laptops

[djryan]

I do consider dj's musicians. I'm just sick of people saying that people who use laptops are "cheating" and shit like that. Have those people ever even used programs like final scratch or PCDJ Fx, RED or Blue? Most likley not? All a laptopper has to do is dissable or refrain from using the automatic beatmatching, in order to not cheat. Yeah the sound will never be as true as vinyl, but quit givin theose people a hard time








BastErds

[dj_lite]

I tried that PCDJ program, wasn't all that cool. I wouldn't consider your self a "DJ" useing a laptop cpu.

Stay Vinyl ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

[hy5]

the only time I think it would be honorable to use a laptop is if the dj made the tunes himself.In that case it isn't cheating even if he puts on the auto beatmatching, as makin good quality techno is all the hardwork that person should have to do.There is a downfall to this though that being that records do sound better than cd's or mp3's and I notice a huge difference at live events.
Using a pcdj is a great way to learn the basic mechanics of turntables though without investing large sums of money on something that a lot of people give up on.They are great for bedroom dj's I just believe that unless its original works they (pcdj's) should stay in the bedroom untill they are on real ttables.

Hmm I think I managed to agree and disagree with both of you at the same time
:confused: Wierd lol

[DJ SaYuRi LSP]

ya i have a laptop too but i only use it to record my sets stick to vinyl buddy hehe and use the laptop for mixin in some melodies if you got any or vocals etc. ^-^ cause sometimes you just wished you had a recorder around when you really get into what your doing and boom theres a handy laptop thingy to help you remember your tyght ish you did hehe but what program do you use? can you get it free off the net? anyway vinyl owns all! hehe dj sayuri

[Sophistik]

fuck laptops, fuck turntables too! i'm such a fucking purist that i'll stick the tone arm up my ass and play twister on my records with a bull horn for a speaker!

Seriously... I don't give a rats ass what you are using as long as you're doing something that requires talent or skill, and sounds good.

... FYI that comment about being a purist was a joke.

[evilchuck]

Originally posted by Sophistik
Seriously... I don't give a rats ass what you are using as long as you're doing something that requires talent or skill, and sounds good.

Word to that.

[Sophistik]

Originally posted by evilchuck


Word to that.

Totally, man. I don't care if if someone's using a toaster, some speaker wire, and one of those key chains that make misc conventional weapons noises.

Isn't that what Squarepusher uses? (joke)

And I find his shit off the chain!

[Darwin]

I think the laptop thing and cd thing is going to kill the whole dubplate scene in Drum and Bass. I now see big named cats spinning a whole set on a laptop or CD's I just dont think it is right !!!

[mr jack sparrow]

i have to say that nothing can compare to spinning vinyl. no one will appreciate a dj with a laptop.

I also feel the same about cdj's. using them here and there maybe once or twice a night is not too bad but i have seen people at smaller clubs using them all night. BLAH!!!

[MYcpuPownz]

i use Finalscratch and just wanted to post to clear some things up.....
finalscratch does not match beats or mix for you in any way! all it does is let you use any audio on your pc just like it where vynal (i guess they make it for cd now too) i have never seen another dj tool like FS most pc dj interfaces are cheap little toys but not fs. it uses a frquency that slowly changes across the record. the sound goes to your computer and your pc plays the mp3/wav/cd (and others) at the speed it receves the frequency. you can do needle drops, back spins, scratch ... wahtever you can do with regulr viynal. some ppl say "mp3s dont sound as good as viynal" this is true BUT. the sound quality of an mp3 is based on the bitrate and Khz of the mp3. i will only use 192kbps mp3s @ 44khz or higher. they sound good to me and any one i have ever mixed for using FS. dont get me wrong i still like to spin vynal, but its alot ezer to cary my laptop to a show than a BIG'OL BOX of vynal.

[Sophistik]

Originally posted by mr jack sparrow
i have to say that nothing can compare to spinning vinyl. no one will appreciate a dj with a laptop.

I also feel the same about cdj's. using them here and there maybe once or twice a night is not too bad but i have seen people at smaller clubs using them all night. BLAH!!!

