first "gig" under my belt, impressions, troubleshooting

[DeeEss]

Good on ya funtime hope next one brings more your way!

I was gonna get a BCD3000 but knew I'd end up buying a VCI-100 down the track so I'm just holding off for a bit till I got the cash!

FarmPad unlocks the PadKontrol alot aye?

[Zac Kyoti]

It's cool to hear you're getting excited man. It's true that the sky is the limit. I can remember the buzz of my first gigs... No wait, I still feel it a bazillion gigs later! Keep up the positive attitude!

As for clipping/distortion, it can be tough to master in the digital realm. Analog is much more forgiving. Upside is, unless your ears are blocks of wood, getting lots of digital mixing experience will wise you up quick and make you a better mix engineer. The rule of thumb is to not clip any stage, while giving yourself the room to make changes. I used to keep Traktor at -2db like others have suggested, but found that certain fx and eqing would still max out my master. Now I run it at about -5.5db, and turn it up a bit more on the final output, and this give me the headroom I need. The key is to experiment with all the configurations of active tracks, fx and eqing you can see yourself using live, then set Traktor's master out, and forget it - you don't need to touch it again.

Using the limiter is fine, but like with any limiter, don't drive it too hard. Traktor's limiter is not adjustable, and deadens the sound with overuse. Just use it to catch the occasional overloud peak. Keep your peaks at or about 0db on the channel faders (you know you're driving a deck too hard if you barely see the meter move), don't clip the master out from TPro, know where your BCD master starts to sound crunchy and keep it below that (don't know if it has an overload indicator or not), and you will be golden

Re: Problems with devices - I wouldn't blame things on the hub too quickly. There are known slowdowns/issues with TPro when connecting and accessing ipods. Some more troubleshooting may be in order before you can nail down that the hub is the problem.

Glad to hear you're having fun. I think it's fun to make it like a game: Each gig your goal is to feel more comfortable and get a little more technical than the last. If you win, you get the prize!

EDIT: Oh, and soundcard, definitely soundcard. Your interface is the most important piece of equipment you own (next to your computer).

[itsafuntime]

DeeEss, you definitely gotta get farmpad if you have a padkontrol (and a mac, b/c i don't think there's a windows version yet). it busts it wide open and it's really easy to figure out. http://farmaudio.com/ up to 128 scenes, you can assign functions to ANY button, and you can use the rotary encoder to either switch scenes, or assign it CC functions. i can't recommend it enough.

i picked up the BCD on a whim not really knowing much about it. it was on craigslist for pretty cheap and the guy who was selling it was mad chill, we ended up swapping some music and messing around with his new gear (which i can't remember what was called, it wasn't software based though, and no built in FX). i'll upgrade eventually, but i'm still not sure whether i wanna go with a controller solution like the VCI or move to timecoded vinyl. i guess i'll make up my mind later when i actually have the cash. suggestions?

Kyoti, good lookin' out on those tips. would you recommend getting an audio kontrol 1 like you list? it seems like people either have that or a presonus and they're pretty comparable price-wise.

EDIT: just realized the audio kontrol is actually USB. for the price, it seems like i could probably get a firewire one instead. is the difference between firewire and USB that noticeable in audio or is firewire overrated for this purpose?

[Zac Kyoti]

I'm stoked on my AK1, actually. Good mic preamp, phantom power, 5 pin midi in/out and a dedicated monitoring section, in addition to the usual dj necessities. The price is right, and it uses the same A/D converters as the Audio 4/8 DJ. And the surface can also be used to send midi, though I don't ever use that feature. The Presonus Firebox is very similar, but has more outs, I think. That's the only thing I would want, but since I route TPro into and use Ableton as a virtual external mixer, the dual stereo pair is fine.

[DeeEss]

Hey FunTime,

I got FarmPad off a guy on this forum that uses it aswell! Thanks for link anyways!

It was pretty detailed and like you say it opens up the PadKontrol completely!

Do you have your pads on the trippy setting whenever you push a pad it creates a domino or explosion effect across the surface? It tells you how to do it in the manual! I only found this out yesterday!

[itsafuntime]

yo, i can't find anything about the domino/explosion effect. i don't see it in the read me file and i'm not seeing any other sort of manual file either. hook a brother up.

[DeeEss]

Hey brother from another mother!

Took me a while but heres a Dig Image of the manual!

Good luck!

[itsafuntime]

oh yeah! i didn't realize you were talking about the korg manual itself. i thought you were saying it was some farmpad setting. i actually remember reading that page when i first got it, but in all my excitement, must have forgotten about it. very cool, will definitely be leaving the domino effect on during gigs. thanks!