Saw this on MatrixSynth.com and though I'd share my my SkratchDJ friends.
VCI-100 + Max/MSP Granular Scratch from nanonum on Vimeo.
"Performance of Grain synthesis scratch and xfade drum trigger for Vestax VCI-100 PCDJ controller"
open source riddims
Friday, January 28, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Vestax Pad-One Controller
This kit came out last year but since NAMM 2011 just ended and I didn't see anything new from Vestax I guess we'll post something that we missed last year.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Tips for DJ's of ALL types aka N00bs and Digital DJ's
I I remember the early days of DVS when Serato SL1 first came out. It seemed like the perfect marriage of vinyl and vinyl emulation. After years of playing vinyl and then switching to Serato, I sold off my Serato SL1 boxes. I felt that it was making me lazy with mixing and technique. I eventually got another SL1 box recently so here is my advice to digital DJ's that have never DJ'd with vinyl (in no particular order).
#1 Know thy track: You have to know the songs you are playing inside and out. Dissecting music is essential
#2 Don't DJ with tracks that are of inferior quality. Strive to keep your collection at the highest possible file format setting. 320 for MP3's 9/10 for OGG's, or just use WAV and AIFF files. Portable hard drives are cheap right now.
#3 Get your face out of the screen. If you know you're tracks and have prepared your play-lists your chances of interacting with the crowd and being aware of your surroundings will help you create a better vibe. The crowd wants your attention...it doesn't want you to be hidden behind a screen.
#4 Learn to beat match...it doesn't hurt to learn. However, if you just don't want to learn, incorporate the dynamics of a track to make your transitions work better. Learn your tracks and you'll see that some songs beg to be mixed in and out of.
#5 Don't mix out of a song during the hype part of the song. This pertains more to hip-hop DJ's. I can tell when a n00b is DJing because they cut the verses off or the chorus off when the crowd is vibin with that part of the song. AGAIN: Know Thy track.
#6 Develop your own style. This one is tough. I developed my style from listening to elements of other DJ's I like and then incorporated my favorite things about beat juggling and skratching. I guess you'll have to hear me mix in order for me to explain...but...style also comes from learning the gear. I once saw a HOUSE music DJ do a mind blowing set with the old Pioneer CD100s and just a few CD's. He used the effects tastefully to add dimension to his tracks during some of the breakdowns.
#7 Practice Practice Practice - I know DJ's who used to practice 5 to 6 hours a day. Ridiculous right? Well I don't have that kind of time but when I do have time I sometimes do mix sessions for 2 or 4 or 6 hours. And sometimes I just practice my cuts for about an hour or two.
#8 Session with other DJ's of whatever skill level. You'll find you'll learn when you teach and you'll learn when you're taught something new.
#9 Make backups of your drives and have extra of EVERYTHING. When you go digital, things go wrong. Have spares of things like headphones, headphone adapters, cables of all types. Vinyl only DJ's have extra slipmats, needles, carts, head-shells, 45 adapters. etc. Keep a bag handy of all your emergency needs. Even keep an extra bag in the car with your spare and extra DJ goodies.
#10 Have fun. Enjoy the music you play. Don't spin music you don't like if you don't have to. Don't try to please everyone. You'll only frustrate yourself, promoters, and the crowd if you try to please everyone 100% of the time. Remember you're doing this because it's FUN and a GOOD TIME.
#1 Know thy track: You have to know the songs you are playing inside and out. Dissecting music is essential
#2 Don't DJ with tracks that are of inferior quality. Strive to keep your collection at the highest possible file format setting. 320 for MP3's 9/10 for OGG's, or just use WAV and AIFF files. Portable hard drives are cheap right now.
#3 Get your face out of the screen. If you know you're tracks and have prepared your play-lists your chances of interacting with the crowd and being aware of your surroundings will help you create a better vibe. The crowd wants your attention...it doesn't want you to be hidden behind a screen.
#4 Learn to beat match...it doesn't hurt to learn. However, if you just don't want to learn, incorporate the dynamics of a track to make your transitions work better. Learn your tracks and you'll see that some songs beg to be mixed in and out of.
#5 Don't mix out of a song during the hype part of the song. This pertains more to hip-hop DJ's. I can tell when a n00b is DJing because they cut the verses off or the chorus off when the crowd is vibin with that part of the song. AGAIN: Know Thy track.
#6 Develop your own style. This one is tough. I developed my style from listening to elements of other DJ's I like and then incorporated my favorite things about beat juggling and skratching. I guess you'll have to hear me mix in order for me to explain...but...style also comes from learning the gear. I once saw a HOUSE music DJ do a mind blowing set with the old Pioneer CD100s and just a few CD's. He used the effects tastefully to add dimension to his tracks during some of the breakdowns.
#7 Practice Practice Practice - I know DJ's who used to practice 5 to 6 hours a day. Ridiculous right? Well I don't have that kind of time but when I do have time I sometimes do mix sessions for 2 or 4 or 6 hours. And sometimes I just practice my cuts for about an hour or two.
#8 Session with other DJ's of whatever skill level. You'll find you'll learn when you teach and you'll learn when you're taught something new.
#9 Make backups of your drives and have extra of EVERYTHING. When you go digital, things go wrong. Have spares of things like headphones, headphone adapters, cables of all types. Vinyl only DJ's have extra slipmats, needles, carts, head-shells, 45 adapters. etc. Keep a bag handy of all your emergency needs. Even keep an extra bag in the car with your spare and extra DJ goodies.
