Despite the moniker, I’m more of a music producer, and I typically use instruments such as my Elektrons for live performance.
But I also get called on to run sound, provide house DJ services, or even do entire nights of music.
So, since I’m tired of doing the “DJ” portions of an evening with only an iPad, or being dependent on a borrowed or house-provided DJ system, I finally broke down and picked up an inexpensive, yet solid controller. Hercules Inpulse 500 for anyone interested.
Part of the immediate driver for this is that I have several events coming up in a row that require all-night or even all weekend festival music, and while I can deal with poking around an iPad screen on a once-in-a-while basis, things are ramping up enough that I need to step up my game for a better “quality of life” and more live remix flexibity.
Of course my Elektron-based live performance rig isn’t going anywhere, but now I have better tools for some of the other aspects of what I’m doing more of.
Sounds like an enjoyable kind of work and a nice set of problems to have (from someone who writes code all day). The controller looks decent.
I DJ a little. It’s very fun. I’ve only played a handful of shows in the last four years, and half of them were online. I’d like to do a few more, but not loads more as it’d start to get in the way of the day job, parenting and producing (which I also dabble in). You’re already much more upscale musically than I am. Sounds like you know what you’re doing. Good luck with the upcoming shows!
I really miss djing and today they announced that it will be the end of September at the earliest before we are allowed music and dancing. Pretty shitty to say the least
I do dedicated dance clubs sometimes where that’s an option, but those are few and far between for me. And to get really good on higher end CDJ systems, I would want hands on much more often than that.
Having my own reasonably adequate system lets me plan and perform better, and again, I have specialty events im doing where a standard Pioneer system isn’t provided.
I feel you. It was a heck of a dry spell, and still is in a lot of places.
So far on the West Coast US, things have opened up for the most part. I did a rooftop party at a hotel in Hollywood for the 4th of July weekend, and it pretty damned amazing energy because of the newly relaxed restrictions. Also, it was a proof-of-vaccination required event, so everyone felt even more free to cut loose.
Even so, all the events I have coming up require proof of vaccination because of the Delta.
Ah, in my other life, I develop software too. I’ve been in games, graphics and AI for most of my coding career.
Right now, I’m doing occasional contract work, but recently I have been presented with an opportunity to sign on as Principal Architect for a company doing some amazing things in virtual performances, so if that deal closes, I’ll have to cut back on freely taking music gigs.
The flip side is that I would have an opportunity to combine ALL my passions in one place.
I used a pioneer controller a few years ago, it was a lot of fun.
Since I didn’t own any digital music, I was using this software (ddjpro I think it was called) that let me dj with any songs from spotify. low quality I know but almost infinite choice! It was too good so spotify made it illegal and now it’s all gone
I’ve had 1210s for 18years or so. Mixers have come and gone. I currently have a Pioneer DDJ-SX3 mixer and controller for Serato. The controller’s well featured and great fun (with more channels than I need) but a little unstable. I think Serato’s one of the best bits of music software I’ve ever used: so stable with a great, focused UX. I’ve collected a lot of club music, across vinyl and MP3, but never enough in one genre to be a genre DJ. These days I actively enjoy not sticking to one genre, instead creating moods and stories across a mixture. I’m good enough at it to have fun and play to small crowds of mostly friends, but I’ve never tried to get competent or promote myself enough to grow beyond this.
The current “legal” (cartel approved) equivalent is that some of the DJ software platforms have streaming deals with some of the music “stores”. Serato supports Beatport and Tidal, I think. The Beatport subscription fee you need to go with it is high enough that I can’t justify it; but if you already spend a noticeable amount on music each month it’s probably worth it.
Personally I’d rather spend the same amount on media/files I can keep, and just have less, more curated music. I suspect I’m just old.
I’ve always enjoyed DJing for fun, I used to play in clubs a bit about 10 years ago but lost interest in the scene, but am getting back into it again – currently enjoying mixing hypnotic/driving techno in the style of DJs like Oscar Mulero (actually I’m mostly just practicing with tracks from Pole Group compilations!), it’s not quite the kind of techno I’d normally listen to (prefer it a bit deeper) but it’s super fun to practice and tighten mixing skills with as the tracks are so linear and minimalist that you can ride mixes for 2-3 mins and have a lot of fun with EQs!
I use a Pioneer DDJ-RX with Rekordbox – it works pretty well, though I find the Rekordbox software kinda clunky to deal with in various ways and I wouldn’t trust it in a club I don’t think. The controller is pretty nice, but a bit cramped – e.g. it’s easy to knock the pitch when using the jog wheel. For those reasons, I’m toying with upgrading to a XDJ1000mk2 and Xone:96 set up – it would be nice to have it ready to go with no laptop to deal with – but it might have to wait until I live somewhere with a bit more space.
