The manual @PeterHanes refers to describes a basic OT DJ deck setup, where you just fire off tracks and cross-fade volumes. Such a basic setup is very easy on the OT. Some users in the previous threads @PeterHanes refers to describe that they just use the basic approach and sample nudging to DJ.
A major question is whether you want to mix inside the OT or on a DJ mixer. Opinions differ very much on this point.
- When mixing inside, you have a very compact setup and/or have more mixer tracks available for drum machines etc.
- Mixing outside of course makes mixing much easier, you easily see what’s going on and you don’t destroy the sound as easily because DJ mixers have a lot of headroom and typically sound nice and round even when cranking the levels up, where the OT ends in a very muddy sound. Inside the OT you have to be very careful and disciplined with gain staging and keep the levels/AMP levels low.
I use both approaches, but typically the first combined with other stuff on the other channels. The mixing inside the OT then works like a sub mixer.
Another important point is whether you want control over the timeline positions. If you’d like to have control over the positions in the tracks you need to slice the tracks. I described one way above, some other users just use 4-8 slices as cue points. Maybe there are other good ways to slice. Some people also mention that they slice tracks in Ableton (and save separate files, I guess). Maybe there’s an easy way to slice tracks in @Rusty’s OctaEdit which I’m very interested in but haven’t purchased yet due to those V2 infos.
I think the slice management for a DJ setup is the most interesting design choice, that’s why I wanted to start a discussion here.
There are different ways to select slices. The first two of the following I find most useful for a DJ setup:
- Link slices to patterns, as I described above. STRT parameter p-locked on trigs and LEN set to 1. In this case, the patterns work like a timeline on which you can jump back and forth, or which you can play continuously using the Arranger.
- Manually choose the slice using the STRT parameter and set LEN to 64. In this case, the STRT parameter works like a start point. You can also jump back and forth inside a track by twisting the knob.
- You can also link the STRT parameter to scenes, maybe to spice up the manual approach. For instance, scene 1 might be “free” for manual selection (STRT not assigned to a scene), scene 2 might force playback from the start (STRT=1, LEN=64), scene 3 might force playback of a loop in the first part (e.g., STRT=5, LEN=1).
- In Non-DJ setups I often use LFO’s to select slices, sometimes very slow LFO’s that change playback positions arbitrarily after each 32 or 64 bars.
- You can also have different positions playing back on different tracks, which allows for even more creativity, but I wouldn’t recommend this approach when you’re still wrapping around how the OT works.
Good luck. I’d be interested to hear what setup you end up using.