Listen to me using a Traktor deck as a synth:

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
1

Listen to me using a Traktor deck as a synth:

Remember that I’m no concert pianist though!

http://demdj.com/MP3/Before.mp3

http://demdj.com/MP3/After.mp3

Now imma have a cuppa tea and tell you why it’s cool and how I did it.

2

white text to avoid spoilers.
well, not really.
just wait untill OP explains, then hilight this post to see if my prediction was right
filter
flanger (lfo?)
micro loop
jog wheel

other assorted effects maybe.

3

Right then. The first snippet has a drum loop on deck B. You can ignore this 'cos it is just there as a metronome. The melody in deck A is a 1 beat loop from another track. This is the before.

The after is me playing that same 1 beat loop over the drum beat in deck B using Traktor as a synthesiser and my Maschine as controller. What’s cool about is that?

  1. the pitch is mapped out in a octave across Maschine’s pads
  2. the gain is mapped to each pad’s pressure. This means I can affect the volume of the synth with the pad pressure.
  3. I have mapped an FX deck as a superknob or superpad, also to each pad’s pressure

The upshot is that each note is being generated entirely by me pressing one pad on Maschine.

PROFIT

4

im adding:
echo and gater. i cant quite put my finger on whats making that feedback sound
to the list because i forgot them.

5

well, i was wrong. (i was typing the last post as he posted)

6

@theory28 - well yes, I was using FX, but the actual FX being used isn’t really that important, you could select any 3 different FX and experiment. It’s really the technique. You could, for example, use one of those tiny MPK or Korg keyboards.

You can play the ‘deck synth’ with any velocity-sensitive keyboard.

7

Here is another example of the ‘deck synth’ from yesterday… it’s rough and ready 'cos it took me 5 minutes. It’s late, I’m tired.

http://demdj.com/MP3/Voice.mp3

How was this done? - I recorded a voice memo on my iPhone, emailed to myself, dragged it from gmail straight to a Traktor deck, and selected 3 FX at random (gater + 2 filters).

There’s already set up a bit of reverb and delay on another FX deck to give the synth a bit of air and room. And a drum loop in deck B.

I hit sync and play, and when it’s got to the ‘ynth’ in synth, I’ve looped it, started the drum loop and starting playing the pads.

Remember, I’m using one finger only and that is to play the melody.

And yes, it is quite a boring melody.

8

nice.. are you going to put together a video?