
When djing, your essentially a pilot manning the helm of a plane. While there are many obvious things your in charge of during the flight, there is one that you may not think of. Its your job to make sure the sound coming out of the speakers is the best quality it can be. Lets look at a few basic rules you should follow to keep yourself out of the red.
Continue reading ‘Dont Crash the Plane- Follow these rules.’

Since we first wrote about his forays into musical experimentation and what some are calling controllerism, Dj Numark has added more toys and a bunch of new tricks to his arsenal. Curious to finally find out what he is actually using we decided to give the man himself a shout out and ask a few questions.
Dj TT: Would you call your performances with controllers a dj set or a live show?
Numark: Well I do two types of shows right now. The first type of show is basically a straight DJ set where I mix records for people to dance to (rare Funk, Hip Hop, Brazilian etc). The second set involves a bunch of Kids toys, gadgets and drum machines. I use an Mpc as my cue point controller for both shows. I guess I’d call the DJ set a DJ set and the Toy set a DJ set / performance. I think I bring a performance quality to both sets though.
Continue reading ‘Interview with Dj Numark’
EKS, the creators of the Otus, have told us about their plans for another version called the EKS Otus Raw. While the devices are very similar there are some notable differences you might be interested in. EKS has also released a series of videos that take a closer look at the EKS Otus than the original video Ean shot which introduced this space age controller to the world. Baring any un-foreseen obstacles, you might be able to try one out as soon as September.
The last time we looked at the Otus it was still very much in development and the final controls were still not decided upon. Now everything is in place so lets look at the what the Otus will look like and then how the RAW will differ.
Update: EKS Otus in action Video, the fate of HD-midi for the Otus and production status !
Continue reading ‘EKS Otus has a little brother? (Updated)’

Moldover has made an appearance on MTV’s “How To Show”, showing off you how to turn an oxygen 8 or any other keyboard into your own expressive controllerist musical instrument. With only a handful of items you can easily find around the household and using the similar techniques to that used on his own Novation Remote-25 SL keyboard, Moldover shows in three simple steps how easy it is to become a controllerist armed with just a oxygen8 and a copy Ableton live.
Continue reading ‘How to Hack a Keyboard’

As Traktor and Midi controllers have evolved, the number of possible ways you can assign a jog wheel has increased dramatically. There are more than 10 ways for instance that you can slow down or speed up a song in Traktor 3.4. So which do you want to assign your jog wheel to? Lets take a look at the primary 3.
Continue reading ‘Pitch Bend, Tempo Bend, Jog Bend, CD Touch Jog?’

Its safe to say that the very DIY arcade button mod I did about a year ago kicked off this whole crazy site. As we have improved the site, so it seemed it might be time to also upgrade the old VCI. Its now equipped with a band new case, professional grade cutouts and a hi grade paint job that should last a lot longer than the first one. The point of this article is not to make you jealous, but instead to let everyone know I made 2 and the other one is on ebay right now.
Continue reading ‘Arcade Buttons 2- the movie’

Yes, auto mixing is the ultimate anti-dj tool and goes against everything we stand for. But then there are weddings, or opening sets where a over-zealous club owner has requested that you start playing before the doors have even been opened. Its during these times that auto mix and an open wifi connection allow me to catch up on deep back logs of Dj TechTools mail. Traktor is equipped with a nifty “auto-play” feature but it only cross fades and requires building a good play list. Auto mixing that includes beat matching and cross fading directly in I tunes would be the ultimate lazy dj tool.
So here it is
Continue reading ‘Auto Mix in Itunes’
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