While it’s not the game-changer the Kontrol S4 was, the 2-channel Kontrol S2 delivers a formidable all-in-one Traktor Pro 2 package for budding digital DJs, as well as experienced controllerists. On one hand, it’s tempting to call the S2 the S4 Lite, and on the other hand, that’s not such a bad thing to be. Let’s check out this little brother and decide if it deserves a pat on the back or a vicious noogie.
Continue reading Review: Native Instruments Traktor Kontrol S2
With the iPad 2 hitting stores in the United States at the end of this week, Apple looks poised to hold off the growing competition and stay strong with its position as the leader in tablet computers. However, will it be the mobile dream device that digital DJs and producers have been hoping for? Let’s take a look at the critical new features of the iPad 2 and see how it stacks up to its closest current competitor, the Motorola Xoom.
Check out another intense video of Ean re-constructing Ozzy Osborne’s “Crazy Train” after the break, plus a tutorial covering how to pull off some of the tricks yourself!
Continue reading New Traktor S4 Videos: Fresh Routines by Ean Golden
Time to exhale; the Traktor Kontrol S4 four-deck controller for Traktor Pro is here, and DJ Tech Tools has a full review. Native Instruments’ first all-in-one, 4-channel controller/soundcard for Traktor Pro comes with the specialized Traktor Pro S4 software, as well as some lofty expectations. Let’s find out where the S4 lives up to the hype, and where it may fall a bit short.
Continue reading Native Instruments Traktor Kontrol S4 Review
One of the dirtiest jobs in the DJ business is marketing and promotion. If you already have a big following, you could probably hire a publicist to do the promo grunt work for you. But how do you get a following without promotion? There’s the catch. Although DJing is good work if you can get it, it is still work. You’ve got to be your own hype man before you hit the big time. Luckily, the wonders of the modern world – technology and outsourcing – have your back. Read on to discover tools and services that will help you spice up your Facebook page, create a personal iPhone app with no coding required, and blast a press release to the music media masses.
Continue reading Self-Promotion Tools for DJs: Facebook Fan Pages, iPhone Apps, Outsourced Press Releases
A recent DJ TechTools round up of soundcards sparked some queries about whether latency is a bigger problem on Mac or Windows machines, or if it’s a moot issue these days. Latency is a murky issue with many factors affecting it: the number of audio channels and effects being used, CPU power, and more. However, one of the most important factors is the audio driver at work. To get a better handle on what the differences are when creating audio drivers for both Mac and PC, we asked a couple of third-party audio hardware developers who produce products for both platforms. Continue reading Drivers Wanted – Audio on Macs and PCs
You may have to decide whether to fill up your gas tank or fill up your belly far too often these days, but luckily, one area where you still get more for your money than you did 2 years ago is technology. Since the last DJ Tech Tools budget soundcard romp in Feb. 2008, 2 Benjamins now gets you a considerably more impressive array of audio interfaces with which to weave your magical musical tapestry. Whether you spin DVS control discs or rock controllers, you have to get your tunes from the computer to the soundsystem somehow. So because those gallons of milk and 87-octane aren’t getting any cheaper, we went shopping for the best DJ soundcard values, and passed the time savings on to you.
The brothers that make up the electro-house duo, Tiefschwarz (“deep black” in German), Ali and Basti Schwarz, started DJing in Stuttgart, Germany in the early ’90s. Since then they have risen from local club promoters to worldwide club culture celebrities. Through it all they witnessed several sea changes in the way that dance music is produced, distributed and DJ’d, yet continue to thrive. On a recent solo stop to San Francisco, Ali Schwarz sat down with Ean Golden to discuss the acceptance of digital DJing, the merits of Internet distribution, the importance of personal style, the questionable necessity of big music labels and the one single constant in the world of DJing: that no matter what happens, it’s always about the music.
Continue reading Tiefschwarz Interview: The Death of Vinyl and Big Labels
Even though many DJs have an insatiable desire for new music, the Internet is so awash with listening and downloading options that without direction, you could fritter away many hours of screening music without netting anything to use in your sets. While everyone has favorite recording artists, there are many online tools that will help you keep up with those artists and find new music in similar styles that you’re likely to enjoy. We pulled together the music discovery habits of several DJ Tech Tools contributors to compile a list of sites and tips that is sure to keep you flush with usable new tracks. You may already know and use at least some of these, but a more well-rounded and complete routine will definitely keep you covered with all the new tunes you can handle.
After more than a year of big-time hype, Celemony’s Melodyne Editor software with Direct Note Access (DNA) is here. So… should you have believed said hype? DNA promised to allow Melodyne Editor users to manipulate the pitch, length and timing of individual notes within polyphonic material. In the case of this version of the software, that polyphonic material is meant to be chords played on a piano, synthesizer, guitar, other stringed instruments, etc. However, it’s tempting to get one’s hopes up about Melodyne Editor as the be all and end all of isolating vocals and instrument parts from stereo mixes, so that DJs and remixers could have carte blanche to any part of any track they desire. After the jump, we explore and the can-dos and the can’t-dos of Melodyne Editor.
Continue reading Melodyne Editor’s Direct Note Access for DJs
DJ TechTools Traktor Kontrol S4 Mapping
The long awaited Traktor S4 Mapping is here and totally FREE. Continue reading for a full video and the download link.
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