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| WarpedEye |
 Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 5:57 pm |
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Joined: 07 Apr 2006
Posts: 45
Location: Sweden
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That's right, people, I want to know how you DJ!
What's your setup? Hardware/software? (software for me, laptop with Traktor)
And, any special tricks/techniques you like?
I have to say, I love Traktor and its four decks, but Ableton has two huge advantages: VSTs and MIDI assign on-the-go. But I just can't get a good flow with Ableton (yet). |
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| atomic_afro |
| Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 11:59 pm |
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Joined: 25 Mar 2006
Posts: 431
Location: Bellingham, WA (Home of Edirol USA!)
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I use djDecks because a) it's WAY cheaper than Traktor and b) it "hosts" (although not too well) VST effects. As for hardware, a bog-standard PC laptop, a microKONTROL for controlling software, a Soundblaster Extigy as an audio interface, and a crappy Gemini DJ mixer for mixing and cueing.
Some tricks: if you're a software DJ, you have to overcome the sometimes biased views of the old-school DJing establishment. This is because software can allow one to "cheat" (in the view of some of the old-timers and trainspotting wannabes) by using BPM readings rather than using one's ears to beatmatch records. So in order to gain respect in spite of this bias, I believe that software-based DJs have to go beyond the capabilities of traditional analog DJing and find a new way that's equally skillful, and yet not entirely the same. This new way could include sampling, wild granular effects, stutters, loops, reverses, filter sweeps, delays, etc. all on the fly. The main idea is to do more live than what was possible in the past to make up for the perceived ease that software mixing offers.
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| guatermelon |
| Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 2:36 pm |
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Joined: 25 Apr 2006
Posts: 1
Location: San Francisco, CA
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I am loving Live for DJing. It does take a bit of practice to things to really flow, but it is so powerful once you do.
Some good tips I've discovered:
- setup an EQ III on each track and kill the high and low all together. Then setup up your MIDI controller knobs to control the high and low cutoff freqs for each track. This allows you to play just specific freqs of a track and makes mixing much easier (i.e. killing all freqs below 300hz for one track while the other track plays everything above 300hz). I find this much more intuitive/smoother then the Hi/Mid/Low gain controls on a traditional DJ setup. Using this method, I find I rarely even have to touch the crossfader anymore (just sweep one in and the other out).
- play around with the warp points of track when trying to sync with other beats...sometimes just a slight move can make a huge difference groove-wise (and never trust the Auto-Warp to do it right for you)
- set up all of you clips beforehand with a good intro point and a loop point at the end (so if you get distracted by yet another Snoop Dogg request or something, you don't have to worry about the track playing out). Also, combined w/ the first tip, this makes for great transitions...
- use VSTs, sync'd external drum machines etc. to add your own beats...this adds an extra dimension to the sound that will make the vinyl purists jealous. I love being able to suddenly drop the tempo down to 60 bpm for a killer granular breakdown...and everything is still in sync!
I think it's only a matter of time before the traditional DJs start seeing what is possible and changing their minds. After all, you can do long division by hand, but why not use a calculator? |
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| PeterKirn |
| Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 4:22 pm |
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Joined: 03 Feb 2006
Posts: 822
Location: New York, NY
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Have you tried working through the DJ tutorial included with Live?
There's also this tutorial for Live 3 -- a little dated, but useful nonetheless:
http://www.ableton.com/index/tutorials/tips0404
The flow is definitely different, of course, but I think that's the appeal . . . to try some different techniques rather than replicate exactly the same flow from another system. But I'm not really a DJ. 
It was interesting, actually, sat behind Sasha and watched him using Live at Crobar -- he approached it totally differently than I do, more DJ like. He focused on fairly subtle effects shifting, and kept about 4-5 clips at a time, whereas I usually load a minimum of 20. He was definitely improvising in terms of loading and manipulating clips, loading from the browser. I know a lot of people aren't into his style, but I think this is fairly typical technique-wise . . . potentially resulting in very different sounds if you want. |
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| thesimplicity |
| Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 6:24 pm |
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Joined: 07 Apr 2006
Posts: 122
Location: Tucson, AZ
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guatermelon wrote: Some good tips I've discovered:
- setup an EQ III on each track and kill the high and low all together. Then setup up your MIDI controller knobs to control the high and low cutoff freqs for each track. This allows you to play just specific freqs of a track and makes mixing much easier (i.e. killing all freqs below 300hz for one track while the other track plays everything above 300hz). I find this much more intuitive/smoother then the Hi/Mid/Low gain controls on a traditional DJ setup. Using this method, I find I rarely even have to touch the crossfader anymore (just sweep one in and the other out).
Live 5 is just a fantastic program for manipulating audio on the fly... when it came out I felt like such a chump for buying Traktor.
It does have a few issues (lack of multiple loop points is a biggie, no AAC support, auto-warp is terrible) but it's a great way of working once you get into it. Oh, and somewhat on topic: does anyone know how to add 'buffer' space to an audio file in Live? I work with MP3s off an external drive and when I'm setting up intro points many files start on an odd beat and I'd love to have every track I use for DJing start on an even beat (i.e., if I set the first downbeat of the actual track to bar 1, the start of the file may be bar -3.4 instead of -4, if that makes any sense). I've tried using warp points to stretch out dead air at the beginning of an MP3 but it gets quite messy. |
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| emulsion |
| Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 1:44 pm |
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Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 15
Location: Chicago
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I find Live to be cool when I want to totally f*** with stuff and really deconstruct, but I have to get it set up ahead of time for all of that.
