Control MIDI

Sometimes I really wonder why I even try to garner some respect as a DJ. With people making such silly games out of scratching and Dj-ing and not even including DJs in the promo, this is getting really stupid right now. Anyway, so Numark has debuted a Scratch deck controller for a DJ game and it looks like - what else, a Guitar hero-esque controller, only it look like a turntable and not a guitar.



Well, I guess the argument that it will make DJ-ing more popular does have a point. But yet again we see that rappers get more importance in the promo and this is a game ON DJ-ing for crying out loud! I mean serioulsy people, put Q-Bert, Mix Meister Mike or even Asian Hawk on the promos! Why do you start with Jay-Z and Eminem? Anyway, ranting aside, the game might be promising and it will let non-musical people enjoy the art of Dj-ing. May be kinds will buy more turntables than ever before.
We shall see.

Here's the promo video (yeah well, it is animated and all, what do you expect to see? This is no Metal Gear Solid Or Final Fantasy  :P )

NUMARK AND GENIUS PRODUCTS REVEAL SCRATCH: THE ULTIMATE DJ VIDEOGAME CONTROLLER FOR XBOX 360® AND PLAYSTATION®3

Designed by Leading DJ Technology Manufacturer, SCRATCH DECK Gives Players an Authentic DJ Experience Like No Other

Cumberland, R.I. (May 27, 2009) – Numark Industries, the world's leading manufacturer of DJ technology, and Genius, Inc., released today the first images of the videogame controller for Scratch: The Ultimate DJ for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. SCRATCH DECK will be showcased for hands-on play at a special event in Los Angeles on June 3, during the week of the videogame industry's most high profile trade show, the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo.

"For decades, Numark has been developing turntables, DJ mixers and digital DJ controllers. We know what professional DJs demand, and we used that knowledge to produce SCRATCH DECK," said Adam Cohen, Director of Business Development, Numark. "It was critical that we deliver an authentic DJ experience to gamers, whether they be experienced DJs or players who have never put a needle to vinyl."

SCRATCH DECK combines two essential elements of the DJ and hip-hop experience - a free-spinning, touch sensitive turntable with a crossfader and 5 Akai Pro MPC-style drum pads. The turntable allows players to add their own style and manipulate the songs in real time, while the MPC-style drum pads give players the opportunity to perform and customize tracks by triggering samples using the very same pads that are the cornerstone of professional hip-hop beat production. Samples can either be pre-loaded into the game using 60 unique battle records that will ship with the software, or players can record and upload their own samples using a compatible USB microphone.

In addition to the features created by Numark, SCRATCH DECK also contains standard game controls found in music rhythm games. The turntable features a realistic surface that feels remarkably similar to a vinyl record. The drum pads and the crossfader also deliver an authentic and realistic music production experience. Left-handed DJs will appreciate that SCRATCH DECK is designed for use in right or left-handed configurations.

"Being involved with Hip-Hop for so long, Numark has consistently been the standard for innovation and leadership in computer DJ controllers, their quality is second to none," said Quincy Jones III of QD3 Entertainment. "We are very excited to partner with them to deliver the most authentic DJ experience for gamers and look forward to letting gamers and Hip Hop enthusiasts get their hands on the controller for the first time at E3."

Scratch: The Ultimate DJ combines free-form DJ tricks with great rhythm game play similar to top-selling rhythm games. Scratch: The Ultimate DJ is set in distinctive urban environments and will feature songs from the biggest names in Hip-Hop. Scratch: The Ultimate DJ, featuring the Numark SCRATCH DECK, will be available in Fall 2009.

About Numark Industries

Numark Industries is the global leader of professional DJ and audio equipment, and is recognized for providing progressive breakthrough technology. Since 1971, Numark has designed and delivered innovative products and numerous music industry "firsts." For more information, visit www.numark.com; images are available at http://www.numark.com/media.

About Genius Products

Genius Products, Inc. (GNPR.PK - News ) is the owner of Genius Products, LLC, a leading independent home-entertainment distribution company that produces, licenses and distributes a valuable library of motion pictures, television programming, family, lifestyle and trend entertainment on DVD and other emerging platforms through its expansive network of retailers throughout the United State

The battle for supremacy amongst the various Dj softwares is heating up now as Serato ITCh finally has the NS7 and Native Instruments has released a point upgrade for its Traktor Pro. Other than these two, there are varioud other softwares that are constantly vying for some attention (and failing miserably).

These would include Virtual DJ, MixVibes and a host of other wannabes. The MixVibes line actually has some potential but Virtual Dj is seriously... it looks to me like they have chosen to be a toy software and they will forever remain that way.

Compared to them, Deckadance has been around only for a while and it is already creating waves in the Dj-ing world. The folks and Imageline sure did some research before they made this because one of the pet peeves od digital Djs was that integrating a great software like Traktor into something like Live would be mind blowing. People came up with ways to do it but then it was only sound routing and it wasn't very efficient.

Out came Deckadance - with the capability to host VSTs and runs as one as well. This opened up a whole new side Djs had been craving for. But it is not easy to become something like Traktor Pro or SSL overnight. So Deckadance has been in beta and then out of Beta and people have been looking at it with expectations of it becoming much bigger. All in all, it is really very promising.

So with this upgrade, Deckadance has changed few things and fixed a few more. This version has a new time-stretch/compression technology and also has batch processing of tracks for reduced CPU load while you are mixing. It now has a manual beat grid mode which is a must for mixing complex beats.

