Q-Bert, Ean Golden Jam + Brand New Midi-Fighter!

Written by Ean Golden on April 29th, 2011 42 Comments

I made a visit down to the QSU, Q-Bert’s Online Scratch University, last weekend, to play around a little bit and explore the possibility of playing a show together. We practiced for about an hour, improvising and cutting it up in a much more relaxed setting than our last rendezvous here at DJTT headquarters. The guys hit record on a camera and the clip above is one of the improv gems that emerged from our session. The drumming in the background is from our resident drum teacher Ryan, who covered timing techniques for us a few months back. Continue reading for photos, one more clip and more info on my controllers in the video.

Pictured (from left): Ean Golden, Michael Mitchell (Midi-Fighter designer), Ted Isla (Thud Rumble), and Q-Bert

QSU is hosted at the “Octagon”, Q-Bert’s resident lair perched high on a hill just outside of San Francisco. Ted, QSU’s main man, told us that the Octagon was actually built by Q-bert’s father who is now nearly 85! All that family love certainly pervades the Thud Rumble crew and Q-Bert’s house. He is always very welcoming and super fun to jam with. I only hope to be as respected and experienced as he is in 15 years!

Q was working on a scratch routine over the instrumental for “Look at me now” by Chris brown when I walked in, so he tossed me the mp3, I dropped a few cue points and we cut up the beat a bit.

Thud Rumble also recently uploaded this clip from our first jam out. It’s a cool look at the other material we didn’t originally publish on the blog.

Again, I do want to re-iterate that this was after 3 months of no practice and no prep. It has proved quite challenging to run a international business with 11 employees and somehow find time to continue my personal creative development. The good news is that Dj TT has been running much more smoothly and I am getting back to what made us great in the first place- developing killer new ideas! and on that note…

NEW MIDI FIGHTER?

Astute viewers will no doubt notice some strange looking midi-fighters in the video. These are two of four new models we will be announcing in the next week. They are replacing our “custom” midi-fighters with four dedicated layouts we have found to be the most popular. Designed to be high performance instruments, all are paired with mappings for specific controllerism use cases and built in robust metal cases that can survive weekly tours and serious abuse.

More info will be forthcoming, but if you want to get the scoop directly, please sign up on our Midi-Fighter mailing list for the latest info, special deals and new firmware updates.

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Filed Under | Controllerism, Logic Tips, Video Posts
Tags | Controllerism, Custom, ean golden, Electronic Production, improv, jam, Midi Fighter, q.bert, QSU, Scratch, Scratch University

SynthEtiX

awesome. good to see that the MFs are getting 4 different layouts, reducing custom work and also hopefully reducing price. :D

They look really solid, especially now since the sides of the boards look to be walled with aluminum/metal.

Good stuff!
SynthEtiX

I dont care what its made of, I want one!
Tyfurious

Well crap, now that I’ve already bought Midifighters… Guess I’ll be doing some custom work xD
Noelflava

Nice Jam…
Deanpinnington

Inspired improv lads! Like it.
jabanayot

would those square buttons be 4 different banks? or 4 different shifts, looks really interesting, any posibility of sending in current midifighters for an upgrade???
http://www.djkunal.com Coldfuzion

The new ones look sick! I love my current midi fighter and after a while I will be looking into picking up one of these!

DJTT crew hats off to you guys with the MIDI Fighter. Building an entire company around one product is pretty hard, but it’s easy to figure out how the heck that happened as soon as you get your hands on any MIDI Fighter. I truly love mine, and can’t imagine gigging without it. No clue what I did before I had one. No clue at all.
http://apoff.com/blog Austin Poff

Count me in on this. I’m going to trade up. I was on the first run of Midifighters, I’ll grab one of the first of these.
haha lol

the improv is a lot better than the other one!
Dj Lock Mess

I’ve been waiting for this, a metal case……..Sold!
Hipcat

MidiFighter Pro? Intresting…
Does it mean that the old one will become cheaper???
Pierre Cardell

