MP3 mixers ?

Zero-G

Zero-G
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Hey, does anyone know where I can get an MP3 mixer ?

I've decided that since I've ripped my entire CD collection to MP3 it would be easier to carry around an external hard drive with my tunes and possibly an MP3 mixer, if such a thing exists. So does anyone know if they exist ?

Where should I look for one ?

I'm not really looking for software, I'd rather a hardware one if possible, it's just so much easier to work with hardware than software for mixing, and it would mean I'd have to get a laptop to carry around too, and it would have to be powerful enough for good mixing and have 2 audio outputs with a really good soundcard as well, so could be a bit pricey.

Any ideas ?

Thanks, marc. :ibiggrin:
 
mp3 sound quality is quite a bit worse than CD quality. Should be alright if you're only gonna use them at home but you definately wont get a good sound on a club system.
 
Hrmm - not sure I would agree - yes mp3 quality can be crap - it can also be good - ie good enough for a club system. Much of the freqnecies that are lost are not heard by most ears.

It's all about how the original source is encoded and what you use to decode:

http://mp3decoders.mp3-tech.org/tests.html

dukas said:
mp3 sound quality is quite a bit worse than CD quality. Should be alright if you're only gonna use them at home but you definately wont get a good sound on a club system.


As for a MP3 mixer I know Numark do a lovely looking Ipod mixer, they have some info on their website but I cannot find one for sale anywhere. The new one idj2 uses only 1 iPod :Smile3:

http://www.numark.com/products/product_view.php?v=overview&n=169
 
InstincT said:
Hrmm - not sure I would agree - yes mp3 quality can be crap - it can also be good - ie good enough for a club system. Much of the freqnecies that are lost are not heard by most ears.

I used to think that, played out with 320kbps CBR LAME rips a couple of times and although it was "good enough" (i.e. no complaints from anyone) I wasn't really satisfied and re-ripped to .wav
 
dukas said:
mp3 sound quality is quite a bit worse than CD quality. Should be alright if you're only gonna use them at home but you definately wont get a good sound on a club system.

people always say that, but i'm really not convinced it makes any difference when you're playing it through a club sound system. 90% of parties i go to the system is turned up too loud (for the system) and/or doesn't properly recreate the sound.. lots of bass and treble and f-all else in most cases.

the difference between a decently encoded mp3 (ie. one that recreates the full frequency spectrum) and a wav is pretty small compared to the shit that some sound systems do music...

that said i don't see any excuse for mixing with mp3s in a club situation, how hard can it be to take a caselogic along? unless maybe you haven't bought any of the tunes in the first place...

edit: i'm not having a go at anyone mind! i've not heard of a mixer that can play mp3s off a hard drive, unless those ipod mixers count. (and i dont think they do)

surely the easiest way to mix with mp3s is to burn them onto cd? you could put a (few) sets worth of tunes onto 2 cds (same mp3s on both) and then mix between any 2 tunes using cd decks that read mp3s. (lots of them do these days...)
 
that's what I was going to say: How difficult is to carry round the discs??

Anyway, recent promoters just dont look at the sound system anymore, and they always get really excited and turn it up far too much at the end so there's this horrible distortion over evrything. There's a lesson here, spend some more time and money on the sound system rather than these shitty nights some people are putting on. :imad: :irolleyes

... I mean if I wanted to go to a happy hardcore night I go to one...
 
the difference between a decently encoded mp3 (ie. one that recreates the full frequency spectrum) and a wav is pretty small compared to the shit that some sound systems do music...
First off, there's no mp3 *decoder* that can "recreate" the full/original spectrum. Like JPEGs for graphics, mp3 encoding does its best to throw away stuff *most* people would miss while retaining the important bits, so the signal is shafted twice: during encoding (some of the signal is forever lost) as well as when decoded (when the data is *interpreted*). Additionally, joint stereo mode (by far the most prevalent) will introduce phasing artifacts at the crossover frequency. Also, hats and noisy sounds in general are especially prone to gross modification, as the whole psychoacoustic model breaks down when faced with a highly noisy signal. Finally, dynamics are modified during encoding *and* it's quite easy to get clipping from perfectly mastered material (eg hats and snares sound crunchier than original).

Generally, most won't notice the actual artifacts, but careful listening reveals that the overall sound is somehow hollow and generally cold and uninvolving, especially so on a decent sound system. The better the sound system, the worse the mp3 sound gets. On a bad sound system, nothing will sound good anyway.
 
Zero-G said:
Hey, does anyone know where I can get an MP3 mixer ?

I've decided that since I've ripped my entire CD collection to MP3 it would be easier to carry around an external hard drive with my tunes and possibly an MP3 mixer, if such a thing exists. So does anyone know if they exist ?

Where should I look for one ?

I'm not really looking for software, I'd rather a hardware one if possible, it's just so much easier to work with hardware than software for mixing, and it would mean I'd have to get a laptop to carry around too, and it would have to be powerful enough for good mixing and have 2 audio outputs with a really good soundcard as well, so could be a bit pricey.

Any ideas ?

Thanks, marc. :ibiggrin:

I've seen this one in action. It works
http://www.nusystems.co.uk/buy.asp?p=855
 
It makes me cry how few people still use wavs (sometimes because their software forces them to) when FLAC has existed for so long.

To answer the original poster's question: I'm not sure what you mean by a "hardware" mixer as anything needs software to decode the mp3s. If you're intent on using mp3s though look into Numark's new D2 Director which also handles FLAC and seems to have many other powerful uses.
 
felix said:
look at this......

idj2_overview.jpg


how trance.... :irofl::ilol::irofl:

It's a shame they incorporated the very transient iPod dock because it otherwise looks like a solid bit of kit. Nice Linux firmware and clever playlisting along with decent connectivity. It'll go well with your iPod Felix so if you get one let me know if it's any good :irazz:
 
turkeyphant said:
And an external controller?

no just the laptop, using software mixer - I just mean in terms of actual dimensions and bulkiness and comparative price, seeing how these nu Numark devices cost about a grand. Nice to have the physical interface though, which is my main gripe with laptops! The HD Mix looks like the baby, but I think I'll stick with a case logic. Whadya reckon?
 
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