Pitch Faders

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
1

Pitch Faders

I heard rumour that there was a way that 100% accurate beatmatching could be achieved on the VCI+Trakor by configuring the MIDI steps on the faders? The +/- 8 just doesn’t have enough range and the +/- 35 is just too inaccurate.

Does this have any semblance of truth?

I know that the 127 steps can be set to trigger different actions. In respect to the pitch faders would it be feasible to set the upper and lower ranges
(eg. 0-35 / 197-127) of the pitch faders to control +/- 35 and the middle steps
(eg. 36-197) to control the +/- 8 range?

Would it even be worthwhile?

2

There are 2 messages in Traktor regarding pitch that apply here - Deck Tempo and Deck Tempo Fine. If you want better pitch resolution, you’ll have to sacrifice a rotary encoder AS WELL AS the pitch fader. Map the chosen rotary to the Deck Tempo message and set the pitch range to 35%, then assign the fader to Deck Tempo Fine and set the fine pitch range to 4%. You’ll use the rotary to “dial in” the pitch, then use the fader to fine tune it.

3

Could you do this with the jog wheels? Set the outer rim (of the VCI-100 that handles pitch bend) of the jog wheel to just push the deck tempo up and down and then use the faders to control the Deck Tempo Fine? Still leaving you the center section for scratching/seeking

4

Too many control sacrifices really to achieve a standard requirement of the Dj.
NI really need to do another small overhaul of their settings. There should be a +/- 12 setting and some work around that won’t cause those .2 -.5 bpm jumps with the tempo faders.

5

I agree totally. ALL DJ software developers need to consider control resolution more closely. Hardware manufacturers need to spur this on by including the option to send 14bit MIDI messgeas as well. But it IS possible to get something approaching industry standard pitch resolution using Traktor, regardless of whether that solution is acceptable to you.

The way it stands, the ideal situation would be to map the Deck Tempo and Deck Tempo Fine mesages to a push encoder, and use the push to toggle between the 2 messages.

6

Could you elaborate on “push encoder”?

Any tips on how to program the MIDI to get this result?

7

I was referring to a push rotary encoder, which combines a rotary encoder with a push button (the knob not only turns, but pushes down as a momentary switch).

You could program this a number of ways. You could MIDI Translator to change the behavior of the knob, or you could set the push to change MIDI pages that change the mapping of that encoder. There are all kinds of ways you could accomplish this.