I tend to have gigs where it's more laid back, and I want that on-the-fly freedom of just browsing my music library and picking tracks as the set goes along-- Traktor has been good for that sort of thing.
I'm an OS X user so I'm not really sure what other options there are.
This reminds me, does anyone know a tiny firewire or usb2 box that supports two differently addressable outs for headphone cueing? Most of the stuff I see is massively overkill for that, but my powerbook doesn't have the card slot for the echo indigo dj. |
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| thesimplicity |
| Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 7:46 pm |
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Joined: 07 Apr 2006
Posts: 122
Location: Tucson, AZ
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emulsion wrote: This reminds me, does anyone know a tiny firewire or usb2 box that supports two differently addressable outs for headphone cueing? Most of the stuff I see is massively overkill for that, but my powerbook doesn't have the card slot for the echo indigo dj. |
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| pacoclandestino |
| Posted: Sat May 06, 2006 11:21 am |
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Joined: 06 May 2006
Posts: 1
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Hi there,
i have to confess that am a Vinyl man,but lately i have opened my eyes onto software options due to the fact that is a good way to play and also try your own productions,+ the 50 odd Kg you save in carying around,anyway got my self traktor 3 and i have an Mbox 2,and just dont seam to figure out how to confugure it so i can cue and se the headphone within the program,i will be using the powerbook with Traktor,two technics turntables and a 4 chanel Vestax mixer,just by looking at the mbox i dont seam to be able to plug the powerbook in a way i can separate the two channels for traktor,i can run a cable for Mbox2 Monitor output,but that will only let me usae one of the Traktor deks at the time, no mixing,no cueing....
Also i would be interested in recording the session using the turntables and Traktor its that possible?looked at ther manual but as always seam chineese to me.....
thanks |
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| groffhibbitz |
| Posted: Mon May 08, 2006 5:17 pm |
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Joined: 07 Apr 2006
Posts: 11
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well I figure I should chime in as well, since this is a topic I am very interested in although still not very educated about.
I was a vinyl purist as well, and never bought any CD turntables (also they are extremely expensive especially the CDJ 1000 which would be my top choice).
But these days with the weight and cost of vinyl vs digital, it just makes more sense to buy tracks online and get them immediately versus the pain that is mail order vinyl. I've never lived close enough to a record store to buy stuff there at a regular basis, and always feel like I'm under pressure to buy something at the store even though it has a smaller selection. Plus I like having internet accses when I buy music, because I can cross reference tracks/artists/labels all immediately. I can hear a track i like then sort the records in any way I want, whereas at a the record store finding stuff is a huge pain.
But on to the "how do you DJ"..
For now I am still only DJ using Vinyl and my mixer, but I'm working on changing that, by recording my records on to my computer. Then I can use some software like Live or traktor. But I also am thinking of getting Ms. Pinky for control. I like the new mixers that are coming out that allow midi control as well as functioning as a dj mixer (can't remember the brands off hand, but one company from Barcelona makes one that is currently available).
well I also have Live and Traktor, and for the most part agree with the previous comments: Live takes more setup beforehand, and traktor can be more 'spontaneous' but overall it seems you can do more with Live, so it's a trade off in a sense. But not really, because why not use both! Although you would probably need two computers to do this, I don't see why it isn't possible in theory. |
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| corporation |
| Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2006 4:37 pm |
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Joined: 17 May 2006
Posts: 40
Location: international
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Currently I use a combination of Traktor and Live.
I use Traktor with a Mixman DM2 modded with 2 45s, Running through DM2MIDI/midiox/midi yoke.
For a mixer i use a Stanton SK-1 (soon to be sk-2f)
Using Live with a combo of a Berhinger fbc1010 MIDI Foot Pedal / M-audio Trigger Finger drum pads / X-Session midi crossfader, and routing the audio from Traktor to Live so I can record my scratching and do automatic recording/overdubbing/looping triggered through the foot pedal/drum pads in Live.
I also have a 49 key midi keyboard plugged for controlling Operator in Live.
I use a Indigo I-O with a Dell 700m/1.8ghz/1.2gb running TinyXP Rev4.
here's a photo of my setup:
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| corporation |
| Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 5:15 pm |
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Joined: 17 May 2006
Posts: 40
Location: international
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| te2rx |
| Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 2:02 pm |
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Joined: 08 Apr 2006
Posts: 110
Location: Chicago area, IL, USA
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| is there such a thing as a motorized MIDI turntable controller, or are those virtual vinyl things (mspinky, etc.) really the only way to go? -- and if that's the case, is there such a thing as a turntable that can partially be controlled through MIDI or software? |
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| tanz |
| Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:13 pm |
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Joined: 13 Feb 2007
Posts: 9
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i've never djed, but when i generate the cash i'm going to invest in some of these:
http://www.rane.com/scratch.html
i saw a dj using this software/hardware and was inspired! the records are the controllers for the digital song files, so you get vinyl feel in digital format!
that comboed with Live is what i'm envisioning for my future live rig. |
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