It’s a mixed thing, and you’re going to run into this a lot. Esp. once you start hitting bigger clubs and start trying to get gigs with some of the promotion crews who have been around for awhile.
A lot of the old school guys and promoters who’ve been DJing for years, or throwing parties for a long time, don’t like the digital thing. They are okay at this point with time-code DVS (because you can’t easily buy records anymore, and shit is heavy to lug around), but anything more than that if you’re not using Ableton for some funky self-production business? It’s usually not something they understand nor care about. People are set in their ways a lot of times.
It’s just how it is.
There are many people and parties being thrown that are more open to the newer side of things. But it’s about finding those places.
The big thing being really, as far as I can tell, keeping only turntables or CDJ’s tends to collect people who have either been doing it for awhile, or have put the investment into the equipment. It generally (not always) weeds out a lot of the kids who come up and are just doing it with cheap digital devices and pulling the business, or fanbase away from the old school crew.
I’ve seen people have fantastic and terrible sets using all sorts of different equipment. Will I say the majority of the DJs I like to see out use turntables or CDJs? Yes. But that doesn’t mean there are other guys who can’t rock it equally as hard using a controller.
I don’t personally have any experience (well, very little) with CDJ’s. But I have friends who rock controllers, and I enjoy the 1200’s with a couple other buddies. I go to shows generally 2-5 nights a week, and out of those nights, the majority are on CDJ’s or turntables with DVS.
Some of the newer crews only have the digital stuff. And it’s fine. Selection is the key aspect of playing a good set, but there’s also something that has to be said for the ability to beatmatch on the fly. Which you CAN do with a controller, people just don’t expect it. And so there is a stigma involved.
Because lets face it, beatmatching really isn’t easy until you teach yourself how to do it. And then it’s like riding a bike. Some people become BMX stars, turntablists, controllerists, while others do their own thing. But it’s a skill that people put a lot of weight on in the scene. And it’s something the old hats of the scene understand is a difficult thing to master, and there’s a lot of hate on the ability to use sync (even if you don’t) because it takes away one of the barriers to the craft. DJing isn’t easy, but it’s become more accessible.
And it doesn’t matter how innovative or cool something is. In the music industry, as far as I can tell, it would be like bringing a turbo’d out japanese car to a muscle car rally. A lot of the mindset just isn’t as forward thinking as people would like sometimes. You’ll have respect, but then you’ll also get shit for doing something new. People are set in their ways. Most DJ’s have been doing it for years, and still haven’t fully caught onto the new things with technology. Because it’s really jumped BOUNDS in the last few years.
Being able to own your actions, rock the set, and love what you’re doing is what is going to get you places. Everyone runs into speed-bumps in what they choose to do, it’s about handling yourself and getting past those points in life that either makes or breaks you.
But, I’ll admit, I fall into that sometimes as well. I will have much more respect for someone rocking vinyl or cdj’s and pulling off an amazing set than I will with someone with a controller. Because I EXPECT more from someone using a controller. The tools that are brought to the table with a good controller are much more than you can pull off with turntables or CDJ’s, so doing the same kind of routine isn’t going to be received in the same manner. Don’t buy a Ferrari and drive in the city, basically.
Hope I got my feelings on the matter across well. I personally decided to go with TT’s for part of this same reason, and it’s why I use Serato as well. I like the old style of mixing without getting super fancy, and it translates to the equipment I use. If you’re going to be innovative with your choice of equipment, you need to be bringing something new to the table. And the trick is balance, because no one wants to listen to a controllerist or turntablist set all night long, but being able to rock bits and pieces, that’s when it gets sexy.
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