Atomix Productions Virtual DJ Home Edition - 3.4 User Guide

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1 - Introduction

Hello and welcome to Virtual DJ!

VirtualDJ is software written by DJ’s for DJ’s. It’s used by Pro Dj’s, Club Dj’s and
Bedroom
DJ’s worldwide. Rest assured there is something for everyone in virtualdj. Whether in
the bedroom or the club you can count on Virtual DJ to be your application of choice.
Best of all the software can grow with you.

VirtualDJ conceived to be simple to use from the beginning. However, a few days of
use you will discover the hidden functions and possibilities.

Don’t be fooled simplicity of the interface, you will quickly realize the potential of
customization and personalization of this software is impressive.

Lastly, VirtualDJ benefits from a devoted and knowledgeable community, who will be
delighted to share their knowledge and experiences with you.

Please take a moment to visit our website: www.virtualdj.com

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User Guide

1 - Introduction ...............................................................................................................................................................................3

2 - Quick Guide...............................................................................................................................................................................4

3 - Introduction to DJing......................................................................................................................................................6

4 - The browser.............................................................................................................................................................................8

- Files............................................................................................................................................................................8

- Favorite Folders............................................................................................................................................10

- Database..............................................................................................................................................................10

- Suggestion box...............................................................................................................................................10

- Play list....................................................................................................................................................................11

- Menu Context......................................................................................................................................................11

5 - Basic Controls......................................................................................................................................................................11

- Rhythm Window.............................................................................................................................................11

- Manual BPM Correction..........................................................................................................................12

- Beat match..........................................................................................................................................................13

- Loops.......................................................................................................................................................................13

- Cues..........................................................................................................................................................................14

- Skips........................................................................................................................................................................15

6 - Samples.....................................................................................................................................................................................15

- Types of Sample.............................................................................................................................................16

- Playing Samples............................................................................................................................................16

- Recording Samples......................................................................................................................................16

- Samples Options...........................................................................................................................................17

7 - The Effects...............................................................................................................................................................................17

8 - Broadcasting / Recording .........................................................................................................................................18

- Recoding - Bin&Cue.....................................................................................................................................19

- Internet Broadcast....................................................................................................................................20

9 - Video.............................................................................................................................................................................................21

- Transition effects........................................................................................................................................22

- Optimization....................................................................................................................................................22

- Karaoke...............................................................................................................................................................23

10 - Connections and Use of External Peripherals......................................................................................23

- Use of Headphones....................................................................................................................................23

11 - Options.............................................................................................................................................................................24

- Sound Card......................................................................................................................................................24

- General.................................................................................................................................................................24

- Fame......................................................................................................................................................................25

- Skin.........................................................................................................................................................................26

- Keyboard Shortcuts.................................................................................................................................26

- Extensions.........................................................................................................................................................26

- Video......................................................................................................................................................................26

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Click on the play button. The two tracks
are now audible, but the rates/rhythms
are not sync however.

Click on the beat lock button (right click
with mouse) on the right-hand side turn­table, and leave inserted it until the
peaks of the curves are synced, and that
the rhythms of the two tracks
are synchronized.

You can now move the cross fader to the
left or the right the
transition will be very smooth and plea­sing to the ear.

Congratulations, you have just completed your first mix with VirtualDJ.

Of course, VirtualDJ allows much more than that.

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2 - Quick Guide

First, click with the mouse on track "DJ
SEB MLMP - Born To Disco", and drag it
(by holding down the left mouse button)
towards the turntable of left.
The track will now begin to load.

Click on the play button. The music will
begin to play. It’s not necessary to let
the track completely load before clicking
play.

Now load the track "Style MC - All the
hurt away" The same way you loaded
the left side, only load this track on the
righthand
side.

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BPM. In VirtualDJ, the BPM is calculated automatically as soon as you load a track to
either player, and the pitch is adjusted automatically. Then, once BPM’s are the same,
it is necessary to sync or line up the beats, so the two tracks sound as one.

Traditionally, the DJ will put their headphone on only one ear, listening with their free
ear to the mix which the public hears, and with the other ear the music which they
want to introduce (also known as cueing). They will then accelerate or slow down the
disc by putting hand on the record and or pitch controls, in order to synchronize the
beats.

In VirtualDJ, the rhythm window indicates the position of the beats of each song,
allowing you to easily see whether the songs are well matched or synced.
The Beat Lock button allows the music to remain in sync automatically even if the
track is shifted.

This is a technically difficult task for a traditional DJ. VirtualDJ takes the load of the
new DJ thus avoiding long months of practice and set building, allowing you to focus
your attention on the artistic part in your mix.

The fact is. Letting the computer mix the tracks for you does not remove anything
from your talent as a DJ, quite the opposite. If a DJ spends 5 seconds or 2 minutes
to mix a track in their headphones, it will not make any difference to the audience.
This is not the difference between a good and a bad DJ.

Lastly, the third task for DJs most talented is modifying the music with various effects,
or by mixing various tracks or samples, in order to create an impression of "remix"
and to give a more personal and artistic key to their mixes.

