Traktor Pro with VCI-100 (MISA 4 Deck, 32 HotCue, Master Tempo, Key Locks, Preview)
Page 1 of 4 1234 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 37
  1. #1
    Tech Wizard misa's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    San Antonio, TX
    Posts
    87

    Default VCI-100 (no overlay) with TPro (4 Deck, 32 HotCue, Master Tempo, Key Locks, Preview)

    DJ TechTools Community

    This is my first post but I've gained valuable insight into controllerism from everyone contributing to the forum over the last few months.

    This TSI closely resembles the official 2.2 DJ TechTools MIDI mapping with access to 4 decks and the Loop/FX1/FX2 section. The Juggle mode is altered and gives access to 2 banks of 4 buttons for each deck. Additionally, it provides access to what I feel are useful tools in Traktor like Key Locks, Master Tempo, designation of Master deck, and the Preview Player. There are also some minor changes to the locations of buttons and sensitivity settings. Overall, it provides me with a more straighforward correlation between the software and the controller.

    I also use Ableton and have recently purchased an Akai APC 40. I am hoping to create a TSI mapping for using the VCI-100 and APC 40 together in Traktor in the next couple of weeks. If anyone has some feature requests or good ideas on how the two controllers can complement each other, please let me know. With the upcoming update to Traktor claiming to provide 4 FX banks, the extra knobs will certainly come in handy. I'll then look to transfer over some of the functionality this setup provides to a more portable one using the VCI-100 and the Korg NanoKontrol.

    Lastly, thanks to Ean for setting up this community and for everyone involved in keeping it going. I feel it is the most vibrant and positive forum for digital music creation and DJing on the internet. I hope I can be a vital part of advancing it.

    misa+

    ***UPDATE: For use with the DJ TechTools 2.2 Overlay, check out this other thread:
    ***http://www.djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6309
    Last edited by misa; 07-21-2009 at 04:15 PM. Reason: Changed title to reflect use w/o DJ TechTools overlay

  2. #2
    Tech Guru
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Zurich
    Posts
    855

    Default

    Sounds interesting .. could you go into a bit more detail on the exact differences and how to access the features you mention?
    Traktor Pro 2.5.0, Mixxx 1.9.1, Massive, Ableton Live 8
    MBP 15" 8GB RAM OS 10.7.4, Audio Kontrol 1, Audio 2 DJ, Sennheiser HD-25 II
    DJTT VCI-100SE Arcade, Akai LDP8, M-Audio Pro Keystation 88, Novation Launchpad, iTM DJ
    ifnotwhynot.me | soundcloud.com | fairtilizer.com | digitaldj planet | digitaldj music

  3. #3
    Tech Wizard misa's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    San Antonio, TX
    Posts
    87

    Default

    I created a guide for how to access the features and use the TSI mapping and is posted as the MISA_VCI100_01_00Guide.pdf in the original post.

    Basically, two of the three large buttons on the top left of the controller act as modifiers for the four small buttons next to them. As the default, the small buttons map to Snap, Quantize, CD Mode, and LFO Reset. Holding down the first large button turns them into Key Locks for each deck. Holding down the second large button turns them into Master Tempo controls: Mode, BPM Increase, BPM Decrease, and Tap. Holding down the SHIFT button (center button in browser section) turns them into Preview controls: Load, Jump Forward, Jump Backward, Pause.

    The third large button on the top left of the controller toggles the four buttons below each jog wheel between Default Settings, HotCues 1-4, and HotCues 5-8.

    There are some other changes to button locations, in particular with the FX section. I think you'll find the layout key and guide posted as attachments in the original post helpful in sorting everything out.

  4. #4
    Tech Guru
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Zurich
    Posts
    855

    Default

    Very nice.
    I agree that the large buttons for snap and quantize are "wasted" in the DJTT TSI. I guess with the keylock being the big button, it should be easy to press and hold, while searching for the relatively small buttons to keylock the given deck. I kinda like playing with keylock as an effect now and then, but I am not sure if given the size of the buttons I will manage to do this quickly and precisely enough. Atm I just have these mapped on m laptop keyboard. Maybe a better, albeit limited approach would be to use the vinyl button with your keylock button to keylock the focused deck A/C or B/D.

