WOW! It's quiet in here!

[Ed]

Ooh, the average age is sliding back towards 63. It still confirms my theory that Ots has lost its appeal with the youngsters.

That's not a theory, that's a fact

[Jumpin' Jeff]

My Mind claims to be 21!

[scott hanna]

Just a baby here at 52.

I still use ots, but most of my djs have switched to vdj.

It's disappointing. I do believe there is enough djs that would not have a problem paying for upgrades if they showed true value. In some ways they did.
But coming out with upgrades EXTREMELY slow opened the door for others.

It seemed they believed the Dj market was a dying one and it became a self fulfilling prophecy for them.

Vdj and serato have shown the market is far from dying.

I've begun playing around with vdj at home, still not ready to use it at a gig. But I can see the possibility where the were times I never could

[Ed]

Just a baby here at 52.

I still use ots, but most of my djs have switched to vdj.

It's disappointing. I do believe there is enough djs that would not have a problem paying for upgrades if they showed true value. In some ways they did.
But coming out with upgrades EXTREMELY slow opened the door for others.

It seemed they believed the Dj market was a dying one and it became a self fulfilling prophecy for them.

Vdj and serato have shown the market is far from dying.

I've begun playing around with vdj at home, still not ready to use it at a gig. But I can see the possibility where the were times I never could

It's a real pity to see a once thriving Ots now expiring a slow death. Frankly, I am looking for something else but so far have not found anything I really love enough to replace ots....it's SO dependable and solid as a rock it makes it hard to switch even tho so many other products have the features I crave.

[Jigger]

It's a real pity to see a once thriving Ots now expiring a slow death. Frankly, I am looking for something else but so far have not found anything I really love enough to replace ots....it's SO dependable and solid as a rock it makes it hard to switch even tho so many other products have the features I crave.

You are right Ed
I have finished Djing now but still use Ots every day.
I still get the feeling that the DJ market isn't as big as we think, there is professional software for broadcast about and a lot of so called DJs just dabble a bit and then stop.
A Lot of us here worked for many years even before Ots came along, and continued form vinyl to cd then Ots. How many of todays DJs will be working say in five years time?

I think basically there is not enough income to warrant Ots developing further, even if they did they are behind other programs and to generate new users would be a huge task.

[Lane]

I'll say something unkind about DJs as a group based on my observations. Around here, most of them pirate. The software, and the music. Any time I'm at a gig, I end up behind the desk to talk a little shop. I've seen the tell tale markers, and will outright ask. And most freely admit they pirate the software. They justify it based on feeling they aren't paid enough. The market for DJ software isn't as big as it should be if this is typical other places too.

[scott hanna]

I'll say something unkind about DJs as a group based on my observations. Around here, most of them pirate. The software, and the music. Any time I'm at a gig, I end up behind the desk to talk a little shop. I've seen the tell tale markers, and will outright ask. And most freely admit they pirate the software. They justify it based on feeling they aren't paid enough. The market for DJ software isn't as big as it should be if this is typical other places too.

I don't think DJ's are any different than any other group. A lot of People will steal if you let them. They will easily justify it.
I've read some letters from bill Gates chastising people for copying his software early on. He quickly realized that if he didn't lock it down, people will steal it.   It's nothing new and not particular to any group. Still wrong.

[milky]

There is DJing, and DJing. In the good old days, I dragged crates of vinyl and tapes to gigs. They were the good old days when people just wanted good music, and were happy to wait on the dance floor for the DJ to find and cue their track.

Then we moved up to CD and multiple decks, so we could have one track playing and be frantically searching for something else which would keep people on the floor.

Then digital music systems, like Ots came out. Magic started to happen. We could pull up all sorts of tracks almost instantly, cross fade between them and. in general "put on a show". This is when I bought my first copy of Ots, and the sheer convenience of not carting crates and crates of media with me made it a no-brainer. However, along with digital came beat mixing, flashy lighting and all the other smoke and mirrors that patrons demanded. That's when other software developers started to gain an edge over Ots, who seemed to stagnate with limited capabilities over and above a simple library search and track replay system.

I thought that they had abandoned the DJ industry, because they released a radio and TV version of Ots, so I surmised that a management decision had been made that there was a bigger future in that direction. A quick worldwide count of the number of terrestrial stations alone would substantiate this, without even considering streaming.

