The Louie V's Setup.

[Louie_V]

Before we start the timeline here are the most up to date pics:

Updated: 08/27/12
So after about a month with the RMX-1000 and a few months with the Kontrol F1's, I have started using both at gigs. The F1's i admit aren't being used as much as I though i would be using them, while there are some gigs where I really use them a lot, those gigs are far and few in-between, there are occasionally gigs where I'm not using them, however most of the time they do get a bit of use, and overall I never saw them as a huge investment, so they have definitely paid themselves off. The RMX-1000 on the other hand is very often used, while I am comfortable leaving behind the F1's from time to time, the RMX-1000 is always with me. Its the first thing I pack. Considering the fact that I wasn't a huge fan of the on-board effects on the DJM-900Nexus, I am becoming dependent on the RMX-1000 and its features. Sometimes it may just be adding a reinforcing kick, or creating a loop, then softly fading it out while its on over the continuing song, or using the Isolator effects, hell sometimes i just the just the release effects by themselves, or sometimes i use all its got. Its a freaken awesome unit and I'm really happy I got it.

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[Louie_V]

The Louie V Timeline:

So since I haven't formally introduced myself here I guess I'll share the story here:

Many many years back it started with carrying crates for a few uncles that were DJs, from carrying crates it slowly evolved to where it is now.

I had been practicing for a while and picking up some techniques from my uncles, however, it was sometime around the age of 12 that one of my uncles finally let me take over one of his sets. That's what I consider my fist gig, however I had been covering piss breaks for a few years.

That night I took home that uncles gear (this uncle wasn't DJing as a profession, it was a hobby for him so I was able to hold on to his gear for a pretty long while.

(Gemini PDX-2400, Denon DN-D4500)

I got the hang of rackmount CD players for a little while, then found out about this new thing called Virtual DJ. I didn't really like that everything was controlled with mouse and keyboard so started using 3 decks (2 decks off the cd players and the master out of Virtual DJ) at the time, however, I still relied mostly on CD's.)

After a long while of having my uncles gear I decided to start buying my own, started with a mixer.

(Gemini PDM-02 w/ Gemini 2-5-2 Case)

I started doing a few more gigs and getting a little more cash, my main focus started going towards EDM music. Decided to purchase a new mixer.

(Gemini CS-02)

I actually really, really liked that mixer, to this day I miss it, if I could fix the DSP/effects engine it would be perfect. Nonetheless, after getting this mixer I went for some CD players. I ended up purchasing a set of Numark ICDX's which were pretty great, however, looking back, there are days do regret not going with the Pioneer CDJ-400's.

(2 Numark ICDX's, Gemini CS-02 Mixer & Behringer HPX-2000 Headphones)

Now remember this very point... This point in the story is where the "RGAS" started...

With the new gear there were a few changes. The biggest change was that I started doing gigs solo. I had been working with one of my younger cousins and we would mostly tag-team at gigs, however his heart wasn't in it and he had a lot of distractions. I still think that he has great talent and great potential, and with some refinement he could be better then I am, however your heart has got to be in it or else there is no reason for it.

With the divide between my cousin and I, gigs started paying double (no more need to split money down the middle) and they became more frequent. I won't lie, I went crazy buying random stuff with no real plan. There were a lot of impulse buys, and I think I could of been a lot better off if i would have planned out all my purchases. It also doesn't help that at this time I set up a bank account for my DJ'ing and had a nice new debt card that made shopping a lot easier.

(Bunch of random stuff. Most Notable: Monster Cables, Vaultz cases for my CD Players, Some Chauvet lighting & a Chauvet Fogger)




(20'x20'x10' Aluminum Truss)



(New Coffin, New Laptop (Again), Laptop Stand, Legit Version of VDJ, Maya 44, some other stuff)

At this point I mostly played on VDJ, CD's became 2nd since the ICDX's worked natively with Virtual DJ. One thing i really did like about the ICDX's was that there wasn't (to my knowledge) any sync button, so I still had to pitch and nudge my tracks and I made it a habbit to not look at the waveforms while doing such.

[Louie_V]

At this point things started taking off on a new level. My gear remained (mostly) the same for some time, however I started DJing with a new group of people and totally changed my social circles. I had been playing a lot of family oriented gigs where the night would progress through a bunch of different genres, however, that all changed. I begun playing electro and house, and my gigs went from family oriented parties to college parties, house parties, etc. My gigs were mostly constructed of 2-3 genres a night.

During this time I also jumped on the Behringer DDM-4000 bandwagon. It was truely a great mixer, however I did start becoming dependent on the effects which (in my opinion) degraded the quality of my transitions and mixes overall, however that has since been corrected.

(2x Numark ICDX's, Behringer DDM-4000, Odyssey LStandM, Maya 44 & Odyssey FZCDI12W)

After having changed social circles and genres/mixing styles, the people I was hanging out with were mostly all Serato Scratch Live users. I wouldn't say they were all scratch DJ's, but that would be the best way to describe their setups. Everyone's setup was pretty basic, 2 decks, a mixer and an SL-1. No one used filters, no one really used effects outside of flanger/phaser/echo. Most of the guys I hung out with had known the Scratch Live hotkeys off the top of their heads, and they were all dependent on those hot keys, some would even be able to gig of just those hot keys and a mixer for smaller events.