    I think you have a small issue in the PDF guide where you explain the tempo button, since you show the key lock button in the image on page 6.

    I very much like what you did for the preview buttons.

    I need to checkout how you do the hotcue remapping, but if I understand this correctly, this change should be able to be applied to the DJTT TSI. So when using the DJTT TSI, it would be nice if it could be limited to turning on the juggle mode via the little knob. Then while the the juggle knob is enabled and one pressed the juggle on button it switches between the hotcue banks 1-4 and 5-8. Disabling the juggle knob then gives you the play/pause/etc buttons and holding the juggle button gives you hot cue points 1-4.

    Speaking as an owner of the current DJTT overlay, I do not see that much value in the changing of the positions of the sync and loop buttons. Would be nice if you can keep those in their current position as much as possible, then again I guess you like having the blue lights for the sync button?

    I have not fully grasped what you did to the FX section, but I think so far I prefer the DJTT TSI and find it more intuitive.

    So in conclusion I think I want to stick with the DJTT TSI at this point. However I want to look into getting the above mentioned modification to the juggle mode so that I can access the 5-8 hot cues. I also want to look into adding the support for previewing. I might also use the snap and quantize buttons as a shift for the vinyl mode button to be able to set the keylock for each deck individually regardless what deck mode is enabled.

    Since I am also looking at the smart mixing approach, I actually might drop the scratch mode entirely and reuse those for smart-low-swap and smart-high-swap buttons. I just do not see myself scratching. I will also use the gain knobs for smart-low and smart-high. So I still need to find one more knob for the frequency splitter.

    For seek I will use the large endless rotary knob on my AK1, though this requires that I first select the focused deck. For this I am pondering what buttons to reuse. Maybe if I add that keylock A/B and C/D shift button (as a replacement for the DJTT snap/quant buttons), I can also use it to select the focused decks with the FX selection buttons of the DJTT TSI (though I have to look into how I can prevent this changing the lights .. hope that is possible).
    Traktor Pro 2.5.0, Mixxx 1.9.1, Massive, Ableton Live 8
    MBP 15" 8GB RAM OS 10.7.4, Audio Kontrol 1, Audio 2 DJ, Sennheiser HD-25 II
    DJTT VCI-100SE Arcade, Akai LDP8, M-Audio Pro Keystation 88, Novation Launchpad, iTM DJ
    ifnotwhynot.me | soundcloud.com | fairtilizer.com | digitaldj planet | digitaldj music

  5. #5
    Tech Guru
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Zurich
    Posts
    855

    Default

    So what I would love for the DJTT TSI FX deck selection section. The LED's always show the current FX selection in Traktor. The little buttons alone work as in the DJTT TSI.

    Now if I press the snap button and one of the buttons with the scratch button, I will toggle the keylock for deck A or B (depending on what side of the VCI I press the scratch button on). When pressing the quant button and one of the scratch buttons I will toggle kelock for deck C and D.

    If I press the snap button and one of the FX bank select buttons, then I can select the focused track from top the bottom (A, B, C, D).

    Pressing the quant or shift button with the FX deck select buttons would work just like in your setup. So quant would handle the master temp and shift the preview mode.
    Traktor Pro 2.5.0, Mixxx 1.9.1, Massive, Ableton Live 8
    MBP 15" 8GB RAM OS 10.7.4, Audio Kontrol 1, Audio 2 DJ, Sennheiser HD-25 II
    DJTT VCI-100SE Arcade, Akai LDP8, M-Audio Pro Keystation 88, Novation Launchpad, iTM DJ
    ifnotwhynot.me | soundcloud.com | fairtilizer.com | digitaldj planet | digitaldj music

  6. #6
    Tech Wizard misa's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    San Antonio, TX
    Posts
    87

    Default

    Great! Thanks for taking a look at the mapping and giving your thoughts. I've already started planning some changes to it myself. I like your thought of assigning Key Locks to a large button. I believe the VINYL button changes the MIDI CC and notes sent by the jog wheels through firmware, so that may be problematic. Maybe holding KEY LOCK and pressing SYNC, although there is some benefit in being able to access all four decks and changing their status with a single hand. I also like your idea of accessing the Load function for all four decks with the small buttons.

