Digital DJ Tips

How to DJ properly with portable digital DJ gear

January 30th, 2012

Competition: Win $4000-Worth Of DJ Lighting

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Chauvet Lighting

If you want to throw your own parties, at some stage you're going to have to add lighting to your rig. Why not try and win it?

You need more than just audio gear to throw parties. If you’re serious about building your own rig, at some stage you’re going to have to think about lighting too. So we’re happy to bring you the chance to win thousands of dollars’-worth of lighting from one of our advertisers, Chauvet Lighting, via their Facebook Sweepstake.

The first prize is US$2000-worth of lighting plus an iPad installed with ShowXpress software for programming your new gear.

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January 26th, 2012

Review: TraxPad DJ App For iPad

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TraxPad

TraxPad for the iPad gives you a single external audio source to add to an existing DJ set-up.

For many DJ, the most exciting thing about having a DJ app on their iPad is the idea that the unit can be used as an “extra deck”, plugging in alongside a normal DJ set-up for adding an extra audio source, rather than as an all-in-one DJing solution. TraxPad is an iPad app which does just that.

I’ve had it for a while now, and I tend to use it alongside two turntables when playing mostly vinyl when I want to occasionally mix a track from the iPad into my set.

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January 25th, 2012

NAMM 2012: Our Top 5 Picks Of The Show

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NAMM 2012

NAMM was chock-a-block with controllers, decks, software, headphones, speakers, mixers and all the rest. Here are the five things that we think deserve special attention this year.

Digital DJ Tips has been closed for the last week. In Europe, that is. The whole office debunked to Los Angeles to set up shop in an Anaheim hotel that hastily became press room, video room, studio and office for a whole week, as we brought you our daily coverage of NAMM 2012.

We’re now back on our side of The Pond, and having had a transatlantic flight to think through all the stuff we saw, filmed, wrote about and played with on the NAMM floor, here are out top five things that we think every DJ needs to know about from NAMM 2012:

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January 25th, 2012

Video: 2 DJ Controllers For Connoisseurs

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SmithsonMartin_KS-1974

The SmithsonMartin KS-1974: Programmable, gorgeous, expensive. One of two out-there control surfaces from NAMM 2012 featured here. Pic: Icon

For ever dozen DJs who are happy to buy from the mainstream, there’s one who for whatever reason is looking for something a little different. In this instance, if you’re a dedicated drum programmer, or super-rich and looking for something nobody else has got, read on!

We’re going to take a look at two controllers from the “boutique basement” at NAMM 2012: The SmithsonMartin KS1974 and the Livid Instruments CNTRL:R.

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January 24th, 2012

5 Reasons To Master Your DJ Software’s Keyboard Shortcuts

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keyboard shortcuts

Most modern DJ software can be controlled by the keyboard as well as by the mouse / trackpad (and of course by a DJ controller). While many DJs never bother the learn even a single keyboard function, smart DJs realise that there are many advantages to taking the time to learn these shortcuts.

You can protect yourself against emergencies, pull off tricks that have people wondering how you did it, have more than one music program running at once yet control them both simultaneously, and achieve other power tricks that it’s simply impossible to do otherwise. Want to know more?

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January 23rd, 2012

NAMM Show 2012: The Best Of The Rest

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Rane Sixty-Two

The Rane Sixty-Two Z is one of three new Serato Scratch mixers introduced by the company at NAMM 2012.

We’ve covered most of the key moments of NAMM 2012 in our articles and videos all week, but there’s always plenty of stuff (some of it significant) that we just couldn’t squeeze in. That’s the reason for this “best of the rest” post.

So from awesome future products all the way down to minor curiosities, here is our round-up of everything else that caught our eye as we traipsed around the halls, camera in one hand, bottle of water in the other…

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January 22nd, 2012

Kontrol F1 Hardware & Traktor Pro 2.5 Software Announced

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The Traktor Kontrol F1

The Traktor Kontrol F1: We saw DJ Shiftee perform on this, showing off its possibilities for blending turntablism and controllerism.

Digital DJ Tips has seen the latest version of Traktor, Traktor Pro 2.5, as well as the hardware controller Native Instruments has built to work with it, the Traktor Kontrol F1. Native Instruments is calling it “Ableton in a DJ way”.

The control surface (widely but incorrectly outed elsewhere as the Kontrol X2) is a Kontrol X1-shaped and is dominated by a four-by-four multi-backlit pad surface for launching sample clips, in a similar way to Ableton Live.

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January 22nd, 2012

First Look: Sennheiser Amperior Headphones

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Sennheiser Amperior

The Sennheiser Amperior headphones: Good for DJ booth, good for iPod too.

Here’s a pair of headphones that definitely cross the DJ/lifestyle divide, and which will – I predict – have many a style-conscious pro digital DJ reaching for their wallet. These are basically the legendary Sennheiser HD-25ii DJ headphones (trusted by DJs for as long as I can remember), given a paint job and some minor tweaks for the digital age.

Technically, they’re pretty much exactly the same as the HD-25s, save for one thing: More sensitivity.

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January 21st, 2012

Fancy Your Own DJ TV Show On Ustream? Check This Out…

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Vestax & Ustream

So we’ve seen Tiesto broadcast a live set on video over Twitter, and we’ve got many readers who have experimented with broadcasting audio and video of their own DJ mixes across uStream – but soon it might all be getting much easier.

Today we’ve been shown a working prototype of an audio and video mixing product from Vestax that is designed from the bottom up for mixing straight to uStream – and it rocks.

