Speaking of dj battles- I will be traveling with B33son, the winner of our first dj battle, to Bali in July. Although the grand prize might not be so extravagant, we are about roll out monthly versions of the contest with some great prizes so brush off your controller and start practicing!
Archive for May, 2009
One Click Traktor Sampler
Do you want to grab a loop from a deck and keep it running without using 4 decks? Have you ever thought about sampling a beat juggle live in Traktor Pro? Then you sir need to get up to speed with the one click sampling trick we discovered a few months back. Check out the video bellow that walks you through how it is done on our VCI-100 mapping. Then to learn how you to set this up your self, read on after the break.
New HID-MIDI Converter- Wii Guitars Rejoice
An old friend of Dj TechTools, Pierre-Olivier Latour, has created a fast and powerful HID to Midi translator program called MidiHID that you may want to check out. This translator allows you to take any HID device out there, including such devices as the Apple Remote, Rock Band guitar or a P5 Virtual Reality Glove and control dj software and create complex presets for each controller.
Continue reading New HID-MIDI Converter- Wii Guitars Rejoice
Cue Point Chords
When I first started experimenting with cue point juggling last year it was a blast but playing the same sample a million times can get a little stale. This led me to explore various ways of working with cue points and FX to create a richer palette of sounds. The results of that exploration became a new concept that could be called cue point chords. The fundamental idea is very simple but can be applied to a wide range of samples for amazing results. Check out the video above for a demo and read on for the technical stuff.
Save your Laptop
***News flash**** Laptops are not designed for use in dj booths.
There are many things that can go wrong with your laptop and chances are if you dj for long enough then almost all of them will. Here is a short list of some of my personal laptop follies.
- Yes- someone has poured a drink on it
- Yes- a man was thrown on the dj booth sending the lappy to the floor
- Yes- its overheated to the point of damage
- Yes- liquid has inched its way under the case
While there is not much you can do about many of these problems there is something that you can do about a few, namely overheating and liquids.
Korg Nano Multi Pad Mod
The NanoPAD by Korg is an easy choice for extra midi control with its compact form and low price. Lately, with lots of performance videos popping up its seems just about everyone has picked up a nano pad or 2!
The only limitation of the NanoPad, besides its slightly shoddy construction which tends to break is that there are only 2 virtual knobs. This little modification is useful for everyone that would like to get more analogue control out of the pad. By using Bome’s midi translator and the free files bellow, you can enhance the abilities of the touch-pad and instead control 26 knobs with scene set 3 and another 26 with scene set 4.
VFX-1 Vestax Controller for Itch FX
Serato Itch has a lot going for it but everyone always mentions the same thing. “man, I wish it had some effects”. Well your wishes look like they may be coming true very soon. There is leaked information floating around the web that exposes what appears to be a Vestax FX controller designed for Itch. To be honest, I cant confirm or deny the validity of the information at this time. (confirmed) Based on the quality of the image and the very official looking PDF that was also leaked, its safe to say that this is a product you will be seeing in the market soon.
Legal Trouble? M-audio is deep N2IT
An interesting story first popped up on Remixmag.com last week about N2It’s latest legal crusade. N2It, the Amsterdam company led by John Aquaviva, famously created and patented the original digital vinyl concept used on the first Final Scratch system. After taking on and successfully getting getting some cash out of Native Instruments, they have turned their focus to M-Audio’s Torq which also appears to infringe on their patent. All the DVS manufactures are probably in line to get a call from N2IT’s lawyers sooner or later including the biggest prize of all, Serato. Its likely that N2IT sued NI first because they were the obvious first target. Given their relationship with the original Final scratch it was an easier case to make that NI was liable for claims. Next up are the smaller DVS players like Torq, MixVibes and others while N2IT builds up enough legal precedent to go after Serato, the big fish with the most to lose in such a scenario. They will also be the first to likely fight, and possibly overturn, the patent in court. Why do you care? Cases like this can really effect your bottom line and make it much harder for companies to make easy solutions.
Ableton 8- Almost perfect
By: Zett
Live 8 brought out a lot of amazing new tools and much needed improvements including the live looper, Max support and many others. Nonetheless, there are a few critical dj centered features that are still missing. When I first dove into Live circa 2005, I was amazed by the possibilities of this remarkable new sequencer. Now after couple of years you can do almost anything imaginable in Live but it continues to lack features that most djs desperately need.
The Beginning of the end. Pt 2
2 weeks ago we wrote a controversial article on the effect of HID on MIDI in the digital dj world. There are a lot of great points in the comments but most people missed the most important point of the article. To help clarify, here is part 2 of the discussion which explains what HID, MIDI and OSC are and goes into more detail about what is really at stake in this important discussion. Continue reading The Beginning of the end. Pt 2
Record Sales down? Make an App!
With records sales slumping and dj gigs for top acts in lower supply, big name stars may have turned to other creative ways to generate income and publicity. The numbers are too small to call it a movement yet but with 2 big djs announcing their own dj “apps” this week its almost time to call it a trend. Check out a Twitter app from Hawtin and a swiss army iphone app from Paul Van Dyk after the jump.
