My idea for a Midifighter Pro CueMaster mapping. [Traktor]
Hello fellow DJ's!
My name is Caspian, a 17 year old "DJ" from sweden. I am currently DJ'ing with a Traktor Kontrol S2 as my main controller and for the last few months - a Midifighter pro, cuemaster. The controller is working fine and is built well, but when it comes to the mapping, I don't think it is optimized for people who use a base controller that comes with a mixer and deck controls (e.g the Kontrol S2 &S4). Now, I know that may not have been the intetional way of using the Midifighter pro, but since it is a MIDI controller and is very capable of doing alot of diffrent things, I think there should be a mapping for this sort of use too.
Personally when I started including the cue master in my setup, I found that it mostly replaced the transport controls on the S2, except for loading in new tracks. The tempo controls are nice to have, but I prefer having my tempofader set to a higher precentage and I use that instead. Nudging tracks were also kind of cool with the midifigher since it provided a bit more accurate results, although with some form of "skill" when starting a new track, I find that only slight adjustments are needed, which is what I mostly use the Sync button for.
The loop button I found completley useless since it is so much easier on the S2, and the LFO and the delay button are both too radical to be used efficently. "Echo out button" is cool though, I like that.
Over to the knobs and 'superfaders', another primary feature I found myself using somewhat often was actually the filter knob. This is purely, however, because the S2 is lacking a dedicated filter knob. I have the gain knobs re-bound to filters, and access the gain feature by holding shift and turning gain. Although the filter works fine, it isn't nearly as accurate as the midifighter's filter knob. When using the filter the way I just described, the filter in the software +/- 3% for each small "movement" of the knob. This can, especially when filtering solo playing tracks from +/- 100%, create somewhat of a 'harsh' sound when sweeping the filter - I guess you can imagine what it would sound like.
The Midifighter knob isn't endless as the gain knob in the S2 is, so that made for a much finer sound, and I prefered using that knob when filtering, even though it meant switching focus deck A-B alot more often.
The superfaders were (or probably are, if you are into controllerism) a really cool idea. Multiple effects on one fader, for even more ways of expression, cool. Some of them sound really cool, although they were relying on a filter of some kind, meaning that turning them on would instantly lower the sound of the track playing on the targeted deck. Other effects have the same kind of problem - they make too radical changes to the sound, wether it be including too much reverb or a beatrepeat too quick. This just didn't go with the type of mixing that I prefer, making cool and hopefully unique transitions between songs, mashups etc.
So this leaves the question, how can we make the Midifighter Pro work better with the Kontrol S2 and controllers alike it?
I've checked around a little on the internet and from what I can find there just isn't a mapping out there that fullfills this function, the way I'd like.
I have an idea for a mapping though, that I would like some feedback on through this thread. Hopefully, if everthing goes well, us here at the forum can team up with someone who is good at making mappings - or even DJ Tech Tools themselves - to make this mapping. (Hopefully, this will not only make me and other Midifighter owners happier, but also maybe sell more midifighters...? *wink wink*
First of all; I don't have any fancy pictures prepared to show you how this mapping will work, like DJTT has. Hopefully you can understand well enough or ask questions if anything is unclear. It is, after all, only and idea.
So, im starting with the layout of a Midifighter Pro Cuemaster , since that is what I have. The mapping I have in mind is based around effects and using them in cool ways, so that in sense the midifighter is "replacing" the FX section of the S2 (or any other controller) instead of the transport section. The mapping would be deck focused i.e either A, B, C or D, one at a time. Switching between what deck to apply the effects to would happen via the four smaller buttons between the faders/knobs and the buttons. Going top to bottom, being A-D.
Starting with the two knobs, the left one would remain the same - filter for the deck in focus. The right knob would kind of have the same function that it has in the current mapping - and this is kind of what the new mapping is dependant on - controlling the effect. Imagine this working sort of like the effect knobs on most controllers. You have a effect on/off button, and the knob itself to modulate the effect, cool right? Well, using this mapping would essentially mean that you have one knob controlling the modulation of the effect, and the 16 arcade buttons working like the on/off button. Pressing down any given button will trigger the effect, but only as long as you hold that button down. You can then by turning the right knob modulate the effect. I imagine this working really well with beatmasher/gater type effects and being really cool.
There must be a way of leaving the effects on though, if you want e.x a reverb on, or a LFO, delay etc. You could then slowly build the reverb up, instead of having it go from on to off like in the current version, and then leave it on. This is also where the 4x4 grid of the midifighter becomes usefull.
Count with me here: Traktor has four effect banks, right? And in those effect banks you have room for three diffrent effects (or one advanced effect, but the mapping isn't meant to work with that mode), right? Well, if you the four vertical lines of four buttons on the midifighter being the four effect banks, then you could easily see which bank was which. If we imagined the same for the horizontal lines as a effect within those banks, on and off it would be a quite simple mapping to understand and see visually in traktor, right?(yes.) So then you as yourself; "what's the fourth button (the one to the far right of the controller) going to do?"
Well, remember how we talked before about having some way of having the effect(s) stay on when releasing the button? The button on the far right would be just that, toggle on. Now, I am as I said not very good with mapping stuff so I'm not even sure if this is possible but hopefully it is. The ideal scenario would be that holding the original effect on button and pressing the toggle on button of the appropriate effect bank would make the effect stay on, without making any other effect staying on. In theory, you could do this to all three effects of the effect bank without them interfering with eachother. Again, I don't know if this is even possible via mapping, but DJTT (or indeed Traktor) has impressed me before with how you are able to completley re-map anything.
So essentially you would have a 3x4 grid of effect buttons with a 4x1 grid of effect on buttons. I decided I wanted to use the four smaller buttons I talked about earlier to choose which deck to control, since out of presonal experience the previous method of pressing shift + sync was kind of a hassle (I imagine it being even worse for the 4 deck users out there). Besides, I don't really have an idea of what other fuction they would fulfill so it seems about right. You'd have one filter knob and one knob to control the effect rate/modulation/whatever. The two faders am I currently out of ideas for, although I am sure that some of you have some great ideas on how to include those in this mapping in the coolest way possible!
So fellow DJ's what do you think? Improvements and suggestions? Would you use this mapping? Are you willing to help me make the mapping? Any questions, comments or suggestions are ofcourse extremely welcome, I didn't sit here and write this wall of text for nothing. :) Hopefully DJTT themselves can help us with this mapping, and this mapping can help their product in return! Can't wait to hear you guys' feedback on this, and see how this project will turn out!
Until later, I'm resting my fingers.
~C