Whats wrong with that? I hate the things b/c their harder to use. But I love em because I don't have $35 bucks to have dubs cut every time I make a new tune or remmix or get my hands on one thats unreleased. I enjoy vinyl because I enjoy seeing the grooves. It lets me know what is what.

In the end no body really gives a shit as long as theres some musical beauty going on. 95% of the time that I play shows or at a club I use turntables. But there's really no difference except fader start and automatic re-cuing. Same technical skills are needed to use the things. Just my .02 cents.

PS. Pirates of the Carribean rocks. WHY IS THE RUM GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

[hy5]

I say use your laptops but the music comin out of them better be yours.

[DJMystic79]

as long as you're just not clicking a button to mix then whatever works just go ahead

[Dave Elliott]

Originally posted by Sophistik
fuck laptops, fuck turntables too! i'm such a fucking purist that i'll stick the tone arm up my ass and play twister on my records with a bull horn for a speaker!

Seriously... I don't give a rats ass what you are using as long as you're doing something that requires talent or skill, and sounds good.

... FYI that comment about being a purist was a joke.

Right on! What difference does it make how it's done if you are on the dancefloor and enjoying it. Of course, we need to get back to reality....people don't ACTUALLY care about the music as much anymore. It's more about "oooh, look at me I am DJing", or "oh, he/she's the bomb". People are so image conscious and stuck on the whole vinyl and gear bullshit that they often fail to actually listen. Man, I heard a guy at the Masquerade in Atlanta like 8 years ago playing a blazing Goa set (not my thing normally, but not the point). I went up to the booth to watch for a bit and the guy was playing two portable DATs and that's it. But on top of that the guy had NO FUCKING FINGERS!!!! All his fingers on both hands were missing and he was pushing the knobs with his nubs. Wicked! And nobody knew or cared because they were too busy throwing down! But those were ancient times when people went out to dance and enjoy music and not try to overanalyze the whole DJ thing. To anyone that plays on a laptop and is passionate about it....more power to you. Anyone go to Thomas Fehlman? Nuff said.

[Digital_Dragon]

This is seriusly my topic to backup!
First let me describe my perspective..

I am a Digital DJ, plus some.
But I hardly limet myself, No one should!
I combine my laptop with records.
But not using Final Scratch...
I'd rather combine the elements of Mp3's and WaX
instead of replace one for another. So I use PCDJ,
with an exsternal sound card to split the channels.
My mixer standerd is a Pioneer 600, I need 4 channels
to combine all the elements. Plus that way, "and I have
succsessfully done this" I can mix 4 tracks at once!
I also produce my own music, so I can make a track,
say, an hour b4 I go on, render it, convert it mp3 and
booya its ready for play. This is why I prefer the
PC instead of CD-Tables. Why waste a CD?
Why wait for a copy when you can have it solid?

In contrast to a couple statements:

-"DJ's who use laptops should only play their own music"

As a producer I respect that statement, but as a DJ,
YAAA RIGHT!! R U NUTS? Do you know how many DOPE Mp3's
I have found that I could NEVER find on WaX? FOR FREE???
Any Dj knows that the cost of records adds up, REALLY QUICK..
We are DJS living in the times of FREE, UNLIMETED, MUSIC...
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT NOW!!! USE EVERYTHING!!
There will still be hella records that you can't find on Mp3,
So don't think I'm pushin away from WaX.. No excuses...
But also, if your boy has that dope cut he found when
he went on vacation in amsterdam, and you want it,
But there is no way in hell you'll find another copy.
Record it, Mp3 it, and boom. That pricless track is yours..
Yet could never REPLACE the Value of the REAL THING,
But you can still push it at a party! For those dj's who
play out ALOT, you know how important it is to keep
your selection freash! How Exspensive it becomes to
maintain that FREASHNESS... Thats my edge/money saver!

