Ableton Forum

sonorous3 wrote:

kabuki wrote:Also, keep in ming the DJ booth itself: Where are you going to set up all this gear? Usually a venue won't let you remove their hardware to make room for yours, so find a table/platform/riser etc that can be placed on a turntable platter to hold the laptop/mousepad/controller etc.

Also, a FAN is a good idea, a small one that can fit in the corner to keep all that expensive hardware cool (clubs get hot if you are doing a good job).

An umbrella if you are playing outside.

MOST IMPROTANT PIECE OF GEAR: Backup music (CD Player/iPod/etc) to use when the whole set crashes. Because eventually it will.

Why will eventually crash?? Im still sticking to live3...it is the most stable out there trust me...i have a kick ass computer..l4 crashed twice...l5...well lets not go there...l3...absolutley nothing so far...even after 4 hours of djing...l3 rules

Everything crashes eventually. It doesnt matter how kick ass you think your set-up is. There are so many fucking things to go wrong you couldnt even imagine. It will happen eventually. BT and Sasha crash all the time. And im sure they have spent alot of money to make sure it happens as little as possible.

Crashes can also be random non computer related stuff. Like some jackass trips over a power cable or your RCA's. Or some fan sticks his hand over the DJ booth and accidentily pulls your laptop into the crowd. Ive seen it all.

hambone1 wrote:I use a UPS.

Clean, filtered electricity and the computer, monitor , and mixer don't die when the lights trip the circuit breakers...

Yeah, that's a good one. Electricity in clubs/pubs/whatever is always full of noise. From kitchen appliances to lights to whatever...

When I have enough spare $$$ I'll get one.

I wonder when that will be. 2010?

They're a lot cheaper than they used to be. You only really need to protect the computer, so you can get by with a fairly small one without all of the phone/fax/modem/network/USB/serial protection stuff that comes with the bigger ones.

I got a Belkin 325VA model for £59. All 8 outlets are surge protected, and 4 will run on the battery backup. And up to £30,000 of connected equipment is insured by Belkin.

Sure beats getting the computer trashed by dirty electricity.

The fan is a good idea. I'm sticking the computer and UPS under the stage, so a little fan blowing on them sounds like a good idea. I'm dreading having to eventually crawl under there to reset it in the middle of a gig, though... probably won't seem like such a good idea then.

Twin Technics, crate of vinyl, headphones, mixer, wristwatch.

Ditto, small UPS is the best way to go.

I also (as mentioned above) have a back up ready to go, though I use my MP3 player loaded with wavefiles, as it's smaller than my CD player.

go play
you'll be ok