manually beatmatching using a controller?
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  1. #1

    Default manually beatmatching using a controller?

    hi guys im new to djing.. and bought a controller, pioneer ddj-t1 (after being recommended by my teacher) when i started.. after learning for 3 months now.. i know the fundamental of mixing.. and kind of pissed off that he recommended me a controller..

    reason is because i want to be able to manually beatmatch by ear as in cdj (as most clubs now only have cdjs).. with that in mind with my economic situation now.. i couldnt afford to buy another pair of cdjs and mixers..

    is there anyway that i can practice my manual beatmatching by using a controller? if so, are the (% of bpms) in controller the same as in cdj?

    for example if a song in deck a is -0.80% slower than deck b (in traktor) would this to equate the same in cdj (assuming same song)? thanks very much

  2. #2
    Tech Guru Liambo's Avatar
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    Your honest best bet if you want to manually beatmatch is totally ignore the Tempo and BPM readouts and (beating dead horse) "Use your ears".

    If you get used to mixing using your ears not the readouts in Traktor you will be much stronger at mixing in the long run or even just have the experience of being able to do so. If you are too impatient or lazy to learn how to (properly) manually beatmatch use the BPM read out as a guidance and learn to adjust to suit by ears.

  3. #3
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    the best way is to "hide" the information of songs shown on traktor or just dont look at screen and try to beatmatch with your ears
    i was in the same situation with you when i bought my controller,i used to load two tracks with different bpm and i was trying to match them without watching the information on screen

  4. #4

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    thanks for the reply mate.. yes for the long run i will be practicing where i would totally ignore the readouts..

    but for the short term i was thinking of doing what you said last.. which is to use the readout and adjust to suit by ears.. however.. this is where i'm usually confused.. does the bpm readouts on traktor equates to the one on cdj's?

    for example (when using sync on traktor song a is 0.8% slower than song b) .. can this 0.8% be used on all cdj's also?

    the reason im asking this is that.. my friend has told me that part of dj's homework is to know your songs (and though he is a very good dj) usually on his cd's he has a note of bpms of his songs and what key's they are in..

    so if cdj% and traktor% are the same maybe i can rely on these (bpm notes) meaning i can write on the cd that one song is 129 the other is 130 and so on and so on.. because i wanna be able to mix on a cdj also

  5. #5
    Tech Mentor mwn11's Avatar
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    Theres is no reason you cant beatmatch on a controller?

    Just set the range to 6% or 8% and away you go.

    Just cause theres a sync button doesn't mean you have to use it.
    Traktor S4 | Midifighter Classic | 2x CDJ 2000| Traktor Scratch Pro 2.5 | Ableton Live 8 | 2012 Macbook Pro 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 8GB | Krk RP5

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by mwn11 View Post
    Theres is no reason you cant beatmatch on a controller?

    Just set the range to 6% or 8% and away you go.

    Just cause theres a sync button doesn't mean you have to use it.
    hence why im asking whether the % of cdj and controller are the same.. reason im asking is because just say i am used to the ranges in controllers to beatmatch my songs.. would the range be the same of in the cdj? meaning how far i have to take the pitch slider (%)?

    if they're the same then i can just learn how to manually beatmatch on my controller and be able to transition to cdj smoothly right?

  7. #7
    Tech Guru Liambo's Avatar
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    I can't answer that to my full ability due to i'm not 100% sure on what Traktor reads out. I own Traktor but i hardly use it.. Sorry about that.

    But yeah a good DJ knows his tracks inside out really.. When i use CDJ's (which is 99% of the time) the tempo does tend to be what you say 0.80% for every 1BPM. But this is not 100% accurate because you will always have to adjust the jogwheel to catch up or slow down. But it does get you roughly in the correct area.

    I would never recommend someone learning to beatmatch to use that method though.

  8. #8
    Tech Mentor mwn11's Avatar
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    I think you're making it more complicated than it is.

    I dont know the length of the DDj-T1's pitch faders or what % adjustment you have them set on.

    I know on my S4 beatmatching can be harder than on the Technics as the fader is smaller so therefore you decrease the pitch range to make it more accurate.

    It shouldn't matter too much what the range is or how long the faders are.

    I personally think beatmatching is more training your ears and then just having a rough guess of how much you have to speed it or slow it down by.
    Traktor S4 | Midifighter Classic | 2x CDJ 2000| Traktor Scratch Pro 2.5 | Ableton Live 8 | 2012 Macbook Pro 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 8GB | Krk RP5

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by mwn11 View Post
    I think you're making it more complicated than it is.

    I dont know the length of the DDj-T1's pitch faders or what % adjustment you have them set on.

    I know on my S4 beatmatching can be harder than on the Technics as the fader is smaller so therefore you decrease the pitch range to make it more accurate.

    It shouldn't matter too much what the range is or how long the faders are.

    I personally think beatmatching is more training your ears and then just having a rough guess of how much you have to speed it or slow it down by.
    ok i will give this a try then.. thanks all i hope i can learn how to beatmatch quick.. the reason is because i haven't done this for a while

  10. #10
    Tech Mentor mwn11's Avatar
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    Yeah, honestly i used to sync first and i think it helps when you first start out as you can concentrate on things like phrasing, composition and what it sounds like when things are in sync.

    Its just practice i think and it takes time.

    Good luck
    Traktor S4 | Midifighter Classic | 2x CDJ 2000| Traktor Scratch Pro 2.5 | Ableton Live 8 | 2012 Macbook Pro 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 8GB | Krk RP5

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