so i had a gig this past weekend–which went very well…anyhow i was the only dj using trakor. there were 4 other djs. one spun cds, one spun on serato with vynl, one with torq and the xponent, and the other with just vynl.
3 of the 5 djs had a laptop: 1 mac vs 2 pcs
when we were setting up before the show one of the djs asked me what do you spin on --i said i use traktor / vci 100 / and a motu ultralite…
now this was a guy who just uses serato and 2 timecoded records…he pretty much looked at me and said " Huh"?!
i said its a midi controller man…and this is my soundcard…i then explained to him how it all works, and how to route the sound, and let him mess with it…
after a couple minutes everyone from the club promoters to the sound engineer were up in the dj booth talking about this… i then let the guy with the xponent and torq show him his unit…
it was pretty cool. i was expecting these guys who dont use torq or traktor to be like --your not a dj…your lettting your comp do it …or just hate on it…but it fact the more they got educated the more --the more compliments i got.
it just goes to show that theres love for the next wave in dj gear…and with sites like this, and more people bringing our type of gear to the clubs..it will soon be the norm.
There are stories on the Traktor forum about guys who’ve taken heat for laptop DJing, but I guess I’ve been pretty fortunate, because my experience is similar to yours. I use a Faderfox DJ1 for gigs, and it gets a lot of compliments. I think if you bring it with the music and work the crowd instead of staring at the screen like you’re checking your email, no one who really matters really cares.
The funny thing for me is that CD units have become so sophisticated that I feel like a dinosaur when I show up with a laptop, MIDI controller, and soundcard, and the guy after me shows up with a CD wallet and is good to go in about 90 seconds.
I have had such horrible experiences with people judging me based on spinning on a laptop. And I spent around 6 months spinning on nothing but CDs before I brought my laptop out. I still get shit for it from other DJs.
The crowds, though, they love it, and that’s what counts, right? People have stopped on the stage and asked about my VCI-100 and all the lights, they’ve asked about the program, watched everything scroll by and enjoyed the show I put on. I feel so state of the art when all my mixes are flawless, I can throw in some effects, bounce around my collection without needing to be worried about having lost a CD… it’s great.
But every piece of tech has its haters. Who knows. When the next wave comes by with people DJing with their eyes or something maybe we’ll all be talking about how it’s not really DJing cause they aren’t using their hands anymore.
all the parties i do alot of people ask me what i use to spin on and i say ableton. and they are like wow. I love when people come up to me and ask how do I do it. I guess I just love open minded people that likes to learn.
Maybe its where i live (Perth Australia), but 98% of the people i talk to have the impression that all digital djing is just hit sync and crossfading.
Then theres all those(the same?) people talking about Vinyls quality… which kinda cracks me up seeings how most songs now days are recorded/edited on a computer, so the .wav files are actually the most accurate version of what the artist envisioned.
Then again i don’t DJ in clubs(yet! ) so these people do not tend to hear any of my mixes and the wonder that is smartmixing Traktor in Ableton
Personally for me its spinning digital or nothing at all, spinning decks is far far too linear for my tastes. Also because i come from a production background having the choice of thousands of effects, the handful on an analogue mixer don’t even come close to what i am used to working with.
One day the world will be educated and its our job as early adopters to educate them
It’s not just where you live. From what I’ve seen it’s really just about the people you surround yourself with. Some people are just so stuck in their ways, and at that, they don’t really understand how music makes it from the system to a record/cd/mp3.
From my experience people just think it mixes for you. Hell, the issue is that a lot of DJs in this scene (Goth/Industrial) that first used laptops just let it mix for them, and that’s what everybody saw. They don’t know what MIDI is, or how to adequately use effects, or anything. So they just judge, cause it’s easier.
I’m so glad to hear someone else say this. I’ve shut down arguments with this, too: “So … if the music was composed and recorded using nothing but computers, but pressed to vinyl, that’s okay, but if the same artist plays the same music straight from the very thing he created it on, the whole thing’s no longer legit?” We’re in the land of superstition and placebos with that one.
I got no beef at all with vinyl. My beef is with the notion that it’s the One True Church and all others are tools of the devil. Why argue for limitations?
Next time someone gives you flak about laptop DJing, stop the dance floor and take a survey right then and there. No one dancing is going to care. The only people that care are other DJs and trainspotters too high on themselves to just enjoy the music.
I have seen this argument on to many forums before. Bottom line… it’s the music, not the medium they’re played on.
Actually the only place I’ve gotten that kind of flak is on forums. As I said, I’ve been fortunate and haven’t had any hassles from DJs at gigs. Plenty of curiosity, and more about my MIDI controller than anything else.
I agree that the room doesn’t care if the music’s doing its job. But I hate seeing a DJ who doesn’t connect with his crowd no matter what he’s using. The only guy who repeatedly gets away with that, in my book, is Digweed. Somehow it’s just part of his vibe.
I had to search for this thread so I wouldn’t be starting a new one.
I get a lot of crap b/c of the system that I use. I get hated by dj’s (& promoters which 1/2 time are dj’s too) that spin on vinyl, cd’s, and serato! The promoters get to me b/c I hear the broken record every time, You don’t have an established DJ name. Shit, I’ve been dj’ing since 1992.