There are versions for both Mac and PC and the pricing model look sreally tempting to say the least. Deckadance Club Edition ($179US) and Deckadance House Edition ($99US) are are being sold at Image Line's Web shop with a  20 percent off. An offder that endson June 20, 2009. Deckadance House Edition lacks the the DVS timecoded vinul/CD transport functions which the fully-functional Club Edition has.

Here are some more features that have been added in the new version: -

• Added native support for the Vestax VCI-300 controller. Other natively-supported MIDI controllers include the Vestax VCI-100, Korg Zero4, Allen & Heath Xone:3D, DJ-Tech Kontrol One, Stanton SCS-3D, Hercules DJ Control Steel, EKS Otus, Omnitronic MMC-1 and DJ-Tech DJM-202
• Option to switch between the old and new sound engine by the improved interface of the setup panel
• Improved seek waveform that shows the start and cue points
• OpenGl render engine for Windows
• Unicode support for playlist/browser items
• Beatgrid move via mouse over the waveform
• Improved DVS engine when elastique time-stretching is disabled, etc.
• Fully compatible with Open Labs DBeat portable DJ instruments 

But these folks from Germany are just not satisfied with almost singlehandedly creating most of what made  electronic music possible, now they are making music from plants! Yes, it is true, see for your self. There's no trick, it is pure science. These are plant theremin.

Here's a super user (uberuser) on Ableton Live using the APC40 with a Max/MSP Patch to make Live even more powerful. For those of you who don't know, Max/MSP is a powerful tool that is used by many musicians and A/V artists to create custom programs for themselves to make absolutely anything you can think of. Ableton recently decided to 'Extend' their Live software and added support for Max/MSP patches, making Live almost infinitely potent to do anything a user can imagine.

The user of course has to know how to use Max/MSP. To know more about Max/MSP, head over to the Cycnling '74 website. Cycling '74 (other than being a company with a cool geeky name) are the makers of Max/MSP.

...and it actually lets you scratch, unlike those crazy air guitarists!

3D Computer Interface from Free Flow on Vimeo.
So this is what the description on Vimeo says -

Utilizing the theory of electrostatics, we have designed a low-cost human-computer interface device that has the ability to track the position of a user's hand in three dimensions. Physical contact is not required and the user does not need to hold a controller or attach markers to their body. To control the device, the user simply waves their hand above it in the air.

 I had actually seen something similar with a Max/MSP genius scratching live video! I will try to see if I can search up that one. But this us amazing! I mean really, how many of you can actually swear that you have never, ever, done scratching moves in the air while listening to your favorite scratch dj or hip hop track. Heck, I have seen Linkin Park fans doing it! Anyway, this is really something!

Alright you guys, this is quite big! How big? Well Logic/Pro Tools etc meets Reason BIG! How many of you out there have been working simultaneously on some DAW and have had Reason on Rewire? Well this, looks like your answer to it all! if it is good enough that is, truth is, no one knows yet!

That's because it goes in to Beta today and it will released worlwide on Spetember 9 this year. But we do have pictures to savour!

If you have ever used Reason, you will know exactly what this is - it is Reason's Record's emulation of the patching bay of a hardware setup, meant to make it easier for hardware users.

One thing I am noticing is that Record has two racks side by side. Saw it in the patch bay picture too.  I have to check this out in further detail. Expect Updates soon.

Ah, the mixer and arrangement areas. Oh so familiar. I wonder how good Record will be. If it has as good MIDI sequencing as Logic, I am sold! But I have often wanted to work directly inside Reason instead of running two apps (and so have millions of other users I am sure!). Propellerheads - fellas, you are on my radar for high alert!


And finallythe mixer area. Look like Reason got in to bed with Pro Tools and had one very steamy session! :P This looks delish! Alright, I am so finding out as much as I can about this. Stay tuned you guys!

Via the good folks at Skratchworx.com

So yeah, you can do pretty much a lot of things with the BCD3000 MIDI controller. This is just a quick round up of the major things I do in Traktor 3 with the BCD.

Jumping right in now, you can set up the mapping so that once you hold down a key (ideally on your laptop keyboard because the controller is always short of keys), you switch to a different MIDI mapping page (Traktor allows for 3 in total). On this new page, you can map everything differently.

For example, I use my left jog wheel to browse up and down the browsing tree, use one of the EQ kill buttons to select the tree item. Then I use the right one to select the tracks and then i use the two side by side EQ kills buttons above it to put the highlighted track on either the left deck or the right.

You can also use your keyboard for shortcuts and I am sure you do but there are few ways you could make it better. As a digital Dj or a Live PA act, you need to remember a lot of shortcuts so it would be best if you mapped corresponding symbols. Let me explain this : -

For example i use the ',' and the '.' buttons to cycle through my channel effects. Why? Because when you see the buttons, the first thing you notice are '<' and '>'; being a human being, it makes it much easier to remember which buttom does what.

Here's another idea. I am sure most of you have played computer games and I am sure at some point manyof you have had to use the typical "AWSD" keys as movement keys. Well these can be brillian when you map them to your deck as deck selection. With the movement thing burned in to my head, it is easy to remember that 'a' is for keft and 'd' is for right. Also, when I hold down the shift key and press either 'a' or 'd'; the selected track is loaded to the corresponding deck. So this is pretty easy.

I have got many such shortcuts litterred around and these kind of associations help me remember my keys.

So that's brings me to the end of my chattering on and on about the BCD. If you have things to add, do mention it in the comment. If I have enough ideas, I will add another post to this series, with your names of course!

Keep it controlling it! (yep, I still haven't figured out a catch phrase!)