Loads of DJ choices. Pic: Øyvind Bye Skille.

It’s a jungle out there. A jungle of different digital DJing platforms, controllers, sound cards and all.

Being a “traditional DJ” is much easier. If you play vinyl (like we all did back in the good old days) you had couple of choices, and in 99% of the cases it was a Technics turntable.

Couple of years forward, in the new millennium playing CDs got easier and Pioneer CDJ-1000 became an industry standard.

Now you can play music from your laptop with a digital DJing system, control the music with CDs, turntables or a controller. And that is just why it’s so damn complicated.

There are too many options.

Personally I think digital DJing with CD/vinyl control is just a short phase before everyone is starting to mix within the software with their dedicated controllers. The problem at the moment preventing that is that there isn’t a industry standard like in playing cd or vinyl.

Who’s there?

Ableton Live can be used for DJing, but is in better use when used for live performances or studio production. Serato Scratch Live is one of the best programs out there when it comes to controlling digital music with a turntable.

Their collaboration, The Bridge, gives an artist an advantage to use the best of both programs DJ wise, if you own both the products (and if you got into the public beta, as it’s still not commercially released). Here’s a post about it at Innotune.

If you didn’t understand the previous, don’t blame yourself, the situation is just as complicated as was the sentence.

Oh, Serato also has a program / concept called ITCH. That is pretty much a version Scratch adapted to be used only with the dedicated controllers. More info and a full list of ITCH controllers can be found from their site.

There is a software called Virtual DJ, version 7 soon to be released. It’s affordable, and can be used with controllers and all.

There is Native Instruments Traktor. Native Instruments are known for their virtual studio plugins, synths and recently DJing software. They have slowly but steadily expanded towards hardware industry too, there’s audio interfaces mainly for DJ use. They are steadily releasing dedicated controllers for their Traktor DJ software that takes the playing and performance to the next level.

Their latest performance system is now introduced, yet awaiting for the release date to public. It’s called Traktor Kontrol S4.

Conclusion, concussion, confusion?

I don’t know why, but I feel Native Instruments and Traktor at the moment are taking the role of the industry leader. It might be the software, it might be the controllers under their own name. It might be the german engineering combined with US marketing. It might be the clever use of big-name-artists and social media. It might be the fact that they’ve done a lot of work simplifying the digital DJ platforms easier to understand.

At the moment I could go out there and buy a gigantic amount of different software, controllers, audio interfaces and all – trying to find the right combination just for me. But instead I rather wait for the commercial release of that Kontrol S4 and just burn CDs before that – like I’ve done for the past 7 years.

If you are working for some of the DJ software companies and you are reading this text, please take this little piece of advice or request: Please make it easier to choose your software. Please make it easier to choose the controller to play the music.

Compare the situation to mobile phones. Apple releases one new phone model a year. Just one. Nokia releases, well… Nokia releases several phones a quarter, most of which I’ve never even hear of.

Today, when I’m writing this, Native Instruments is the Apple of DJ Software industry. The others are not.

Make it simpler. Survive.

Just how easy should music making be? This iPhone app called Voice Band looks awesome, I’ve been dreaming about a feature like this ever since I was a kid.

The principle of using voice to control synthesis in itself isn’t new, but if this is available with all sorts of instruments, imagine how you could use this for putting down fresh ideas when you’re on the move. It may not be a social winner on a plane or when bored at your in-laws. But come on, it’s producing with your mouth!

Is Voice Band a great tool towards fresh and innovative productions or are we killing the magic?

A big thank you to Chris R for showing us the video.

The Bridge by Ableton and Serato

When Ableton announced in October 2008 their partnership with Serato I was super excited. I’ve been producing solely in Ableton and I have also tried to DJ with Ableton, controlled by Pioneer DJM-800, but at that point it didn’t feel right, I didn’t feel comfortable with it.

Serato has been in the game of digital DJing for more than 10 years, their Serato Scratch has been a choice of several DJ’s during the years, and especially among hip hop scene, using control vinyls to control music on your laptop, has been “the” way to DJ.

While Serato has been strong name in hip hop, Native Instrument‘s Traktor has quickly risen to be the equivalent to Serato in EDM.

Personally I was expecting a product that would shake Traktor’s current unconfirmed number one place in the contest of digital DJing platforms.

Today the first result of the partnership was revealed as a product called The Bridge.

Their collabration allows DJ/artist/producer to control your Live set in Serato with control vinyls, CDs or with their ITCH controller. The other way to use the product is to use it as a mixtape creation tool. DJ on Serato and the recording can be later brought to Ableton in order to do flexible post production.

