The Adaptive DJ,the future,past,present or not needed?

I think in the small venues, they probably pick whatever most of their DJs are using or their “main” DJ who holds the most clout.

I used to be the oddball who used Final Scratch (when Serato picked up), then I used Deckadance, then Torq. I only jumped on Traktor because I grew tired of my software of choice going out of business.

If a venue had a Serato controller and laptop…and only wanted me to plug in music…then I’d adapt. In the long run, the basics are still the basics on any system. I also know there are mappings out there for practically any controller to any software…so you could seek out a mapping you could use on their gear.

ALSO…did they tell you that you MUST use their gear? Did you ask if you can bring yours in?

AND…are you trying to bring in a big complex system that they don’t want to deal with? If I was a bar with a small booth and a midi setup in it, and I had some not-very-known DJ insisting he bring in his 1200s, Pioneer mixer, and added controls, I’d say “no”. I’d ask why he needs that much gear to just play basic music to a crowd. If he wants to hand me his spiel on how midi isn’t “keepin it real”, then I’ll tell him I have plenty of folks out there willing to play here with what I have.

This is the industry. Adapt or die. I see guys every week moaning about how analog vinyl isn’t seen as the “top of the ladder” in DJing. I notice those guys haven’t been gigging and mainly have been moaning/complaining.

The Black Rag, post: 43200, member: 7330 wrote:
Why do we HAVE to pick a software?

We have to pick a software its just a matter of convenience, just like picking a game, First person shooter? or RPG? or Hello Kitty Adventureland?
Which one we like? that’s the one we picked

The Black Rag, post: 43200, member: 7330 wrote:
Are guys like me just a random occurrence ?

Not just random, rather more smart perhaps?

The Black Rag, post: 43200, member: 7330 wrote:
Should there be more of us ”Adaptive DJ’s” or not?

Nah, not really, the competition is already hard as it is right now, if its more adaptive DJ’s out there that who can plays anything throws at them, bleh, it’s just means make its more harder competition =P

The Black Rag, post: 43200, member: 7330 wrote:
Why does it seem that guys that can use what ever hardware/software is thrown at them always seem to end up teaching others?

Well it just means , you more knowledgeable than others, up to you if you want to share this knowledge or not, i say share it and charge for it =P

As it mentioned earlier by D-Jam, is the Club really required us to play to whatever the club provided or we allowed to bring our own stuph?
Some of my local clubs, have these old beats up CDJ-100, or a pitch control that doesnt even work anymore, or a beat up USB port on their cdj’s that cant even read USB anymore, or something more retarded like a pair of CDJ 2000 that doesnt even link together (the reason they said they dont link it em together so the DJ’s wont be lazy and just bring USB stick, EH ???? I dont even bother to even mouthing the word WTF???) i said eh? i just bring my own controller, and most of the time they dont really care as long we not interrupting with their business flow

Chuck van Eekelen, post: 43229, member: 2756 wrote: …but not the best if they are big hairy ass barkeeps!).

Can you tell us the story of that one ? o.0

The Black Rag, post: 43258, member: 7330 wrote: … On the topic of prep work that Chuck raised,how is it that you find it hard to prep for all possibilities yet i don’t?Different softwares do save info in different ways but if you prep for all possibilities straight from the get go i.e. scan the tracks in all software and save everything you need at the first available moment,there’s no need for it to be a hassle.I think that in the end Chuck it comes down to the DJ.

First off, it would mean buying all those software versions. Then, for some software, it’s not as easy as just bringing an external harddrive and hooking it up to their system. It would require at the very least some setting changes that need to be restored when you finish. And how do you figure doing a change-over in that case? Nr.2 DJ standing behind the first one with his external HD in hand. Unfortunately, the moment you unplug yours, the music stops. Better yet, you’d most likely have to shut down the software and then properly (using the windows/mac eject option) eject the drive. Then hook up the other one, start up the software, change the setting to use the new HD. Usually another instance of rebooting the software.

