Future DJ equipment: trends?

Predictions? Opinions?

Moi thinks-

Vinyl will still be the domain of die hard purists. A Technics 1200 will not be an uncommon sight in a club for a long time yet. Meanwhile, vinyl jocks will become more and more converted to the likes of Serato Scratch et al. Already very popular, more and more DJs will pick up on DVS's.

The CDJ and CD will go the likes of the Pioneer CDJ-400: Whereby the USB storage device will slowly replace the CD- The advantages of USB storage devices being increased portability, and over-writing (say goodbye to buying a stack of blank CDs every other month). As those dinky wee USB data storage devices becomes more and more popular amongst DJs, CDJs (USBJs?) will gain larger LCD screens to display more info, and facilitate better searching of music folders on said devices.

Laptop and Midi controller combos will increase in popularity too, expect ever more producers turned performance DJs.


Now your turn..

This http://www.skratchworx.com/news3/comments.php?id=1052

Perhaps for some... but what of the run of the mill play at home DJ who simply wants to spin tunes?

Why is everyone creaming themselves about that so much?

There has been NO ACTUAL INFORMATION as to what it means.

I'm predicting its simply a joint marketing adventure.

We will probably see a plugin allowing vinyl control or the like - Rewire in essence to Serato. Either that, or they will just start pointing out you can lock Ableton to these programs via midi...

Richie Hawtin has been using Traktor synced to Ableton for ages - he just cant really say that much about it, because he is on NI's payroll.

Vestax, Numark, many companies have recently
'joined forces' with Serato - essentially licensing the Serato Logo and their 'itch' software to run on their hardware.

What hasn't actually happened though, is something 'new' or 'scene changing' as to HOW to it all done. You are still just mixing two tunes together. Its just creating easier ways to do it, that unsurprisingly, require you to buy a new product.

Its also highly unlikely that the clubs or bars will be buying into this new technology. I don't expect to be able to walk into a club and plug my USB card in any time soon. Shit, it would just be nice to have a mixer with up-fader knobs, that wasn't having major issues with signal irregularities and overloading when just accidentally knocking the gain input..

[/rant]

You may not have seen much - but from what I've seen, for hip-hop at least, this is definitely the way forward... in a BIG way.

Super charged, future mixing.

There's many many new adventurous things that this next wave will allow us to do and push things along.

Just cos you can't think of them, don't let that frustration out on the rest of the world

I agree, pull your head out of your arse

This new tech has meant I haven't had to carry cd's for months and also fast access to what I want (been mobile means I have to carry a lot more music than you would for a set in a bar/club and means a lot less flicking). I also haven't had this level of enjoyment for quite a while (been thinking I might even try and start hitting clubs again lol) and have actually put my turntables into storage.

I think Installers and clubs will catch on sooner rather than later, I mean, whats the alternative?....Keep forking out for overpriced cdj's?.....please lol. As for Ableton, it's pretty choice, feels like I'm cheating but.

What about Traktor Scratch Pro? That's pretty close to an Ableton/Serato hybrid, and it's out in three days, not six months.

Thoughts?

So, the future or DJing is convenience?

So, erm, what will the MEGA ALLIANCE let us do?

Hey Proof, I work for Serato.


Do the quotes around 'joined forces' mean you think the relationships are nothing but marketing?

Yes, those companies license our ITCH software.

We also spent ages co-designing their hardware so that every button and knob does something specific in ITCH.


Anyway back to this future business..


I can't argue with that

Guess I just goe a little jaded with press releases.

Tell the boys to hurry up with 3/4 deck timecode control. I had to switch over to Traktor because it didn't have it.

touché!

convenience = Time saved = more time to get a little freaky = more happy endings and satisfaction.

I guess if you rocked up to the club with 1 book or crate it's not so much of an issue, but for me (carrying everything from just about every genre (bar that emo stuff of course )) it has been a gods send.

No longer do I need a table behind me just for all my music.

It's quite amazing how some of the most creative people on the planet can be so narrow minded, perhaps there just worried about there edge in the market

Btw Daev. Any idea when I can see the dn-hs 5500 goin native with you guys, I know I can use time code but I can wait.

sorry, can't spill the beans on anything, not even to locals.

well i was gonna get SSL in a couple weeks, but with this new i think i might hold off and see what this combo might come up with...

love live 7, and scratch live...mashed together would be le hotness.

I had sold all my gear and vinyl (after copying to mp3) about 3 years ago.

I decided I wanted to be able to mess around for myself still so I got a Vestax VCI-100 and an external sound card. Couple that with Traktor Pro and OMG, its off the hook.

