Alright, I have a bit of a situation. Nothing major but I wanted some input from people with more experience.
I’ve recently started practicing mixing a lot more, and am almost getting decent at it. I use traktor and a VCI 100 SE (which is fantastic, by the way), but before that I just used traktor with a regular qwerty keyboard and mouse. Back then when I would mix I would use the sync button in traktor to get the songs at the same speed, but then manually cue the songs and get them in sync. Now that I have a cool controller, I think I should be trying to beatmatch completely manually.
So my main problem is what and what not to turn off in traktor. I’d prefer to have it at the same level as if I was using two CDJs, so I would probably have the tracks starting BPM displayed. Problem is I don’t know if it shows the BPM after the tempo has been changed, a quick look at a CDJ picture shows that the BPM bit doesn’t have any decimal places, so I’d guess no. I’d also probably turn off the phase bar thing, though I’ve come to rely on that a bit. I also usually run traktor at ±35%, which means the pitch faders aren’t all that fine, I’d just change it down to ±8% if I didn’t use such large tempo changes so often. Maybe if traktor had a setting for 16%± or something…
Finally, why not just use sync? I don’t really want to start an argument about this, personally I think for the kind of mixing I’m doing (just your normal mix one song into another, not tons of cool effects and controllerism, and what-not) that I shouldn’t be using sync. That said, I tried mixing with the BPM and on screen pitch fader whatever it is turned off but the phase meter on, and it seems like it’s in the same boat as sync. It does require more work though, so maybe that counts.
Cliffs: noob got used to halfway using sync, needs to cut that out. What do?
Its not an etics issue, just that some prefer method A while others prefer method B. I have the VCI 100 SE with Traktor as well. Personally I use the sync button to get the songs at the same tempo as well as for beatmatching. Why? Because that gives me loads of time to do other things such as working on effects and looking at what song to play next. So I have anything against DJs who beatmatch by ear? No. This is simply my preferred way.
In terms of your BPM question. On Traktor, go to Preferences->Deck Details. There you can edit what you want to see on the descks info for the loaded track, including the original BPM.
My problem is I don’t spend that free time doing anything really useful. The only thing that’s come close to that is when I do live sets (via intertubes) I usually try and play songs I’ve never heard before, so I’ll spend that time listening to the other track to make sure it will work (and fixing the grid). Every time I get near the FX I make a mess of things…
Then practice beatmatching in your ear then. this way you can explore your boundaries and see if you like it or not. Be sure to have scratch off on your VCI so you can use the jogwhells as a pitch bend.
I’m (very) slowly getting a bit better with the FX, the only thing I can use well is the filter. I was playing with the gater earlier today and learned that your grid has to be spot on for it to sound right… I do need to practice them more often though.
Thanks though, sometimes you just need someone else to say “go practice that”. I’ll probably spend the majority of tomorrow working on the FX.
I had a similar idea a while age and changed the interface for manual beatmatching so I could practice for using CDJ’s in clubs. I found it more fun than using the sync and now manage to beatmatch very easily on any setup. Here’s a screenshot of my manual layout:
Gonna resurrect this thread instead of start a new one. New question:
What is the best way to beatmatch manually on a VCI 100 SE?
My problem right now is the pitch faders. You can either have them have a large enough range to make a 5 or 10 bpm gap, or you can have them accurate enough to properly beatmatch. You can’t really have both though. 8-10% gives you .035-.045 bpm increments, but you only get 1.3-1.6% fader travel in each direction. 35% gives a better range, but then the accuracy is about .15%.
You can use shift to center it (When you pass center on the fader it goes back to 0%), but I don’t think you can use it for pitch size. I tried messing around with the settings to have an adjustable pitch range, but when you change it it changes the current BPM, effectively making it useless.
I’m working on changing my mapping so try and make the jog wheels act like pitch faders when not in scratch mode, that way (hopefully) I’ll be able to get a better bpm match because the wheels are .01% instead of the faders being as inaccurate as you mentioned.
I’ll let you know how/if it works when I figure it out.
I emailed DJTT about this picture a while back… there was an interview where he stated they left it unplugged because they joked every time he would get near any type of effects, he would screw it up for his partner.
I’m new to mixing and this type of equipment (in sig). in traktor, turn of SNAP and QUANT, and you should be good to go from a traktor-perspective to avoid any type of auto-sync option. of course, dont hit the SYNC button as well.
I look at it this way - sync, snap, quant… they’re all there to assist you in some form or task while mixing music. If you need or want to use them, then do so guilt-free.
As you get better at it, you may or may not even need them, and not having them on gives you loads more control when you’re gridding, beatmatching, and mixing - it comes at a cost of focus and time when doing it on the fly. Also, when someone hooks you up with a song in the middle of a set that isn’t gridded and doesn’t immediately / accurately detect beats, then snap and quant will make your life a living hell.
the pics taken after that one show him looking confused, then plugging in the controller and getting on with the gig, unlike mista bishi, who did lots of knob twiddling over a pre mixed cd
Sorry-just couldn’t resist: sync vs. Manual beat matching. I don’t have a problem with “sync” and use it myself from time to time, and will use it a lot more when I finish my digital set-up. But, IMHO, a dj, for his or her own good, should know how to beat match by ear, and stay in practice. If u ever have the opportunity to play at a club/bar/friend’s bbq and for whatever reason can’t bring your own gear, and the gear available doesn’t allow for sync, u will just look foolish if u can’t match. Besides, matching by ear does also help u understand how each song is put together. So, I think sync is fine but, for your own good, u should be able to mix with or without it.
