The coming tide of Controllerism

[Cusp]

Programs like Traktor Pro, Itch or Scratch Live, Torq and Virtual DJ are all great apps and they have all been pushing to become the "Best of the Best" in Digital DJing, which apparently means "offering a good product but also more bells and whistles than than the other guys" when it comes to music control (a.k.a. more than just two turntables and a microphone... which apparently, is "Where it's at"... thank you, Beck).

If you've picked up a DJ program and a controller, you've probably heard about a really advanced controller or seen "sidecar hardware" that can do a bunch of neat things in addition to your standard controller needs (see "Where it's at" comment above).

So yeah... Serato has formed a "Survivor-like" alliance with Ableton to make "the Bridge" but is it worth it? Could a person do just as well with a good controller and Maschine? How about the Red-Headed stepchild no one speaks about, Torq 2.0; it has a lot of what Bridge offers how does this rate?

If you've been looking at hardware to control the software you too have probably been doing this and getting a headache trying to put the pieces together in your head (or even on paper). I happen to have a MacBook Pro and a Twitch playing on either Traktor or Itch. Sometimes I think "Wow, I could buy another $500 worth of Hardware and get ready for Bridge (via Itch and that Lite version of Ableton Live that comes with the Launchpad or APC 40) or I could get a Maschine and go that route... or even get the Steinberg CMC piece-meal controllers to add on to what I have already ?"

Can we get at least a hardware-with-software jamboree round-up of these attempts into crossing the divide between DJ and Producer, a place many might call "Controllerism Land?"

[Eizhauz]

I am interested in The One software as well, that we still have not seen reviewed as of yet.

Regarding your Twitch, it integrates like magic with Itch (correct?), but how do you rate it with TP2? I love the idea of the Twitch, so portable and seems really keen on fostering creativity.

[Cusp]

I am interested in The One software as well, that we still have not seen reviewed as of yet.

Regarding your Twitch, it integrates like magic with Itch (correct?), but how do you rate it with TP2? I love the idea of the Twitch, so portable and seems really keen on fostering creativity.

The people at Novation really did a great job on this controller. With version 2.1 of Itch, the Samples are triggered with a Shift + Hot Cue function. I'm hoping this becomes a toggle instead of a momentary "on switch" function in the future. Using the Twitch in Traktor Pro 2 seems pretty good, you really have to dig to find areas that aren't as good as they should be (I really wanted Slicer Mode in Traktor ), but you can remedy almost every problem with the Controller Manager and re-assign things with MIDI mapping. That being said, the Twitch handles everything TP2 can throw at it and says "more please."

Most people don't get that there are 4 "Mode buttons" under each touch strip which acts like a "voice bank" for a MIDI Keyboard which effectively makes the 8 buttons below each "side" of the controller into 32 buttons per Deck, multiply that by 4 decks and you're looking at 128 different trigger buttons (albeit most are already pre-assigned, but you can re-assign buttons in modes you don't like). In Itch, you can grab a loop and pinch or expand it like you would with an iPhone, making the loop smaller or larger... I'm still trying to implement that mode in Traktor. I can tell you I am really enjoying the (Needle) Drop mode on the touch strip... it's even better than I remember Vinyl to be. I've reassigned the loop buttons to "PLOOP" (as per DJ Shiftee, whom I highly recommend) and I've reassigned to sample triggers on deck C and D.

I've taken the Twitch to a couple clubs and made real-time mash-ups, glitch and "extended versions" of songs when I saw people really wanted more out of the song I was playing... and it's kinda' fun knowing I was the only one able to do that at the club (that night).

I have nothing bad to say about the effects, they're all good, I just wish there was the option to use 4 at once per side (in Itch), the EQ is great and so is the Filter. Nothing wrong with the up-faders or cross-fader despite other people's claims that it felt loose or cheap.

[scamo]

@DigitalTiger

You seem to be concentrating on a "Producer/ DJ" type of performance. Have you missed what NI is bringing out with Traktor 2.5? I think they are trying to get exactly that into one hat, uh.....ehem....software.

scamo

[photojojo]

Yeah I think NI nailed it by giving you the bulk of what the bridge does without needing another piece of $500 software.

[Cusp]

Yeah I think NI nailed it by giving you the bulk of what the bridge does without needing another piece of $500 software.

I'm not sure which way is right because they're both not out yet... at least Bridge isn't released for Itch yet, and I've heard almost nothing regarding Torq's internal Bridge-like music management.

Even so, I'm really eyeballing the Novation ReMOTE 25 SL MkII and the Launchpad to round out my Controller kit (for Bridge). Some reasons being that I like hardware up-faders for individual (loop) tracks and the ability to assign "ploops" and samples to the keyboard does interest me... the X-Y pad is just a nice bonus.

I know the APC 40 has up-faders and a 5 x 8 row of buttons (which are smaller than the Launchpad's buttons) and it's less expensive, but it seems to be a good, solid choice.

Another pressing question: Noting that Native Instruments Maschine is out, how will the F1 measure up?

[scamo]

I don't get your question, to be honest.

scamo

[JesC]

i think the 1st post was auto generated by a spam bot.

[mostapha]

I prefer Maschine to Ableton for what I want to do. But I could do it with an MPC.

I maintain that I still haven't seen anything in controllerism land that I'd ever want to do or listen to except for things that could have been done 20 years ago with a pair of turntables and an MPC.

[oliosky]

I prefer Maschine to Ableton for what I want to do. But I could do it with an MPC.

I maintain that I still haven't seen anything in controllerism land that I'd ever want to do or listen to except for things that could have been done 20 years ago with a pair of turntables and an MPC.

I completely agree with you. Although its about 20 times easier than 20 years ago to fire up your dj kit and play the brand new tunes you bought 5 minutes ago. Thats the only thing the whole "controllerism" has changed.