learning CDJ from s4 for a small gig
hey guys,
Ive been learning and playing on S4. I might be able to play in about a week but the venue has CDJ and they would want me to use them so that there is no commotion before resident dj.
How long does it take to learn CDJs? I am going to be playing deep tech house. i will probably have 2 hours on the weekend to practise on friend’s one. Maybe you can send over the tutorials for basics?
cheers
If you can beatmatch, it’s easy.
you would need more than 2 hours to learn how to beat match
Youtube bro.
How long have you been playing on the s4?
The transport controls are relatively the same, you don’t really need to beat match assuming you have somewhat competent timing skills, and can keep the tracks in time. As long as you’re relatively familiar with the tempo variations in your set, you shouldnt have too much trouble tempo matching. The biggest deal is remembering your cues, since you most likely won’t have access to cue loading unless you prepare that way.
on vinyl yes on cdj just cue up and press play on the beat, obv make sure ur tunes are set to the same bpm
If you always use SYNC. Turn it off. Practice with the SYNC off. Don’t look at the BPM. The CUE and PLAY buttons were weird to me coming from a DENON DN 2000. Make sure you really understand the JOG wheel and the SET CUE and PLAY on the CDJ’s.
we still don’t know if he’s ever beatmatched without SYNC. CDJ’s don’t have SYNC.
Sync doesnt matter, pretty much every CDJ since 2001, and every Pioneer CDJ, has a BPM readout. The newer ones quantize it based on various inputs. Beatmatching vinyl style is a waste of time.
Nooo dont listen to this… theres a whole element dude you should be familiar with, your going to trainwreck it guarenteed… do it right and practice using cdj for a while, as in a month first…your still going to be full of nerves when you play out on them the first time…trust me
Whatre you talking about? I’ve been playing on my own set of CDJ-900s for half a year now, and I’ve never had to waste time beatmatching blind, and I’ve never train wrecked. There’s a value on the deck, if there isn’t, look at the value you wrote down on the CD key. From there, adjust the value until it matches the playing track, or do a quick bit of fader math and adjust it based on the pitch value. Done. There’s no magic involved, regardless of what some 80’s-90’s veterans want you to believe.
What cdjs are going to be at the gig?
For shizzle nizzle, shishdisma!
Glorious exposition, comrade.
I guess you do 16 beat mixes or something. If you think you can match BPM’s on the CDJ windows (130 and 130) and do a solid 128 beat mix, get ready for a train wreck.
I love the way that people just say ‘don’t waste time beatmatching, instead just do some reading and checking of the bpm on your CD key and a bit of mental calculation and adjust it that way’, like that’s simpler than just beatmatching it. Madness.
I would also love to hear some of Shishdisma’s mixes to hear him not trainwreck stuff 
does the OP even give a damn anymore, he hasn’t been posting?
Anyways, I think you should be able to beatmatch, bpm readouts on cdjs are useful but they can be wrong. What helps a lot too is tapping in the tempo on your mixer.
If you never mixed without using sync, it is not easy to get a hang on cdjs. If you still have time, check out the layout of the cdjs and try mixing on your s4 without using anything such as quantize/snap/sync etc. It might help you once you go there.
fucking oldschoolers trying to make beatmatching seem hard. Beatmatching on CDJs is mindless. You don’t have to do fader math unlessthe CDJ is old. Just move the tempo fader until the two tempo readouts match. If you’re mixing deep house, the BPM readers will be fine. Then you just press play on the 1, and nudge until it fits.
You should still practice to get the hang out if though. Just use your S4 with the stock mapping without sync. It’s easy. You’ll quickly go “What the fuck are these old dudes talking about? A monkey could do this”.
The CDJ’s will read 130 BPM for 129.6 or 130.4. big difference. You threw that word “NUDGE” in there too lightly. If you try to mix my example 129.6 with 130.4 you will be nudging a lot. If you don’t practice beatmatching with your ears your excessive nudging will end up train wrecking. I always use the +/- 6 % setting because if you notice it gives you a finer (.10) pitch resolution.
You sure you guys mix without sync?