I don’t think that having your own controller/laptop combo in a bar/small club is the way to go. As you yourself and Terry pointed out, having a small 2 (stereo) channel mixer there and having ample space for a DJ to come in with his own gear and set it up makes way more sense. Obviously here on DDJT we are all focussed on controllers, software and such. But trust me there are A LOT of DJ’s around (many of them with residencies) that are still focussed on CDJ-style DJ-ing. They might have USB sticks, use the Link option to hook up a laptop with RekordBox, but rely heavily on the club gear that’s there. Many of them will try what they can to keep a Pioneer CDJ setup in the clubs they work at.

On a more personal note:

It means you have to start start points, cue points, loops, beatgrids and a host of other things for every track in at least 4-6 platforms (Traktor, Serato, VDJ, MixVibes, RekordBox and -in my case- Engine). I don’t know about you, but I don’t find the thought of doing the same thing 3,4 or 5 times for every track I have (and even in the new and improved scaled down – from 45k+ tracks – version of my collection that is still gonna be somewhere between 1.000 and 1.200 tracks) and every new one being added.

I have a few projects in addition to DJ-ing (which by no means is a full time gig anymore) as well as some other obligations. The amount of time I can put into DJ-ing is semi-limited. That means I like to spend it in as fun a way as possible. Going into 4 or more software platforms to get the tracks setup right for each is not my idea of fun.

Let’s say it takes only 1 minute to “do” every track properly. Let’s say you only use Traktor and VDJ and Cross (the #1 and 2 software and the one I prefer atm). Let’s forget about RekordBox and Engine. Especially to RekordBox there are some possibilities to export from certain platforms.
That means 3 minutes per track. To do the backlog of my new collection that would mean 1000 times 3 is 3000 minutes.
In my calendar that equals 50 hours. If I could spend as much as 10 hours a week, I’d still be at it for 5 weeks.

That is not gonna happen. What should happen is that (bar beatgridding, since that is something very specific to each software) all the info like start point, cue points and such should be stored with the track, not in the software.

All in all, I can see things changing, but slowly. I think especially the smaller venues would benefit from the “bring your own gear” option. Provided they are willing to pay a little more because you are bringing the gear. I can also see that with the investment in equipment we will be looking at CDJ places for a long time to come.

Greetinx,
C.

I’ve played at several clubs in the DC area, and they have all been fine with me and the other DJ’s bringing our own midi controllers/laptops, or cdj’s. I use a small Behringer mixer for us all to plus into for seamless transitions, and then we just plug directly into their PA. Easy as pie 🙂

Plus, at some of the venues, their in-house mixing boards and equipment look beat to hell, so I don’t trust them to work properly.

For reasons already explained, I think its more convenient for a DJ to settle with one software instead of preping for all of them. That said, I think the majority of producers who DJ or generally of people with a basic knowledge of how music software works would be equally comfortable to DJ with ANY software thrown at them. You are not alone!

On a related side-note I always find it weird that people need to find tutorials or youtube videos to get how a program that comes with a “manual” works. RTFM! Its all in there! And its not like we are asking you to write code (max/MSP) – its a freaking mixer with two-four decks on the screen and a layout-functionality clearly explained in the manual – what the hell you need a tutorial for?

Chuck van Eekelen, post: 43449, member: 2756 wrote: ….This is all fine if you already know EXACTLY what it is you want to do, but if you are new to a specific program, you have no clue what you want to do yet or what is possible.

Excellent! So that means, that people need to know what THEY want to DO, NOT how its done in the software. And here lies the heart of the problem: people wrongly think they need to “learn” the program, when in reality they need to learn what THEY want to DO…then transfer that TO the program!

I guess what Im trying to say is younger generations who have grown in this “software” world have got it a bit mixed – up: it used to be the case that a person already had the basics of an art or a technical procedure, the terminology and all the technical details. Then, came the software to simplify these procedures – nowadays, people seem to be wanting to “bypass” the fundamental principles and get straight to using the software – well of course then, the manual wont suffice. Knowing to operate Traktor doesnt make you a DJ – if you learn how to DJ though, you could operate ANY DJ software after a good manual read and 15 minutes of toying around (there, I came back to the topic)

😉