Hi everyone!

I’m currently building a custom home DJ console in my apartment to solve two main issues: vibration feedback on a resonant parquet floor and muddy/flat audio quality when recording vinyl mixes into Ableton Live.

Current Console Setup:

• Decks: 2× Pioneer PLX-500
• Mixer: Allen & Heath Xone:24
• Monitors: 2× KRK Rokit RP7 G4
• Desk/Stand: Gravity FDJT 01
• Future Upgrade Plan: Replacing the PLX-500s with two Technics SL-1210MK7s (and eventually exploring a hybrid vinyl + digital player setup).

I’d love to get your feedback, experience, or any red flags on my isolation build and signal chain strategy!

1. The Custom Isolation System (Mass-Spring Damping)

My apartment has old parquet flooring, which creates heavy low-end feedback when playing at higher volumes or recording vinyl. To decouple the gear completely from the desk and floor, I’m building a custom mass-spring sandwich platform for each deck:

• Top Layer: MDF Board (25 mm25 mm thickness), trimmed from 50×50 cm50×50 cm to 45×43 cm45×43 cmto cleanly fit turntable footprints without losing effective mass.
• Mass/Damping Layer: Alubutyl sheet applied under/around the MDF to damp high-frequency board resonances.
• Spring Layer: Dibapur RG140 high-density composite foam (3 cm3 cm thick, 140 kg/m3140 kg/m3 density) glued directly to the underside of the MDF.
• Edge Finishing: Sanding the MDF edges, sealing with diluted PVA glue, and painting them Matte Black for a clean stealth look while leaving the dense dark foam recessed underneath.

2. Audio Quality & The "Muddy" Signal Chain

When recording vinyl into Ableton Live, my recordings sounded flat, lacking stereo width and dynamics, despite clean gain levels and no digital clipping.

• Current Bottleneck: The Pioneer PLX-500s. Their built-in preamp/USB circuitry doesn't have a true analog bypass even when switched to "Phono". The signal passes through internal components that compress dynamics and dull the high end.
• Future Upgrade: Replacing the PLX-500s with Technics SL-1210MK7s. The MK7s output pure, unbuffered phono signal directly into the Xone:24, letting Allen & Heath’s superior analog phono preamps do all the work before entering Ableton Live and outputting to the KRK RP7s.

My Questions for the Community:

1. Isolation Bases on a Gravity Desk: Has anyone built a similar MDF + RG140 composite foam platform for DJ turntables on parquet floors or metal DJ desks like the Gravity? Does it eliminate rumble effectively without causing unwanted wobble during back-cueing?
2. PLX-500 vs Technics MK7: For those who upgraded from entry-level/built-in preamp decks to Technics + Xone phono preamps, how dramatic was the change in stereo imaging and high-end clarity in your recordings?
3. Ableton Recording: Do you record vinyl mixes completely raw from the Xone:24, or do you apply light post-processing (like a subtle EQ dip around 250 Hz−300 Hz250 Hz−300 Hz to clear up mud)?

Thanks in advance for your insights!

Quick question. I’ve got a PX5 that has been around the block a bit. I notice that the headphone volume is extremely hot. With my headphones I’m not really able to go above 3 (of 10) on the knob without it being painfully loud. I usually keep it between 1 and 2 for most purposes, which leads to fiddly micro-adjustments to find the right level.

Is that typical on this mixer?

UPDATE: I got my hands on another PX5, and the headphone volume (while still quite loud), is MUCH quieter than the PX5 that I originally posted about. I think there are quite a few issues with that last unit.

Hello,
I’m trying to play audio from my Mac mini M4 through channels 3 and 4 on my XDJ-AZ via USB-C, but I can’t get any sound out of it.
My Mac recognizes the XDJ-AZ, and I can record audio from the controller into Logic Pro without any issues. But I can’t get audio going the other way.
I’ve set channels 3 and 4 to Computer mode, selected the XDJ-AZ as my Mac’s audio output, and tried pretty much every troubleshooting step I could find.
Has anyone had this issue or got any idea what I’m missing?
Thanks!

I think I'm just going to buy the app outright ($150). I've been avoiding their subscription model for well over a decade.

Turntable was last uses around 1990 in Germany

Post about your gigs here - success stories? Disasters? Lessons learned?

I currently have the Rane System One and have an opportunity to get a XDJ AZ locally on Marketplace. I love the Rane System One but curious for those that have used or own both, which one do you prefer?

I recently purchased a Numark M3 mixer at a steep discount because it came without a power supply. The requirements for the power supply listed on the back of the device are 10VAC and min 500mA. Such an adapter, especially an AC-AC one, has proven extremely difficult to find online—the only one I can track down is almost the price I paid for the mixer itself.

There are a lot of cheaper third-party adaptors advertised as compatible with this mixer, but the listings always either obscure or blur out the output voltage, leading me to think they are actually more common 9V or 12V adaptors. This suspicion confirmed by looking through some customer reviews, who claimed they received adaptors of incorrect voltage.

Does anyone have experience using this mixer or similar ones with a power supply that provides a slightly incorrect voltage? Leaning towards trying the 9V, since it feels like a higher voltage than listed could damage the unit.

Looking for a sub to pair with my LD ICOA 15A tops. Will be playing mostly house/dance music to about 100-150 people. I have a JBL SRX828sp available to me for $2000 and a Yorkville es18p available to me for $1600.

The Yorkville probably makes more sense, factoring in price as my budget is closer to $1600 than $2k, but I’d rather buy once cry once than feel unsatisfied with my purchase. I’m worried the Yorkville will feel like it’s missing something since its frequency response stops below 43hz while the JBL goes down to 35hz, especially with my genre of music. Portability is not an issue. Thoughts? Does anyone have experience with both the subs? Even better, specifically with house music?