I had started borrowing my friends SL-1's and became a normal Scratch Live user, however, I really didn't like the idea of having one hand nearly glued to my keyboard and one to mix with so I began looking into midi controllers. I had also began looking at midi controllers for logic since i was trying to start getting into it. I ended up purchasing both a Serato Scratch Live SL-3 and an Akai MPD26.

I begun midi mapping at this point and somewhere around this time also purchased a Korg Nanopad. I really didn't like that Nanopad at all, I remember hating the pads because they were so hard and (in my opinion) there was really nothing to map an X-Y pad to on Scratch Live, so shortly after purchasing the Nanopad I also purchased the Akai LPD8, which was what I really should have purchased from the beginning.

(3 Different Laptops, 17" 2009 MBP used as main laptop, Akai LPD8, 2x Numark ICDX's, Behringer DDM-4000, etc.)




(17" 2009 MBP used as main laptop, Akai LPD8, Akai MPD26, Korg Nanopad, 2x Numark ICDX's, Behringer DDM-4000, etc.)




(17" 2009 MBP used as main laptop, Akai LPD8, Akai MPD26, 2x Numark ICDX's, Behringer DDM-4000, etc.)

This period of Serato, electro music, and new friends lasted a pretty long time. There is at lease 2.5-4 years worth of timing here. There was some growing tension between some of the people I was hanging out with and myself at this time and I had also begun hanging out with a few other people. I was about 18 at this time and was doing some club gigs with the new people I began hanging out with, and I had also started attending a lot of 21+ club events in the city. The new people I had begun hanging out with were mostly club DJ's that played at the bigger clubs in town, and were mostly spinning house and minimal. Around this time I met the guy I credit for all my accomplishments from this time forward. I still hungout with my (now) old friends however, I also hungout with this new group of friends. It was a very awkward time, I felt like I was living a double life because I made sure to never cross those 2 circles, and made sure not to mention the other group of friends to the group I was with. That first group of friends that had mostly played hip-hop and electro (and top 40/commercial) and the 2nd group that was strictly house and minimal (and against hip-hop/top 40/Commercial) had crossed paths a few times. I remember one time when that new group of friends had rented out the congress theater and had a very big show going on, and since we had a famous hip-hop artist booked for a concert they had actually hired a few of the old friends to open and work the lobby.

Nonetheless, I had started getting into Traktor, industry standard gear, turntables and House/Minimal/DNB. I was still on Scratch Live, but slowly making the transition.

(A Few Glamor Shots)

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[Louie_V]

Switching to Traktor took over a year for me to do. It was a really slow transition, but I was really busy at the time. Gigs were coming in (both on weekends and weeknights from both sets of friends), I had a full time job, and I was going to school. I really didn't have time to switch to a new software, but was very determined to do so. Turntables had also played a big role at this point. Not only had I learned to play on tables with my new friends, but I was using pure vinyl before using a DVS. Tables became a staple in my playing style. I had also been forced to become more familiar with industy standard equipment (by my new friends). While I didn't own a DJM-800, I had enough access to one that my sets had become very fluid on one. At this time I was also using 2 very different mixing styles, with my old set of friends I would use a crossfader on almost all my transitions, however, with the new friends the crossfaders were unplugged (internally) which did cause a very high number of trainwrecks on certain transitions. But eventually I got used to it.

(In this group of pics: 1 17" MBP, 2x Technics 1200's, 1 Numark CDX, 2 Numark ICDX's, 1 Behringer DDM-4000, 1 Akai LPD8, 1 Akai MPD26 & 1 new apartment which was mostly empty due to equipment purchases, Etc.)

At this time I was all set for turntables, and came across a pair of Numark HDX's which I had always wanted. Honestly, this was (and has been) the best purchase I have made. The HDX's were literally the best marriage of spinning platter and digital media that I have ever used (Yes, better then Denon's current contraption). I was still mainly using Serato, however, these were the last days of my Serato usage. Shortly after getting the HDX's I remember taking a lot of time off from DJing to become acquainted with Traktor and the HDX's

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[Louie_V]

After getting with the HDX's my RGAS had really become more prominent. I ordered a Native Instruments Maschine, however, this was during the time that the old Maschine had been phased out and the newer Maschine MKII kit came out (same product, different box). After ordering it (from my own work) it was backordered for quite a while. During the time i was waiting for the Maschine I managed to pick up a Kontrol X1, and an APC 20.

I did manage to pick up a Traktor bible before getting the APC20, so by the time I got the APC I was already ready to map it. With the APC20 it did take about 2 months to finish my mapping, however, After finishing it I did really feel accomplished. (That is, until my maschine arrived about a week or 2 later).

