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I generally play acoustic cover gigs on the weekends, but I was approached by a friend, a local bar owner who asked if I would be interested in DJ'ing every saturday night. I would, however, I would have to first get equipement.

I've got a Dell laptop running Windows XP (I need help on how to find out what kind of sound card it has and the specs on it)...so I'd be using this as the brain of the operation. I know I'd need to either get a pair of powered speakers, or some passive speakers and a power amp, as well as digital DJ software. From what little I know, this seems to be a simple way for me to do what I need.

My questions are:
1. What is a cheap and effective digital dj software I can use?
2. What are minimum requirements for a proper sound card to be used?
3. Physically, how will everything be connected and run for everything to work?
4. How will I be able to run a single mic to talk through?

Keep in mind that I have a budget of $800 to work with for speakers/amp and software. Any additional thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

***PART 2***
I have a cheapy 100w 6ch powered mixer and 2 10" speakers currently, is there anyway i can use this setup very temporarily?

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anonymous Fri, 07/11/2008 - 09:48

Do you have supply the PA for the bar or just monitors?
Btw, DJ'ing is the art of playback. Just use winamp.
And keep bouncing around and moving one hand around your mixer tweaking knobs and the other hand hold near your headphones to take one cup off and put it back every now and then... Neither should be plugged in.

For extra class, use Winamps fade outro/into function.

If it's music that you need to keep the beat constant all night long, thump thump thumpthumpthump... Get a Panasonic CD DJ and mix sets using it's pitch hold/time shift at home which you then record. Use Winamp in the club to play one 4 hour long file you made earlier...

I'm positive there is no difference between Winamp and ANY DJ I've seen.