When you go to a disco or even to private parties, you can now see DJs working with a laptop, without using discs and the classic mixer anymore. If you have the opportunity to go and peek at the DJ's computer screen, you will notice a wonderful program, which faithfully reproduces the dishes with the discs that turn and the mixer with all the equalizer and mixing levers.
Most likely, the program used by a professional DJ who works in a disco or private parties and who uses the computer to mix songs is one between Traktor DJ and Virtual DJ.
Although mixing always remains an art and the good DJs rather than the studio rely on talent, you can still learn and play this fun job at home, using the computer and mixing with one of these programs.
One of the best software for DJing from the computer, Virtual DJ, can now be downloaded for free in a free version for home and non-commercial use.
This means that, for a party at home, you can mix your favorite music from your computer, without having to pay any DJs and without resorting to those poor solutions such as playlists from iTunes or Windows Media Player.
READ ALSO: Turn your computer into a DJ mixer and play mixed music
Virtual DJ is not a difficult and complicated program to use but one should not expect to find a limited program or one that only puts the songs in line.
The interface is divided into two parts, each of which has a full set of controls for playing music.
Songs can be loaded by dragging them from a Windows folder to the Virtual DJ interface.
Once you have loaded some mp3 tracks, you will see the name of the song and its length together with other important information such as the BPM or beats per minute which determine the speed of a music.
To listen to a song in Virtual DJ just press the play button under the platter.
The main utility of a program like Virtual DJ is the ability to blend tracks together as they play .
This seamless fading effect allows you to move from one piece to another almost without making the listeners notice, keeping the rhythm constant, without drops in volume, moments of silence and abrupt interruptions.
This way of listening to a sequence of songs is perfect for a party or for a background in a video.
Fading from one track to another is fairly easy with Virtual DJ.
You just have to load and play two songs together and manage the listening volumes with the mixer, that is the crossfading tool that is at the center of the interface and that allows you to switch from one track to another.
To mix the two music so as not to create cuts and rhythm changes, you have to check the value of the BPM so as to pass from one track to another so that that BPM is constant.
If you switch from fast to slower music, for a pleasant fading, the fast track must be slowed down and the slow track speeded up, mixing (raising the volume of the second and lowering the volume of the first) when the BPM values are identical and without overlapping the bass or voices.
Then, once the second track has started at maximum volume, it is slowly brought back to its original speed.
Since Virtual DJ also has a synchronization button, this intuition work that distinguishes good DJs from poor ones, becomes an automatic mixing because the rhythm is adjusted by itself, so that the second track synchronizes with the first music.
What really surprises about Virtual DJ is the ease of mixing the songs .
There are a lot of tools available that are quite intuitive and simple to use.
With Virtual DJ, there is no technical difficulty in becoming good and it only depends on your ability and talent in changing the rhythm, overlapping the songs and switching from one music to another.
Creating a loop, for example, is very easy and allows you to play the same piece of song for as long as you want.
Another practical feature are the immediate start buttons so, with the CUE button you can return to play the music from the desired point.
In addition to the various levers of the virtual mixer, Virtual DJ allows you to superimpose many sound effects on the songs .
The fading and mixing of music are only a hint of what can be done with this wonderful free program.
There are also many advanced features that real DJs use, such as virtual scratching at Prezioso with many different settings.
Virtual DJ is a powerful and professional software therefore, if you go to look at the advanced functions, those who have no experience or competence will have to practice and try with patience.
The free version of Virtual DJ has fewer features than the paid version.
The most important feature that is missing is support for MIDI hardware and for HID mixers.
The function that allows you to play online and be heard as if you were a DJ of Radio DJ, is disabled.
The download of Virtual DJ Free weighs 28 MB, is a complete program for Windows, fully functional, which should not miss anything for those who want to play with the computer in private parties.
Just to stay on the subject, I remember the legendary Music DJ Youtube Mixer online that I talked about some time ago, clearly improved and increasingly cool.
