Remote Request Station & Server
by SoftJock & ProDJpc
The Remote Request Station & Server software was developed in partnership with ProDJpc and SoftJock Audio. The original version was first released for public consumption in February 2006, when ProDJpc presented the software at the Mobile Beat Las Vegas ’06 show. The new software package was also displayed at the Mobile Beat Summer Expo in Cromwell, CT later that same year and was a popular demo handout for DJs from all over the United States and Canada. The current version of the software programs are both 1.0.
The installation of the software is pretty quick and painless process, with the program preset to be installed into the Program Folder, which is standard. You will of course need to have the server program installed on your Computerized Performance System (CPS) as well as another computer to act as your client for making requests, such as a remote laptop or kiosk system. The CPS and the client units will of course have to be networked together, either by wireless network or any of the other networking methods (Ethernet, Null Modem, Direct Cable, etc.) in order for the system to function as intended. These relatively small, but powerful little programs take up only a tiny portion of real estate on the hard drive of either system, yet it is required that you have a minimum of 256MB of RAM installed.
One very useful feature of the server side program is when you have a request submitted to you, it appears on the CPS. If the DJing application on your CPS accepts drag and drop files from a Windows operating environment, it makes filling those requests incredibly simple and easy to do on the fly. As a testament to level of programming involved, the fact that the server side program only takes up slightly less than 6.5MB RAM when it is running, is evidence that the development of the software was done with careful consideration to the overall impact it would have on CPS performance and resource allocation. The client side program takes up even less memory, coming in at 4.8MB! In other words, the Remote Request Station & Server programs are not what some people would call “bloat-ware” that would easily take up five to tens times that amount of RAM to run. Rather it is sleek, sexy and streamlined for the DJ Industry!
Another very useful feature of this program package is for those who are already using the RockIt 2000 Pro DJ program. The server side program has the option of fully integrating with the existing music library under that program, making it a seamless experience for users and guests alike. Both the server and client side applications feature easy to use controls as well as being compatible with touch screens, overlays, keyboards and are compatible with the XKeys controller too. The software also has the ability to send and receive text messages from both programs, which makes it extremely handy for taking special requests, song dedications, etc.
Other features of this software package include the ability to sort or search for music titles by artist, song title or genre. The client side program allows you to setup the software so that other normal Windows OS features like the Start Button, Desk Top and Task Bar remain hidden during operation so that guests cannot use the kiosk or remote computer for anything other than making requests, etc. The server side program allows you to set minimum times between requests, the maximum number of requests someone may make as well as giving you control of booting those annoying folks who keep making lots of requests.
The only downside to the server and client package that I could find is that it is limited to MP3 and Wave files only. While you can just as easily index a karaoke library, providing that they are in MP3+G format or Wave+G format, the drag and drop feature does not bring up the associated video. However, if you can live without the drag-n-drop feature, you could just as readily pull the appropriate karaoke track directly from your music library for play. Overall, the Remote Request Station and Server programs are as simplistic and reliable as they are rock solid and very easy to install.
Both programs were very stable on all of the test machines during “lab” testing as well as rigorous use on the road. Initial testing was completed favorably in a controlled environment using the TCP/IP protocol on Windows 98SE and Windows 2000 Pro operating systems. Connection methods included Direct Cable Connections using USB, Serial or Null Modem cables and Parallel cables as well as Ethernet using 10/100Mbps PCI cards and a hub. All test machines used Intel CPUs at 1GHz or faster except for one laptop which was an AMD CPU running at 400MHz. All test machines also had at least 512MB RAM with the exception again being the AMD laptop which only had 256MB RAM. Both the server side and client side programs performed well in this environment so the next step was to test it rigorously on the road.
During road testing, two types of LANs (Local Area Networks) were used, Ethernet and wireless in Windows 2000 Pro and Windows XP Pro. The Ethernet LAN was created using a Linksys switching hub and a pair of category 6 Ethernet cables. Setting up the network was as simple as plugging the cables into the switch, the CPS and a laptop. Setting up the wireless network was slightly more involved using a Linksys wireless G hub and a laptop with a wireless G PCMCIA card. The wireless hub was connected to the CPS via a category 6 Ethernet cable. Both of these versions were tested thoroughly at weddings and special events for more than 100 hours each. The programs performed flawlessly in all configurations using a CPS with Intel 2.13GHz Core2 Duo CPUs and 2GB RAM, the client side was used on a laptop with an Intel Celeron CPU 1.3GHz with 1GB RAM.
The Remote Request Station & Server software was tested mainly with several versions of RockIt 2000, Tricerasoft Swift Elite, Virtual DJ, Pioneer DJ and PCDJ Red 5.2. Although the software may only be fully integrated with RockIt 2000, it performed well with all other DJ mixing programs that it was tested with. Granted this is but a small sample of all the programs that are available to DJs today, the software package gives no indication that it would not play well with any other Windows-based mixing program too. The only possible exception being that I was unable to complete the testing using OtsDJ which uses a proprietary container for MP3s and may not be compatible with the programs.
The Remote Request Station & Server software package is available through SoftJock Audio Software at www.softjock.com and ProDJpc at www.ProDJpc.com. The software demo versions of the server and station programs will also be distributed with my forthcoming book “Advanced CPS Concepts” which will be available sometime in mid-2008. For more information on this book and my other books, please visit my website www.CharlesESnyderIII.com.
Client-Side Setup Screen
Server-Side Setup Screen
Remote Request Station Software In Action
Tags: computer dj, digital dj, prodjpc, remote request station and server, Reviews: DJ Software, softjock
