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Forum: General Discussion

Topic: Multiple DJ's in a Club

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What is the best way to allow multiple DJ's to use a single copy of VirtuallDJ in a club? They will be using external drives. Will the program remember the customized settings (folder favorites, virtual folders, etc.) per DJ? How will the program remember each DJ's database? Will the program create a master database that is stored on the system drive? If so, how will that affect the search time?
Thanks in advance for any help with these questions!
 
Posted Mon 17 Mar 08 @ 12:29 pm
VDJ stores a "master database" on each of the djs external drives.
So all you need to do is hot-swap the drives for each dj, when a new DJ wants to play, and the new drives music will auto show inside VDJ.

It will not affect your system performance no, the database is saved locally on the external drive, in root.

VDJ will also remember favorite and virtual folders for each djs/drive...

So you idea of opreation will work great, and automatically ;)
 
Norway, won't the databases from the disconnected drives, show up when he does a search, if they both have the same tracks on them?

For instance, if he searches for "Gimme More" and the same file is on the disconnected drive, won't he get two, and one of them will have a yellow dot?
 
I was thinking the same thing. I was also thinking for this to work smoothly. You have to plug new drive in and " remove " from search on unused drive.

Now the question is how do take out a drive without just yanking it out. Wouldn't you have to "eject" or stop the drive recognition in the system.
 
This is what happened to me. My external was full. Copied onto a bigger drive. Now when I search, 2 tracks show up. The one with the yellow dot, is from the other drive. So I just click on "remove from search database". Maybe there is a better way for me, like hook that old drive back up, and delete that database. The reason I didn't was I thought I may have to use that drive in a pinch.
 

If not added to search-database (local database), the connected drives Favorite Folders and VirtualFolders will auto show, and disapear totally, when drive is connected or disconnected.

IF you also choose to add the drive to your local search database (global search), you need to righ-click that drive and choose "remove from search database" before you disconnect the drive, if you dont want result from that drive to show up, true...
 
I will hook that drive back up, and do as you suggest.
 


Also, when a drive IS connected, only favorite folders and virtual folders from that drive will show.
If you want to add it to the global search, you also need to manually add it to the search, by rightclicking the connected drive, and choosing "add to search database" for the folders in question

:)
 
Was thinking about this the other day. I think a multi-profile system would be a cool addition for a setup that is used by multiple DJ's with different layouts (or drives connected and added to the global search database). Something as simple as a drop-down menu when you open up VDJ would do the trick (like Outlook with multiple email setups).
 
good idea ;)
 
Interesting info here, just a thought, but wouldn't it make more sense for a drive to be automatically be added to the global search every time it's plugged in? Surely the vast majority of the time you would want it to be added to the search, then for the occaisional time when you don't you've still got the "remove from database" option.

Obviously that doesn't help the guy who was just asking how to set it up with the way it works now, so apologies for being a little bit off topic :)
 
Problem with auto add to global search when connected, is that most users dont want to add all media files on the drive (I guess).

So the user needs to tell VDJ what folders to add, or else VDJ would have added the whole drive.

But it could have added the whole drive automatically, if that was wanted.
 
Yeh, I didn't think that through properly did I!?

An option for folders on external drives to be automatically added to the search database would definately be a handy feature though.
 

Agree... Auto add VirtualFolders and FavoriteFolders (that already auto shows when drive connects) to global search, could be a smart new feature ;)
 

okey guys, it seems VDJ already does just that. Disconnected drives will auto disapear from global search database, and auto appear.

Cstoll gave me some good info, and hopefully he can post a good explaination here soon ;)
 
dj-in-norway wrote :
Cstoll gave me some good info, and hopefully he can post a good explaination here soon ;)


The SearchDB is not like before, if the database for the drive does not exist, then the content is not searchable. There is not a SearchDB in memory like prior versions. It is a flag in each entry of the XML node for the files that are added to the database.

When the drive is 'removed' VirtualDJ no longer sees the DB - nothing to Search or Read. When a drive is added 'HOT' VDJ recognizes that a new Volume/Drive just came into existence, looks to see if their is a database file - if Yes, then it reads it for Favorites and Virtual Folders, and now can use it to Search for content on the drive.

However; there is a bug, recently discovered and needs some further verifying. When you have the Automatically ADD on in the Config, and you browse a playlist (manually create ones or the history playlists) that has entries from a disconnected drive, then it adds those entries to the C: Drive database. This can easily be corrected in doing a Fix, Clean and Clear on the C: drive database from the Config -> Browser tab.


Hope that helps...
 
So to answer the original post --

What is the best way to allow multiple DJ's to use a single copy of VirtuallDJ in a club? They will be using external drives.

Each bringing their own drives is a good option.

Will the program remember the customized settings (folder favorites, virtual folders, etc.) per DJ?

Yes, that information is stored on each drive.

How will the program remember each DJ's database? Will the program create a master database that is stored on the system drive? If so, how will that affect the search time?

that information is stored on each drive, so not a problem. And you won't see much difference in the search unless one guy has like 50,000 tracks and another guy has 5,000 (10%)

 

You're ace Cstoll ;)
 
The best way to have multiple users is by each dj using an external HD. If they have there music inside the laptop, you have to disconnect the laptop and connect the other. make sure you play a cd so the music doesnt stop while connecting the next laptop. I always use my external Hd to make things easier. When i connect my Hd to someone elses lapto and they have music inside, my files will show up below his last folder on the right side.
 


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