Skank

link me to the line up dude i cant find it

Bored with Serato? For those who can’t wait to try out some new stuff in Serato Scratch Live, the 2.0 release (which is now in public beta) may seem like it’s taking forever. Fortunately, there are a lot of semi-hidden functions in SSL 1.9 that will keep you entertained in the mean time. They include MIDI-controlled instant loop roll, Transfer stutter, AM mode, and of course the classic Pong trick. Loop Roll Loop roll is an often over-looked feature that can be described as a beat-repeat trick. You temporarily loop a part of the song, and when the loop is released, the playhead jumps back to its normal position as if a loop had never been set. In order for this to work, the BPM must be set in the BPM column. Loop Roll Key Commands To try this out right away, use keyboard commands to access the loop roll feature by holding ctrl + alt + 1-5 for the left deck and alt + 6-0 for the right. There are 16 looping increments available but you can only access the 5 that are currently shown in the loop window. Simply use arrows in the auto looping group to change which increments you have access to. Loop Roll MIDI Control If you want a little more control and a hands-on experience, you can map these functions out on any MIDI controller with a little hidden MIDI trick. A row of 4-8 buttons is perfect because you can directly access any of the loop roll values (not just those shown in the screen) and glitch out a song in Serato. * Step 1. Make sure your MIDI controller is hooked up to your computer before you start SSL. * Step 2. Click the MIDI tap on the right side of the screen. * Step 3. Hold down CTRL + ALT and click each loop value that you want to assign. * Step 4. Now press the MIDI button you want to assign to that unique loop roll value. * We recommend using 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, and 1/32 plus a reverse for good measure. “Transfer” Stutter Loop This is a loop that automatically divides itself in half after every cycle down to the smallest size. When used sparingly, this effect makes the dance floor go crazy. In order to make this function a little easier: * Press the Setup tab. * Then press the Playback tab. * Uncheck “Playback Keys use Shift”. * Now simply Press alt + t to effect the left deck and alt + g for the right. DJ AM Mode Don’t you hate when you’re DJing and someone is trying to trainspot your tracks over your shoulder for their own personal gain!? Well, this mode is for you. By pressing either BPM tap button and then typing “am” it simply blacks out your track titles on any and all decks. You can reverse this by typing “am” again, or if you click either deck, it will display the title briefly before disappearing into the night. Pong Mode This is an oldy but a goody, as well as something to do to burn some minutes. In order to play Pong, first make sure both decks have tracks loaded up on them. Then by pressing control + shift at the same time followed by clicking the setup tab, you should be able to entertain yourself like your parents used to.