The effects traditionally used are the scratch, loops, and samples:

The scratch consists of creating an entire new sound, by playing a small portion of a
disc of before behind, number of revolutions modulating the tonality of the sound.

The loops consist of isolating a passage from a title and playing it in loop in such a
way that the end of the loop starts again fluidly on its beginning, thus prolonging the
duration of a passage.

The samples consist of playing a gimmick (it’s or phrases of a music which identifies
the piece immediately) during another track, "announcing" the following title.

VirtualDJ offers to you a great help for all these effects of remix, allowing your
scratches to set out right on beat, creating your loops for you automatically and
seamlessly, or playing of the automatically synchronized samples and sound effects.

Once again, VirtualDJ will help you with all the technical part of these effects, letting
to you to devote yourself to the artistic side of your mixes.

VirtualDJ also offers a whole arsenal of new effects to you, inaccessible to the
traditional DJ. Virtual DJ will give you the edge over your DJ competition, and allow
you to truly express and explore your creativity.

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3 - Introduction to DJing

If you never mixed before, we advise you to read the section "Introduction to DJing".
If not, you can read remainder of this handbook, to discover the functionalities while
referring to the handbook for any questions you may have. Happy mixing….

The work of a disc jockey can be divided into three tasks:

• Choose The music (programming)

• Mixing the music

• Modifying the music (remix)

The first task consists in choosing the correct music, which depends obviously on the
type of evening and your style, but generally a good practice is to avoid playing all
the "hits" from the very start of the evening, but keep some in reserve to generate
new interest when your audience starts to become tired.

This is what makes the difference between a good and a bad DJ, and that’s where
your talent and your experience will make the difference. (Read your crowd)

VirtualDJ helps you a little bit by giving you a fast and instant access to all your tit­les,playlists, and a list of suggestions. It’s ultimately up to you to decide what makes
your audience move.

The software cannot replace your talent.

The second task consists in "mixing" the tracks, i.e. to put the new track that you
want to play at the same rhythm as the preceding title.

DJs are accustomed to connecting their track in a fluid way by keeping a constant flow
of music. In order to give to the public the impression that music is seamless to avoid
disruptions in dancing.

This applies only to a certain category of music, where the rhythm is very pronoun­ced, such as house, hip hop, or rnb. It is not necessary to mix pieces of rock' roll,
where the public expects to hear a transition marked well between two pieces, as a
signal to change partner or visit the bar. This is also known as rotating your dance
floor. This makes many club owners happy.

Traditionally, the DJ mixes a track in two phases:

Initially, they will modify the speed of the disc, in order to equal the speed of the
current track. This stage is necessary to prevent the songs from clashing but instead
give synchronized beats.

The speed of music is measured in BPM (Beats per Minute); this measures the
number of beats over one minute in time. A song with 160 BPM is very fast, whereas
a song with 60 BPM is very slow.

The traditional DJ uses the "pitch" adjustment on the turntables, which is used to
accelerate or slow down the number of revolutions of the disc, and thus to modify its

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The title was played during this session.

Indicates a video file.

Indicates a Karaoke File.

At the top of the list of the files is the search,
which allows you to filter the files listed in the
current directory, by displaying only those,
including all or part of the text you enter.

Filtering/Searching is instant and it is generally
not necessary to type the text in its entirety,
some letters will be enough to reduce the list to
the single title which you seek.

Filtering takes place at the same time on the file name, on the name of the directory,
and on the text of the comment.
On left, a list of directories. You will find there some directories are special which we
will talk about later, as well as the folder "desktop" from which you will be able to
explore all tracks across all scanned hard drives and local networks.

While clicking on a directory while holding down the CTRL key, you can add
to the list the contents of several directories (use the option "Show All" in
the context menu available by a right click on the directory to automatically
add the contents of all the sub-directories).

To carry out same search in a different directory, select the new directory
by holding down the SHIFT key, you will keep the same search filter.

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4 - The browser

Files

In mode "music", the central window displays a list of music files.

These are the compatible files (i.e. whose extension is associated to decoder in
VirtualDJ, to see Options Extensions) the extensions are listed in the config menu.

For each file the title of the song and its author is listed, its duration, it’s BPM, and a
possible comment. You can modify the size of each column individually, or to entirely
hide it. A click on a column makes it possible to sort according to this column.

The name of the author and the title are automatically filled if your file is named
according to conventions "(author) title.ext. "or" author - title.ext. ", or if the file has
information ID3 or iTunes (and if the reading of the tags is activated in the options).

You can modify the way in which the title and the author are extracted from
thefile by using a plug-in parser (see the section developers of the Web
site).

The duration and the BPM are calculated automatically when you load a title to either
turntable, and are then memorized in the internal data base of the software.
One "*” indicates that this title has a pronounced beat, and that you will want pro­bably mix with the tempo. One "! " indicates that the file is corrupted (probably fol­lowing a bad remote loading), and that it may finish abruptly or they may be exces­sive noise in the track.

The icon in front of each file indicates :

This title is unknown and was never player or scanned in VirtualDJ
(And thus has information neither of BPM nor duration).

This title is known.

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