I am now using the Numark Total Control with Deckadance and loving it! Everything works and I can actually dj like a dj again! I don't even have to make beat grids!!! I can actually beat match!!
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I am now using the Numark Total Control with Deckadance and loving it! Everything works and I can actually dj like a dj again! I don't even have to make beat grids!!! I can actually beat match!!
Man, beat-griddin' is taking a beating this week.
<rant>
I use Traktor personally but a young relative of mine has a DJ Control MP3 and I was going to purchase Deckadance for her. Problem is that the LEDs won't work and Image Line won't tell me how to fix it unless I buy a license. Fair enough, but one also cannot post in their forums to ask for help until purchase. So, the way I see it, you're buying a license and a key to converse with the rest of their user community. Their controller references don't have anything listed for the DJCMP3 but according to them, "it's officially and fully supported." But I want confirmation that everything works prior to purchasing it. They claim it works but I don't see how being that the PC version of the DJCMP3 doesn't have MIDI OUT (it uses DirectInput).
</rant>
As stupid as this sounds have just tried to google it or something?
NO WAYYY!
Of course I did. ;)
That's how I came to find out that the PC version of the controller uses DirectInput instead of MIDI OUT. There are no search hits regarding this in relation to Deckadance. Image Line claims that it works fine but I can't find any information to back that claim nor can I try my luck in speaking with their user base via forums. I say try my luck as there aren't probably a lot of people who still have and/or using this controller.
Sorry to hear that man I hope you find your way eventually.
*vomits off over the mere thought about not laying down super tight grids*
How do you loop properly? Beatjump properly? Do sample locked effects properly?
If you want to use all the cool features you have to beatgrid anyway, so might as well spend a few more seconds to get a tight grid then dont bother beatmatching and do some more interesting techniques in the time you would usually spend beatmatching.
Is it me or is beatmatching most important (notice I didn't say solely) to peeps who are still using TTs and DVS rigs?
Me personally, I'm all digital but something is pulling me toward buying a pair of 1200s. Not because I feel obligated to but just because those are damn fine pieces of hardware engineering, which I love (plus mother has a ton of vinyl just waiting to be sampled).
The secondary benefit to me will be the ability to go retro and refine the vinyl beatmatching skills. Guess I do feel just a bit of an oblig after all, heh.
got some 1200s in my studio. they are very cool
i use traktor but I don't beatgrid my tracks, I prefer beatmatching manually... Half the reason I stick to the oldschool way is because I think it's funner/challenging, but admittedly it's also because I'm kinda lazy so I don't feel like beatgridding a kajillion tunes ! :P
Not to mention when you CAN beatmatch manually, it isn't so time consuming that you won't be able to focus on fx,cueing,key,eq,looping etc. So that argument that beatgridding is essential to free time/focus do more complex mixing is ridiculous in my opinion. Shouldn't take much more than a second or two for a good dj to get his shit matched from scratch and for the tracks to stay matched!
I totally think that manual beatmatching has to be an option and there are times where really nothing else works better(mainly because the software solutions availible are not really all that up to standard). Also its manually beatmatching is really good for helping to develop ones ears so they can get a really tight sync using grids in the first place(though its not the only way to learn it either).
So i cant say dont manually beatmach, but i definantly cannot say dont sync and grids either.
@Duerr - Oh and its also impossible for even the best dj in the universe to sync something in "two seconds" and for it to stay in time over the length of the song - it takes alot longer than 2 seconds to get a sync as tight at a synced beatgrid.
Well i want to hear that!
I don't think you can perfectly syn 2 tracks with only 2 seconds of listening, or you are mixing very fast like 2 bars long mix with style like hiphop but in other forms of EDM where you mix your tracks way longer perfectly syncing your tracks in 2 secons is something even the best djs can't do.
with software + cd decks it is possible because bpm detection conquers half the battle that vinyl djs face when it comes to beatmatching. Like I said I use software so all the tracks are automatically bpm detected so all I have to do is manually phase match the tracks once i have them cued up. It really doesn't take much longer than a couple seconds to do (at most). Just takes practice.
