Simple USB crossfader?

[Ronin1973]

I'm an electronic musician and now have a bug to start DJing 80's music. My background is in audio engineering/mixing/editing. As far as DJ'ing: 0 practical experience.

At this point I just want to play around and learn. I'm not interested in turn-tables at the moment.

I'm trying to use what I have rather than buy a bunch of new stuff.

Ableton Live 9
Ableton Push
Midi-Fighter Twister.
Midi-Fighter

What I feel that I'm missing to take care of the basics is a USB device with a crossfader. I might try the APC MkII once I feel I have some chops. $400 for yet another toy isn't practical at the moment. But for now I just want to play in my bedroom to an audience of a faithful houseplant.

Any advice on tutorials for newbs would be appreciated as well.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

[mostapha]

What are you going to be using as sources?

If I were in your position, I'd seriously consider just using the Push and either DJ with Live or route the DJ app (e.g., Traktor) into it. If you're used to Live's Session workflow, that might be the easiest thing. And with 80s music, you'll also be able to "fix" the live drummers.

If you went that way, the way I'd set it up (at first) would be to distribute your clips into 4 groups and double them into tracks.

So, session would look like


song 1 - song 1 - song 4 - song 4 - song 7 - song 7 - song 10 - song 10
song 2 - song 2 - song 5 - song 5 - song 8 - song 8 - song 11 - song 11
song 3 - song 3 - song 6 - song 6 - song 9 - song 9 - song 12 - song 12
etc.

for a start.

You can get from any track to any other track, and you could potentially go from one track to another part of the same track or layer-in a loop from a different part of the track to re-arrange the structure.

Or, you could chop them up more to do other things...but with "80s music" being the only descriptor, I'd be wary about that.

Then, I'd just use the channel volumes to mix (with a Utility plugin to eliminate the extra gain at the top of the level). There's no reason to worry about effects at first, and I don't think I've ever used a crossfader. No one ever really does unless you're scratching. I used to spin in live like that with a vcm-600.



The controller was actually overkill for what I was doing, except it didn't have a super-convenient way to launch clips. The way it did it was ingenious, but that's why I eventually sold it. 90% of the controller was useless to me, and it didn't have Push's awesome pad grid.

There's a lot more you can do with that, but it'll take a while to get used to it and figure out what you actually want to do.

[deevey]

X session or X session pro would be a cheap as chips option if you just want a crossfader- you can pick them up under $50.

For DJ purposes though, I'd just run with Ableton, set up your "playlist" in a big grid and trigger tracks from the push.

The only thing push is really missing which is (for me) essential is real faders - never needed a crossfader mind you

[William Gibson]

You can get apc40 mk1s for like $100 used if you keep looking. Thats what I would do if your just starting out. If you like the layout of the apc, in 6 months sell it and get the mk2.

.02

[filespnr]

hello,

gosh after all these years and still battling this weird perception of these controllers, but here goes. get a djtech controller.
the vtt 101 has a nice alpha fader, and cut control. I have one that is nearly ten years old. has been taken apart and reworked into many different mods and is still going strong.
the "djm 101" is an awesome little mixer, well-made, with quality parts, especially these crossfaders the crossfader on other budget controllers are crap. if you wanted to spend 200 and get a fine metal enclosure mixer, the mixer one is very nice, if you can find one. and last but certainly not least the djm 303, which when it first came out was 500, but now can be had for 240. AND... I put my money where my mouth is because I just bought one yesterday.
djm 303.jpg
please don't assume that since dj tech isn't thought of on the same level as other controllers that it is less than, the truth is in general, it's usually higher quality.(this isn't some behringer, or x-session or a mixtrack)