Being a Dj, event producer and, most recently, a contributing writer to this fine blog, I run into djs on all different levels of experience and expertise. Believe me when I say, when it comes to technology, the two are not directly related. Understanding just a few essential functions in every software will make your sets better. Here are a few things, which if you do not already, you must know in Serato. Trakor and Ableton Essentials are coming soon. An Accurate Estimation Sometimes the bass feedback working back into the turntables can cause problems in Serato. To fix this problem, its important to get an accurate threshold before each set. Setting the threshold will calibrate Serato the amount of noise in the room, allowing it to ignore feedback and noise from the turntable. * Navigate to the “Set Up” window. * Turn up the sound system to a peak level you will be playing. * Play a track from the other deck in internal mode. * Put the needle on the record with the turntable stopped and click the “estimate” button. * Adjust the threshold slider to the left until you get some tracking information in the bottom right corner then ease back to the right until that stops. You should now have a good balance of good tracking and low noise. Repeat this process for each deck. This is to be done prior to making your tracking circles nice and round. See: how to calibrate scratch live for more info on that process. Its all Relative Not to neg-out too much but if you are not rocking relative mode you might as well not use Serato. “Relative Mode” is what makes DVS Systems unique by combining the tactile control of the record and turntable with the non linear nature of the laptop dj set up. Outside of “Relative Mode” almost all of the features that make using Serato advantageous are disabled including Looping, Cue points, and Instant doubles just to name a few. Relative mode is the exact opposite of Absolute mode where the absolute position of the needle is always locked to that part of the song, resulting in an un-natural amount of wear on the first part of the record. Beats Per Minute If your tracks dont contain a BPM value (Beats Per minute), you are missing out on some cool features in Serato. Auto Loop, Loop Roll and the effects on the ttm57sl use the tempo of the track and wont work without a bpm value. To make things easy, Serato can be set to automatically detect the BPM of tracks when importing. If you select “set auto bpm” and choose your range your tracks will automatically get “BPM’ed” when you load them to a playing deck. For challenging tunes that Serato does not analyze correctly the BPM can be set manually by clicking the “TAP” icon next to the track name when loaded into a deck. Undo Stress During a heated mix or while distracted by a persistent request, its inevitable that you’ll load a song on the playing deck accidentally. When this happens to you, don’t loose your cool, just hit “ctrl+Z” and it’ll bring the tune back to exactly where you left it off and keep playing said track. Hit the sampler with the dance hall air horn and act like you meant to do it. Censor/Backwards mode: If you press “U” (left deck) or “J” (right deck) the track will play backwards. When you let go of the key will leave you off in the track as if it was still playing all the while. Designed for censoring cuss word but can be used for artistic effect as well. Recording Your Set Recording live sets is ideal for self critique and also a very powerful form of promotion. With the serato TTM-57SL mixer or the new SL3 its very easy to record yourself. With the usb plugged in, select mix from the record drop down menu, click the red button and now you are recording. Remember to stop the recording, save and name the mix before unplugging the usb or quitting serato. Exporting your set list If the set you end up recording is the killer, You’ll want to put if out there for some peeps to hear. Do everyone a favor and publish a track list with the mix. People are more likely to download or listen to your mix if they like the included tracks. When you select a particular session under the history tab an “export” button comes up. Click export and a file will be created in the directory: ”Music/ScratchLive/History Export”

