Music Collection

Music Collection


Explanation:
:: IE: what is ripping?
:: What are "Tags"



Sub Headings:

::How To Rip DVD's

::How To Rip CD's

::How To Rip CDG's


::Formats

File types supported out of the box (formats/containers) are listed on the codecs tab. These are:

mp3 - MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3
wav - Waveform audio format
cda - Compact Disc Audio
wma - Windows Media Audio
asf - Advanced Systems Format
ogg - Ogg Vorbis
vdj/vds - Virtual DJ Sample Format
m4a - MPEG-4 Part 14 Audio Only
aac - Advanced Audio Coding
avi - Audio Video Interleave
mpg/mpeg - MPEG-1 & MPEG-2 Video
wmv - Windows Media Video
vob - DVD MPEG-2
mov - Quicktime
divx - divx
mp4 - MPEG-4 Part 14 Video
m4v - iTunes Video
vix -VenueVJ Videos
zip - Zip compressed media file

If your system has the correct codecs installed, then you can add additional codecs to this configuration. Common examples of this would include FLAC (install oggcodecs), mkv and jpg (JPG View, also with default video codec, add in the List).



::Tagging
>How to tag MP3's, what to tag.
>software for tagging.
>where does VDJ store its tags



::Aquiring
> list of online music stores/pools/promo
> list of online video stores/pools/promo

FAQ [Frequently Asked Questions]

Q: : : I recently have ripped a lot of my CDs to .mp3. I have used Tag software to properly tag file names/artists/album/genre, etc. The problem I have run into is VDJ seems to read the "Album Artist" tag instead of the "Artist" tab from Windows. Because of this, the Artist field in VDJ Pro is blank, when I know that the files are tagged properly. ANY information on how to get VDJ to recognize the "Artist" (Windows) tag would be highly beneficial to me. I appreciate all comments/answers. Thanks
A: : : I just checked with "Tag&Rename"
It says VDJ is getting its artist Tag from the Artist field..
(I found a couple of songs with different "Artist" & "Album Artist" fields, VDJ is using the right field)

As a workaround, some Tagging software allows you to move one tag to another spot.
I know for a Fact that Tag&Rename does this.. (also it has a setting where it automatically copies the artist tag to the "artist album" when edited)
P.S.
VDJ also pulls its Tags from the filename,, make sure your settings in VDJ are correct.



Q::: What's wrong with FAT32?
A::: for the size of files most DJ's use, there is nothing wrong with FAT32..

If you started storing lots of small files, then FAT32 wastes a lot of space..

IE: you have a 2TB drive (I'm making these numbers up), and a 5 KB file & FAT32.
That 5 KB file will actually take up 32kb (not a huge issue for us LOL)

(I think?) Fat32 also limites your file sizes to 4 GB. (again not an issue in most cases).

Fat32 is also tougher for windows to search thru then NTFS, as windows has to go thru the entire allocation table.
(again, not an issue for 10,000 files, but 1,000,000 files?)

conclusion.

on an external hard drive used for storing music files and music videos..
FAT32 VS NTFS, are pretty much equal.
Since FAT32 allows multi-OS compatibility (including dos), it actually has a slight lead.


Q::: How do I use the VirtualDJ database to update the tags on my music files? I have updated all the tag info in Virtual DJ and I don't want to have to re-enter the tags again for each file.

A::: Here's one way:

OK, here goes... this is for VDJ version 6 ONLY as I haven't tried it with any other version. I tested the procedure using IE8 and MP3Tag v2.46a.

1. Make the first three lines of your VDJ v6 database look like this and save the file (you can edit it in notepad):
   
   
   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="VDJ Stylesheet.xsl"?> <!-- YOU ADD THIS LINE -->
   <VirtualDJ_Database Version="607">
   
   All you will have to do is put the second line between the first two that are already there. The file you are editing is called "VirtualDJ Database v6.xml" and is found in your Documents\VirtualDJ folder.
   
2. Open Notepad and paste the following text into a new text file:
   
   
   <xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
   <xsl:template match="/">
   <html>
   <body>
   <xsl:for-each select="VirtualDJ_Database/Song">
   <xsl:value-of select="@FilePath"/>~<xsl:value-of select="Display/@Author"/>~<xsl:value-of select="Display/@Title"/>~<xsl:value-of select="Display/@Album"/>~<xsl:value-of select="Display/@Year"/>~<xsl:value-of select="Display/@Genre"/>~<xsl:value-of select="round(2646000 div BPM/@Bpm)"/><br/>
   </xsl:for-each>
   </body>
   </html>
   </xsl:template>
   </xsl:stylesheet>
3. Save your new text file as "VDJ Stylesheet.xsl"
   
   Make sure it is in the same folder as "VirtualDJ Database v6.xml".
   