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January 21st, 2012

New: Gemini CDMP-7000 Dual CD / MP3 / USB Media Workstation

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Gemini CDMP-7000 Dual CD/MP3/USB Media Workstation

The Gemini CDMP-7000 Dual CD/MP3/USB Media Workstation: A feature-packed hybrid for semi-pros.

We first saw the Gemini CDMP-7000 Dual CD/MP3/USB Media Workstation at Musikmesse last year, but it was one of those “only-one-in-the-world” working prototypes. Now it’s properly in production and due imminently.

It’s an all-in-one DJ unit that in essence is two Pioneer CDJ-1000-lookalike media players with a three-channel analogue mixer in the middle.

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January 20th, 2012

Behringer Is Back With 7 New DJ Controllers

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Behringer CMD Studio 4A

The Behringer CMD Studio 4A: One of seven new controllers announced and on show at NAMM 2012.

Behringer has made a statement of intent to return to the forefront of digital DJing, with the announcement at NAMM 2012 of seven new Midi controllers due summer 2012.

There’s an entry-level compact controller and a Mixtrack-style all-in-one DJ device, plus an innovative modular DJ system with five possible components – and more planned. Let’s take a closer look (click photos to enlarge). Video at end.

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January 20th, 2012

Want To Help Design The New Numark MPC DJ Controller?

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Numark MPC DJ

The Numark MPC DJ is one of the more exciting new controllers on show at NAMM 2012... and now you've been given the chance to influence its final feature set.

One of the more exciting new controllers here at NAMM 2012 so far has been the Numark MPC DJ. Combining high quality digital turntables (think NS7FX) with basically an MPC production controller, this large, heavy, metal-built unit is potentially a significant step forward for digital DJing.

How can we say that? Well, apart from its obvious combining of production and DJing in one unit, it is going to come with a mysterious piece of software, “MPC DJ software”.

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January 20th, 2012

Video: Reloop Terminal Mix 4 DJ Controller For Serato

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Reloop Terminal Mix 4

Big six-inch low-slung jogwheels give the new Reloop Terminal Mix 4 a professional look.

As covered here last week, European pro audio manufacturer Reloop has just announced its latest controller, the Terminal Mix 4, which it is displaying here at NAMM 2012.

It’s the first controller the company has made to work with Serato software, although it is currently only supplied with Serato DJ Intro, which means you can only currently use two of its four channels (as Intro is a two-channel package).

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January 20th, 2012

SCS3 & Virtual DJ: Stanton Tightens Up Its Portable DJ Offering

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Stanton SCS.3 System review

'DaScratch' is no more as Stanton tightens up and simplifies its SCS3 portable Dj solution.

Stanton’s forward-thinking SCS.3 system is a modular DJ control surface which while critically acclaimed, failed to take off like maybe the company hoped it would. One of the issues was the over-complicated manner in which it interfaced with Traktor LE, the supplied software.

Now Stanton has revamped the product ready for a relaunch, and switched to a custom version of Virtual DJ, ditching its unloved “DaRouter” interface and Traktor LE, tightening up software control, and overall considerable improving the user experience of the product. What’s more, the supplied version of Virtual DJ has been radically engineered to give clear visual feedback of how to performing DJ is using the SCS.3′s touchpad jogwheels.

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January 20th, 2012

Video: New American Audio VMS Touch

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American Audio VMS Touch

The American Audio VMS touch is a small DJ controller with a built-in audio interface and a novel control area.

American Audio has come up with something a little bit different for the latest DJ controller to be added to its range, the VMS Touch, which is being shown here at NAMM 2012.

The VMS Touch is a metal-chassised, two-deck, two-channel DJ controller with lit, touch-sensitive jogwheels, and a large control area that comprises almost entirely of touch-sensitive controls, similar to the Stanton SCS.3.

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January 20th, 2012

Video: DJ-Tech Dragon 2 DJ Controller & Standalone Mixer

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DJ-Tech Dragon 2

The DJ-Tech Dragon, as teased a couple of months ago. Now we have the full video...

DJ-Tech announced and had on display its latest product, the flagship Dragon 2 DJ controller, at its stand in NAMM 2012.

The controller offers four deck control of Virtual DJ; touch-sensitive platters with ring rotation lighting; and hardware filters that work with both analogue and digital input.

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January 19th, 2012

Pioneer DDJ-ERGO-V Now Supports Algoriddim’s djay 4

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Pioneer DDJ-ERGO-V djay 4

Pioneer DDJ-ERGO-V will soon be compatible with Algoriddim's djay 4.

Pioneer has today at NAMM 2102 announced that its beginner’s controller, the DDJ-ERGO-V, will soon be compatible with Algoriddim’s increasingly popular djay platform for Mac from Algoriddim.

That means that not only does the DDJ-ERGO-V now come with Virtual DJ and Serato Intro in the box, and Traktor Pro 2 compatibility via its own mapping, but it also now works with arguably the fourth largest DJ software as well.

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January 19th, 2012

Exclusive Video: Numark IDJ PRO DJ Controller For iPad

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Numark iDJ Pro

The Numark iDJ Pro offers full onboard iPad integration, the first DJ controller to do so.

Numark has today announced the first DJ controller to truly integrate the iPad and ditch the laptop entirely: IDJ PRO.

The controller was on show at the Media Preview Day of NAMM 2012, and has most of the usual DJ controller features, but with a great big slot in the middle where the iPad takes centre stage, providing music library, effects control and other features.

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