However, they have not moved with the times, nor the demands that the broadcast industry place on their playout systems. It's not just a matter of selecting and playing tracks. There's  programming, logging, accounting, rotations - all sorts of things that aren't there, but are in other systems out there. As Lane said, he had to make a choice on a presentation system years ago. I too had to look intently at what was out there and what provides the best turnkey solution. Sadly, it's not Ots.

Once again, none of the above is a criticism, it's an observation. I will continue to use Ots privately, and support this forum as long as it exists. It is such a pity that it is so quiet in here, but I think I can see the reasons why.

[Jigger]

Well said Milky

[Jumpin' Jeff]

Agreed!

[Nicolee]

I still use Ots whenever the need arises, but I have been looking at other software mainly VDJ.

My problem is simply not being able to migrate my OTS video library back to their original format. I still have a vast majority of my original MP4 and .VOB files, however 20% of my original video library was lost due to a NAS failure on a QNAP NAS.

So while I have the lost 20% in .ots files, I have no means to convert them back.... So basically stuck until someone kindly releases a tool to complete the reverse process. I know it can be done for audio but not for video which is disappointing.

Either the guys at .ots need to get development back on track or release a tool to let those move on if they so choose.

[Mike Sinclair]

I am now using a Pioneer DDJ-SX3 with Serato DJ Pro 2.0 on a MacBook Pro. It hasn't hiccuped once. The features are great. I used Rekordbox DJ a bit too, but find myself back to Serato. I do have one Windows laptop with Ots on it for backup purposes and if I need to play some cocktail hour music away from my Reception site. I bought an LD Maui 5 GO speaker for Ceremonies and with bluetooth, Ots is a great choice to "keep it tight" unmanned and let it do its thing. But, for my main DJing, I prefer the Serato route. There was a time I never thought I'd say that.

By the way, I'm 50. I too bought OtsJuke DJ back in 99. At the time, it was the greatest thing since sliced bread!

And, you guys have always been super polite and helpful. This is a great group of people.

[clover-leaf-productions]

My baby, puppy dog eyes are a mere 53 years old.

For our Dj work we still are happy with Ots 1.85.  It works perfect with our old beefy XP systems.  So if it isn't broken, why try to fix it.  Simple can be best; but then I am the guy who prefers my cars to be at least 20+ years old, and my daily driver is 36 years old.  So I am happy with my old Ots just fine.

[Ots_Steve]

Hi Guys,

Just logged in and saw this thread after Ed sent me a message.

Exactly, Ots is very out of date and simply collecting dust..It's a AS IS product now. I am not sure who is running the show anymore and some rumors have Adam Ots very ill.

You know what they say about rumors. That one is completely false. He is working hard as usual, as CEO and Chief Software Engineer, as are all of our team.


Our last major release came out just 12 months ago. We are working on the next one and despite some of the negativity and speculation expressed in this thread, I can say we have many new customers trialling, enquiring and buying OtsAV for the first time every day as it suits their needs well. We understand many of the participants in this thread have been using OtsAV for a long time and now their needs have changed and grown to where other tools are better suited. We have always said anyone should use whatever tool is best for their particular needs - it only makes sense to do so. Yes, there are other tools that offer features OtsAV does not have. OtsAV has always been focussed on the core principles of high-quality mixing, dynamics, and technologies which work stably and professionally. For many customers today those are the qualities they are looking for and they are not after speciality features which may be offered in some other products. They just want a solid core experience for their automated mixing needs.

I can confirm we are absolutely continuing to work hard developing the next OtsAV for all the markets OtsAV services.

All the best,

Ots_Steve

[milky]

Hi Ots_Steve! Always great to hear from you.

I started this thread as a social comment that things have been quiet, and they *have* been. In the early days, I and several of the Admins could spend hours per day answering queries, but it has dropped off to the point where, although I check in every day, several days may go past without a new post.

What inevitably followed was a comparison on the "good old days", and then 'mine is better than yours".

As I stated several times, this was not intended to to be a criticism of the "tool" at all. I'm right out of the DJ scene now, but I still use and love OtsAV in my home studio almost daily. We trialled Ots in a Community Station and it worked well, but the volunteers had a lot of external accounting to do for "OzCon" reports to keep their licence. As you said, "Other tools are better suited."

Looking forward to what goodies Adam has up his sleeve.