I did take a break from '02 - '05 when I joined a little gun club called the Marie Corp and left to Iraq in '03, but I got to see Germany, Kuwait, Australia (Townsville, Sydney). In '04 I got sent to Japan and Korea (and I got to dj in all these places, except Iraq!)
Ever since I been trying to get my name out there, but all I’m really know for is putting out those mix tape style cd’s that I give out where I dj at or give to friends and they make copies to their friends. Unfortunately the cd got to a known dj that play my cd! …my intro, my mixes! I went up to the promoter and told him…he had a good laugh until I called the next mix and where it was going to start. Then I laughed, when he went to the dj booth to tell the dj wtf was he doing. Oh well
I lost my last residency at Club Rock It to 2 whack dj’s that use the same setup, that cant keep a beat on Traktor! Nor do they know the key button exist. All night long its Darth Vader Vs Alvin & The Chipmunks (Justice Remix). What pissed me off even more is one of dj’s is a ghetto all ages back yard party dj. Which he still does where they sell noz, weed, beer, and X to little kids!
I’m getting close to calling it quits, its all hype, its doesn’t matter if you know how to spin. My curse is being a kick ass dj that cant spin anywhere.
damn dude sounds like you need a blunt. hit me up later for that lol.
Man screw them just get on ya grind me and keep pushing forward. If this is your passion ain’t nothing gonna stop you.
I guess I am kinda of lucky becuase in my town nobody is doing what I am doing so everyone is in awww. Right now I am trying to get in to one of huntsville’s biggest clubs. I should get in cause the dj they have now just plays songs off of itunes and everytime I spin people are like we need you at sammy t’s(the clubs name).
My only fear is there are kinda hard on black people there and I am black so I don’t know how they would take me or give me the time of day. Cause hell I can’t even get into the club just to dance.
Some DJs I talk to are not that fond of MIDI DJs. Indeed of the beatgrid/sync skill talk.
When I say, I still beatmatch the oldfashioned way, they drop that discussion and state they want to hear it and see what all the hype of the new medium is all about.
Nah… So far I just want to make sure I can stilll stand ground old fashioned way.
Beatmatching with a controller already is making it easier than doing it vinyl. And I am still brainstorming what way I want to take it from here.
Experimenting with Traktor in Ableton, different VSTfx-rack setups etc.
Don’t want to make it too intricate for the crowd. I just want them to enjoy my sets.
I seriously don’t care about beatmatching myself anymore. At home I do it for fun but after a few tracks I just stop caring and want to come up with more inventive mixes and so forth.
It’s just so…useless to spend time doing it when you could just hit the sync button. Of course if Sync doesn’t work, do it yourself, but the rest of the time, WHO CARES?
Just because one is using Traktor does not mean we should beatmatch. Just because it resembles two turntables/CDJs/etc. doesn’t mean we should treat Traktor like so. IMO you should never beatmatch yourself in Traktor unless Sync isn’t on point.
The sync feature is there for a reason! It makes my night easier and I become a lot more confident, which leads to mixes that are a little crazier/imaginative. And I have lots of more time to think about what I’ll do next, and so forth. And at the least I can keep the energy super high by mixing tracks in much faster than every 3 minutes if I choose to.
As far as acceptance, from my experience it’s actually been cool. And if anyone gives me shit, I’ll just retort in saying “well I could be using Ableton”.
EDIT: As well, I’ve seen many Serato DJs arrange their tracklists by BPM, and they’ll play the songs one after the other. This makes beatmatching by ear much easier since you’re always slowing down the next track to keep it in sync, and probably not by much.
Your statement “you should never beatmatch yourself in Traktor unless Sync isn’t on point” just shows the reverse psychology of things.
Could go all out “Bush should always threaten with the bomb, because he has it”, but I think I’ll just leave it.
I got beatmatching going so it won’t take me more than 10 to 20 secs from loading it up a deck until fading over the crossfader.
Probably less time than you figuring out if and why the sync button is off or not.
The point I am making:
Everyone has got his or her own workflow. This is finetuned to the way he/she operates music.
Don’t judge/criticise a person for handling the music how he/she does it. This could end up making you just as shortsighted as vinylpurists still claiming CDJs are ruining the artform called DJing.
At the end of the night the only thing that matters: “Did the DJ entertained or not?”
Whoa whoa whoa, I’m not attacking anyone at all. And I’ve been beatmatching by ear for about 2 years now, and I’m at the point where I could perform a set without autosync.
It’s just one day I felt that it was like a chore, I’d rather just hit sync and do other things within my set. Ever since then I feel like I’ve been converted, haha. It’s honestly sort of weird because it’s such a radical change from what I used to do - beatmatch everything myself. But after coming to terms with it, I don’t think I can go back!
True that, it’s ALL about rocking the crowd, you’re there for them Most of my opinion regarding autosync comes from the last party I played, where I started off by beatmatching by ear but eventually I just started autosync’ing everything and people still had an awesome time. I dunno, I just had to see that first hand it didn’t matter so much.
) so these people do not tend to hear any of my mixes and the wonder that is smartmixing Traktor in Ableton 