    HOTCUE simply switches between the modifier value of 0, 1 , 2 then back to 0. I'm not sure how the modifiers are set up in the official mapping, but I would think there would be a quick way of implementing that change.

    I don't have the DJ TechTools overlay for my VCI100, so the current button placement actually makes more sense to the standard labels on the controller (PLAY assigned to Play button, PAUSE assigned to Cue/Pause, SYNC assigned to Sync). I imagine there are many users like you though, so if there are some requests, I can make an alternate that maps to the overlay better or that implements some of my features into the official mapping.

    I hope I provided some different ways of thinking about how the VCI100 could be used.

    PS
    I too noticed the error in the guide depicting the TEMPO button as the KEY LOCK button. I'll try to update that soon.
    Last edited by misa; 06-03-2009 at 12:10 PM.

  7. #7
    Tech Guru
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    West Coast, United States
    Posts
    631

    Default

    Great job on looking at things in a fresh way! It's work like this that inspires the community to keep pushing the envelope. Misa, just as an aside, what program did you use to do your mock-up layout? Illustrator I presume. And also, what did you use as the starting images? Is there an unflattened djtt illustrator file out there somewhere?
    MacBook 2.4GHz, 6GB, Traktor Pro, Ableton Live, Bomes MT, Audio Kontrol 1, Vestax VCI-100 SE Custom, M-Audio Axiom 25, Akai APC40, NI Maschine, 2x Midi Fighters (c/o DJ TechTools - Thanks!!)

    Mixcloud DJ Sets

  8. #8
    Tech Wizard misa's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    San Antonio, TX
    Posts
    87

    Default

    Thanks. I used the PNG file that is downloaded with the official DJTT TSI file. I opened it up in Fireworks and brushed over all of the existing labels. Then, I put in my own labels using Illustrator. I can upload my AI or blacked out PNG file on the forum if you like.

  9. #9
    Tech Guru
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Zurich
    Posts
    855

    Default

    Actually I have been thinking about the hotcue 5-8 support. I think what I really would want is the ability to switch on a per deck basis. This way I could duplicate a track to the other deck and have access to all 8 hotcue buttons for a single track. Of course this requires even more buttons to handle the "shifting", since I would need two switches to handle each side separately.

    Right now I am still very much confused about how to best understand how to change the mappings in these complex TSI's you and Ean have provided. I have tried to follow things a bit with a midi monitor. At least Ean's TSI also doesnt have any comments, which makes things even harder. I will dive into this over the weekend.
    Traktor Pro 2.5.0, Mixxx 1.9.1, Massive, Ableton Live 8
    MBP 15" 8GB RAM OS 10.7.4, Audio Kontrol 1, Audio 2 DJ, Sennheiser HD-25 II
    DJTT VCI-100SE Arcade, Akai LDP8, M-Audio Pro Keystation 88, Novation Launchpad, iTM DJ
    ifnotwhynot.me | soundcloud.com | fairtilizer.com | digitaldj planet | digitaldj music

  10. #10
    Tech Wizard misa's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    San Antonio, TX
    Posts
    87

    Default

    I'm about to leave town for the weekend, otherwise I'd help you out with the specifics of the TSI file. You may find out that you're running low on modifiers but there is probably a workaround. FYI, on my TSI, the top left buttons are assigned to modifier 1, 2, and 3. The SHIFT button is assigned to modifier 4. Post the questions you run into over the weekend, and I'll answer them when I get back on Sunday.

    For the DJTT TSI, maybe you can use the little knob to activate JUGGLE mode and then use the JUGGLE button to toggle between 1234 -|- 1234 and 1234 -|- 5678. You could even have a number of different configurations you could scroll through with the JUGGLE button. Have fun digging into it this weekend. Let me know what come out with!

Page 1 of 4 1234 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •