How many of you digital DJs never learned to use CDJs or TTs and can’t beatmatch?
This came up in another thread and I am not looking for a thread discussing why beatmatching is a waste of time and how you can do much more with your mixing by letting software take care of it. We have all heard it before and if we’re on here we use controllers and we get it. I am simply wondering with the recent rise in shear number of digital DJing programs and controllers that have popped up in the past year alone, let alone the past two, how it has affected the way DJs learn.
I am looking to get an honest number of how many digital DJs couldn’t DJ a set with CDJs or vinyl because they lack the experience. BE HONEST please.
I learned on turntables and can beatmatch. However, can I dj a set with cds/vinyl in a noisy club with mental amounts of bass and non-existant lighting while being half drunk out of my mind? no.
I can’t beat match to save my life. I’ve had a go with traktor and my vci but it didn’t go well I don’t play out alot though so i get to avoid the potential abuse that comes with using the snyc button.
I guess i’d like to learn to beat match properly but it will probs never happen unless i come across a pile of cash to buy a couple of CDJ’s and a mixer
I’ve spun with tables before. I haven’t had enough experience with them using records I owned and knew to trust myself thru an entire set with them. Just messing around on friend’s setups seeing if I could do it. I didn’t have any issue getting beats synched and could feather a track ahead or back to keep it locked in.
The way I REALLY figured out how to beat match was by listening to a track in winamp and matching it blindly with traktor running simultaneously.
When I first started using Traktor I didn’t know what beatgrids were or how to use them. I never knew how to setup beatgrids and never bothered. This obviously made it harder to line up tracks. It made the sync function more of an obstacle than something useful. I think this helped me train my ears in the same way I would have to if I was using vinyl. By the time I was out of the woods with Traktor figuring it out, I saw too many advantages to keep me from ever investing in a set of turntables.
I have no problem beatmatching to the set before me (where somebody is using tables) in a club if it’s not like 170 vs 140. Sometimes i’ll just keep a 32 bar loop going until I match it to their track. I do this because since I don’t know their track, I wanna make sure mine doesn’t kick in before theirs is finished.
Sometimes I still beatmatch in traktor, but it’s a bit foolproof since (like cdjs) I can see the bpm in the gui. I still cue with headphones because I can’t be arsed to get a beatgrid perfect for every track. You’ll never see the sync button lit up when I play out. I have it double macrod with “play” and it’s set to “hold” and not “toggle”. I don’t like relying on a beatgrid I may have been too stoned to set properly to keep things in order. I would rather trust my ears at the moment.
As I am only a begginer, I cannot beatmatch, saying that, Within the first day Of having my VCI i tried to manually beatmatch for a couple of hours, I watched demo’s on Youtube with cdj’s. Its definantly something that Is a priority in learning. Why? well for the obvious reasons as some have mentioned here, mixing in and out of someone elses set, Plus I really want to be able to use CDJ’s, all my friends at home that are Dj’s use them, And this time ill be getting some personal lessons. Yes later when I have the skill of being able to beatmatch, I might choose to use it seldomly, but to learn it is only an advantage, its definantly not what i would call a timewaster. I dont know if I would be able to refer to my self as a DJ without possesing the skill. Im not arguing the use or implementation of it, Just the ability to do it.
i mixed on vinyl for 5 years+ (with 1000+ collection of vinyl ) so i actually feel weird if i dont beatmatch!
i then briefly moved on to cdjs, and then serato + vinyl timecode, and now i also got traktor scratch pro + timecode
i will always use vinyl turntables tho or at least cdjs (prefer vinyl) - the only reason i use dvs is for tune organizing - i cant live without real decks
self taught on the turntables about 10 years ago after many hours watching dj’s… jumping in the deep end without any help probably took me a little longer to know what im doing but im grateful for it!
I can beatmatch on cdj’s… I just kinda suck at phrasematching? I’ve only played around with cdj’s on occasion, and while I could get the tracks synced up, my drop points were never really right, (where as I can do it in traktor cause o handy old beatjump).
Beatmatching with a vci is kinda impossible (if you are not looking at the phase meter, or bpm readout). the pitch faders just are not good enough. at all.
learned how to beatmatch on a ns7. does that count? never touched real turntables.
edit::::::ummm…=D. xonetacular, are you attacking digital djs. i know this is just a fair question, but i always get a feeling from your posts that you might be attacking us lol XD. not being mean just sayin’
the voting is a bit black or white. haha, hell, I’m barely confident enough to perform with my controllers + traktor. take them away and gg. But I can still beatmatch in a bedroom situation?
Well to be honest i’m not that flash on the pioneers but can give it a go in a pinch. i just don’t see the point in me burning off 20 tracks when i can sit there and drink letting my mates entertain us
i’m failing to see the reason to this thread? not the first one where the title has had ‘you digital djs’ in it - do you not consider yourself a digital dj xone? in which case what are your motivations for joining a site like djtt?
it’s like you’re looking for some twisted sense of superiority because you still use tt/cdjs, i get that you’re over the moon with your 1200 purchase a few weeks back, and you love you’re cdj1000’s, but dude stop f-ing showing off about it!!
clearly your opinion that’s being saved for later will be one of underhanded-condescending-mockery, as has been the case several times over.
anyway, this digital dj can beatmatch and mixed on tt/cdj for about 10 years.
regardless of the intention of the post, I feel that this thread is a valuable one. Why not find out how many of us who lurk the forums here can beat match or not. Its a tough skill to master, and those of us that can should be proud, regardless if we use it or not. Also, learning to beatmatch, even though you use a completely digital setup, shows that you both appreciate the craft you are learning, and are dedicated to expanding your skill pool, even if it is an outdated one. I say let it go, if he makes condescending remarks, then we can whine, but there is surely no need to do it before it even happens.
i learned how to dj on my buddy’s tech12s and can beatmatch comfortably, i’ve never owned my own pair tables though.
i personally don’t find manual beatmatching to be difficult, but I much prefer djing with traktor + midi controllers over vinyl. I like having a visual display of the waveform so I can see the different drops in the track and use cue points to help plan better crafted transitions for my mixes.
i started learning traktor on the first versions, before the software had the beatgridding feature. so I actually used to do manual beatmatching with the software even after traktor3 came out because I couldn’t be bothered with beatgridding my tracks when I knew how to do it manually. I just started beatgridding my tracks 6 months ago and I think it’s worth “cheating” now because of the subtle improvement in overall sound quality compared to manual beatmatching.
I don’t play out alot though so i get to avoid the potential abuse that comes with using the snyc button.
