, on Google, and even straying into YouTube prior to creating this thread, but I am having some trouble wrapping my head around what I am seeing as I start preparing to apply anywhere as a DJ. Programs I have looked into the most are RadioDJ, SAM, Mixx, and Winamp.

I'm aware that many DJs, if not most, speak highly of SAM, but it seems pretty expensive for my purposes. I'm not trying to go pro here or anything. I don't even know if this is something I will enjoy (though I suspect I will, I officially reserve the right to be *wrong*). This is also why I'm not "seriously" considering RadioDJ (which is what my adorably stammery, non-voicing DJ husband uses - and what I've actually played with a little, off air of course). RadioDJ would require spending RL money to buy an extra piece of hardware before I could finagle a way to force it to permit me to speak to listeners.

Mixxx was crashy on my PC, which was almost a relief since in all honesty it looked sort of intimidating. (After seeing its interface and comparing it with VirtualDJ, I think both look a little above my technical ability, at least for right now from a complete novice standpoint.)

So unless others have any suggestions for software to look into, that leaves Winamp, which apparently can be bludgeoned into a position that allows voiceovers, but otherwise looks almost too simplistic (like I can and probably will start with it but might want to move on within a month or two).

Finally, the questions:

Has anyone here successfully used Winamp to DJ? Did you use it with or without voice? Is there functionality for altering pitch, tempo, etc of tracks or would I need to use other software for that? Are you still using Winamp or did you pick up a different sort of software? If you've never used Winamp, what do you use and how difficult was it to master? Have you used any other types of software? Are there any you would recommend in particular to a nooblet that needs a free and voice-capable broadcaster (at the minimum)?

Any responses are appreciated, whether in depth or only a few words. I know that software does change over time (apparently a lot of people are waiting for Winamp to become Win10 friendly, which isn't an issue for me) and some of the years-old information I have found may not even apply anymore.

Warm regards to you all.

[Monti Messmer]

Hello, as i started DJing i used Winamp with the Icecast plugin and a microphone enhancer plugin, sorry forgot the name.

The bad thing is, Winamp isn´t supported or maintained anymore but the old plugins are still working. Just a bit hard to download sometimes.

Sam is a pro-software that sometimes is an overkill for the common SL-DJ´s.

winamp has playlists and voice-over and blend songs .... without the overload of functions for adjusting blend-in out time, volume of each song and whatnot.

Mixxx is a great software, not only because it´s free. Still i never got used to it really.

Finally i wrote my own software, a bit like SAM without all the unneeded stuff and perfect fit into Virtual DJing, not mixing!

Monti

[Catrie]

I use WinAMP to create my playlists, for SAM, but have never used it to DJ with.  MIXX is a bit complicated if you are just starting out. SAM is very easy to use and set up, especially if you are a beginner like I was.   I have some DJs, at my station, that love VirtualDJ.  VirtualDJ does cost money, though.  I have used various versions of SAM for the past 4 years now.  I was able to get the full package at half price, during the holidays.  

 

I noticed that SAM now has a DJ package just for Second Life.  It's $15 a month, for personal use.  You might want to try it out for a month and see if you like it or not.  Here's the link .  Hope this helps.