In response to the handy feedback icon you see on your left hand side of this site I will be starting a “FX Fundamentals” series and go through many different uses of FX that you can use inside Traktor or any other software. First on the list is filters, the work horse of a dj’s effects arsenal. Along with a basic overview of the different filter options, I will go into multi mapping a single knob to many parts of a filter and layering 2 filters for even more effective results. Check out the video bellow for the scoop.
Archive for the 'Digital Dj Tips- Advanced' Category Page 4 of 6
By: Bento San
The following Windows tutorial will get Traktor and Ableton all synced up and implement the concept of smart mixing into your set up. Some of you may be thinking, “What is smart mixing”? This is a good Question, and the Belvario Smart Mixer site answers it well. “”Smart mixing” is a term introduced by Moldover, a controllerist digital musician who uses a sophisticated software and hardware configuration that allows him to make fast changes to the mix with a minimum of control movement. One component of this is his “smart mixer” Reaktor ensemble, which makes it easy to do basic automated EQ mixing with a simple fader move in Ableton Live (in Live 7 it’s possible to do with only native audio effects).
You will learn how to:
1) Route Audio From Traktor and into an Ableton Live smart mixer.
2) Sync Abletons Midi clock to Traktor which will be hosting the master tempo
3) Allowing use of a midi controller in two programs at once.
With a limited number of physical knobs to control an ever increasing number of software goodies you need to find a way to get more out of your control surface. Using a single knob to control more than one parameter is one of the best ways to do that. A good example of this is the effects section of my VCI-100SE. Each effect in Traktor has 4 knobs and 4 buttons but my vci-100 only offers 2 knobs per effect. How can this be effective? Super knobs!
Deck a Dance may be the only dj software out there that can run inside Ableton Live but you can virtually put any software into the powerful audio engine with a free plug in. Cycling 74, the masterminds behind max msp, offer soundflower which creates a virtual audio engine within your macintosh environment.
“To send the output of one application to another, select Soundflower as the output device in the first application and Soundflower as the input device within the second application.” Continue reading ‘Route any dj software into Ableton’
The manufacturers don’t want you to know this, but the truth is you don’t have to plop down $1,500 for the latest Allen & Heath mixer or $3,000 on a JazzMutant Lemur to do creative things with MIDI and DJ software. Sure, having a brand new DJ controller with all kinds of bells and whistles will get you excited about trying new ideas, but you might get more mileage out of something at a fraction of those prices. There are many inexpensive two-octave keyboards that offer mappable controls in a small footprint. Perhaps you still have an M-Audio Oxygen 8 ($149.95 for the Oxygen 8 V2; www.m-audio.com) lying around from your first foray into music production. Take it out and imagine how you might DJ with it. Think of how each knob and slider might best control two or more songs on the fly. It’s actually a lot more realistic than you might imagine, so let’s turn the zillion-selling Oxygen 8 into a controllerist’s dream rig. Continue reading ‘Oxygen 8 Controllerism Layout’
Many, many times I have heard people say: “gosh how did you become a professional dj? That must be so hard!” Or other djs complaining that they could never go full time because the competition is too tight. Well, I can tell you first hand that its not hard to make money, get gigs and even go pro. Naysayers might point out: “Your just lucky or you have special talent- not everyone can get the gigs you have gotten”. Nope, wrong on both accounts. I am not lucky and not even that “talented”, just terribly persistent and painfully stubborn. You see by putting yourself in the frame of mind where you can accept the possibility of easily making good money by doing something you love (sharing music with others). You have taken the first and most important step to making it happen.
All those beautiful adverts you see for controllers and music gear always show the shiny devices floating freely in a wonderland of white space and light. Once you actually get the thing home you’re faced with using it in on a real-life table filled with cables, cups of tea and other pieces of electronic junk. I like to keep my laptop front and center instead of to the side, so mixing involved a lot of leaning over a table for extended amounts of time. There had to be a better way, so I started looking around for the ultimate laptop stand.
An inexpensive way to add advanced midi technology to a simple controller
One of our active users, Matt, brought this great little device to our attention. Its a stick on touch pad that is designed to duplicate a mouse surface on your keyboard. Great for your Aunt sally’s desk job but its not quite enough to get djs in a tizzy. However, if you consider that this device is a HID (or human interface device) and you happen to know about a handy little program called Junxion. Well, then wheels start turning very quickly and my nerd side runs around the house excitedly. You see, Junxion will take ANY HID and turn it into very usable midi data. Translation. Stick this bad boy on your midi controller, program it with a HID to MIDI software program and bingo- instant X/Y pad on any midi controller.
This one is for the Traktor users out there although some other software may have similar tools. Lets say you are using a VCi-100 to control decks A and B. Everything is working well expect that every control is used up and now you also want to get your hands on decks C or D. How do you do that without buying a 2nd VCi-100? Its easy- and all you need is ONE free button.
Continue reading ‘Double your Controls in Traktor- with one button.’
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