4. Double click on the VirtualDJ Database v6.xml file.
   
   It should then come up in your browser as "~" delimited text.
   
5. Copy and paste the text in the browser window into a new text file in notepad.
   
   The contents of your new text file should look something like this:
   
   
   C:\Users\username\Music\Frank Sinatra - Fly Me to the Moon.m.mp3~Frank Sinatra~Fly Me To The Moon~~~*~118
   C:\Users\username\Music\Dean Martin - Tiny Bubbles(2).mp3~Dean Martin~Tiny Bubbles~The Essentials~1989~Easy Listening~NaN
   C:\Users\username\Music\02 Lady GaGa - Love Game Disco Stick.mp3~Lady GaGa~Lovegame~The Fame~2008~Pop~105
6. Save this text file.
   
   You can call it anything you want.
   
7. Open MP3Tag.
   
   If you don't have it, it's free to download here.
   
8. Use MP3Tag to convert your text file to tags.
   
   The option to do this is found on the Convert menu under Text file - Tag, or you can press alt-4 to bring up the dialog box.
   
   Use the following for the format string in the dialog box:
   
   
   %_path%~%artist%~%title%~%album%~%year%~%genre%~%bpm%
   
   Enter the location of the new text file you just created for filename.
   

Ground Loops

Nine times out of ten, if you have a buzzing or humming problem on your speaker outputs, it's caused by what is known as a ground loop. This is where two pieces of equipment are operating, usually using different outlets, or in the case of a laptop, has no true earth (psu) The buzz or hum is caused by the mains potential trying to equalise using the only path it has, the earth line. Obviously it cannot equalise so it creates a loop. Hence "ground loop interference"

This is very common in laptops, you can easily tell if you have a ground loop. Using PSU, buzz and/or hum. Disconnect PSU (battery power) No buzz or hum.

There are many suggested ways of curing this problem, the most simple and safest for a DJ is simply to use what are known as "Ground Loop Isolators" These look like a little plastic case with inputs and outputs and are simply plugged in between equipment outputs and mixer inputs. All that is inside is a basic transformer that 'isolates' the loop.

There is no point in me adding a link to a supplier since there are VDJ users reading this from all over the world, just do a google for "ground Loop Isolator" and you will find what you want. You will need to buy one of these for each stereo channel going into the mixer.

WARNING WILL ROBINSON

Some people will advise you to remove the earth pins from plugs or use 3 pin to 2 pin converter plugs. THIS IS DANGEROUS! The earth line to a piece of equipment is put there as a safety precaution to prevent electric shock in the case of a fault. Putting this simply... DO NOT DO THIS! YOU COULD GET ELECTROCUTED! EVEN WORSE YOU COULD DIE!!

Simple maths

Ground loop isolators = cheap
Your life = whatever value you or your loved ones put on it. ie priceless!


NOTE, computers are very electrically noisy things anyway, you have cooling fans, GFX board fans, processors cycling, etc etc, ground loop isolators can eliminate a lot of that noise.

A ground lift is not the same as an earth lift, this may cause some confusion here as the words 'ground' and 'earth' do get transposed regularly in electrical discussion.

Please be aware that if you have a piece of equipment with a "ground lift" button. This IS NOT removing electrical earth, please DO NOT assume this.

Ground lift on audio equipment means lifting the AUDIO ground, that is, the outer core of your audio leads connecting equipment together, for instance the outer on your phono to phono leads.

Let me explain, and in this explanation the word EARTH means electrical earth, as the earth in a plug. The word GROUND means 'audio ground' that is, the outside wire on your phono and jack plugs etc which are usually in the form of a braid, wrapped around the inner core.

OK, imagine you have an amplifier and a mixer, both are plugged into the mains, now the GROUND is usually CONNECTED to the EARTH inside the equipment, most times this is fine and causes no problems, the reason they do this is that earthing the ground cable makes the ground act like a shield (and why outer cores are often called 'shield' as any interference absorbed by the cable will just leak to EARTH.

In a ground loop circumstance, there are two different electrical potentials in the two pieces of equipment. To simplify this, the connected equipment will work like a set of scales, it wants to balance, simplifying again, lets say there's 10 volts on an amp chassis and nine on the mixer (this is for illustration purposes only) The two voltages want to balance or equalise, the only route it has, is the one that connects the two pieces of equipment, that is, the GROUND of your audio leads, so it travels down those, the thing is, it never equalises as they are connected to the mains, so the difference in electrical potential doesn't change. THIS is a ground loop.

So, to stop that power leaking down the GROUND, you use the GROUND LIFT, which isolates GROUND from EARTH (sometimes completely, sometimes it just puts a resistor in line) This doesn't always work, hence needing ground loop isolators.