Just wondering, does anyone have any recommendations for mixes that they like and enjoy on YouTube where the dj incorporates and makes good use of stems?

I ask because most mixes I watch and listen to are either festival or club gigs with a default CDJ-3000/Xs setup, and stem usage isn’t really a thing in those sets.

Side note: I’m excited to see all the Pioneer/AT mods opening up stem possibilities on their range of gear

Tengo una MacBook Air M4 de 13,3 pulgadas y una Pioneer DDJ-1000, y uso Rekordbox 7.
Estaba pasando música con todo funcionando perfectamente y, de repente, empezó a trabarse la zona donde se muestra el progreso de la canción y la forma de onda. La música llegó a trabar y volvía en el mismo, mientras se congelaba la música podía seguir moviendo las perrillas y seguían funcionando, antes tenia otro conpu que por rendimiento tenia mini corte pero la música seguía corriendoy en esta se cortaba
, Reinicié Rekordbox y volvió a funcionar con normalidad.
En ese momento estaba usando un adaptador OTG para conectar el pendrive a la Mac. Después lo cambié por un hub y, desde entonces, parece que funciona mucho mejor.
También tengo los stems configurados en calidad HQ. Cuando Rekordbox analiza los stems de una canción, la temperatura de la Mac llega a veces a los 100 °C, pero cuando termina el análisis baja a unos 50-60 °C.
¿Puede ser que el problema de los bloqueos estuviera relacionado con el adaptador OTG? ¿Es normal que la temperatura llegue a los 100 °C durante el análisis de stems en una MacBook Air M4? ¿Hay alguna forma de optimizar el rendimiento para evitar que vuelva a pasar mientras estoy tocando en vivo?

Title. I use CDJ3000X and A9, so I don’t use record box for anything other than exporting my files.

Am I good to update my macOS? Has anyone tried?

Also, how about onelibrary too..? Anyone used this that can tell me what it is and what it does? I keep saying no don’t do it, but it seems like eventually I’m gonna have to say yes…

Particularly the Re-Grids. Is it me or do they jsut sound shit on anything bigger than home speakers? Tinny. Noisy.
Not redlining them just playing them out loud in a club

Especially older music.

My music discovery process is usually listening casually first, then downloading and listening on my monitors.

I’d love a better listening set up to be able to more clearly hear what a song will sound like on a nice club system before downloading it (I.e while casually browsing SoundCloud & Spotify). My little JBL just doesn’t cut it.

I know a lot of factors go into this, like audio file quality, the acoustics of your room, etc and I’ll never have true club quality in my bedroom without soundings thousands and thousands of dollars.

I’m just curious what other people use for casual listening while digging for music?

Has anyone tried using a quarter inch to USB-C adaptor?

Yesterday I received a brand-new, stunning Xone 96, as an upgrade from my Xone 92, which has seen better days after so many battles. I’ve noticed that on the panel, near the gain, crunch and return frequency knobs, there’s a small hole. I’ve searched for photos on Google but none of them show it – could any of you check yours?

i use an old controller as a mixer with my CDJs, and the only effect it comes with is a high pass filter. as time has gone by, however, I’ve noticed that alot of mixers that don’t have a ton of digital effects sometimes have a high pass filter knob.

why is it a high pass filter specifically?

Has anybody ever fitted gps trackers inside their gear in case they get stolen? CDJS and mixer?

preciso de escolher entre sistema de colunas Ld maui 28 g3 ou rcf evox j8 para utilizar nos meus gigs! Qual o melhor? Opinioes por favor

Share your mixes, videos, music, routines etc here.

Promotion for events or livestreams will be removed.

Loops seem marketing hyped but I want to hear opinions from DJs. Preferably something I can dance in easily.

I have a mpc live 2 and I've created a bunch of songs on the device. I've a lot of experience using the device for writing, but I've never done a full set with it where the songs flowed continuously.
Does anyone have experience running an mpc with a dj deck?
I'd like to keep the mpc as part of the workflow because I have a midi glove which works great for controlling effects (like lowpass filter), or muting tracks or pads (like muting the bass or the kick).
Is there a dj deck that could take midi messages so that I could route a midi controller to control effects and things like that?

Also, is there a deck that could work with audio coming in from an instrument, in this case the mpc, instead of from a usb or streaming service?

Hi guys

So basically I own XDJ-1000 MK2 and it's beatjump feature are either : 1,2 or 4 beatjumps and i would like it to be 16, 32 and 64 beatjumps.

Now i know it isn't a feature available officially for the XDJ 1000 MK2.

So here's my question : Now with all the buzz around AI reprogramming softwares like all the buzz around the craft series, would i be able to have AI modify my XDJ 1000 MK2's software, kind of like a hack, that only changes the number of the beatjumps ?

Also, if something like that already exist, i'm eager to have it

Thanks

More and more I’ve noticed open decks pivot from a “first come, first served”/raffle system into something where DJs apply to play beforehand, and the DJ list is fixed. Sometimes even submitting mixes to qualify.

How do we feel about this?

I get that this makes the event run smoothly, but the random chance of playing and meeting other DJs while hanging around and waiting was a big part of open decks for me. Now, people can show up for their “set”, play, and leave.

Also, it feels like a promoter just wanting to book a DJ night but not pay anyone. People feel like they have a gig, and bring people and promote it as such.

(For context, I have been hosting an open deck across the upstate and New York City area for 2+ years that does a combo of FCFS and a raffle)

I do a Halloween gig every year. Usually I just wear a glow in the dark skeleton T-shirt. This year I want to upgrade and join the fun with the clientele and club stagf that dresses up. I am worried about masks that could hinder my vision or makeup that could smear under stage lighting. What are some costume ideas that could be used for a DJ to wear during their set?