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Chances are high no one will even read this far but here it goes anyway:
First of all- I am stoked that the video sparked so much love and hate on both sides. That's a great sign- it means this type of djing is hitting a nerve. I switched to djing with a mixer and a controller over 6 years ago (after playing with turntables since 96) and we have come a long way since then. This video is one more step towards creating a dj interface that is musical, fun and exciting to watch.
SYNC
I used sync about 50% of the time on the drops in instances where it gave me time to do other things. I have 4 controls at the bottom of the midi-fighter which match turntables (pitch, tempo +/-) so manual beat matching is used when its needed.
In the times when there is no time for manual beatmatching or no benefit to the mix then I use the miracle of addition and subtraction to help me out a little bit.
An interesting side note- Many Serato djs basically use sync and dont even realize it. They match the BPMs visually as Serato display's the relative BPM of the playing track and then match the waveforms visually to line up the phase. After this VISUAL SYNC they then adjust the phase and BPM more precisely by ear to get the blend perfect.
How people can criticize folks for using a single button press to accomplish a VISUAL SYNC more precisely is beyond me. When Sync is used, additional adjustments to tempo or phase are almost always needed in the club as no 2 tracks line up perfectly. It's this final step that is most critical and can not be skipped. How you get to that 2nd step; visualy, by by ear or using a button should not really matter.
CHALLENGE
The challenge here was to dj with only 16 buttons per deck and do some creative and interesting things with it. I encourage you try something new sometime- it may not stick but you will grow as a performer.
I practiced this routine for at least 1 month, and there is no disputing that the mixes pulled off are very challenging to do- even when sync is used from time to time. We have a contest on DjTechTools.com where people can take the songs and create their own mix interpretations. I encourage everyone to completely show me up and do something 10 million times better on turntables, CDJ's, guitars or whatever you happen to enjoy. At the end of the day the only thing that matters is:
*how did the music sound
*how expressive was the performance
*did you have fun?
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