Vinyl, CDJ or controller?

[vondoom]

I think it really depends on the controller you're using. Take a look at Justice. When they perform, they use 2 laptops with a lemur, a DJM800 & a microkorg. That is a fairly large setup. For even bigger showmanship, they throw a giant wall of sound which serves no actual function in their performance. All of those speaker cabs and synthesizer racks are empty shells. What they're selling here is 'entertainment value'. How would it look if Deadmau5, Justice and the like DJ'd on a korg nano pad with a 13" macbook and that was it? That would be pretty boring.

When most promoters picture a controller they visualize a guy on a hercules syncing song after song and just standing around. If you are really entertaining throughout your performance, whether it be with a giant mouse head or just interacting well with the crowd, then he has no reason not to hire you to DJ again. Have a polite conversation with the promoter about how you would like to perform a first gig with a controller. If he says yes, make sure you show them why controllers aren't bad. If he isn't into it, swallow your pride and just rock the show. When you build a bigger rep you can demand 2 lemurs and a wall of sound in your rider.

[haybot]

Tell him to grow up, big names like Surkin use just a controller AND not even a soundcard. They totally rock the crowd with onboard sound.

[BentoSan]

Tell him to grow up, big names like Surkin use just a controller AND not even a soundcard. They totally rock the crowd with onboard sound.

Who cares if big names use controllers or not though ? That doesn't justify it all in my eyes.

What really justifies it in my eyes is that it is the next progression of things, it allows us to get more hands on, be more personal, do mixes that were never previously possible, be more organised, present a new form of showmanship that most people have never seen before - its new and most importantly its interesting (if done right).

[BradCee]

I guess because you can sync your songs with controllers and thereby they believe DJ'ing looses its essence.

beatmatching is not the essence of djing, it is a very useful skill. you can still pull off a set without needing to beatmatch. the essence is track selection/flow/mood and how you mix them.

[!STiTCH!]

Heres my thought on this (and I had this arguement recently with a club owner) -
If someone wants to kick back and critique sonic fidelity, they can do so at home on their hi-fi stereos. At a club or a concert for that matter, its about the atmosphere. People are out there to have a good time, drink, probly do some drugs and dance their asses off. I challenge ANYONE of those club goers to actually notice the difference in sound quality. But again, I do not go to a live show for the "sound quality", I go for the song selection/set list, the friends, the good times.
If a club or bar owner doesnt like the fact that I use controllerism instead of turntables, screw em, Ill go elsewhere. As someone who has lugged crates of records and CDs around, I tend to have a bad attitude towards people who look down on modern technology. If we as DJ's weren't meant to adapt we'd still be playin out on phonographs.

just my $0.02