I now have so much capability and versatility it is incredible.

Just sold my decks, for my next purchase there are three main options so far...



or



or

+ +

I will be doing a new video shortly that will be of interest to you rips...

Sort of a follow up to Richie Hawtin's Traktor video...

At the moment I'm leaning towards a X-ONE 92 and CD-J 1000's MK 3 with possible addition of Traktor Scratch down the track.

The X One 4D is pretty bulky and I thought you could use those little jog dials instead of CD-J's but they are crap for that apparently. Also I hear there are quite a lot of people having issues with the inbuilt sound card.

Its hard because the more you read the more positive and negative views you come across for each piece of equipment.

Someone has said the DJM-800 has far better midi connectivity than the X-ONE 93 but does it matter?

I'm still trying to figure out why, if you are using a midi controller and software, you would still persist in actually having to manually beat-match anyhow?

Because its fun and sometimes you don't want it to be perfectly in sync or wherever the software has decided is best, you want it where it sounds best for the mix and the easiest way to find that is with a nice big pioneer jog dial.

Also the sound of beats slowly slipping out during the mix can actually sound good!

Further more you have a pair of CD-J's as backup in case your laptop has a blow out or you just don't want to hook it up.

Actually, I have the perfect system for you then...

records...

In traktor you can opt to set the beat grid manually before playing a track. This allows you to customise exactly what you are saying. Another benefit is that you can set auto loop each time you bring up a track. Example: you have a real thumper tune that has the worst chorus/breakdown you can set a point before and after that element and the track skips it out seamlessly.

Pffft, rubbish.

Very valid point but clubs have em anyway so you just need some tunes on CD.

You would be seriously amazed at how much fun and creativity is available to you when you dont spend all your time beat matching. Looping, all sorts of effects, 3 and 4 decks, all this is at your finger tips!

A good compromise would be the CDJ's w Xone mixer and Traktor Scratch Pro. But either way, you gotta go digital. People were very skeptical of CDJ's when they first came out too...

^^^sorry, I really screwed that post up but hope you can get the jist...

This is my current setup...



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plus



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Coming soon

So the wheels on the midi pads are generally used for manipulating effects? Any other uses?

Rubbish? Why just because you say so?

Anyone that really understands live mixing with vinyl or cd's and what creates its appeal for both the Dj and the punters knows that a major part of that is that the beats can and often do shift against each other at any time. It creates different wave forms in the bass and adds a random factor to the end output.

This helps to create a certain under lying atmosphere of the unexpected and also keeps the Dj on his toes to ensure those beats never fall too far from the mark.

Digweed himself has commented on this when asked about his views on the new digital mediums versus old.

Auto beat matching and cueing can certainly allow you to do some great things and that's probably the way I'm heading but I have also herd a lot of very boring sets from Dj's mixing with digital assistance.

Its a different kind of boring though, one that I have not really herd in the past.

In some cases its obviously just making it way too easy and while the overall set flows well and is mixed well (mainly by the software) their is just no X factor what so ever, no real direction or surprises in the mix. The Dj has slapped a bunch of tunes together and let the software do the rest.

What you end up with is a mix that on the face of it is sound good but there is something missing that you just can't quite put your finger on.

My point is there are pros and cons to any system, the old ways still have a few edges over even the latest systems, it largely comes back the talents of the user and their ability to exploit them.

The digital age has yet to fully come out of its shell...

You can read the article and watch an interview with Carl Cox here http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24960401-2902,00.html.

Most, if not all of the worlds top DJs are using this technology in some way or another. It is tried and tested and above all, it is so much fun.

I would challenge you to find a recent (up to a year old) quote from a famous DJ that is negative to the digital DJ medium.

I doubt you will find any.

But, you familiar with the concepts of endorsement? That most of these guys (and certainly Carl Cox) get paid well to say exactly that?

^^^
Sure, of course they use endorsements, the same thing happens in any industry.

But, if the products were shit and the wool was simply being pulled over everyone's eyes I think at least one DJ of some standing would be speaking out about it - hence my challenge.

I am an extremely strong advocate of digital DJing as I have had such an incredibly positive experience with it. It has given me a whole new passion for DJing and electronic music as well as opened up whole new avenues of creative possibilities that I was either not equipped (buying expensive gear) or not skilled (spending time with said gear practicing) enough to do previously.

Progression is key and I am seriously exited about what might possibly happen next!

I agree with this.