When asking for a comment from Håkon Lofthus prior to the launch, he was feeling optimistic:

I’m really excited to see what they will come up with, and if it’s a product that can evolve dj’ing more in to a artistic, innovative and spontaneous direction. For me, that’s the key.

Fellow Innotune member Thomas Sagstad had also a comment:

I don’t see my self using this product! As it would sill require me to look into a computer screen and working a mouse for track selection!

I’d prefer the CDJ 2000 + the Ableton as an EFX rack / Sample library!

I have to admit, I was expecting a lot from Ableton and Serato. Ableton has been under my magnifying glass for years and being a bit of a geek on digital DJing platforms, I was expecting a lot from the coalition.

However, now when The Bridge is finally revealed I have to try to cover for my disappointment.

The biggest question in my mind at the moment is: “is this what I awaited for 15 months?”

I already decided I’d pick up a digital platform I’m going to use from spring 2010 on, and today helped me a lot. With current features of The Bridge, I’m looking for another platform to spend my money on.

The only thing at this point keeping the hope up is the choice of words on the website: “The Bridge—the first result of the partnership announced in October 2008.”

Maybe eventually I’ll see the possibilities of the software. But now I only hope the first result is soon getting company from the second result. In this form, from my point of view, this isn’t anything for my use.

What do you think of The Bridge?

I’ve seen many cool things in my life, but the Hobnox Audiotool is one of the coolest online music making experiences I’ve had so far.

Its basicly a online flash based DAW where you can wire together different kinds of audio units, effects, synths, samplers etc and create your own little online studio! Priceless when you are bored on an airport!

The thing doesn’t take much cpu (if anything??) and it’s fun and easy, just like you want it to be

It comes with various classic tools like a TB 303, ToneMatrix, a beloved 808 copy. How can you not love this little Internet gadget?

With this in mind, I only have three questions: When will Ableton be able to do the same, would it be able to be more than 1 user working it at the same time and would it be able to midi route the tools?  Time will tell!

Try it HERE.

It's easy to get down song drafts, play with sound or even produce with the iPhone.

A small device like the Apple iPhone may not replace your computer and DAW, but it’s perfect for excercising your musical creativity!

We’ll have a look at three more or less complete music creation tools, one app for melody making and one for inspiration.

Here are five apps you should try if you’re a producer or like to play around with music.

FingerBeat

Price: $4. Download: Find in app store.

FingerBeat. Good looking music tool.

This app reminds me of an old version of FruityLoops. And that is ment to be a compliment. FingerBeat is easy to understand, and it’s amazingly simple to make cool beats.

You play with premade genre sound kits, unless you want to make a kit yourself. When you have selected your prefered tempo, you create one bar at the time in the step sequencer by tapping the drum pads. Then copy and make variations on the following bars. Sample your own sounds, adjust pitch, tweek levels and panning in the mixer and bam. It’s a hit!

The preset kits sound pretty good, but you don’t have that much to choose from within each genre. But the biggest con is this: I haven’t found any way to export or save more than one song per sound kit. That’s a bummer. Other than that FingerBeat is loads of fun for a small amount of money.

Watch a demonstration of FingerBeat at YouTube.

Simple Songwriter.

Simple Songwriter

Price: $2. Download: Find in app store.

I just love this one. It is in my opinion the most useful app on this list. Simple Songwriter lets you put together chords in a very easy way. Pick a key, hit record and tap chords in any order you like. Perfect for melody creation, both on the bus and next to your DAW in the studio. It’s no problem to save your work for later.

I am missing one thing though. I would love to play a single note melody on top of my recorded chords. A simple integrated piano would be much appreciated.

Watch a demonstration of Simple Songwriter at YouTube.

Bloom

Price: $4. Download: Find in app store.

Bloom by Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers.

Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers have made this app. You’ve probably already guessed the musical style this beauty takes you into. Bloom is an abstract ambient tool. Sit back, relax and tap away.

There isn’t too much to control, but you can choose mood, delay amount and volume. Bloom is too simple for it’s price, but still pretty fascinating.

I’m a sucker for ambient and the style of Brian Eno, so I find this app is very inspiring. You may use Bloom for a break in between studio sessions, or just for relaxation. The app comes with a pretty neat sleep timer.

Watch a demonstration of Bloom at YouTube.

BeatMaker

Price: $20. Download: Find in app store.

The BeatMaker app.

This is another mini DAW. It’s expensive, but the most complete music production tool out there for iPhone.