-"Auto Beat Matching"

Ok I'm not sure about other mp3/dj programs
but with PCDJ, Ya you can auto-match, only
AFTER you ether set the bpm YOURSELF,
or you let your computer go through your mp3's
for a whole day trying to find bpm's and gain's.
Which tends to give you mixed results:
Some mp3's are encoded wierd and won't
save the info. Or it can't find the BPM.
Or it finds the BPM but then won't list it
in the recordcase, yet if you load the
mp3 it shows the set bpm. So its not all
cheeesy easssy... And that's if you want
to FIND bpm's. As for the Auto-BPM Button
that takes two mp3's that have the BPM
stored and matches the BPM, This is a cheater/helper..
It's not completly cheating because even though you
may have bpm's matched.,You still need to cue AND
you still need to occationaly sometimes drasticly pitch shift.
I use it off and on, Some tracks I have can not save the bpm.
So I have to deal and manually pitch adjust and match.
Other times the auto bpm allows me to mix with way MORE,
Going through trax with much greater ease. But by all means
its not Perfect and even if you have AUTO-BPM you still
half to Beat Match, Adjust, Keep in Time, Ect..
Regaurdless when I mix MP3/WaX
Auto-Bpm don't do a dayum thing.
Good luck finding that button on a Technic 1200.
So the skill is essential, Even with AUTO-BPM....
Unless all you do is drop thick spot after thickspot,
Then yaaaaa.... It's not very hard to mix ambience...


I understand watching a guy on a laptop would get old
quick. But when you combine it with tables and your
going back and forth, it gets interesting!
And the possablities are endless..

This & more is the reason I'm
THA DIGITAL DRAGON
and I've been doing this style for 5 years now..
Combining, Digital, WaX, Lyrics and Tracks to Impress!
The power is in making the audience WANT to watch you!
Otherwise your just background music... ;)

Props to ALL the elements,
To each there own, just NEVER LIMET YOURSELF!

[dj jakub]

I played on final scratch for about a year, sold it recently. Part of the problem was my laptop wasn't powerful enough it was a upper end P3, than again when i hooked it up to my pimped out P4 desktop, it didn't really help that much either. There was just way too many problems with the scratch amp, and the latency sucked, made it defecult to match beats for longer than half a minute. NI had like the worst software support, it was basically taking an old engine developed by NTI for BeOS and tweaking it. The drivers just sucked too, even the newer version 1.5 which was my last straw. Apprently there is a new scratch amp in the works so it might fix a few things, i might go to it than but now. Rane is coming out with a scratch (pc product). It should be intersting to see, i believe in their quality standards much better. But either way for now i ended up getting a cdj, instead because of the easy of setup and easy of use, plus most clubs now have them, which is a plus.


As far as the whole, only Vinyl feels like Vinyl argument, i think that's pretty much BS. Its not about what you use about how you use it, and what effect it has on the people. New Technologies enable people to do crazy things, personally i MUCH MUCH rather get blown away by Hawtin using 3 decks, final scratch, and ableton live at the same time, than some wack ass purist who can't even match beats on two decks, even if they are all dubplates.

[suppoz]

Originally posted by Digital_Dragon
So I use PCDJ, with an exsternal sound card to split the channels. My mixer standerd is a Pioneer 600, I need 4 channels to combine all the elements. Plus that way, "and I have succsessfully done this" I can mix 4 tracks at once!

I have a question about this—using two turntables and a laptop. My friend and I have been messing around with doing a "2x4" where he uses his laptop as his music output, but also has control over my turntable signal to dub me out, beatmatch off me, etc.

One of the things that we've run in to is that we can't beatmatch successfully without a small amount of latency between the signals. Is there a way around that technologically, or is it just going to be that the person on the turntables will always have to beatmatch to the laptop cue rather than the master cue?

thx to anyone who can help out with this...

ta,
--s-tephen

[Digital_Dragon]

Originally posted by suppoz

I have a question about this—using two turntables and a laptop. My friend and I have been messing around with doing a "2x4" where he uses his laptop as his music output, but also has control over my turntable signal to dub me out, beatmatch off me, etc.

One of the things that we've run in to is that we can't beatmatch successfully without a small amount of latency between the signals. Is there a way around that technologically, or is it just going to be that the person on the turntables will always have to beatmatch to the laptop cue rather than the master cue?


I'm a bit confused with this arrangment...
First, Your both working off the SAME mixer?
If so, How many channels?
If not, What are the 2 mixers?

Why does he have controle of your signal?
What is he using on the laptop? Software?

I would think it would always be easyer to
mix to the laptop then mix laptop to wax..

Please give more details.... :P

[Dave Science]

Support the artists, licensed material is not free if you didn't pay for it.

Josh Wink, Hive, Richie Hawtin, etc all pay for the tracks they use on their final scratch setup, along with many established artists who mix MP3s.

downloading music off the internet may appear free to you, but in the end you are hurting the producers who own the material.

Producers and labels lose a lot money on their releases due to piracy. No genre will be able to expand with new material if there is no way of financing their release, thus leaving the dj who only spins other peoples music caught in a loop with the same old stuff.

this is my say to anyone who admits they download music without licensing the tracks or obtaining permission from the artists.

[dj jakub]

Originally posted by Genma
Support the artists, licensed material is not free if you didn't pay for it.

Josh Wink, Hive, Richie Hawtin, etc all pay for the tracks they use on their final scratch setup, along with many established artists who mix MP3s.

downloading music off the internet may appear free to you, but in the end you are hurting the producers who own the material.

Producers and labels lose a lot money on their releases due to piracy. No genre will be able to expand with new material if there is no way of financing their release, thus leaving the dj who only spins other peoples music caught in a loop with the same old stuff.

this is my say to anyone who admits they download music without licensing the tracks or obtaining permission from the artists.

werd to that :)

[suppoz]

Originally posted by Digital_Dragon


I'm a bit confused with this arrangment...
First, Your both working off the SAME mixer?
If so, How many channels?
If not, What are the 2 mixers?

Why does he have controle of your signal?
What is he using on the laptop? Software?

I would think it would always be easyer to
mix to the laptop then mix laptop to wax..

Please give more details.... :P

The set up we were using was like this: me on two turntables and a two channel mixer, him on a Mac laptop using Ableton Live. The output from my turntable mixer was sent to his laptop, which he would run on a "live" track in Ableton Live. The master signal was then sent to a "master" mixer—a Mackie 4/8 channel board—which went to the stereo for the speakers.

I was cueing off my own headphone mix with an ear on the main mix, but the latency from my signal into the laptop made things confusing. is there a better way to set this up?

thx,
--s-tephen

[hy5]

I feel you on the whole "auto bpms don't work that well" thing digital dragon.I use Ejay to hear what my tunes I produce will sound when mixed.I produce freeform trancecore and the bpm reader reads some of my tunes at 120 bpms (they are more like 175-180) so those things are as usefull as the bpm counter on a behringer mixer(not at all)I agree with your statement and have seen you do some amazing stuff with both of them and I know you are not cheating when you use the laptop. Some people will take advantage of this aspect though but I guess some people cheat with tables too.(that amazing scratch attack is on the record half the time if you want to know the truth) and I have seen dj's pretend to do shit all the time.

I still don't think it would be fair to all the people who do buy records all the time to have someone who doesn't produce or live pa find thier whole set online.I believe it is quite different if you are using original works or using onboard vst instruments and synths to make the existing music better.I guess what I am trying to say is if you are using the laptop to take it to the next level than go ahead but if you are using it to have no more than an edge over the recrord spinners than that is kind of low.

[hy5]

one very important aspect that I want a lot of people to understand about piracy.Yes bigtime dj's should be paying for the tunes they play.(i think probably more than 10 dollars a cut) but take me for example.Im a broke hoe.No one is losing money from me pirating anything as I would never have been able to afford it.All that this ability does is equalize the poor and the rich even more so that even broke hoes like myself can become an active part of society.If I had the money to buy the cd's from artists and the programs I want guarunteed I would but no one is losing any money from me pirating and if anything the artists and creators should be happy someone is enjoying thier music.I know myself as a producer would be more than satisfied with that and asking for any more is just greed.I share my tunes I create myself on filesharing programs with others and actually wish more people were downloading them like crazy(thats so backwards huh). Music is something to be enjoyed and financial status should not be a barrier.


(by the way a lot of cd companies say last year was thier best ever so go figuire)