zzzonedotnet
I should know this. I have been using VDJ for about 1.5 years now.
Say I want to go through a large folder of tunes and just select some for a playlist or a couple of playlists or even more.
Do I create a virtual folder for each playlist and drag the track over from the main folder? I find this a little tedious and then how would I order the tracks for playing?
Or do I use the sidelist in some way for this?
Sorry if this is so elementary. Any help is appreciated.
Say I want to go through a large folder of tunes and just select some for a playlist or a couple of playlists or even more.
Do I create a virtual folder for each playlist and drag the track over from the main folder? I find this a little tedious and then how would I order the tracks for playing?
Or do I use the sidelist in some way for this?
Sorry if this is so elementary. Any help is appreciated.
Posted Sun 25 Aug 19 @ 3:57 pm
Xavier Campos
You can create a Virtual Folder and drag songs into it, or you could also create a Subfolder inside Playlists, create a BPM range Subfolder inside that, then a Playlist at a certain BPM, I keep the songs I'm going to drag into it within 2 BPM of each other. You can use the Side List or Automix or favorite that playlist to make things easier. Then, listen to the songs from that big folder or Virtual Folder and drag them over one at a time and even arrange them by harmonic key or by what you think might blend well together.
It's sometimes useful to keep your playlists at 100 or 150 tracks maximum and create another playlist underneath it and keep it going. You can also create another playlist at a BPM that's slightly faster in case you're planning a very long mix/live event.
Another method's to keep a Top 100 Playlist or Top 150 and add tracks on a regular basis that you know you'll be playing at some point to make it easier to find tracks instead of relying on your big folder or your MyLibrary Live Lists. You can number them differently like 0.0, 1.0, 2.0 to make it easier than scrolling through an endless mass of music, but a combination of more that one strategy would do the job as well.
It's sometimes useful to keep your playlists at 100 or 150 tracks maximum and create another playlist underneath it and keep it going. You can also create another playlist at a BPM that's slightly faster in case you're planning a very long mix/live event.
Another method's to keep a Top 100 Playlist or Top 150 and add tracks on a regular basis that you know you'll be playing at some point to make it easier to find tracks instead of relying on your big folder or your MyLibrary Live Lists. You can number them differently like 0.0, 1.0, 2.0 to make it easier than scrolling through an endless mass of music, but a combination of more that one strategy would do the job as well.
Posted Sun 25 Aug 19 @ 9:36 pm
schmidi_0
YMMV, but I've found over years of wedding gigs that virtual folders and playlists are both important in different ways. The work you do to make a list today can still be useful down the road depending on your list. Here's how I use them. There is also a step you can do BEFORE any lists that will help out. This may be long but it may help those starting out.
Your main library:
So you have your full collection of actual music files on your HD. (You may have a music player that has sorted your collection by artist, but this isn't very helpful either as the VDJ database is better at it) This is just a pile of songs on an HD when you first start, and the VDJ database helps you get it under control. But, what if you switch laptops, or have a computer failure? I've learned from a few laptop migrations/failures that there is a better way to maintain your files, at the base level, on any given computer that will also allow you to more easily recover from an equipment change up.
It took some time commitment but my solution was to sort my entire collection by genre into different labelled folders on my HD.
EXAMPLE (each of these are folders on all of my computers):
80s
90s
Dance Rock
Disco
Funk
EDM
Electronic
ETC...
Yes it took a good chunk of time initially, but now I can easily add new tracks into their genre folder, and easily migrate my library to a new computer. If I had a laptop failure, I can just boot up another laptop and finish a gig without the pain of looking through 100k mp3s in a master folder (which is a much better worst case scenario).
now to playlists-
Before a gig = Virtual folder
For me its usually weddings, and so that means I'm doing the same events but often with different music each time (First dance, garter toss, cake cutting etc)
Virtual folder are GREAT for a temporary music need! when I'm adding to the folder, I will use the Sidelist like a bucket you're picking berries in. A virtual folder is akin to making a desktop shortcut to a program.