BeatMaker has got it all: A sampler, drum machine, step sequencer, arrange view, audio effects and audio editing. It comes with a 31 page manual! It is in other words much closer to a full scale DAW than the other apps on this list.

With the included desktop application for your Mac or PC, it’s easy to transfer sounds from your computer to your iPhone or iPod touch. Go buy BeatMaker if you are looking for a complete portable production tool and don’t mind the price.

Watch a demonstration of BeatMaker at YouTube.

iSequence

Price: $3. Download: Find in app store.

The iSequence panel.

iSequence is a single screen sequencer. It’s not as good lookin’ as the two competitors above, but pretty powerful. It includes 55 instruments, a chance to save and load compositions and a very easy way to transpose your melodies!

Wav and midi export isn’t available yet, but will be in the future. Have a look at the demonstration below.

Watch a demonstration of iSequence at YouTube.

Akai APC 40

The midi controller market is just overflowing ATM, everyone seems to be into this trend of doing so called “live sets” or making the DJ life way simpler or more advanced depending on how you look on things. Up till now I’ve been trying to find my way in this jungle of midi controller’s, where they all promise the ultimate experience.

So what creates the “perfect midi controller”?

It has to be a solid machine, you must be able to manhandle the knobs, the faders as you would do when you rock out at the club in front of your crowd.

Easy to set up – Plug and play. Lets face it, there’s nothing more annoying as a DJ, when the DJ after you comes in drunk, and needs to hook up 300 different cables and then struggle to get the shit running.

Easy to use, or at least easy to program so you can make it as complex or as easy as you would prefer.

I still haven’t tried a controller who has all these parts! Where most controllers fail is in the quality feel of the knobs and faders. Last thing I would want playing out is to be worried I’d break off 3 knobs and a fader in the process.

Now this is where the APC 40 takes home the price for me. It’s a solid piece of equipment, it’s not the lightest out there, but you can tell at once it’s not a piece that you would break easily.
The knobs are FANTASTIC! Super tight , also with the light so you can actually see where you’re at in a dark club. The buttons are just as tight and no hassle! The faders on the other hand are still a little too weak IMO.  They could learn a thing or two from the Pioneer mixers in this matter! But still they are precise and I could live to learn with it, cause all above is brilliant!

To hook it up what you need is: Power adapter (included) and a fire wire cable (included)!  It’s too bad I couldn’t get it going with only the fire wire cable though, would have made the process one step easier! But a solid machine sometimes need a little more juice than a fire wire port can provide!

Once it’s plugged in and Ableton 8 is open this thing works like a CHARM!  It’s plug & play and just a joy to actually start exploring the possibilities straight out of the box, instead of countless hours reading tutorials finding out what to do.

What`s also cool is that you could set the APC 40 up in any way you prefer, you are not bound to the pre programmed set up!  Another +.

So the APC 40 gets big ++ over the whole book! The possibilities for using it alone are endless, though I could not se myself using this alone with a laptop as a replacement for the DJ set up, because IMO you would have to set up alot of the elements in advance to get it sounding really good. And planning/preparation  for me, kinda ruins the whole club experience especially for me as a DJ! However, for studio and as a add on to my DJ shows I can for sure see myself using it! The possibilities are far too many to ignore!

So if you are on the look out for a fairly reasonable priced machine to control ABLETON, this is by far the best machine I’ve tried for this purpose! If you are on the look out for a controller that you could  use for different programs as Traktor, logic etc, save your bucks and look at the Jazzmutant which is way more versatile.

Sum up Akai APC 40:
+ Buttoms and Knobs are BRILLIANT
+ Solid machine
+ Easy to use
+ Plug N Play
+ Reasonable priced
+ Perfection for Ableton

- Faders
- Only good for use in Ableton

Rating: 9,5 / 10

Tokyo Pioneer shop. Picture by Øyvind Bye Skille.

Some of you might have noticed that Pioneer is up to something new. They are releasing a new product on 17th September 2009 – and they claim it’s something we haven’t seen before.

There’s been some clever guerilla marketing online so far. Using promotional teaser videos and Twitter, they have created somewhat a hype – at least on my opinion. Check out PioneerDjKarl‘s updates on Twitter to get a better overview.

The upcoming product have been introducing some big names relying heavily on Pioneer products when performing live. Armin Van Buuren, James Zabiela, Eddie Halliwell, Roger Sanchez, Laidback Luke, Angello & Ingrosso have said their (sponsored) opinions about the product.