very true i think he was just in the mood for a bigger commission

Scratch Response As the video above clearly demonstrates, both systems have excellent response. If you start to dig into the details there is one small difference that might affect hard-core turntablists – that Traktor Scratch uses a 2khz carrier signal on its control records (Serato uses a 1khz). This higher frequency means better tracking of super slow record movements. CONTROLLER IMPLEMENTATION Serato has midi implementation but it’s very limited. It’s easier to use than Traktor’s midi-window thanks to their direct midi learn utility but that also greatly limits what you can control. Basic midi mappings are available but very simple modifications to those mappings are not. One example would be the new effects in Scratch live. I would like to map a button to turn on the FX only while I am holding down a button but right now it only supports a toggle action with no way to modify the behavior. For those that just want to map a cue points or other simple commands this is really not a problem but for the more adventurous DJ’s you’re going to hit a dead end quite rapidly. Traktor’s biggest strength (imo) lies in their midi-mapping interface. Almost anything you can imagine a controller doing is possible within Traktor. This makes actually creating midi-mappings somewhat daunting but those that brave this territory will find rich spoils await. Many of you may have no interest in ever touching a midi mapping but this system benefits everyone- by enabling others (like this site) to invent new ideas in DJing and share them with you. The VCI-100SE is the greatest example of this. We literally re-invented the way a controller should work without ever building one and that creation is accessible to anyone in the world through a single import button. Enabling the creative power of the crowd through API’s and flexible midi mappings will mean better products and new ideas. In our opinion, all companies should embrace this concept and tap into the creative ideas of their users. STABILITY Serato has a well-earned reputation of stability. They have consistently prioritized performance over features, which have earned them the respect and dedication from many DVS djs around the world. Beta Tests and extra features aside it remains that way today. After putting the trials of Final Scratch behind them- Traktor re-engineered their system from the ground up to make it rock solid. The results are significant- consistent stability and performance for the live DJs that rely on their software night after night. The Rub: With each company trying to take over the other company’s territory- they are both basically meeting squarely in the middle of the performance and features balance. Traktor has greatly streamlined their system to make it easier to use resulting in a better product with less features. Serato on the other hand has been adding features, which has built out the offerings but effected stability to some degree. Both are good to go for a solid crash free set but neither is exactly bug free. Popularity You have to admit that the opinions of others are a big sway in purchases. If all your friends drive Fords, it’s going to be tough to go with Chevy. In general its safe to say that Serato is very popular in the US and Traktor has a solid hold on the market in Europe. These generalizations aside both groups are making in-roads into their competitions territory. Based on search volume, interest in Traktor in picking up in the US and is now almost equal to search traffic for Serato: Popularity will have a big effect on your experience with a system. Serato, for example, is ubiquitous in almost all nightclubs in the US. Walk up with your laptop and headphones, plug into the pre-installed Serato box and you are ready to go- no fumbling with cables or awkward switchovers. This is a big incentive for DJs that want convenience. If Traktor manages to re-engineer the TTM-57SL and make it a Traktor approved sound card they could eliminate that problem in one quick move but that’s not likely to happen any time soon. BUILT IN FX With Traktor totally dominating this space for so long, Serato finally sucked it up and added effects to their software. To make up for the midi-mapping situation they even threw in a nice nod to this site and controllerism by adding