Hi Jashnimal!
I used to be a very keen amateur DJ using MP3 Mixers to create my own
House and Trance CDs, so I should be in a good position to recommend
mixing software to you.
There are three commonly used software packages which I think would be
useful to you, and I shall discuss the advantages and disadvantages of
each one with you. These are 'MixMeister','Virtual Turntables' and
'Visual Disco Mix' respectively.
MixMiester
----------
Mixmeister is probably the most suitable software for your needs.
There are currently 3 versions available, of which MixMeister 4
contains all the features you are looking for. Product details are
available from:
MixMeister: Automated MP3 Mixing Software
http://www.mixmeister.com/products.htm
A review of MixMeister which concisely sums-up its abilities is given
at Rocket Download (http://www.rocketdownload.com/Details/Musi/6512.htm)
and reads as follows:
"MixMeister will take a block of your MP3 files and instantly mix them
into a sequence of tunes. [...] As you add tunes to the queue, the
program intuitively calculates each song's Beats per Minute (BPM) and
builds a seamless and elegant mix between them."
You can download a free trial of MixMeister from:
Download MixMeister
http://www.mixmeister.com/download.htm
I can personally vouch for this piece of software as being very easy
to use and giving high quality results. For a DJ new to the MP3
mixing scene, this would be a good first choice.
Virtual Turntables
------------------
Before MixMeister was created, Virtual Turntables was probably the
best MP3 mixing software available to amateur users. The user
interface can be altered using a series of different skins so that you
can tailor it to your precise needs. Its general 'feel' is similar to
that of a CD mixing desk, and it has the same basic functionality.
A description of Virtual Turntables (VTT) is available from:
Carrot Innovations | Virtual Turntables | Overview
http://carrot.prohosting.com/vtt_overview.shtml
Five-Star Shareware in their review of VTT, say that:
"It is not simply a replacement for traditional turntables, its a step
beyond. For each song, characteristics such as BPM, cue positions,
volume, and notes can all be stored and later easily recalled"
Five-Star Shareware: Virtual Turntables: Review
http://www.5star-shareware.com/Music/JukeboxDJandKaraoke/virtual-turntables.html
A free trial of VTT can be downloaded from:
Carrot Innovations | Virtual Turntables | Downloads
http://carrot.prohosting.com/vtt_downloads.shtml
Unlike MixMeister, Virtual Turntables does not have built-in 'beats
per minute' (bpm) detection. It is necessary to either click the
mouse in time with the music to calculate the tempo, or alternatively
use a separate piece of software to do it for you. Similarly, whereas
MixMeister automatically starts second mp3 at the right moment, VTT
leaves this to the user. The result is that VTT requires slightly
more practice from the DJ to create good mixes, but is ultimately more
flexible.
A free BPM detection application which would be useful in conjunction
with Virtual Turntables is 'BPM Wizard'; further information and
downloads are available from:
BPM Wizard
http://www.djmixpro.com/bpmwizard/bpmwizard.html
A drawback of using Virtual Turntables is that it does not directly
support burning mixes to CD. However, by recording your mix with a
'wav editor' or sound recording software, you can easily save your mix
as a .wav file and write it to an audio CD with your regular CD
burning application. My preferred sound recording program is 'Cool
Edit 2000', available from:
Syntrillium Software: Cool Edit 2000
http://www.syntrillium.com/cooledit/
By running Cool Edit 2000 at the same time as VTT, and clicking the
record icon when you are about to start your mix, you will be able to
digitally save your DJing.
Although the need for a second piece of software to record your CD may
be a disadvantage, I would still recommend Virtual Turntables as a
very useful MP3 mixing tool. If you are unable to acquire MixMeister,
then VTT would be a good second choice.
Visual Disco Mix
----------------
Visual Disco Mix (VDM) is aimed at the high-end MP3 mixer market. It
is widely thought that VDM and MixMeister are the two dominant MP3
mixing applications currently available, an opinion re-iterated at:
Future Producers: Forums
http://www.futureproducers.com/forums/showthread/threadid/22263
Details of VDM are available from:
Visual Disco Mix
http://www.visualdiscomix.com/htdocs/features.html
Like Virtual Turntables, Visual Disco Mix is a live-mixing
application, and therefore does not support CD burning directly.
Again however, it is relatively simple to record your mixes using a
program such as Cool Edit 2000.
One fact that is worth bearing in mind when thinking about Visual
Disco Mix, is that to ensure very high quality mixes and sound
reproduction it uses a large amount of RAM. To mix a 12 minute track
requires 512 MB of memory! This is probably too much for your current
specific needs, but if you find yourself becoming more interested in
the field of MP3 mixing (which I found is quite possible), then you
may wish to consider Visual Disco Mix.
A series of comments and reviews of VDM are given at:
mp3machine - Visual Discomix
http://www.mp3machine.com/software/Visual_Discomix/
---------------------
I hope you find this answer useful; as I mentioned previously, I think
MixMeister is most likely to be the best software for your
requirements, but VTT and VDM are also worth some thought. If you
would like clarification of any area, please do not hesitate to ask
before rating my answer.
Good luck with your DJing!
mcfly-ga :)
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"virtual turntables" "carrot innovations"
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