Here's my setup: (All virtual folders)
CEREMONY
---- (child folder) Seating music
---- Bride Walks
---- Couple Exit
RECEPTION
---- Cocktail Hour
---- Dinner
---- First Dance
---- ETC...
To make a virtual folder, either right click in the left browser or click the folder icon. You can drag these around into other V folders too.
See, I do the same events at each gig, but the music changes each time. This is what virtual folders are great for!
"So, why use playlists at all?" For me at least, it goes back to library management.
The huge difference with a playlist is that I can export a playlist WITH (or without) a copy of all the files! That means, when I upgrade a computer, or recover from a malfunction, I simply export my playlists to a thumbdrive, and load them onto the next computer. HD space is cheap these days, so I don't sweat if I have a redundant copy of a song.
Once you have copy pasted your playlists to your computer, find them in the VDJ browser, right click and "Recurse" the playlist folder to find the tracks!
Basically, playlists are collections of musical themes or moods for me.
EXAMPLE:
Best 90s House
Deep Disco
Instrumental Funk
NeuroFunk DnB
Throwback 90s RnB
You make a playlist by dragging the songs you want into either the Sidelist or Automix tab, then clicking the circle/button in the upper right and clicking "save"
YMMV, but I've found over the last 15 years that this kind of setup makes my life much easier if my technology goes to shit!
Your main library:
So you have your full collection of actual music files on your HD. (You may have a music player that has sorted your collection by artist, but this isn't very helpful either as the VDJ database is better at it) This is just a pile of songs on an HD when you first start, and the VDJ database helps you get it under control. But, what if you switch laptops, or have a computer failure? I've learned from a few laptop migrations/failures that there is a better way to maintain your files, at the base level, on any given computer that will also allow you to more easily recover from an equipment change up.
It took some time commitment but my solution was to sort my entire collection by genre into different labelled folders on my HD.
EXAMPLE (each of these are folders on all of my computers):
80s
90s
Dance Rock
Disco
Funk
EDM
Electronic
ETC...
Yes it took a good chunk of time initially, but now I can easily add new tracks into their genre folder, and easily migrate my library to a new computer. If I had a laptop failure, I can just boot up another laptop and finish a gig without the pain of looking through 100k mp3s in a master folder (which is a much better worst case scenario).
now to playlists-
Before a gig = Virtual folder
For me its usually weddings, and so that means I'm doing the same events but often with different music each time (First dance, garter toss, cake cutting etc)
Virtual folder are GREAT for a temporary music need! when I'm adding to the folder, I will use the Sidelist like a bucket you're picking berries in. A virtual folder is akin to making a desktop shortcut to a program.
Here's my setup: (All virtual folders)
CEREMONY
---- (child folder) Seating music
---- Bride Walks
---- Couple Exit
RECEPTION
---- Cocktail Hour
---- Dinner
---- First Dance
---- ETC...
To make a virtual folder, either right click in the left browser or click the folder icon. You can drag these around into other V folders too.
See, I do the same events at each gig, but the music changes each time. This is what virtual folders are great for!
"So, why use playlists at all?" For me at least, it goes back to library management.
The huge difference with a playlist is that I can export a playlist WITH (or without) a copy of all the files! That means, when I upgrade a computer, or recover from a malfunction, I simply export my playlists to a thumbdrive, and load them onto the next computer. HD space is cheap these days, so I don't sweat if I have a redundant copy of a song.
Once you have copy pasted your playlists to your computer, find them in the VDJ browser, right click and "Recurse" the playlist folder to find the tracks!
Basically, playlists are collections of musical themes or moods for me.
EXAMPLE:
Best 90s House
Deep Disco
Instrumental Funk
NeuroFunk DnB
Throwback 90s RnB
You make a playlist by dragging the songs you want into either the Sidelist or Automix tab, then clicking the circle/button in the upper right and clicking "save"
YMMV, but I've found over the last 15 years that this kind of setup makes my life much easier if my technology goes to shit!
Posted Tue 27 Aug 19 @ 4:16 pm