Those videos are easily seen from Pioneer’s own DJ portal djsounds.com, but the announcement of the new CDJ NEXT (if that is the name) is  just in few hours.

Why the hype has been so good then? If someone is trying to get a good view on the product from a reflection from Roger Sanchez’s sunglasses, it has to be something big, right?

But the main thing about the hype is always the product. What can we expect from Pioneer, who have delivered us the industry standards for CD-players (CDJ-1000) and (to my own personal opinion the industry standard) mixer DJM-800, they are most likely to introduce something that will clear the table.

So far in the promotional videos are suggesting the upcoming product is combining the best of both worlds, hardware and software. Most likely it will support mass storage products such as USB-sticks, but perhaps even DVD & blu-ray discs and external hard drives. Could it even be that DJ could plug in his laptop and start performing via the device straight away?

Let’s see if Scandinavian retailer of Pioneer’s DJ gear let’s someone from Innotune have a sneak preview before the release to get a full detailed review.

I learned to DJ with Pioneer’s gear more than 10 years ago, and playing solely on CDJ-1000′s for several years, I’m more than eager to give Pioneer’s new flagship a test drive.

The Attigo TT

Some people think it’s awkward to use touch screen devices, but when it comes to dj’ing this might be the perfect match actually. Imagine, you could see the waveforms, touch it, tweak it, load in plugins/effects, re-arrange stuff and so on… Lots of possibilities!

Scott Hobbs, a brilliant product designer, has taken this seriously and developed a prototype of something really promising: The Attigo TT.

The Attigo TT is still in the development phase, but it looks really good! Here’s a user scenario Scott Hobbs has for the Attigo TT:

“An electronic music production artist/DJ is doing a live performance act at a dance festival. The artist is performing using a variety of different new and innovative sound tools, such as effects machines and drum machines. One of the acts will be using the ‘Sensing Sounds’ product where there is physical performance. There will also be a display of visuals for the audience that will respond to the movements of the artist and sounds being created.” (www.scotthobbs.co.uk)

And here’s a live demonstration:

What do you reckon, is this the future of dj’ing?

So, it havent been long time since the Akai APC40 was introduced to the market with full support from the Ableton developers. But now it seems like we have a new gadget which takes the step further (atleast for me) with the new Vestax VCM 600 comming into the market. Sure, many may argue that how could it possible beat the Akai APC40…

I think that the VCM 600 got a better overview, less messy trigger/button organization and it gives you a better overview of what actually is goin on. The VCM 600 is abit more expensive (around 700 euro) though and it doesnt have the smart play triggers like the APC 40 has… I wish someone could combine these two into one solid piece of midi performance gear!

The first thing that catches my eye is the trigger pattern in the middle of it, will it be 100% synced to Ableton Live or do you have to programe it yourself and can it handle more then more then just 8 Samples of in 8 tracks ? A question I really can’t find any answer on on the official website, although I dont see any screen roll trigger on it or a scene changer in the pattern itself which is more or less why the Akai APC 40 is what it is today.

Although the Ohm 64 comes with its own midi-editor and I’m pretty sure you can set that up if you are really skilled and have the knowledge about programming MIDI OUT from Ableton. But okay, Livid doesnt claim its a 100% Ableton Live suited. But we are not a VJ blog, so lets focus on the music performance side of this little cool gadget!

The little trigger buttons all have program able LEDs which makes this thing abit more cool, but is it useful?

After a little overview of it and thinking, its more or less like a pattern board to make beats live with and not for Djing with big amount of tracks. In this way he Ohm 64 is very handy and it becomes more or less like a midi drum machine with endless way’s to fuck up your grooves! Oh yeah, now we’re talking!

The faders and knobs, sure, its nice but we know what they do and we all know how to progam them. Maybe it would have been better with 8 Channels on the right side for each pattern bar instead of 4. Of course, you could use the other for on the left side, but then again, what is left for FX then with having to trig another button to get to it ? Not very handy I must say…

So if you are a skilled midi programmer and find yourself lacking of an easy midi trigger software which you can program yourself, then the Ohm64 is the perfect choice! Sure, it’s a new MIDI spaceship but its lacking of overview for the user and some minor 1st draft mistakes (which could have been solved with a couple of dj’s testing it out before putting it to production) is there. Its cool and we cant wait to see if Livid Instruments will make a follow up on this little thing with more handy controls!

Over all rating:

Djing with Ableton: 5/10
Making live beats: 9/10
User friendly editor software: 5/10
Design: 6/10
Price: 599 USD

Source: http://www.lividinstruments.com