I don't use headphones for cueing either, just the visuals that traktor provides. :0
you should be able to beatmatch in 2 secs if youre using traktor. you can see the bpm youre about to mix into so adjust the new track accordingly, also you can see pretty acurately how far off phase it is, so you can adjust that super quick too. beatmatching complete :D
Duerr in my experience just using the visual side of it to match the tracks can be risky. Sometimes the tracks seem to be perfectly in sync visually but then when you bring the levels up...BADOOMBADDOMM ya know, damn traktor lol. Best to get used to those headphones brother, and turn off the phase monitor :p
Well I seem to be ding fine with beat mixing without a beatgrid and without TRAKTOR!!!
Then like, your stil griding your tracks - and automatic BPM detection is a joke unless your playing 4 on the floor music all the time. So the only reliable BPM counters are those that got when gridding the track.
If your going go though all that effort to get the BPM correct before hand and using electronic tools to do the most of your beatmatching for you then why bother even beatmatching in the first place :\
I really dont see the point at all - and if your relying on Traktors automatic grids and using the visual guides to mix to then your mixes probably leave something to be desired.
I have three 1200s in their flight cases until I hit a party where I actually have to take my equipment, and want to use vynil. Even then I still take my Serato cause I hate lugging around records.
I can beat match superquick on the wheels of steel, I play Techno so it mostly IS 4/4 but usually I blend the tracks for two minutes.
End Result: you can't take one hand off of one pitch fader, you have to use the headphones for cueing, and three you end up with a lot of free time, usually around three minutes per track... but sometimes I just have to spin on the turntables, there is another sort of feeeling that comes with the big vinyl records.
with my VCI I now use 4 decks, the effects, loops, etc. much more fun, and I also keep a trigger finger for doing the loops. I set up on a ultimate stand and played like that live with TPro for the first time on Friday and the crowd didn't have a clue what the hell was going on, they loved it.
Played on the turntables on Saturday at another party, same result.
It doesn't matter what you play on, it doesn't matter if you beatmatch or sync, it matters that your songs are played at that special moment when you can connect with the crowd
Why does this quote remind me of that scene in Star Wars where Obi Wan tells Luke to cover his eyes with the helmet blastshield to practice his lightsaber skills. Han Solo's all skeptical, Luke has to relax to find the flow... Sounds like DJville to me.
Anyway, I'm inclined to agree with Bento re beatmatching via hardware displays. Even if some readout was giving you a perfect BPM, I have a lot of trouble seeing how matching two numbers together is anything like beatmatching by ear. It seems like a big waste of time and defeats the purpose of doing it by ear in the first place. If you're just aligning two numbers, might as well let the software do it instantly. If you want to learn the ways of the force, put tape over your BPM display or use TTs with no software.
I love to practice my beatmatching, it's kinda like tai chi - it feels good, and I like the flow. But live, I'm digital nowadays, and IMO the grid is where it's at. Personally there is no incentive for me to spin digital if it's just replicating an analog/traditional system that's simpler and more intuitive. I want all the synchro-locked, jump-perfect, Fx powered mashable tightness that digital makes possible. I grid a handful of songs each day. Eventually, I may get to all of them. Then again, I might be bearded and toothless by then too;)
I'm watching a docu named Birth of Soul as I type this. It focuses on Ray Charles career.
I just listened to a lady named Ruth Brown say that Ray Charles taught her to feel what she couldn't see.
So when I'm done eating, I'm going to fire up Traktor and turn off the phase monitors. :)
haha you can check out my demo work before jumping to conclusions bento. Then if you have suggestions to offer I'm definitely open, but let's keep things constructive.
I've got my own way of doing things and it works for me, I don't think I can describe my work process properly enough to convey exactly what my system is. Talking about music is like dancing about politics.
The point of it is that I spend less time programming my music and more time playing my music and still achieve results comparable to if I had done otherwise. For one it's less time consuming this way, but also I personally find it more enjoyable to still have that small live beatmatching element reminscent of analog djing.