I’ve actually got a bit of a weird setup going on right now to emulate a Xone:92/96 while still using Rekordbox (which maps to the controller nicer than Traktor and has a nicer library IMO)… I use Rekordbox to play the tracks, but then send the audio to Traktor via Blackhole virtual audio cables. Traktor decks are in live input mode, and using the Xone (4 band) EQ, and I also have the Filter:92 effects set up… so Rekordbox acts as the player, but Traktor as the mixer, and I’ve mapped my controller accordingly (using the Filter knobs on each channel as low EQ so I can fit all 4 EQs).
I then also send the audio to Ableton and use it to add send FX (Blackhole reverb and Ableton’s echo), mapped to the knobs on the channels I am not using, which sounds great. It’s a pretty convoluted setup but it does actually work lol, it’s just for bedroom use and it has confirmed that I really do want the Xone mixer
I do also have an old set of Technics but they aren’t hooked up right now. Got some nice vinyls but not a huge collection. I’m enjoying the precision of digital mixing at the minute!
Yeah I used to use the Algoriddim Djay software which (legally) supported this. It was a great way to have access to loads of tunes, but in all honesty I think it actually held my DJing back, as I was only playing tracks that were available on Spotify and the library capabilities for Spotify tracks were pretty limited.
They pulled that feature last year and so I’ve started buying tracks on Bandcamp and have honestly got so much more into it since doing so, and have found some great music, very little of which is on Spotify. Also the Djay software was pretty basic, the EQs and filters sounded pretty nasty, so my mixes sound much better with Rekordbox/Traktor.
It was a great feature for DJing at parties etc. though.
That’s complex!! It sounds fun. I’ve shied away from FX beyond basic delays and “dub” reverb splashes, so far. It’s the one area in feel Serato needs better UX, and perhaps more flexible routing.
Lol, yeah, it was more just an experiment to see how close I could get to the Xone with my current equipment but actually works pretty well. Certainly wouldn’t risk using it live though!
It probably depends on genre somewhat but honestly these are the only effects I find work well with techno at least. 90s trance DJs ruined the flanger for everyone lol, and anything like bitcrusher/glitch/whatever sounds too obvious to me.
Not sure how Serato is, but using high quality reverb and delay does make a big difference I’ve found. The stock ones in Rekordbox/Pioneer mixers especially sound pretty crappy to my ears, really obvious when you use them, but using the Eventide Blackhole feels much more musical and integrates really nicely without sounding like “hey I’m adding reverb!!!”
Before COVID struck I did regular DJ gigs. My preferred setup is Traktor with an X1 mk2 and audio4dj going into the house pioneer mixer on 2 channels. I use the x1 mk2 to control both decks, mainly playing disco, house and funk and liking the touch strip to pitch bend tracks when beat mixing.
When there is no mixer available I have a reloop mixtour that I use as the mixer and soundcard into the PA, in combi with the X1 mk2. Traktor is basically my huge record collection on the laptop HD with a keyboard for easy searching.
I guess today I would opt for a pioneer controller to also get familiarity with the CDJS.
I provided sound and did a fair number of DJ sets for a 4 day woodland burner retreat over the Labor Day holiday.
A Pioneer system was provided, but I used my low cost controller anyway.
No one cared, least of all the other DJs. A couple were even interested in my rig as a low cost alternative for gigs like the one we were doing out in the middle of nowhere. When it came to who was doing what on the decks, all anyone really cared about was song choices and quality of mixes.
Side note, my inexpensive AltoTS312 mains and Behringer subs were LOUD, clean and thumped the entire weekend, even a couple of sites away from the main music site. I was concerned they wouldn’t cut it, as this event usually has about 25K watts of sound. Not to worry, everyone was thrilled about the sound. It even survived a 3AM set of D&B/dubstep. lol
I’m using traktor s8 recently though it seems a little overkill and there are sections ( remix / stems ) that are unlikely to be used. Ni and the industry as a whole hasn’t exactly embraced stems .
I’ve been using traktor x1 and z1 before that and they are quite compact … I may return to them and sell on the s8.
I get the impression most proper places use pioneer / rekordbox but that setup is heading towards expensive land and I’m yet to move from doing living room mixes to anything ‘real’ … considering thousands of established DJs are clamouring for work atm I’m not sure I have any chance
Of a ‘proper gig’ no matter how good I can mix.
