Going digital

Not direct from Bandcamp. I tend to download the whole thing but then only Open the relevant tracks I want which sends them to iTunes and therefore Rekordbox. I then send the others to Trash.

Might well be a better way to do it and I’m all ears if anyone else knows.

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Don’t think you can download an individual track if you’ve bought an album. Have to do what @elzorro says.

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You can’t change the jog wheel sensitivity, and there are a couple of things that are digital “buttons” instead of actual buttons like on the CDJs, which isn’t really a huge deal. But I would try them out before you buy. Some people don’t like the smaller jog wheel / pitch fader.

I’ve got Pioneer XDJ-700s. Agree they are a bit more plastic in construction than the more expensive ones but sound quality is good and they play the widest range of file types. The smaller jog wheel has not been an issue for me personally. The touch screen is decent too. Unless you particularly want to play CDs then I’d say they are a great starting point and definitely value for money.

(One issue to note though: because they play such a wide range of files I’ve sometimes found that when I’ve taken a USB of files to play out that other Pioneer players don’t recognise all of them even though they are in Rekordbox. Which is a real pain.)

In my experience best to convert everything to either AIFF, WAV or MP3 (in normal sample rates) anyway. You’re bound to end up playing on other equipment that won’t support things like FLAC at some point.

Totally agree. All my FLAC files get converted to WAV. Mind you, saying that, I played at a party on Sat which had some ancient CDJ2000’s and a load of my music was missing :rofl:

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Sample rates! the 2000’s can deal with AIFF and WAV but you can’t have crazy sample rates or they’ll go nuts.

It’s the WAV I have had the issues with I think. Haven’t got any FLAC. Many of my files come from Bandcamp and I think there’s something odd they do with some of the WAVs. It’s very frustrating.

Check the sample rates on the bandcamp wavs, they are probably higher than what the CDj’s support.

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Any recommendations for a way to mass-convert files? And what sample rate should they be? Thank you !!

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I’ve had same problem with WAV’s from Bandcamp - also v frustrating. I end up d/l 320 MP3’s as easier. Which I’d rather not. If anyone has a solution/recommendation that would be ace.

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It’s usually because the firmware hasn’t been updated on the older models.

Have you tried updating the firmware on the CDJ?

It’s fine at home. It’s just on the odd occasion I end up playing out that it’s an issue. When you step up to the decks, put your USB in and half of it is missing it’s a nightmare and super stressful.

I should stick to the old trusty vinyl!

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I have a thing called X-Act that’s good for file conversion but I did a batch the other day and it literally just deleted them all. Really selling it…

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If I have a bandcamp file that doesn’t play on my XDJ (CDJ), I open it with audacity and export it as a wav 16-bit(project frequency 44100 Hz). It works afterwards, but I’m not an expert, I don’t know if it is the best/a good solution. But it works… :slight_smile:

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ITunes.

Select track(s) > Convert > Convert to 320

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Media Human Audio Converter is what I use on MacOSX. Just pick the base rate, 16 bit/44.1khz, should work. I like AIFF over WAV because it supports metadata.

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Well I’m really liking Rekordbox. Haven’t played any of the files on a pair of decks yet, but in Performance mode it seems great for mixing tunes, I don’t even need a pair of headphones. You could indulge in psychedelics and not mess up a mix, which was always a big issue for me with records. I can imagine taking just a laptop to a house party. I wouldn’t like to be using a laptop in a club but if you’re just with mates at someone’s house and want to mix some house tunes, this would do the job great.

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I’ve done that a few times but you really need to know your tunes, otherwise the lack of headphones will get you.

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