As long as one of the new Fighters got 4 rotary controls and the added 4 buttons I’ll take it. That way it would save me the hassle of creating a custom case haha.
Eoghain

this is easily the best thing i have ever heard, Sold!!
http://www.cancelmonday.com Jason – CancelMonday

Nice one on the new custom MF’s Will def be picking one up :D
http://twitter.com/knowslogan Jimmy Long

Love the new MF. Will be placing order next week. Keep up the great work
Boatepancadao.com

Show de bola!
Jared

excited to see the new MF. I was thinking about picking one up as it is. That clip though… well… interesting? Gotta say it left a bit to be desired.
kelsey7k

hoping one of the custom layouts includes a joystick :D
Aleev8

nice, Excited to see the new midi-fighter layouts!…nice improv btw!
http://www.soundcloud.com/markmurder Mark Murder

THIS IS WHAT I’M F***IN TALKING ABOUT! Not only did you redeem your previous mediocre jam with Qbert, you announced some equipment that I actually care about. Right on DJTT!
http://www.facebook.com/tretuna Tré Tuna

Woo! New Midi-Fighters!? Can’t wait, always liked the original, but I’m not big on the plastic construction. Can most likely count on my order of one of these new ones!
wrongchris

that rocked!
Jordan

Dang I just got mine.
http://www.facebook.com/josh.kennedy2 Josh Kennedy

i thought the same to be honest… i was bored after the first 30 seconds. granted – its only a quick jam session and wasn’t rehearsed, im sure they’ll bring something better in the future.

dont forget this whole controllerism/turntablism team up is only a new, proof of concept type thing at the moment.
bombast

One thing I don’t get though, is why did they put out the video with such bad sound quality? Their whole profession is audio-based, every video should have top-notch sound, especially one that demos a new product.
L Kama

Nice going on the new Midifighters. I was really digging the two tone arcade buttons on a few of the customs I saw. I hope you are offing that as an option. Also I have seen some light-ups. Don’t know how they perform but might be cool to look into.

http://www.paradisearcadeshop.com/27-led-buttons
http://www.facebook.com/Americansmark Josh Clontz

Sweet. I’ve been waiting on the new custom MIDI Fighter. Looking forward to the announcement.
http://www.eangolden.com Ean Golden

yes- I agree completely. Sound is really important. Unfortunately there was a technical error and the audio did not get recorded, just camera audio. I felt that less than perfect audio was better than no video at all.
Doitforthesoul

if these things were velocity sensitive pads I’d buy one for a multipurpose controller.

Please implement this it would be a huge step forward and people who don’t use traktor would buy these things!
AWP

I’m sorry, and not that you cant dj like this, but I hate the feeling I get watching as you are just pressing buttons….
303bassline

thats not saying much…
http://twitter.com/ed_flynn_ Ed Flynn

Hoping 1 of these is a layout designed to extend S4 workflows and performances.
http://www.thudrumble.com/blog/?p=704 Secret Octagon Jam session with DJ Qbert, Ean Golden, and drummer Ryan Lucero – Thud Rumble Gallery

[...] view footage of their secret jam session at the Octagon, visit the article featured here on the DJTT blog. More exclusive footage will be released inside the Qbert Skratch University [...]
Paulyphonic

anybody know the name of the track in the very first video?
bombast

I appreciate the response, and I’m glad that it wasn’t a simple oversight. I’m sure sound won’t be a problem for the official launch video.

I think a deluxe midi fighter with a sturdier frame and more features is a awesome idea. I’m really interested to hear some more details.
Anonymous

Oh fack balls, it looks dope my friends!
http://twitter.com/justcharlie charlie

The new controllers look fantastic, I can’t wait for more info to emerge on the variations.
Dur

Djtechtools has already deleted the comment below twice because it doesn’t fit the “Ean is golden” Mantra. If you are an objective reader please read the youtube comments on djtechtools videos as DJTT cannot delete things there and is a much more accurate cross section about what the world at large thinks.

