Using midi controller to play out? Anyone doing it?
Hey ya’ll,
Thinking about getting a pioneer ddj t1. I have used one before but am aware that if I wanted to play out I would have to take it with me with my laptop to play out. Just wondering how common it is for people to use midi controllers to play out with? Anyone on here got experience of using one?
Cheers, Greener
I see quite a bit of people playing with controllers. That said, the T1 is huge, and you might have problems fitting it into a booth. Most people I’ve seen has been using something like an X1 and an Audio 2, and using the club’s mixer.
Hey the T1 is pretty massive. Really not sure what to do as I’ve already got stanton cmp 800’s hooked up to traktor pro.
The only reason im thinking about changing my set up is because when using timecode mode with my cdj’s, with a lot of songs Im having trouble matching up the bpms exactly.Say one song is playing at 128 bpm, I cant match another song exactly to that. Often ill only be able to get it to 128.07 or 127.93 and that will go out and start to sound untidy pretty quickly.
Not sure if it is because my cdj’s have a digital pitch adjuster as opposed to an analogue one?? Other that that I love my cdj’s 
I’m going to go with what the other guys say. That’s a REALLY large controller, even the S4 is smaller than that. While that controller has a lot of neat features, the biggest concern is being able to put it somewhere. Most clubs have something in place and simply putting your gear over the top of what they have doesn’t normally make the house happy. If you’re playing somewhere where you can get your own table or other acceptable platform, you shouldn’t have a problem so long as you have channel to plug into and a power source.
That being said, A LOT of people (the majority where I come from) are using laptops and controllers. There’s normally a place where “Normal DJs” place their CD Binders for quick access and that’s where a lot of “Computer DJs” are putting their rigs if they can’t disconnect a turntable or CD player and relocate “the house players” under the booth.
A parting piece of advice: Be religious about putting everything you need for the club in it’s own location in one (or two) bag(s) (including your headphones) before going out and when coming home, then you’re sure you have everything when you leave. Oh and bring extra cables, connectors and adapters, most electronics shops are closed when you realize you need something.
All CDJs have digital pitch control… When I spin timecode, I very rarely get BPMs exactly matched, but you can usually hold them together without any problems (spinning timecode on turntables, so they drift a bit “naturally” as well). Seems strange that they should drift off so quickly, but if nothing else works I guess you could just compensate with the jog wheel.
Thankyou for ur advice guys is much appreciated. Never played out before so its a bit daunting not knowing what to expect. Would you say its easy to have a traktor / cdj set up - just taking my laptop, hardrive and control discs to the venue and using the clubs cdj’s?
an s2 is an easy set up (one line into club mixer). its just big enough to look professional and small enough to be portable
I honestly wouldn’t bother with a t1
The T1/S1 is a great controller BUT … totally impractical for a live situation, especially when there is already a mixer, cd’s, turntables setup.
Using the equipment that the club is providing usually will be easier than trying to find room for what you bring.
I’ve seen a fair few controllers out recently (and I go out a LOT). There’s a DJ who rocks an NS7 locally (unsure of his name) but I know he always has to basically setup his own table for the thing, usually just in front of the booth. And I’ve seen smaller controllers being able to fit in booths, and APC’s all over the place. Don’t just go off of what the “big” names do either, because they get special treatment when it comes to such things.
IMO the simplest thing to walk into a club with these days is a CDJ setup. Be it CD’s, or Thumbdrives. Second to that would be using a DVS (Traktor or Serato) with the CDJ’s or turntables. Then comes MIDI controllers, just because you have to not only mess with plugging in the audio interface, but also just finding room in the booth for your gear.
If you’re doing bedroom, house party, or mobile stuff, it’s much less of an issue.
And, just for the record, for the cost of a lot of the “high end” midi controllers, you can get a decent turntable setup if you’re willing to spend some time and buy used.