(1 Kontrol X1, Akai APC20, Akai MPD26, Korg Nanopad, Akai LPD8)




(Traktor Kontrol X1, Akai APC20)




(Akai MPD26, Akai LPD8, 2 Numark HDX's, Behringer DDM-4000, Akai APC20, Traktor Kontrol X1, 17" MBP)



(Also got a Laser...)

Finally after putting in so much time on my APC20 mapping, my Maschine arrived. To be honest, I really had purchased it to use as a Midi controller, but did start using Maschine software right away. I also had always had Ableton on my laptop, however, it wasn't until after I got the maschine that I started using Ableton.

(Maschine Pics)



(A Bit Of Cable OCD Going on Here)



(Orange Fluorescent Vinyl)



(Yep, 2 Maschines, One Travels, the other one holds down the fort)

This is the point in my DJing career has been where the Boom I'm currently on started. By this point my old friends were mostly out of the picture, and I really started working with my new friends a whole lot more. My new friends were big in the scene, i would shortly come to realize that my friends had many other friends who many of you guys may be familiar with (ill touch on this more later). During this time I had also started really tightening up my mixing. No more electro music. I was mostly spinning house and getting more into minimal.

Below are the pictures that were nominated for the first DJTT Show Your Setup contest. While i did come in last place (I prefer to say in the top 3), It was very encouraging and motivating. Since before I started getting my own equipment, I would always be on DJforums looking at some of the setups and had always wanted to be one of those guys that had the awesome setups. I really don't even think I was nominated because of the type of equipment, but the magnitude. Nonetheless, I was flattered and will take it!

The Nominated Pics:

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[Louie_V]

The new mixer...

At this point I like to think I had an epiphany. I was over the DDM4000 mixer, and finally realized that I needed to start seriously investing in my gear. At the time I had been trying to get my hands on a DJM-900, however, just like with the Maschine it was backordered and if I wanted to get it at cost then I needed to wait for our stocking order to come in. The Zero 8 was what held me over. It certainly didn't feel like a toy, and it also allowed me to bridge Ableton and Traktor much better. The Korg Zero 8 is definitely a great mixer, its one of those mixers that was really ahead of its time, and I honestly think many people don't understand nor appreciate the true power of this mixer (myself included).

The most up to date pic:

Updated:11/30/11

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[Louie_V]

Finally the DJM-900 came in and I was able to purchase it. The DJM-900 was definitely a milestone for me. Understand, my uncles who had been the people who got me into mixing all had the DJM-800's with a pair of CDJ-1000's. To me it was a status symbol, something to show how serious you are. Some people say that Serato boxes should be earned, well I had a Serato box and I got it without breaking the bank, however, the DJM was something that took time for me to get (mostly because I couldn't justify spending that much money on a mixer). Nonetheless, the DJM-900 made me feel accomplished. Like I said, its only one of the milestones.

Updated:03/07/12

New pics...

(Lights Off)

(Lights On)

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[Louie_V]

Updated: 5/29/2012

New pic added:

Been waiting a few weeks to get this pic up doing it a day early because i couldn't wait any longer...

Updated: 6/28/2012

So my hard drive crashed and i basically lost all my music I'm currently using (last backup was from 2 years ago from when i was mostly playing electro, {since moved to house and minimal and lost all THAT music}). So i loaded up a few tracks and decide to give it a go for a little while. Got my 2nd F1, and the Black HDJ-2000K's a few days ago.

Updated 07/06/2012

Updated 07/31/12

Updates, Updates, Updates....
Aug 3rd 2012

Updated: 08/27/12
So after about a month with the RMX-1000 and a few months with the Kontrol F1's, I have started using both at gigs. The F1's i admit aren't being used as much as I though I would be using them, while there are some gigs where I really use them a lot, however, those gigs are far and few in-between, there are occasionally gigs where I'm not using them, however most of the time they do get a bit of use, and overall I never saw them as a huge investment, so they have definitely paid themselves off. The RMX-1000 on the other hand is very often used, while I am comfortable leaving behind the F1's from time to time, the RMX-1000 is always with me. Its the first thing I pack. Considering the fact that I wasn't a huge fan of the on-board effects on the DJM-900Nexus, I am becoming dependent on the RMX-1000 and its features. Sometimes it may just be adding a reinforcing kick, or creating a loop, then softly fading it out while its on over the continuing song, or using the Isolator effects, hell sometimes i just the just the release effects by themselves, or sometimes i use all its got. Its a freaken awesome unit and I'm really happy I got it.

Get Connected:
About.me/Louie.V
Facebook.com/LouieVBBp
Twitter.com/The_Real_LouieV

[kingof9x]

You seem to be missing needles for your real turntable setup. Unless you are considering those numark things without tone arms real turntables.

[Louie_V]

You seem to be missing needles for your real turntable setup. Unless you are considering those numark things without tone arms real turntables.

Unless I'm using the turntables, the needles NEVER EVER EVER leave the shure protector case. And most of my turntable use dosen't happen at home, most of it happens out at gigs.

and yeah i do consider the HDX's turntables as well.