super knobs to the interface. Customize and control multiple effect parameters with one single knob- way cool. Interface features aside though, the effects themselves still leave a fair amount to be desired. The usual suspects, delay, filter, and beat crush are all their but its going to take a while to perfect the sounds and get everything working really well. NI has been engineering stellar FX in Reaktor for many years so this is one space that they excel in. While the FX are harder to use right out of the box thanks to their legacy effects interface- the actual sounds and potential of the effects in Traktor are definitely the best on the market. With contributions from people like Tim Exile and their Reaktor team expect more mind bending effects combos in the future that will sonically re-arrange any tune instantly. MULTIPLE DECKS Traditionally a 2-deck software, Serato recently announced the addition of 2 more decks to their software. To access these decks, however you must purchase the associated hardware (the standard SL1 box will not work with more than 2 decks). For 3 decks, you will need the new SL3 box and to get all 4 you need to purchase the $2500 Rane 68 mixer. Having 4 decks is one thing. Actually using them all is another problem entirely. Serato still does not offer any real automatic beat matching or beat grids, which means you have to keep all 4 pieces of music in time manually- quite the task indeed. The new Ableton bridge implementation may solve this problem to a degree. In theory, running an Ableton session in a deck would allow you to keep multiple loops running in the background without worrying about train wrecks. Traktor has had 4 decks for several years and thanks to their internal mixing paradigm- you can use all 4 without the need to extensive external mixing hardware. Traktor’s real strength however is in their beat gridding and automatic beat matching system, which can very effectively keep multiple pieces of music in time for you. While some may call this cheating- we think its just common sense. Manually beat-matching multiple loops live is dangerous, time-consuming and does nothing for the crowd. I would prefer the piece of mind and extra time to do other more enjoyable activities. For those that want to keep it real without the danger- You can also go half and half by manually beat matching 2 songs and then keeping the extra 2 decks locked to one of those 2 tracks automatically. FEATURES Instead of a full blow by blow feature comparison. Here are a few of the more important points of differentiation. Sound Quality Sound Quality is a very subjective beast, so I am going to stay clear of making any pronouncements and just let you know what I have heard from other professional Djs. The SL1 was notoriously “crunchy” and many Djs that did side by side sound comparisons with Traktor’s audio 8 said that the NI hardware outperformed Rane’s audio interface. The new Sl3 interface with its higher sample rates seems to have vastly improved the sound quality but some Dj’s still swear that Traktor “sounds” better. This is hard to quantify, but we can tell you that the audio 8 and audio 4 are slightly louder than the scratch live interfaces. A note from our favorite benefactor ” Dr. Reality Check“ Kids- With regards to sound quality- you need to keep in mind that your deaf- they are drunk and the sound system is in mono and distorted. In this kind of environment subjective listening tests go out the window. BOTTOM LINE Both systems have their strengths and weakness so it’s better to pick a platform that’s a good fit for your needs. Traktor now makes a tool that converts Serato libraries into their format making it easier to try both, and I would not be surprised if Serato soon does the same. For electronic music djs that want access to multiple decks and a flexible auto sync system across multiple decks- Traktor is going to be hard to beat. For the 2-deck party DJ that wants simplicity and ease of use – its clear why Serato remains the popular option with hip-hop and party DJs in the United States. For controllists, the field is starting to get slightly more level but Traktor’s effects and midi implementation is still in the lead. At the end of they day, we don’t care what you use to play music- as long as the dance floor is rocking. written by Ean Golden edited by skank

