A plea to DJs playing digital or CDs

[staticcast]

PLEASE turn off master tempo/'pitch lock'/'key shift'/whatever it's called on your weapon of choice. 80% of the time it sounds like absolute ass, WAY worse than 128k mp3s.

I'd rather hear two tracks out of tune than yet another once-meaty 808 sub mangled into some twisted, anemic wreck at the hands of Traktor's/Serato's/Pioneer's/Ableton's timestretching algorithm. If repitching is good enough for vinyl then it's good enough for you.

That is all.

[sidedraft]

As a traktor scratch user i've noticed the audio degradation from keylock really only becomes an issue when you start pitching around +-10bpm. Regardless, I can only think of a few songs that don't sound weird at +10bpm, keylock or not.

[knuckle b]

I'd point out that if you are actually going for harmonic mixing, using mixed in key software or your ear, the idea of not using key lock is bad. It will inherently "detune" your music so that your mixes will not be in key. More importantly is to avoid straying from a few % points when using key lock. I dont think tunes sound good either way when they are played far from the intended speed, keylock or not. respect

[staticcast]

It's worse on some tracks than others, sure. But the question always remains "why bother?". I mean, pitch lock can often (but not always) sound acceptable below around +/- 5%, but repitching ALWAYS sounds acceptable in that range, and with pitch lock there's a very good chance it's gonna sound absolutely horrific on certain material (especially pure subs). Above +/- 5% it sounds like shit, and repitching does too, but not quite so shit. If you're gonna repitch tracks to 10% then, well, you kinda have to live with it I guess.

I'd point out that if you are actually going for harmonic mixing, using mixed in key software or your ear, the idea of not using key lock is bad. It will inherently "detune" your music so that your mixes will not be in key. More importantly is to avoid straying from a few % points when using key lock. I dont think tunes sound good either way when they are played far from the intended speed, keylock or not. respect

To me this is the only possible justification. If I start mixing in a new track and realise it's so out of tune and so overwhelmingly melodic that the mix is gonna sound painful, maybe then I'll try it with pitch lock on and if it sounds way more harmonic then I'll go with that. But really, it's a last resort. I'd rather hear 30 seconds of dissonant mixing than 4 minutes of blurbly sub-bass-that's-not-quite-sub-bass.

[james fox]

i agree, apart from complex pro mode on ableton live, that's fine.

[Omega Dub]

Couldn't agree more!!

I personally don't think any timestretching algorithms sound good at all, no matter how close you are to native tempo. And a particular note to other Ableton users - Complex and Complex Pro are NOT transparent, even at native tempo. If you can't hear the difference between repitch at native and complex/pro at native, then you need some better speakers, because the difference is HUGE.

I've found the best way to make significant tempo changes but still keep things in key is to split each song into multiple clips, and have the mixing section (where you will be off native tempo) warped complex pro, but have the main section where you will be at native tempo either repitch or beats 1/16th (which is truly transparent at native tempo) and either just trigger the next clip at the transitions, or set up follow action. Or just change warp algorithms during playback when the transitions are over... but I've heard some people say that this has caused Ableton to glitch out.

Even back in my vinyl days, I've always felt that tunes should be played at their native tempo, and repitching/timestretching should only be used for transitions.

[Mr_Frost]

fwiw...pitching up/down 6% will move you to the next key....haven't really played with this much personally, but it could lead to some interesting new blends.

[spooKs]

fwiw...pitching up/down 6% will move you to the next key....haven't really played with this much personally, but it could lead to some interesting new blends.

But probably won't be in time...

I think the thing with this is what Knuckle B said - if you want to mix in key then you must use it.