Last night, Matt (co-DJ) and I had our second gig. Everything went well, despite massive problems. The speakers were finicky again, and I couldn’t get my ad-hoc pre-cueing setup to work.
Pre-cueing is the use of multiple sound devices in order to listen to an upcoming track while the ‘main’ track plays for the crowd. That lets one makes smooth transitions between tracks. A computer’s sound card needs to support multiple tracks of audio in order for pre-cuing to work. Unfortunately, my MacBook Pro’s sound card has only two channels (left and right), not enough for pre-cueing.
To get pre-cueing to work, I need to use an external USB amplifier. At our first gig, I used my PowerMac G4′s Cube’s speakers, which include a standard mini-plug output, suitable for headphones or consumer-level speakers. The Cube was specifically designed for these speakers, and had specially designed USB ports with extra electricity to power them.
I had always been concerned that my MacBook Pro would be unable to power the USB speakers, but in my practice sessions, everything worked fine. And oddly, at our first gig, everything functioned perfectly. While trying to make the pre-cuing work last night, I did what any good troubleshooter would do – think of changes I made to my system between when it last worked and now, when it doesn’t.
There was only one change, a completely irreversible one. I upgraded the firmware of my MacBook Pro. Firmware is permanent software programmed into read-only memory, and in this case, the firmware of a computer regulates low-level things like electricity output. I suspect that this was the cause of my problem. I simply didn’t have enough ‘juice’.
Due to the problem, I had to pilot blindfolded. I couldn’t make smooth transitions at times, but I certainly tried my best. I was told Matt and I did a good job, but I’d like to never have this issue again. So, I’ve decided to invest my earnings in real equipment. I believe I’m going to purchase an iMic USB Device ($40) and a pair of Sennheiser HD205 DJ Headphones ($40-50). The ClearChat Pro USB headset ($50) came in at a close second, but I can’t justify the trade in comfort for a 30 dollar discount and easier Skype compatibility. I’ll have to nab a headset at a later date.
you use Skype? All the internationals here do but I hadn’t heard of it before.
I use Skype occasionally. I accumulated some free credits before they were bought by ebay, so I can make computer to ‘real’ phone calls. I also use it for Skype to Skype calls, too. Not that often, about once a month. It’s handy when I’m stranded somewhere with my laptop and need to make a call, since I’m one of the few people in the United States without a cell phone.
The Skype client is quite nice on the Mac, too.
You don’t have a cell phone? Enough people do where you’ll probably get cancer anyway.
It’s hard to believe, but I don’t. It’s a pain sometimes, but most of the time I get by.
what if something happened when you were in your car?
what if you were eaten by a polar bear?
Reception is too poor inside a polar bear to use a cell phone.