So endeth the lesson!


Trust me on this, it's all right and can be verified by searching on the net.

so again REMOVING "EARTH" FROM AN ITEM CAN RESULT IN DEATH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Something you should be aware of, VOLTAGE does not kill! It is the current that kills, there are huge transformers in some amplifiers that contain a huge amount of current. Bear in mind that UK mains is rated at 13 amp on the socket side (32 amp beyond that) now bear in mind that above 100 mA (0.1 of an amp) can be LETHAL

Filter Folder Examples

Filter Folder Examples
The elements, operators, and a few keywords that are used.

Elements	"title", "author", "artist", "album", "genre", "year", "bpm", "key", "bitrate", "songlen", "filesize", "filepath", "filename", "rating", "composer", "field1", field2", "extension", "hascover", "isscanned", "alreadyplayed", "lastplay", "firstplay", "firstseen", "nbplay", "type", "days since firstseen", "days since firstplay","days since lastplay", "LinkedVideo", "HasLinkedVideo", “bpmdiff”, “keydiff”, “ispresent”, “inSearchDB”
Operators	"==", "=", ">=", "<=", "!=", "<>", ">", "<", "is not", "is", "equals”, "equal", "contains", "contain", "doesnt contain", "don't contain", "starts with", "start with", "ends with", "end with ", "and ", "or ", "&&", "||", "&", "|"
Keywords	“top”, “[inverted]”

From the Manual -

FILTER	Expected Result
isscanned=0 or isscanned=1	Local Database
top 100 nbplay	top 100 list
top 100 firstseen	recently added
top 100 lastplay	recently played
bpm>120 and bpm<130	bpm range from 120 to 130
year>=1980 and year<1990	80s music
days since lastplay<7	songs played last week
days since lastplay<31	songs played last month
days since lastplay<365	songs played last year
lastplay=0	never played songs
isscanned=0	files not scanned
type=video	video group
type=audio	audio group
type=karaoke	karaoke group
hascover=1	has cover picture
hascover=0	doesn't have cover picture

Complex Filters
Filter: top 20 nbplay and hascover=1 and (type=video or type=karaoke)
Result: Top 20 most played that have a cover and are Video or Karaoke files

Filter: filepath start with "c:\mp3\80s" or filepath start with "d:\music\80s"
Result: Show all 80s files stored on two separate drives in a folder titled 80s

Filter: extension is "mp3" and title doesn't contain "madona"
Result: Any mp3 file that does not contain “madona” in the title

1. Local Database
   
   Prior versions of VirtualDJ contained a Local Database node in the Navigation panel.
   Here is how you can recreate the Local Database using a Filter folder -
   
   Name: Local Database - Analyzed
   Filter: isscanned=1
   
   Name: Local Database - Not Analyzed
   Filter: isscanned=0
   
   Name: Local Database - ALL
   Filter: isscanned=1 or isscanned=0
   
2. Top number of Tracks Played
   
   Name: Top 100 Videos
   Filter: type=video and top 100 nbplay
   
   Name: Top 100 Played
   Filter: top 100 nbplay
   
   Name: Top 20 Latin
   Filter: Top 20 nbplay and genre=latin
   
3. Smart Folders
   
   Name: Recently added
   Filter: top 100 firstseen
   
   Name: Recently played
   Filter: days since lastplay<1
   
   Name: All Funkymix/Ultimix/Umix
   Filter: title contains "funkymix" OR title contains "ultimix" OR title contains "u-mix"
   
   Name: UK No1
   Filter: comment contains "(UK No 1)"
   
   Name: My Mixes
   Filter: comment contains "Mymix"
   
   Name: mp3's
   Filter: filename contains ".mp3"
   
   Name: 70's and 80's
   Filter: year>=1970 and year<1990
   
   Name: AAMMDDHHMM = Année, Mois, Date, Heure, Minute
   Filter: firstseen> 1003010000 and firstseen <1007312359
   
   Name: mainstream radio
   Filter: comment contains "mainstream" or comment contains "promo"
   
   Name: specific genre
   Filter: genre contains "specific genre"
   
   Name : Songs without genre
   Filter : genre is ""
   
4. BPM Organized
   
   This will organize all files from 90 bpm to 95 bpm:
   Name: BPM 90 - 95
   Filter: bpm>=90 and bpm <=94
   
   This will organize all files from 95 bpm to 100 bpm:
   Name: BPM 95 - 100
   Filter: bpm>=95 and bpm <=99
   
5. Rated Files
   
   This will give you the top rated files (5&4 stars)
   Name: Top Rated
   Filter: rating>3
   
   This will return the files that are not rated yet
   Name: Unrated
   Filter: rating=0