im gunna cover a lot of the digital side of things because im so in love with serato and i think a lot of people need to know its not about 2 turntables and a microphone anymore

Even though many Serato users have been using 2.0 for some time now you may not be aware of all the cool new features or how to take advantage of them. They include a redesigned GUI, DJ FX, 3 decks (SL3 box only), new display modes, Itunes-esque ‘Smart Crates’, online playlist publishing and export and advanced file management. I’ll briefly outline the above and hopefully give you some ideas on how to use them. DJ FX The DJ FX Plugin for Scratch Live 2.0 has 2 FX units with 3 chained effects per unit. It allows you to create and save new effects with the effects editor. Although not as sophisticated as Traktor, Serato 2.0’s effects are a great step forward. Rumored to be refined in 2.1 the MIDI implementation is a bit junior and lacking in the customization dept. Lets hope they handle limiting the range on the loop parameter and relative linking of the new supernobs. TO SET IT UP 1. Open the Setup window and click the Plugins tab. 2. Select the DJ FX plugin and click the selection box to enable. 3. Exit the set up and make sure you are connect to some flavor of Serato. 4. Open the DJ FX panel button now visible above our library window. 5. Rout an effect to a deck and enable. Third Deck The Aux Deck plugin for SL 3 users enables you to DJ with 3 decks. Although lacking ‘beat grids’, 2.0’s 3rd deck feature can be used to layer in samples, acapella and scratches. I’ve heard of people using white noise or test tones in combination with effects to create cool swell effects. Mixing between two decks while having a third track constantly ‘on deck’ can enhance your set programming greatly. However, without some sort of auto beat matching, few djs can manage combining three tracks for any prolonged period of time. You should be aware that there are no cue or looping hotkeys avail for the third deck. TO SET IT UP 1. Open the Setup window and click the Plugins tab. 2. Select the SL 3 AUX deck and enable. 3. Exit the set up and make sure you are connect an SL 3 box. 4. Open the horizontal wave display and the 3rd deck should be visible. Display and Libary Modes There are several Display Modes with a range of screen layouts to suit your style of performing, including enhanced Album Art browsing for quick identification of your music and 4 other modes. The display mode selection buttons are located at the top left of the main window when your lappy is connect to an SL box.. Modes include: Classic Horizontal and Vertical as well as stack mode for 3 decks. In any of the view mode tapping the space bar will collapse the waveforms maximizing your Library. Smart Crates “Smart Crates” is essentially Serato’s version of “Smart Playlists” which uses keywords from your music library to automatically update a crate. Its better way music library feng shui to label your tracks ID3 tag instead of making ‘Dumb Crates’ which can easily become convoluted. TO SET IT UP 1. Click the add new smartcrate button. It’s a + with a blue box next to it. 2. Click Add Rule, define a parameter or two and songs which adhere to those set rules will automatically be placed in that folder. EXPORTING YOUR SET LIST Since recording your set is so easy with an SL 3 or TTM57SL you should do it all the time. Its great to be able to critique yourself and heck, if its banging you’ll be happy you did. I’ve found that publishing your set list is a great way to get people to discover your dj skills. The Serato Playlists plug-in allows you to share your sets online using your serato.com user profile offline or as you play. You can also export your set as .txt, .m3u or .csv TO SET IT UP 1. Click history button and select a set list. 2. Select the format and click Export. The file ends up in ScratchLIVE/EXPORT HISTORY NO MORE RED GHOST FILES The new Advanced File Management feature allows you to move or copy your tracks from and to external drives while keeping them in your library. On the surface this feature may not seem important if you don’t use external drives but personally this is one of the more exciting new features because it makes housekeeping of your library much cleaner. Pre 2.0 you had to delete song files outside of your serato library and then delete the reference in the library. This was buggy and often left red ghost tracks in your library. TO SET IT UP 1. Click the Files tab. 2. Drag a song or folder to an external drive. 3. Select Move or Copy. 4. The Remove original reference from ScratchLIVE library can be used for spring cleaning. ALMOST THERE… Serato 2.0 is a good step in the right direction with several new features that will make many djs happy. The general consensus is that Traktor still does certain things better than Serato like FX, Multi Decks and Midi controller mapping but the gap is becoming closer. The most interesting aspect of 2.0 is that it officially marks the entry of Serato into the world of controllerism. There are now several important features that are simply not controllable from a turntable and really require controllers to use in creative ways. Its going to be very interesting to see what this does to the styles of mainstream djing and the technology they embrace. written by Dj Mei-Lwun edited by skank