It can add a certain authenticity to a mix. Not talking about trainwrecking a mix at all, just a little slip here and there so people know they are listening to the skills of an actual DJ and not just Joe Average with a laptop (which is, sadly, increasingly prominent).

Thats the downside of digital technology imo, it makes it too easy and dilutes the talent pool.

Well, you could look at it like that...

or you could say that it raises the bar.

Check out this vid of the winner of a digital DJ competition run by djtechtools.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcyeWZB-6hM

This is some next level stuff that is not possible with regular gear (if you believe it is post a link, I would be SUPER impressed to see someone do this on decks and a mixer!). This guy, B33SON, is pushing the bar of the digital realm.

Cheesy shit music aside, what's hard about playing four tracks when they're auto synched though?
There's guys that can do that MANUALLY!
Didn't see anything special about that at all...

Sorry. But he really aint.

sweet guys, upload your 4 deck mix vid then...

Will do. Just re-arranged the studio so I can. Bit busy this weekend, but should be up early next week.

I admittedly use the forth deck of Traktor as a send effect controlled by the BCR2000, which being feed off the aux sends on the Empath, but, well, it is still using all four decks.

Thats is just about the shittest no flow, no room to breath, boring as fuck absolutely no idea, just play the biggest part of each track you can find lame ass thing ever. Yay soon we can look forward to 91zm getting traktor and playing just the best parts of four Brittney Spears tracks at once. If you like I can upload me doing an ableton mix and I'll play 6 tracks at once!
Lame.
Music and structure aside. Whats so great?

Jeff Milligan -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2aAYz4J6Tg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I8VXgiGqF4

That dude is ruling it!

Beaten to Jeff Milligan

So heres another vid:

DJ KB fucking around in his bedroom:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=AaMUuaMdX0A

All hardware.

Also, just look up vids of James Zabiela, Andy C, Hype, Marky etc etc.

That is talent. Not your joe average nuffy playing 4 tracks through traktor. I mean fuck, I could get 3 tracks sounding cohesive on traktor before I even knew about 4 bar mixing

Technology is good to augment the skills it takes to DJ, so you can add complexity to your mixes that wasn't possible before, however it not a replacement for those skills. People should not be able to walk out of their bedroom having learned how to autosync in traktor and start playing gigs.

Also, this guy is using only 3 decks - perhaps he is less talented than B33SON

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=7bLanIfR13A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxgSvEt4j5c

HD. Let it buffer.

Anyone else?

No?

I really like this mix Proof. And I also know you're a super talented guy and can mix the shit out of normal decks etc. Still for me there is is problem where I find the actual construction of a set on decks/cdjs ,be it two three or four, more interesting. I guess what I mean is that sometimes the limitations of something bring a creativity to something that total control can't!?
Its a personal thing I know, but I played a party on the weekend where everybody was playing of traktor or ableton, and none of them were that good, or maybe one guy was, but I found I didn't really know. I know that spending less time to think about things makes for more time to do more interesting things in the mix, but I somehow feel that the more interesting things aren't as interesting because its at the cost of the actual music its based on.
And I know the age old argument that mixing two records is easy, but on the rig I played on it wasn't(and I hope you know I can mix the shit out of decks as well!). And Three of the four guys there who were really young said they had NEVER learnt to mix the old way. So when I said the monitors were shit etc, they all said it was piss easy and it didn't bother them cause they didn't need to worry about them, and none of them slipped a beat etc, and one guy was mixing four minus tracks at a time and it sounded good and I died a little inside.
Personal opinion and experience and I know it doesn't apply to what you are doing so much, but food for thought!
This by the way isn't an old man post against the digital age of dj'ing, but what I mean is they are nearly becoming two seperate artforms now that should be able to co-exsist together and not compete for each others territory and create pointless internet arguments. (sorry for the rant...was having this conversation with a friend here and it carried over into this forum!......and I'm drunk.)

Well, i'm the old man who, despite selling the stuff, for ages didn't think it would really catch on.

And yes, there is going to be a large percentage of people who are going to use it more as a crutch than an opportunity to develop creatively, hell, the plethora of ship mashup/remix producers than Ableton has spawned is testament to this (who's going to next weeks seminar, btw?).

But, certain people are taking it further, and utilising this new tech to do things that really, we haven't been able to do.

For those where the ethos has been about 'creating that third tune' from playing two tunes over each other, this is the opportunity to further bridge that gap between mixing a couple of tunes, and remixing source material live.

That video isn't anywhere near what I aim to be able to output from this methodology, and I feel it is about to completely change in nature again, but to me, its as much about the process as it is the result...

HAHAHA eat balls Ken Ring.