Monday, September 25, 2006

DJ Console MK2 released for Mac

One year after the release of DJ Console MK2 for PC, Hercules releases its DJ Console MK2 Mac Edition, with Native Instruments Traktor 3 LE software.
Compared to the previous DJ Console Mac, base on DJ Console MK1, DJ Console MK2 Mac Edition has not only a new cosmetic, but also new audio features as 2 stereo audio inputs, so that in addition to mixing your MP3 files on your computer, you connect vinyl turntables or CD players to DJ Console MK2 audio inputs.
DJ Console MK2 for Mac offers hybrid mixing in merging analogue and digital audio in the same mix, since you can:
- set the gain on analogue inputs sound in Traktor 3 LE to set a similar level for external sources and MP3 files,
- set the volume on analogue inputs with DJ Console MK2 volume fader,
- equalize analogue inputs via with DJ Console MK2 EQ buttons
- mix analogue inputs with MP3 files on DJ Console MK2 crossfader.

DJ Console MK2 Mac Edition is compatible with Mac OS 10.4 on both G4/G5 and also Mac Intel based Mac computers.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

How can I preview my music with DJ Control MP3?

DJ Control MP3 is a DJ mix controller without audio, so you need a 4-channel or 5.1-channel sound card to preview your music.

In VirtualDJ DJC Edition PC
- you get the mix on output 1/2 (front left/front right),
- you get the preview on output 5/6 (surround left/surround right),
then you preview a deck when you push down the monitor button of the relevant deck on DJ Control MP3 (the button with a headphone logo) AND YOU KEEP THE PREVIEW BUTTON PUSHED DOWN, since the preview stops as soon as you release the preview buttons.

If you don’t hear any sound in the output 5/6:
1) Make sure you have enabled the output 5-6: click on Start > Settings > Control Panel > Sounds and Audio devices > Volume : Speaker Settings : Advanced Settings > 5.1 Surround Speakers. If your setting for speakers is stereo, you cannot get a sound in the output 5-6.
2) Make sure your headphones have a low impedance (32 ohms or less) since standard sound output on 5-6 has a line level, a level not strong enough to playback sound on high impedance headphones, so you can use 200 or 600 ohms headphones only with headphones preamplifier.

How can I suppress the background sound of the preview in the mix output and vice-versa?

You should not hear the sound of the preview in your mix or vice versa, so if you hear it, a 3D virtualisation effect is positioning the sound in your multi-channel sound card. You must disable the 3D positioning in your sound card control panel.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Is DJ Control MP3 compatible with Mac OS?

Yes, DJ Control MP3 is compatible with Mac OS 10.3 and 10.4 if you download the drivers on Hercules website.
But there is no DJ software compatible with Mac OS in DJ Control MP3 box, so you need to have your own DJ software for Mac OS as Traktor or MegaSeg.