usb dj controllers

[surface_tension]

Real DJs can match beats by ear. There I said it.

duh?

As opposed to watching waveforms match up and hitting a button to autosync shit... standard.

[Cosine]

I use a laptop and a cheap as shit Hercules DJ Control, and i'm about to add a Midi-keyboard and an M-Audio Trigger Finger into the mix. I couldn't care less about the purists, I don't just mix dubstep, I mix alot of stuff where there scenes dont look down on people who don't just stick to vinyl.

And plus, I do have a DVS, which I love, but my decks are shit, and one of them blew up the other day.

[michael red]

hahahahahahahahahaha.

"beat matching is an art". yeeeeah.

beatmatching is standard. it's no special skill.
beatmatching vinyl - easy.
pre-beatmacthing on ableton - easy.
what does it matter?

my only major problem with ableton is not being able to simulate rewinding.

[Steve AC23]

hahahahahahahahahaha.

"beat matching is an art". yeeeeah.

beatmatching is standard. it's no special skill.
beatmatching vinyl - easy.
pre-beatmacthing on ableton - easy.
what does it matter?

my only major problem with ableton is not being able to simulate rewinding.

lets give u a push in the right direction....beat matching FAST is an art....look at chef, ntype...

it matters coz you touch urself at night

[dirt]

If anyone actually read what the dude was asking at the start he isn't about to start DJing in FWD or DMZ or anything, just at home. The vinyl vs digi mixing arguments need to stop... no one will agree so just shut the fuck up about it!! If your just starting out mixing by ear is hard, so digi is a good way to get your head around what to do and how to do it. Combine both skills and you can kill it,l so people need to stop being ignorant about which is better than other and stop the smug shit; loads of people mix with vinyl, it doesn't give you the right to be a tnuc to other people who don't.

If you can't afford decks and vinyl then the digi method can be used in a similar way to help you learn how to do it for when you do get the real thing. Try not pressing sync (wild idea, who would have thought of that!) and use the pitch control to sync instead... hold on, isn't that the same as beat matching? Christ on a bike, maybe they are both pretty similar in the end... !

Like Heny G says; 'If we all worked together we could achieve so much, imagine if we never ever held a grudge'

Peace

[dutty_switch]

A friend of mine uses Ableton with an Akai MPD32 & an Evolution X-Session and its an awesome setup imo. Its pretty easy to use and you can set it up how you want but it allows you the freedom to muck about, have 3 or 4 things running, add effects, sample tunes, beat repeat and so on. Loadsa fun.

I have decks and keep thinking about getting Sorato or Tracktor Scratch Pro but every time I use his Ableton setup, I keep getting swayed. Still undecided at the moment. haha.

EDIT: Plus I found that being able to whack on loads of delay and throwing in some cheaky beat stuttering is awesome for when a mix goes awry.

[breakbait]

I've been DJing with vinyl for about 5/6 years now and have played out plenty of times but in the last year I've been too skint to afford vinyl every week. I've been buying mp3s for the last few months using traktor with my midi keyboard and while it is easier, it opens up more possibilities for interesting sets. I'm slowly getting more in to it and I hope to get into 4 deck mixing soon. I don't use the beat grid/sync thing cos I haven't figured it out yet lol, although I do use the Master/slave function to get the right tempos and then put them in time with each other using the pitch bend.

I've got a couple of gigs this weekend and I have been debating with myself whether to use my traktor/midi keyboard setup or to use cd decks even though I've only ever used cd decks a few times, never a whole set.
I know if I use traktor I can do a sick set but people may frown upon me, I don't know if I care or not. I think I'm just gonna use traktor, fuck all the haters.

People don't come out to see people push pitch faders up and down and there is no sonic benefit to beat matching.

[_boring]

yea, you can still use the pitch when using traktor, it sounds more natural that way, and you can even set it so the bpm doesnt even show up to distract you. if i am using cdjs, vinyl, or traktor i still keep and eye on my pitch numbers when beatmatching, my ear isnt perfect yet, and what matters when you are playing out is the final product. in the end all DJing is is using the pitch bend to align the beats, what you use to cue your tracks is kind of irrelevant, but its also a visual performance (altho its more fun when you dont have to worry about people watching you ie dark room no stage).

i just think abelton is the dumbest thing ever when playing out just mixing tracks. theres nothing even moving around! it sounds so dry.....

[dutty_switch]

i just think abelton is the dumbest thing ever when playing out just mixing tracks. theres nothing even moving around! it sounds so dry.....