#10 Have fun. Enjoy the music you play. Don't spin music you don't like if you don't have to. Don't try to please everyone. You'll only frustrate yourself, promoters, and the crowd if you try to please everyone 100% of the time. Remember you're doing this because it's FUN and a GOOD TIME.
Monday, January 17, 2011
UBB beats broken into individual Pro Tools session files
A few years ago an official version of the Ultimate Beats and Breaks collection was made available digitally in WAV/AIFF format. Previously, someone had digitally encoded and or ripped the original vinyl/CD collection and you either had to get a copy from someone's hard drive or you could find torrents or shared links of the individual collections.
Well now you can have the UBB collection as REX2 and Pro Tools sessions. What's the point you ask? Check the video below and see how you can solo and mute individual sections of these beats. It will retails for about $69.00 USD. Pre-order at turntablelab.com
Here's a video of Lord Finesse using the collection in Serato Scratch Live.
Well now you can have the UBB collection as REX2 and Pro Tools sessions. What's the point you ask? Check the video below and see how you can solo and mute individual sections of these beats. It will retails for about $69.00 USD. Pre-order at turntablelab.com
Here's a video of Lord Finesse using the collection in Serato Scratch Live.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
New Serato Interface - Scratch Live SL4
Last year at NAMM Serato and Rane unveiled the Rane Sixty-Eight DJ Mixer with built in USB and Serato Scratch Live. A 4-Channel mixer with features such as Two independent USB 2.0 High Speed ports, each supporting twenty-two, 32-bit floating-point audio channels at 48 kHz. Real-time support for two computers. Support for 2, 3 or 4 Virtual Decks on one or two computers for about $2,599.00
This year we see the interface version of this to use with mixer of choice. The SL4 with a retail price of about
MSRP: $899
Features:
• Supports four turntables or CD decks switchable in any combination.
• Two high-speed USB 2.0 ports for two DJs for uninterrupted performances.
• Aux Input for session recording or LiveFeed.
• Aux Output assignable to the SP-6 Sample Player and The Bridge.
• Four software-switchable analog Thru connections for regular vinyl or CD.
• 48 kHz and 96 kHz sample rate switch on the SL 4 rear.
• 10-in 10-out USB sound card with any software supporting ASIO or Core Audio.
• Bus power from either USB port or the included external power supply."
This year we see the interface version of this to use with mixer of choice. The SL4 with a retail price of about
MSRP: $899
Features:
• Supports four turntables or CD decks switchable in any combination.
• Two high-speed USB 2.0 ports for two DJs for uninterrupted performances.
• Aux Input for session recording or LiveFeed.
• Aux Output assignable to the SP-6 Sample Player and The Bridge.
• Four software-switchable analog Thru connections for regular vinyl or CD.
• 48 kHz and 96 kHz sample rate switch on the SL 4 rear.
• 10-in 10-out USB sound card with any software supporting ASIO or Core Audio.
• Bus power from either USB port or the included external power supply."
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Dave Smith + Roger Linn = EPIC Drum Machine called Tempest
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
NAMM 2011 - New Synths Part 1 - Venom for about $599
New synths are arriving with NAMM Winter Show for 2011.
We already know about the MOOG Slim Phatty (non keyboard version of Little Phatty) but it looks like AVID/M-Audio are releasing something called Venom. Here's a sneak peek:
Details are:
More goodies to come.
We already know about the MOOG Slim Phatty (non keyboard version of Little Phatty) but it looks like AVID/M-Audio are releasing something called Venom. Here's a sneak peek:
- 49-key, full-size, synth-action keyboard
- 12-voice polyphony, each voice including: - 3 oscillators with 41 waveforms and 53 drum sounds sampled from vintage analog synths, FM digital synths, and drum machines
- pulse-width modulation, sync, FM, and ring modulation
- resonant multimode filter with tube saturation limiting
- 12 dB/octave (2-pole) low pass 12 dB/octave (2-pole) band pass 12 dB/octave (2-pole) high pass 24 dB/octave (4-pole) low pass 24 dB/octave (4-pole) band pass 24 dB/octave (4-pole) high pass
- 3 LFOs with selectable sample-and-hold - 3 AHDSR envelopes
- 4-part multitimbral operation with independent MIDI-syncable phrase sequencers
- 512 onboard Single patches
- 256 onboard Multi (layered) patches
- 2 global bus effects
- Reverb, Delay, Chorus, Flanger, Phaser
- 1 insert effect per multitimbral part (4 total) - Compression, EQ, Distortion, Bit Reduction, Decimation Tremolo, and AutoPan effects
- classic arpeggiator with up, down, and alternating patterns
- tap-tempo and manual BPM control from top panel
- built-in USB 2.0 audio/MIDI interface (USB 1.1 backward compatible)
- 2 x 2 24-bit, 44.1 kHz (CD audio quality) operation - mic, instrument, and stereo line level inputs route to DAW - synth sounds route to DAW - DAW audio output mixes into main outputs - stereo main audio outputs (1/4” TS) - stereo headphone output (1/4” TRS) - master volume knob; instrument and mic gain knobs - MIDI In and MIDI Out (5-pin DIN)
- large custom LCD
- 4 rotary encoders and 1 button for matrix-assignable performance control and editing
- dual-function octave up/down and transpose controls • assignable pitch bend and modulation wheels • sustain (1/4” TS) and expression (1/4” TRS) pedal inputs • included Vyzex Venom software editor
- arrange sounds into banks, rename patches, and save backups
- patch collider feature mashes up multiple patches to create new hybrid sounds
- 16-cell modulation matrix offers comprehensive routing configurations
More goodies to come.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
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