But seriously stop deleting stuff you don’t like. Its not even offensive, you just don’t like it. (my 5 year daughter does stuff like that)

I’d be so embarrassed hitting buttons next to Qbert.

Ean was using the Midi fighter exactly like a big synth keyboard to play a lead. Using faders as pedals. no juggling no scratching no attempt at a legitimate routine. If thats the cutting edge of controllerism with self proclaimed international superstar Ean Golden..then you can keep it.

at about 1:40 in the video Qbert starts staring off into the distance totally bored.

You may disagree with everything Ive ever said but the complete lack of effort in the video speaks for itself

Why would you ever promote audio performance gear with absolutely horrible audio and performance?

who makes a cookie commercial and puts the nastiest looking burnt misshapen cookie they can find on the screen to get you to buy it?

You can’t delete the posts on youtube Ean. You cant fool everybody all the time.
Dur

Djtechtools has already deleted the comment below twice because it doesn’t fit the “Ean is golden” Mantra. If you are an objective reader please read the youtube comments on djtechtools videos as DJTT cannot delete things there and is a much more accurate cross section about what the world at large thinks.

But seriously stop deleting stuff you don’t like. Its not even offensive, you just don’t like it. (my 5 year daughter does stuff like that)

I’d be so embarrassed hitting buttons next to Qbert.

Ean was using the Midi fighter exactly like a big synth keyboard to play a lead. Using faders as pedals. no juggling no scratching no attempt at a legitimate routine. If thats the cutting edge of controllerism with self proclaimed international superstar Ean Golden..then you can keep it.

at about 1:40 in the video Qbert starts staring off into the distance totally bored.

You may disagree with everything Ive ever said but the complete lack of effort in the video speaks for itself

Why would you ever promote audio performance gear with absolutely horrible audio and performance?

who makes a cookie commercial and puts the nastiest looking burnt misshapen cookie they can find on the screen to get you to buy it?

You can’t delete the posts on youtube Ean. You cant fool everybody all the time.
Dur

Djtechtools has already deleted the comment below twice because it doesn’t fit the “Ean is golden” Mantra. If you are an objective reader please read the youtube comments on djtechtools videos as DJTT cannot delete things there and is a much more accurate cross section about what the world at large thinks.

But seriously stop deleting stuff you don’t like. Its not even offensive, you just don’t like it. (my 5 year daughter does stuff like that)

I’d be so embarrassed hitting buttons next to Qbert.

Ean was using the Midi fighter exactly like a big synth keyboard to play a lead. Using faders as pedals. no juggling no scratching no attempt at a legitimate routine. If thats the cutting edge of controllerism with self proclaimed international superstar Ean Golden..then you can keep it.

at about 1:40 in the video Qbert starts staring off into the distance totally bored.

You may disagree with everything Ive ever said but the complete lack of effort in the video speaks for itself

Why would you ever promote audio performance gear with absolutely horrible audio and performance?

who makes a cookie commercial and puts the nastiest looking burnt misshapen cookie they can find on the screen to get you to buy it?

You can’t delete the posts on youtube Ean. You cant fool everybody all the time.
Dam80

totally agree…cracks me up how he does the orchestra conductor hand waves in the air like it’s some kind of necessary gesture..this contributes to the death of the art of being a DJ…
http://profile.yahoo.com/7PNXHSWNHBH5SSJTMM4YKOYLNE JhelaPeh Atatalyc

Good for you, thanks for a insight? into your boring life that has been tormented by the use of a computer. Is this what the human race has come to. People getting angry over operating systems that do the same fucking job. I own both a mac and a pc and prefer the PC at the moment for the projects im working on as i have more options with software and compatibility with 90′s audio equipment and running emulators. I also find it a lot easier to write software for it .