Finally a "club" night with Cross and CDJ2000s

Many thanks for the report. I suspect that your various postings about using Cross DJ since you switched some months ago might be making at least some folks consider it as a more competitive alternative to “the big three” apps.

BTW, I wish some people who are using Deckadance 2 would also share their experiences. Just curious.

Many thanks for new comments. Let me preface what follows by saying that we have many things in common (age group, music, mobile, iPad, etc.), but at least one huge difference that makes me a student of your postings: unlike you, I’m not a long-time DJ (even though I always wanted to become one). <span style=”font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;”>I’m just someone who has been dancing since around ’73 (barely a teen then) who about a year ago was challenged by a promoter to consider DJing part-time (I have a nice day-job).</span>

So I follow your posts very closely and, also like you, for me the issue of flexible beatgridding is essential due to the large quantity of human-drummer 70s-80s music I play, plus also I play lots of so-called Latin music with crazy time signatures and mid-song tempo shifts.

A year now into the challenge, after relying primarily on the iDJ Pro with djay and DJ Player (and occasionally keyboard-based Traktor) I’ve decided I want to move up to laptop-based software. Since Traktor is so popular, I tried it first, but the nasty beatgridding issue got in the way. More recently I’ve explored Serato and have been leaning in that direction.

Now, in a more direct answer to your question, yes, I have explored Deckadance 2 in the past couple of weeks but only by looking at lots of videos online.

Here’s my take so far.

Firstly, I must admit that maybe because I have a background in film production, or maybe because I might be dyslexic, I find colored waveforms far more useful. As I have written elsewhere, this is something I really like about djay 2 despite all its shortcomings. So, when I saw those absolutely gorgeous waveforms in Deckadance 2, and also the overall beauty and simplicity of its new interface when compared to Traktor and Serato, I was immediately drawn in to search for more info. I know old-skool DJs will tell me to only use my ears, but after 15 years editing film I can’t help but look at things in a particular way and I’m too old to change that now.  😉

Deckadance has also some crazy and powerful ways to integrate effects in ways that seem to beat Traktor where Traktor usually shines among effects-heavy DJs. I must say that especially anyone who plays a lot of electro, techno and progressive house, for example, AND likes to use lots of effects for live remixing should take a closer look.

On the other hand, from the little I’ve seen so far, Deckadance doesn’t seem to have the kind of flexible beatgridding Serato does and which attracted you to Cross DJ. Maybe I’m wrong and some DDJT forum member will clarify this perception.

In addition, I really like the stacked waveforms in Serato, not just the vertical ones, but also the wide, horizontal ones. Deckadance has a view in which it presents a small chunk of vertically-stacked waveforms but it’s limited.

Finally, a big disincentive in switching to Deckadance for me right now is the limited number of controllers its manufacturer officially supports so far. From the list I’ve seen only the Vestax VCI-400 attracts me.

I will follow up on your posts about Cross DJ and will take a closer look with an open mind in the next week or two.

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and experiences. This community here totally rocks.

Saludos,

Ricky Martínez – Axcénted DJ

Thanks to both of you for those new comments, especially about the upcoming version of Cross. I must admit I didn’t see Chuck’s initial post on this Cross RC. I will look for it momentarily.

The timing for info is great for me because, as I said earlier, I’m preparing to make the investment in a laptop-based system (a 4-deck controller and software).

By the way, Terry, I have read a lot of your posts in which you talk about Serato in relation to Traktor and other apps, including your take on the Remix Decks and why this is not an essential part of your DJing style.

I was actually having a conversation with some punters a couple of nights ago.

After a year into my DJing journey I can say that the most important element I’ve learned is defining my “sound” and “vibe” because it has allowed me to pay more attention to specific genres and sub-genres that go better with a certain “style” in using the software and gear functions and not others. At first it’s so easy to get caught up with all the controllerist tricks, fx, buttons, knobs, etc.

This is something I see too many young DJs doing, obsessively turning filter and fx knobs incessantly with little rhyme or reason, apparently just because the resulting noises sound cool or because they feel that if they don’t touch something they are not really DJing.

As a longtime dancer I must say this franctic knob-turning can easily ruin the songs and the dancing experience, but I guess I might be too old school.