is there a DJ software in which you can set PLENTY of cue points ?

ahoj

I'm looking for a DJ software that has the ability to set plenty of cue points (always accessible, like hotcues in traktor), that is compatible with midi controllers, and that can play quantized.

so I can access any part of my track, add some additional samples at the end of them, and mashup & jam like a crazy, AND also play my tracks just like in a regular software DJ set.

for now I do it with ableton live : track split in plenty of clips, all set to "next" except the ones used as samples.
but that sucks for several reasons : first it takes ages to be set (export sliced track or warp warp warp, set the right beat amount, for each and every clip, so they can play one after another, fastidious as hell), then there is no visual feedback of the track like with a DJ software.

I know that's not a common use for a DJ software (in some points that's more doing a liveset than djing, especially the fact that requires quantization)... but that would simplify my life.

for now I checked traktor (which I own), serato, and deckadance ; unless I missed something, they all have a (very) limited number of cue points.

thanks in advance

tgum

i think that with 8 cue points in traktor you cant go wrong... just a head up in ableton thou, you can just warp the track as a whole and then cut it up.. select the export collection function and it will export all cuts a individual .wavs

only app flexible enough that i know of would be virtualdj. afaik u can map an unlimited number of hotcues. even if it didn't you'd still be able to bolt that functionality on via their programmers API. it seems to get a lot of hate around here - but the worst thing about it really is it's name :p

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Originally Posted by jamthrax

i think that with 8 cue points in traktor you cant go wrong...

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i could really do with more than 8. i can usually find more than that to setup and store with the track anyway and then i can't drop any other live hot cues while playing if they're all full. i don't see why they don't allow at least 32 to be midi mapped - even if you can only access the first 8 via the gui.

you can over lay cue points in traktor thou... i would never use up one cue space just for gridding, fade in/out etc... overlay that stuff so you have 7 free still

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Originally Posted by jamthrax

i think that with 8 cue points in traktor you cant go wrong...

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not enough at all to do some cue juggling (I would at least need 16, just like on a MPC, but even more would be better)

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Originally Posted by jamthrax

just a head up in ableton thou, you can just warp the track as a whole and then cut it up.. select the export collection function and it will export all cuts a individual .wavs

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I already do that. that's the quick part. the slow part is to set each and every clip at their own length, otherwise they only play 1 beat if they're set to "next", not counting all the times live! warps stuff totally the wrong way and you have to manually correct it.

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Originally Posted by zestoi

i could really do with more than 8. i can usually find more than that to setup and store with the track anyway and then i can't drop any other live hot cues while playing if they're all full. i don't see why they don't allow at least 32 to be midi mapped - even if you can only access the first 8 via the gui.

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yep, even if the others were only accessible via custom keys/midi that would already be nice.

EDIT ::::::::

i see what you are saying :) you must mash tracks together!! suppose cause i mix d&b and on turntables i dont need the function that much

As far as I know, you can have more than 8 cue points in Traktor, not sure if they're mapable past 8. I'll have to check that.

yep, but they need to be hotcues to be link-able to controllers. and afaik you can only have 8 hotcues.

it looks possible with virtual dj via the VDJscript

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Originally Posted by troublegum

afaik you can only have 8 hotcues

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yep - sadly

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it looks possible with virtual dj via the VDJscript

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it's very powerful. that and the option to use vst's (plus being able to code my own plugins to extend it) is what's making me think about buying vdj. not 100% sure about vst support tho on mac - which it needs as the builtin effects are far from awesome...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jamthrax

i think that with 8 cue points in traktor you cant go wrong... just a head up in ableton thou, you can just warp the track as a whole and then cut it up.. select the export collection function and it will export all cuts a individual .wavs

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+1 - I usually put them in one track in session view, in order, and set the follow actions to play the next one. I then duplicate the track and set the clips to loop, so I can switch between both behaviors pretty easily.

The APC40 is perfect for this.

you can use 99 cues per track in VDJ... To have them quantize when playing them you just need to enable "smart cue". if you want to take it further there is the ability to name them with script... you can use macro's to set multiple cues at pre designated distances from each other, I used this for a mapped mpk mini I was toying with a while ago, long story short I used a macro to set 46 cues at 32beats apart then return to where i hit the button from, it happens instantly even when playing the track with no audio glitches... and I was able to map an encoder to adjust all the cues in syncronicity if they were slightly out of place....

There is a couple of play modes so when you hit the button you can play, stutter or play only as long as you hold the button

Other cool things for the cue information in skins is you can display the time or number of beats until a cue is passed in the timeline, and you can display the cue name like "breakdown" "vocal" "drop" instead of just "cue #" and as stated you can name it when you set it eg. if cue 3 is always the breakdown you can script "hot_cue 3 & cue_name 3 "breakdown"

two things that VDJ is missing in this area are: you cant have the cues quantize to the grid when setting them so you need to set them when paused... And you aren't able to change the color of the markers, although these should be addressed in VDJ8...

is there a way to import wav-embedded markers as cue points ? even an external app or script ?

I'm not sure how ableton sets the marker information to be able to properly answer that but VDJ sets the track information in a seperate database xml file, so if you can make a plugin to write the information from one format to the other it would work...

this is what info from the database looks like

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________
<Song FilePath="C:\Users\User\Music\DJ Choons\inthemixx.mp3" FileSize="10196114">
<Display Color="11662108" Cover="2" Tag="1" />
<Infos SongLength="11241216" FirstSeen="1201161059" FirstPlay="1201161100" LastPlay="1202031932" PlayCount="15" Bitrate="320" />
<BPM Bpm="16843" Phase="11250" BeatPhase="3" />
<FAME IsScanned="510" Flag="6" Volume="6970" Key="Dm" />
<Automix FadeStart="61440" FadeEnd="11235328" RealStart="57344" RealEnd="11235328" />
<Cue Num="0" Name="start" Pos="606032" />
<Cue Num="2" Name="breakdown" Pos="150056" />
<Cue Num="3" Name="main" Pos="2006032" />
<Cue Num="16" Name="Cue 17" Pos="1145008" />
<Cue Num="17" Name="Cue 18" Pos="1683984" />
<Cue Num="18" Name="Cue 19" Pos="2222960" />
<Cue Num="19" Name="Cue 20" Pos="2761936" />
<Cue Num="20" Name="Cue 21" Pos="3300912" />
<Cue Num="21" Name="Cue 22" Pos="3839888" />
<Cue Num="22" Name="Cue 23" Pos="4378864" />
<Cue Num="23" Name="Cue 24" Pos="4917840" />
<Cue Num="24" Name="Cue 25" Pos="5456816" />
<Cue Num="25" Name="Cue 26" Pos="5995792" />
<Cue Num="26" Name="Cue 27" Pos="6534768" />
</Song>

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Originally Posted by jamthrax

you can over lay cue points in traktor thou... i would never use up one cue space just for gridding, fade in/out etc... overlay that stuff so you have 7 free still

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The grid does not have to take a hot cue...that frees up slot.

Uncheck: Preferences -> File Management -> Store Beatmarker as Hotcue

If you're using beat grids you can set the grid marker to not be a cue point in preferences. That only gives you one extra though.