An mp3 clip player for Macintosh?

[shepdave]

I'm trying to figure out a way to line up a few mp3s at a time and play them live while I record my podcast. I'm going to record on an outboard mp3 recorder (an iRiver, yep, just like Adam Curry!), and I want to use my iBook G4 to manage my music, bumpers, and sfx.

Does anybody have any experience with (relatively inexpensive) Mac deejay software? I found something called DJ-1800. Anybody know about this?

Or is there a better way to do this?

Dave

[thumper369]

I posted a link to another program that says its free. There is a screen shot also. In this other thread.

http://www.podcastalley.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=524

[shepdave]

Thank you both, Ferf and thumper. This is exactly what we were looking for, I think.

And thanks, thumper, for the additional link. I will try both of these things and choose the one that works best.

Yes, as soon as I saw the word "cart" in your post, thumper, I remembered that terminology. Back in the day, radio deejays used tape cartridges, which looked a lot like eight-track cartridges from the 1970s, for all spots and sfx. And at a certain point, I believe, they put all the songs in their station playlist on carts as well.

This is going to solve the last (or next-to-last) technical problem in putting together my podcast.

Once again, a million thanks!

Dave

[shepdave]

All right, then! I've downloaded each of them, and tried them both out.

Mac Jingle Player, the free one, does not have any documentation or help files at all, only a read-me for version history. When I opened it and tried to bring a music file into it (an mp3), it told me I was not using a valid file type. If mp3 is not a valid file type, then I can't use it.

Next I opened up Sound Byte OSX. This is very straightforward. You line your clips up into "carts" and play them at will. You can assign hotkeys to each clip, and you can set a pre-determined speed for fading a clip out. You can play multiple clips at once.

The only thing I wish Sound Byte had that it doesn't is the ability to "duck" a track while playing another. You have to do that manually, by sliding the volume icon of one cart before hitting the hotkey of another one. This is inconvenient if you are doing a radio-style podcast. The only thing you can do with a keystroke is fade a track out to silence over time.

But otherwise I like Sound Byte just fine. I will stick to the trial version for a little while and keep looking around--but if I don't find anything else, I'll send them my $24.

If I find something else that does the trick, I'll post it here.

Dave

[shepdave]

I went ahead and registered my copy of SoundByte OSX today, the lite version (for $24, which gives you rack of 75 "carts," i.e., mp3 clips).

It is simple, straightforward, and does the job. About the only thing it doesn't do that I'd like it to is allow you to easily "duck" a clip underneath the mic feed or another clip. (You have to use your mouse/trackpad to move a volume slider down while triggering the second clip with a hotkey; then you have to move the volume slider back up. A two-handed process.)

I mentioned this on the forum board for SoundByte, and the programmer, Chris, responded immediately. So I would not be surprised to see this feature on a future release.

Thanks, theFerf, for the tip on this one.

Dave

[gozar]

Does anybody have any experience with (relatively inexpensive) Mac deejay software? I found something called DJ-1800. Anybody know about this?

Or is there a better way to do this?


Well, if you want to be like Adam, is there anything wrong with Quicktime player? I'm pretty sure he just opens opens up the sounds and files that he wants to play in several Quicktime players (control-click on the MP3 and select Open in Quicktime player). Then just select the one you want to play.

[shepdave]

Well, if you want to be like Adam, is there anything wrong with Quicktime player? I'm pretty sure he just opens opens up the sounds and files that he wants to play in several Quicktime players (control-click on the MP3 and select Open in Quicktime player). Then just select the one you want to play.

I only today figured out that you can change, in Preferences, the fact that QuickTime was only playing the front window. You can turn that off.

Still, I do like SoundByte, because I can keep all my clips for a show in one window and assign them hotkeys, plus setting different individual fadeout rates.

Once the developer introduces the "duck" feature, it'll be perfect for my needs.

Dave