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I'm looking to get started with mixing songs. I've been playing with Ableton for a while but never seriously... now is the time I want to get serious.

I've been using just a keyboard and mouse... my main question is should I buy an AKAI APC40? Would it benefit me as a noob or should I just stick with a keyboard/mouse?

Honestly if you want to get serious about mixing and doing the whole dj thing then you should purchase some decks or cdj's and a decent mixer. Just my opinion.

Am I wrong to assume that CDj's are going to get phased out eventually and the future is pretty much purely midi controllers and software?

Why can't Ableton do what CDj's do?

I've played with CDj's... I understand them. I just want to go with what is modern and potentially most future-proof.


But nonetheless, I don't want to get off track completely. Would the APC40 help me as a newb to learn ableton live/mixing or is there a better controller that I should use to learn Ableton/mixing/djing?

The cdj's could go away eventually just like the halted production of the Technic's Turntables - I don't think anytime soon though. In any event, MP3's will be around for a long while so technically you could purchase cdj's or turntables and you will have nothing to fear for the future of mixing.
I honestly don't think Ableton and midi controllers are the wave of the future for mixing. As of right now I would say that is the least popular way of mixing - but if that's they way you want to do it then by all means do what you gotta do.
Realistically you should purchase turntables. From there, you can get Traktor or some other DJ software program to play and mix your MP3's (if you don't want to buy straight up vinyl).
Don't know much about controllers and mixing with them so I can't really help you in that category.
Hope this helps bro

hiat wrote:The cdj's could go away eventually just like the halted production of the Technic's Turntables - I don't think anytime soon though. In any event, MP3's will be around for a long while so technically you could purchase cdj's or turntables and you will have nothing to fear for the future of mixing.
I honestly don't think Ableton and midi controllers are the wave of the future for mixing. As of right now I would say that is the least popular way of mixing - but if that's they way you want to do it then by all means do what you gotta do.
Realistically you should purchase turntables. From there, you can get Traktor or some other DJ software program to play and mix your MP3's (if you don't want to buy straight up vinyl).
Don't know much about controllers and mixing with them so I can't really help you in that category.
Hope this helps bro

I hear what you're saying about mixing with tables and then maybe have it aided with some DJ software like traktor, however I'd like to learn why if possible.

Why do you say that using a CDJ would be better than mixing with Ableton? I'd like to learn the contrast of difference.

because ableton isnt djing, and cdj's are. As simpling as that.

Mold Inpsektor wrote:because ableton isnt djing, and cdj's are. As simpling as that.

Why? It's not as simple as that if you can't provide an example.

I mean alright, you caught me. Djing is just some mang playing tunes back and forth and shit, but to mee half of djing is being able to beat match and use headphones to find the perfect cue point. In ableton, no one uses headphones (well some do, but most don't), and you pretty much just hit alot of buttons. To me it is the least respectable form of DJing because pretty much anyone can do it. Start with vinyl, learn pitch shifting, make some tunes, learn about music, before you take the simplest way out into djing.