yer im the same i think for me its a toss up between how many friends are going and whos on show i went to fieldday 2 years ago just to see switch

Are festivals still about the music? It’s a topic that has been bubbling up to a boil in the dance music community, are festivals still about the music? There are points to argue both sides of that topic but we’ve decided to engage and explore it following a recent study of festival-goers over in the UK conducted by the Association of Independent Festivals, which found that the answer was a rather emphatic ‘no’. The data suggests that while festivals are more popular than ever amongst ticket buyers in the UK, music is playing an increasingly diminished role for punters at festivals. More than half of those surveyed said that they’re attracted to festivals for the “general atmosphere and overall vibe, quality and character of the event”. This goes up against the minority of festival-goers – 28.3% to be exact – who chose to attend festivals for “the music” alone. Ranking even further below, the study found that festival headliners only held sway over about 11% of punters and their decisions to buy tickets, which is a pretty startling figure. So how does this relate to Australia and the dance music festival circuit here? Well obviously it’s a very different kettle of fish in Australia with less festivals and a smaller population to attend them, but as an editor of inthemix for the past year I’ve personally noted a rising concern directed towards the ballooning growth of festivals, with readers suggesting that the big music events are becoming overrun by those people unconcerned by the music or even which artists are playing, attending festivals for purely social reasons instead. In our recent feature, What’s Gone Wrong With Our Clubs?, we spoke with industry players and punters alike about the state of the Australian club scene and festivals in 2010 and received some particularly illuminating responses. Many of those interviewed shared the sentiment that some overly superficial motives have washed over festival audiences. “There seems to be some discontentment with festivals generally,” Rise resident Simon Barwood offered. “The bigger they get the more generic they become and so the less appealing they are to people interested in the music rather than the ‘event’.” So what does this mean for festival experiences? Is that afore mentioned majority of festival-goers who can’t tell the difference between Carl Craig and Carl Cox and who are, broadly speaking, going to festivals to engage in a combination of getting fucked up/ picking up/being seen destroying whatever is left of an ‘authentic’ festival culture? It’s difficult to say, and I certainly can’t offer a definitive answer myself and I’m really writing this to foster discussion on an issue I think affects every reader of this site whether you’re orange or otherwise. There can’t be any question that at any single dance music festival these days you’ll find swarms of punters seemingly more concerned with keeping their hair looking just right than having a dance to DJ that’s smashing it. But I don’t know if this is indeed the death knell that we’re hearing. I’d say that it’s worthwhile to consider that festival organisers can use this ‘atmosphere’ focused mentality to everyone’s benefit, even real music fans. Hear me out. By knowing that a bulk of tickets will presumably sell regardless of the music on offer and for that great ‘atmosphere’ alone, bookers can theoretically throw some bank around on up and coming acts to appeal to the chin-strokers out there. For the We Love Sounds / Winter Sound System partnership, promoters Sounds and Future Entertainment brought out underground favourites like The Revenge and Proxy leaving the main room crowds to Steve Aoki and Crookers. It’s a theory, anyway. But indeed it would seem as though Australian festivals are adapting to the changing wills of crowds. Parklife organisers Fuzzy, perhaps sensing the not-guaranteed appeal of a big headliner – smartly spread the Parklife 2010 lineup with upcoming acts like Delorean, Classixx, Memory Tapes, Brodinski and Kele with a handful of higher-tier acts like Soulwax, Groove Armada and Missy Elliott. Arguably, that kind of lineup offers more to see and enjoy for the music fan whilst still providing that broad festival atmosphere. Conversely, there are events on the Australian festival calendar where the lineup of artists purposely takes a back seat to the so termed “general atmosphere and overall vibe, quality and character of the event”. We need look no further than the initial announcement for the 2010 Subsonic festival, which despite boasting the names of Michael Mayer and Extrawelt prides itself on its secluded setting and atmosphere. Indeed, earlier in the month Australian punters saw the local arrival of beloved US bush-doof Burning Man, a festival renowned for its distinctly individual ‘experience’. On the other side of the coin completely, we have already learned that this year’s Stereosonic festival, brought to us by the combined powers of Onelove and Hardware, will feature none other than Tiesto as the headliner. Locking in an international DJ that can sell out 20,000 capacity arenas by himself shows the festival promoters keen to buck the trend of declining headliner appeal and reassert the music and artists at the top of the festival experience. So what do you think? Are Australian festivals still about the music? Or are the hordes of people going to the festivals just for the sake of, well, going and not for the music on offer ruining your experiences and the festivals themselves? How bad is it? Whatever your take on the state of festivals, we can probably all agree that we don’t want the Australian scene to head down a similar path of the gruesome Electric Daisy Carnival in LA. Features by daverh

id say its starting to border on techno a lil bit but its sounding good man

in my opinion the 700 is barley a step down but more like a step aside the 800 it lacks a couple of feature which arnt essential not unlike the differences between the cdj 900 and cdj 2000. the real difference is price what store was it id love to give them a call and ask them about it

stone how much do u want for it cash

its got a sick build up but you gotta chop up that whineing sound like maybey have it go up and down a few keys or sumthing (im not a producer so im trying to guess the wrt=ite words to describe it) but man i can imagine busy p dropin a track like that awsome work man id love to be able to make this sorta music

hektik

theres a lot of shit lol

go to beatport and check out the genre part or go to download.com and in the music secture it has a massive breakdown of music genres and you can listien to each type

yer u gotta get this program called "da router" it pre maps your controller for programs

i play cds i got a small vinyl collection but to be active i gotta have my ish on cds

i ended up buying a stanton scs 3d da scratch controller its pretty cool but im struggling to make it do what i want lol any one else got one?

yer i recon its cool we pretty much started off on different tracks

i decided im gunna get the 900 as soon as i get my tax back im so fuckin keen

id still smash alure tho

whats the differenc between fusion and studio

i suggest you play with a style that makes you comfortable, its allways good to see how otherpeople work but you could do better working on a way that makes you more comfortable

ive hired speakers and got to the party to realise they gave my the wrong wires i needed round ones and they gave me square lol