I DONT EVEN HAVE TO MIX !
RAW_HAMBURGER
1,438 Posts
a convo as told to me over the weekend by a female dj friend of mine whos mixing skills are clean as fucckk.cornball dj dood: "how long have you been doing this ? fly girl: "not long at all, about 3 years...you ?cornball dj dood: " wow thats long, ive only been doing this since the summer i use virtual dj...it mixes for you, i dont even have to mix" 
mind you this is at one of the most chi chi spots in town, where the red sox and celtics come to party.while spinning at southport uk, i finished my set and greg wilson was getting on, using a program ive never seen....guess what it was.....after i asked i said nothing. dude is a legend and takes the whole "using s.erato must be earned" to a whole new level with that. thats some real sucka dj shit right there.who on here rides for virtual dj ?
mind you this is at one of the most chi chi spots in town, where the red sox and celtics come to party.while spinning at southport uk, i finished my set and greg wilson was getting on, using a program ive never seen....guess what it was.....after i asked i said nothing. dude is a legend and takes the whole "using s.erato must be earned" to a whole new level with that. thats some real sucka dj shit right there.who on here rides for virtual dj ?
Comments
and Greg still uses the reel to reel so he can use whatever the F*ck else he wants.
I bet you were like "shit, at least make the f*cking effort to try".
EDIT: I just noticed that "SYNC" option. WOW, unbelievable that people would actually try and pull that sh*t off.
So my question is, do these guys get locked in one bpm all night if everything synchs up for them???
Microwave can't mix FOR you. In the end, you still need to understand the basics of beat-matching (or key matching if you're really going to get old-school-fancy-with-it) and how to execute it well.
I guy I DJ with every so often uses Ableton and it's a little weird to watch someone mix with just a series of pads and a laptop but for real? Dude at least has a really good sense of segues and how to construct a set. Ultimately, I respect his "mixing" ability even if he's not rocking turntables; he'll still turn a party out.
That said, I can't see going that route personally. I got no problems with Microwave but I'm still a turntable guy at heart.
Naw - you can still change tempo. I'm sure there's some "speed" button they can push that will gradually move the tempo up for you.
But they rarely do, in my experiences anyway, and that's usually the second* thing you notice right after "Mmm, 7 mixes in a row without even a hint of clang, and he managed to drop the last track into the mix from a 20 second beatless flute intro. Smooth". My friend uses Ableton Live, and 4 hours pass seamlessly, but it's all the same. Feels very linnear. But then he likes italo disco, neu electro, old electro, house... 120 bpm stuff, so that's probably the effect he's after anyway.
*The third thing I usually notice is that the DJ looks bored if all they have to do is hit a play button. They could at least be dancing or something.
http://www.inklen.com/mixlist/
[bored at work] I have yet to hear a s.erato DJ just select tunes with no beatmatching. Anybody else witnessed this? [/bored at work]
YES! I used to see this alot more when s.erato was new.
Yeah man, but I would say it's not the A.D.D. but the opposite, being too focused. I get that way alot, especially when I have a nice organized crate or folder or stuff ready to go...
Yes. My friend gave me a copy of Ableton, and he's since been talking about how we should get two laptops going with a possible 8 songs playing together... why the F*ck would anybody want to hear that?
I've been using Ableton to make a mix. In the past, if my minidisc player was still working (and recording), I would have planned out a mix in an afternoon, probably done one or two takes before I was happy, and I'd have myself an eighty-minute two-turntables mix. With Ableton, I find myself spending hours and hours layering hi-hats and chopping drums and loops in what started off as just a mix... more like O.C.D.! I haven't tried using Ableton to DJ, not sure I want to. Prefer to wing it and sweat my balls off all night as it's more fun that way, but props to the people that use it and get the balance right.
I know what you mean, but you have to remember the crowd's mind aint working like yours. You got to let the shit sink in a little more for them sometimes. BTW I only get like this when I am playing some hip-hop/classics set where quick cuts are not out of place.
If I am not using serat0, and I am using OG records only (ie: foreal people disco parties), then I can let the records breathe more, because that's just how I enjoy that style of music.
No, but I will, thx.
Never understood why S3rato dropped the last playlist.log thingee.
Thanks.
But does anyone have a link to a good BPM application?
That kind of thing comes in really handy when jumping from genre to genre. It's hard sometimes to "visualize" the bpms when genre hopping. Like finding a reggae cut that might be the same tempo as some 80s pop cut etc. It is just hard to visualize because the rhythms are so different, that sometimes taking a quick chance can = FAIL. An application like can help big time.
i disagree.
even with vinyl a real dj still knows bpms, and i would arrange my crate as so...split up into genres of course. all s.erato does with the cue points is bring you to that point quicker. it still does not beat match for you. it will not sync the track up. if you F*ck up with the cue just slighty...its off. trainwreck.
virtual dj is a whole nutha thang. shit is weak.
as far as greg using the reel to reel, imo its a prop. a very big need lots of room to set up prop...i watched him do it next to me. not just that but, i felt as if using virtual dj cancelled out the fact he was running analog fx (reel to reel) just bring your fx box to get that going.
sure its greg wilson...and those who know the deal with him know hes a legend, but let that be some unknown new jack...
sidenote: gilles p asked why i was using s.erato, like it was a shame !!! he rocks off cd js !!!!!
im playing so many custom edits i hate cdjs, and since vinyl is my thing to begin with, wouldnt it be a natural progression for me to still have the TURNTABLE as part of what i do ?
I have. I've also seen dudes use s.erato with cds -- not cdjs, but those rackmount dual-tray things.
no dude, you can tag all your mp3s with bpms and then set cue points to let you know where to start mixing, and where a break starts, or vocals come in.
my point is just to say i don't think the ability to match bpms is really qualifying anyone as a proper dj. if that is all virtual dj does, than i don't see that as cheating or fake djing anymore than using a bpm tagger in s.erato. nobody watches a dj match bpms and gets their face melt.
I've got no hate for Gilles, but dude has a lotta gall taking someone to task for their DJ'ing style. I've heard dude play multiple times and he's never beat matched once. He, of all people, needs to stfu with that shit.
This is slightly crazy talk.
your point taken. but you missed the point.
s.erato doesnt have a sync mode where you can just dump tracks and they blend.
if im playing 2 disco songs without a click track and they fall off slightly and i let it go... trainwreck.
internal mode on s.erato is the same as having cdjs. cue points and loops. there is no mode on s.erato or cdjs that allows the user to just drop anywhere anytime and have it never be off beat.
s.erato does not actually match the 2 files playing. period. wether the cue points are set or not. it has nothing to do with bpm. if it is off it does not fix it. it will trainwreck.
virtual dj mixes FOR YOU. it will not allow for the files to go offbeat. thats cheating. sorry.
got it ?
i know nothing about virtual dj, but if your point is that mixing non-quantized records (or mp3s on s.erato) can be replaced by a real-time djing software program.....i think you are overestimating virtual dj's capabilities.
i have yet to see any audio software that could do that type of thing on the fly.
That is serious cheating. But the same old arguments will get dusted off:
"The crowd doesn't care, so why should you?"
"Adopt the new technology or get left in the dust!"
"It's the music that counts, not what you use to play it!"
And so on.