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Serato is the closest to vinyl as of now..and they just teamed up with Ableton!

Vinyl? CD? MP3? Oh God no! That's far too scary. I just use a sampler and a beat up laptop running Audiomulch.

Yeah, I cheat and assemble my songs in Acid before I play a set. I make sure everything is in time and in key. I get to fine tune which samples will fit the crowd. However, because I choose my sets only about an hour before I play my show, I rarely have enough time to do anything more than map my sampler out, and build up a general idea of what I'm going to do in my head, so they tend to become odd little freeform improv sessions.

I just much prefer how using the sampler feels. I started off playing in bands (still do) so I like having the added attachment of being able to "play". If I hit this the drums start, and I can choose to start the vocals half a bar into or before the verse if I want to etc. I suffer from nerves and the constant movement just keeps me focused on the next sample, not on trying to second guess myself.

I saw a gig by GirlTalk a year ago. A friend mentioned him and he sounded fun. So when I went along he had his laptop set up, with a copy of Audiomulch, and built his tracks up right there in front of us. I think if people start doing live set's more like that in the future it'll be a good day for mp3's. And I think with more and more bands playing DJ sets (the Rapture and Foals play as many DJ sets as gigs at this point) then we'll start to see more integration of live set and DJ sets.

cds all the way for me....why not?

I actually went to computer and switched back to CD; ofc vinyl is the best but it isn't practical since everything is web release nowadays. But with cds you still have better quality then when you use mp3 and I find that when I run it through a computer it loses quality especially when changing pitch

VINYL FTW!!! I dont really spin CD's all that much, cause im defiantly a vinyl head, but IMO skip the CD's and use tracktor if your gonna switch...

getting a numark hdx well worth it

vinyl, cd, mp3, dat... what ever I can get my hands on.

got my 1st decks in 1996 which were some numark belt drives , switched to cds in 1999 but kept my vinyls & vinyl decks , finally got rid of them in 2001 i think and been strictly cd ever since.

Still use cd now and wont be switching to laptop at all , i like to be hands on and i think id get bored using laptop.

I never used disc, vinyl all the way bro

i use both sometimes serato gets boring and thats when i bring out the cds

always keep a few handy.....remember, computers are man made......nothing is garanteed

I do a lot of travelling, and prefer the screen of a desktop computer to a laptop, so I always burn and test my cds for each gig, giving myself an hour or 2 of extra music just in case. It's worked a treat so far.

Ya. I started out as a Vinyl Purist, and when it became obvious that I would not be able to travel like that much longer I considered CDJ's. Hated them. Then it donned on me that if I were going to have to leave vinyl, I may as well go cutting edge. I now use an ableton APC40 and of course I write my own loops and use acapellas to do a live software set. I used to dream of doing live hardware sets but alas its so expensive. Now I use my own live stuff mixed with Djing and I wouls say that using a controller like I do, does not leave the crowd bored, or wondering why anyone pays me to play out. In fact, all of my Dj buddies now come to me and say " what the funk are you doing? that is so unexpected and sic" hehe. I see a lot of people switching to controllers. Its the future Baby...IMO

Sounds sick jeshl! thats the key thing that I want to see with laptop DJ's; since the software removes the time spent beatmatching, cueing etc, that time should be spent doing something creative with the software. It really gives me the shits when I see laptop DJ's standing there, pushing sync and mixing the last 30 secs of a track together, then posing for the next 5 mins pretending to twiddle the EQ's. It really is just a shortcut to avoid learning the skill of beatmatching, which in my view is essential for any DJ to know.

The reason I use CD's is it gives me that tactile feel of mixing; however the access to tracks from the web etc is far far easier than vinyl. Also, it gives me some great options for labelling that makes it really easy to find tracks, something that my traktor days didn't have. For example, every song is highlighted with genre, then underlined with energy level, so looking for a chilling electro house tune is a piece of cake.

My two cents

Watching someone DJ from their PC just looks so Robotic - you lose alot of the connection with the crowd when you dj is constantly looking at a computer screen. I prefer cds - and still play the occasional vinyl, I so wish I could carry my tunes around a little easier though, oh well each to their own

I'm with you on that - CDs seem somehow more connected to the crowd. I love DJing with CDs (in one deck, my USB in the other) because it's more human. With computers, there's no flaw in the beatmatching or whatever, but with CDs, people make mistakes and that makes it all the better.

I personally don't like the CD (DJs) because (even if it's a bit nostalgic) just think the vinyl belongs to the DJing... I mix only virtual (with a software) YET, because I don't have the money yet to buy some equipment and I find it boring and impractical. I'd love to mix on turntables but I realize that there aren't any new songs on vinyl any more (which I find very sad) so my only possibility is to mix with a DVS, and that's what I look forward to.

I still use CD's but def thinking about moving towards something else...