Who learned to mix on controllers?
On the interwebs, occasionally i read something to the effect of
but there must be djs out there (whose name i may recognize) who acquired their skills without touching vinyl or cdjs! can you name any djs who learned their trade on controllers?
Me
The main factor is how long have they been mixing and how many fucks they gave about following the “booth standards”
i learned on a mouse.
booth standards, yeah. i mean, i realize that once you leave the bedroom, you may not be able to completely avoid turntables or cdjs anymore. but this argument that the only way to learn to beatmatch and to get “good” at mixing is by going the turntables (or, maaaybe, cdjs) route basically has to be bs. which is why i’m wondering which famous djs learned on controllers. (doesn’t have to be dj mag top 100 “famous” but i am asking about pros not recreational djs.)
ok, cool
Well, i’ve been spinning since '05, had a few odd looks from promoters but nothing preventing me to play and believe me when I say booths were filled with traditionalists back then.
Right here. I started screwing around with a copy of Ableton Live that was still active on a secondhand Macbook Pro I bought. That lead to the first of a series of controllers that led me to an S4, which lead to me buying turntables to use its DVS capabilities, and now I’m replacing the S4 with a proper club mixer. So in essence I’m moving reverse kinda.
What that guy said. Same here… APC40 to S4 to Technics.
I learned to mix on a controller, now I’m using CD players.
I think that everyone should learn how to DJ with CD players or TTs before they move up to a controller. Teaching new DJs how to DJ without the aid of waveforms, sync and whatnot really enforces good fundamentals. It would also get rid of all these noobs asking why sync isn’t working when their beatgrid is out of phase by 180 degrees.
All you have to do is ask yourself this question…If you get a gig, and at said gig your computer shits, and all that’s left is two cdj1000mk3’s and 2 tech1200’s, will you be able to put tracks together? Or are you canceling the gig?
You can get plenty good at mixing on a medium other than cd’s and vinyl, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a skill that you should avoid learning. Honestly it’s far more rewarding to know your tracks, and mix them minus loops and quantization, than it is to have prepared cue points/loops and visual cues out the yin yang. And if you don’t use sync and ‘beatmatch’ tracks in Traktor and think that it automatically translates into being able to do the same with cdj’s or tt’s you are seriously mistaken. Will it help? Sure it will. Will it immediately translate, absolutely not. Quantized, beat gridded tracks that you match bpm’s exactly and nudge into phase is NOT beatmatching.
qft.
It is certainly no crime to start on a controller, but I think you absolutely have to learn at some point how to match vinyls/cd’s. I started backwards, but immediately picked up cdj’s and tt’s as soon as I could to learn the fundamentals of a craft that we all revere. There’s an artistry there, that oozes hard work and dedication, and every ‘DJ’ at some point needs to see/learn this.
What would you do if a cdj shit out? I have a backup laptop and keep my music external anyways. We have different ways of backup too.
#imnotskrillex
You’d call it a night. I mix on controllers all day all the time, but I also forget I own them and bust out cd’s every week.
It’s a skill you need to learn. No matter how many hard drives you have, or macbooks you purchase.
It’s like being great at Gran Turismo. Just because you set a fast lap on Monza in a F430, doesn’t mean you are a racecar driver than can hop in one for real and make it happen.
It’s an invaluable skill that makes you appreciate what you and those before you do/did.
knowing your way around a pair of cdjs is highly recommended 
Totally agree with you. For me it’s a money thing (isn’t it all). If I could find a set of cdj 800’s for under 700 I would have bought them over the technics most likely… but I couldn’t… so I stay cozy in my DVS.
porter robinson, probably. Didn’t he only pick up DJing after his production blew up?
And I only know of one in person who started on controllers and doesn’t suck. That being said, it’s actually about on par with the percentage of DJs I know in person who don’t suck…so that that for what you will.
Gonna hold me hands up here… BITD id say my vinyl mixing was total pants… if it wasnt for drugs and booze id never got away with it. I quit around 96 or 98 ish, growing family, career, house buying yada yada, you older ones know the script.
fast forward to now, there was no way i could buy all my vinyl back, and id ripped most before selling or giving it, so software mixing was a no brainer…
So id say, as above i relearned with a mouse, and then polished (a turd) with a controller, and id wager i’m better now then i ever was back then… and im still crap!
Dont agree with this at all your analogy downplays controllerist to basically mere jokes. I know many controller users whose sets KILL cdj tt guys and vice versa its all about the music you play the crowd could care less how its beat matched or put together. Believe it or not but I think cdjs and tts r slowly becoming a thing of the past and with these new controllers like the vci400 theyre slowly taking over. You cannot beat only carrying a laptop + controller in a backpack.
That being said knowing the basics of beat matching just in case never hurt anyone and definitely has its place for when track grids r off and for just spur of the moment etc.
that is a good call most likely. from his interview on DJTT, it appears he might have started out with deckadance. (later, he switched to traktor.)
With serato you are only carrying a laptop and maybe a hard drive seeing as almost all clubs have TTs/CDJs and a SL1 box.
I semi agree with you but TTs and CDJs are not becoming a thing of the past. Maybe for beginning DJs but every DJ I know that actually spins at clubs uses one or the other.
There’s nothing wrong with controlerism. And to be honest the people who I know who use controllers and actually know what they are doing are the ones that actually get gigs, whereas the large group of people I know who are “DJs” with controllers and suck don’t do anything outside of friends house parties anyways.
Can’t really avoid the CDJ thing, even though i’m using ableton with controllers at the moment - there is still gonna be plenty of times where i’m not gonna want to drag my laptop, soundcard and controllers (Easy £1500) to some grimey east london club at 3am to play a short set.
My solution is to be very clever how i burn my CDs, basically using re-edits of tracks etc. from my live sets making my life a hell of a lot easier.
Can’t really argue with the simplicity of turning up with a book of CDs and some headphones.