I agree with this. The fun thing about watching a DJ is the show they put on. With vinyl, you got em constantly moving around picking up records, checking up, cueing them etc. You get the same sort of thing with DJs using Sorato or Tracktor Scratch with control vinyls. I've watched DJs play sets off Ableton just using the laptops track pad and its dull as fuck. Most of the time, they're not even EQing or even really looking at the screen. Where Ableton DJs come into their own is when they ahve midi controllers and they're constantly EQing and triggering effects, samples and things off their controllers etc (and generally dancing around like the floors on fire) and thats awesome. They're just as animated as vinyl DJs and they're doing the same amount of work (if not more if they're dealing with more than 2 channels playing at the same time).

For some inexplicable reason, I also find that most laptop sets are a bit more light-hearted and fun. Less stuffy and more based on fucking around and having a laugh. This is just my experiences though.

I just wish there was some dort of rewind plugin that lets you do binary spinbacks

[funkstep]

I just wish there was some dort of rewind plugin that lets you do binary spinbacks

Virtual DJ has it haha!

[adam_john]

This thread has turned to hilarious. I use CDjs and ableton with my laptop. I have fun with both. I have more fun using my MIDI controllers with ableton. Wicked FX, custom chains, on-the-fly beat chopping, live remixes. what's not to like? I've gone from vinyl through all the other shit. I love technology. almost 10 years of djing. people like to hate! sooo funny.

[dutty_switch]

This thread has turned to hilarious...people like to hate! sooo funny.

Not too much hate in this thread to be honest mate. Most people have made pretty fair points and its their opinions. I've seen a hell of a lot worse on this forum with too many people not knowing the difference between having an opinion and being opinionated.

[dutty_switch]

Haha, one thing though is that very few people have actually answered the poor geeza who started this thread's question. I tried to make a rough stab at it but got side tracked.

Standard

[adam_john]

This thread has turned to hilarious...people like to hate! sooo funny.

Not too much hate in this thread to be honest mate. Most people have made pretty fair points and its their opinions. I've seen a hell of a lot worse on this forum with too many people not knowing the difference between having an opinion and being opinionated.

This is true, but i still see the comments in there! I guess it just amuses me when these topics pop up. It reminds me of back in the day when CDj's were coming around. Now we've replaced CDJ with Ableton or Traktor. Wonder what we'll replaced those with in another 10 years or so. Serato seems fun as hell though. I still have yet to get that setup - would give me that lost feel of vinyl I miss and still allow me to use digital files.

[adam_john]

Haha, one thing though is that very few people have actually answered the poor geeza who started this thread's question. I tried to make a rough stab at it but got side tracked.

Standard

lol, no doubt. Only 3-4 people actually helped the guy out.

[wascal]

The fun thing about watching a DJ...

[dutty_switch]

Tracktor Scratch Pro seems the way to go from what I've heard. Better build quality on the sound module (plus you can actually use it for production and with ableton as a proper soundcard), the latancy is supposed to be lower with Tracktor and its apparently more stable. Plus you can have up to four decks which you can EQ separately through a 4 channel mixer.

Ableton + controllers + some 'get-up-&-go' is still better though in my opinion, purely cos it offers more flexibility. Just downloaded a plugin for my mates Ableton that lets you use a Wii remote as a midi controller. Gonna set it up with some pitch bending and sampling/beat repeating effects. Probably lends itself to jungle/breakcore sets more than dubstep but still fuck loads of fun.

[dutty_switch]

The fun thing about watching a DJ...

What? I like watching a DJ work. I enjoy a skank as much as the next man but sometimes its cool to watch someone mix. Especially when they're really feeling it.

Guess its just me then....

[adam_john]

Wii remote as a midi controller. Gonna set it up with some pitch bending and sampling/beat repeating effects. Probably lends itself to jungle/breakcore sets more than dubstep but still fuck loads of fun.

that sounds sick actually. i've got a few glitch/beat repeats i run from the controllers. used creatively it actually sounds dope with dubstep, just not so much if you get carried away. it's good for fills between transitions. i can only imagine using a Wii mote to trigger fx, lol. Sounds fun. I still need a nice audio interface as I would rather run the audio out of ableton into a dj mixer and use that for eqs/fades. right now my ableton rack for shows has about 4 decks running. gets pretty hectic when you have most of them running at the same time. heh.

[rbnc]

What is vinyl again?