Are you a DJ or a controllerist?

Picture by Chulini under a CC license.

Turntablism is mostly for hiphoppers, right? But the concept of controllerism might fit better into the electronic scene. We have moved into an era where the Mac-lit DJ is more common than the jock playing plastic plates. Since anyone can make flawless beatmixes with cheap gear now, you have to give credit to those digital artists that take more creative use of computers and its controllers.

From Wikipedia: Controllerism is the art and practice of using musical software controllers (e.g. MIDI, OSC, Joystick, etc) to build upon, mix, scratch, remix, effect, modify, or otherwise create music, usually by a Digital DJ or “Controllerist”.

The gear manufacturers are throwing out a lot of controllers for DAWs and digital DJ’ing, but real controllerists create their own equipment. Now you might argue that this extreme use of controllers is relevant only for artists performing live electronic music. But isn’t computer DJ’ing based on pretty much the same?

We expect more from the DJ when a laptop is in front of him or her, don’t we? Should digital DJ acts be more like a set with live remixes, or are we better off without interrupting the tracks? After all, a lot of DJ’s are already making good use of Ableton Live, Traktor, Serato etc. and their suitable USB controllers.

I’ve attached two videos by controllerist Moldover from Brooklyn that explains the deal pretty good. He has wrecked a Novation Remote 25 and use Ableton Live as software. If you would like to change your DJ act into a more live-like experience, maybe you can pick up a couple of tricks. And maybe you’ll smash your controller and rebuild it before your next DJ gig or live performance?

Lesson one:

Lesson two: