'DJing' with Ableton ... your opinion?

[djshiva]

All I've got to say is, I prefer ableton djs to mix as if they were on decks. I absolutely can't stand mash ups. I want to hear songs properly not just two bars then a big metallic flanger followed by a fifty cent record with an acid house bassline.

I guess the big difference between you and I is that I DON'T want to hear the track in its entirety as it normally sounds. Otherwise, why not just stick a jukebox up there and plug quarters into it? In my mind, there's no reason to even HAVE a DJ if they're not gonna fuck with the music. This is the techno DJ part of me speaking, but I want to hear the place where two or three tunes become a whole 'nother monster.

And no, I don't want it to be cheap or busy either. But again, I think the differentiation here isn't between Ableton or vinyl. It's between good DJs and shitty DJs. You can't cover up shitty track selection and programming with 10 effects, nor with spinbacks and rewinds. Either medium, your mediocrity will show through. So the question is: spend more time bitching about medium or spend more time being a better DJ?

yes in a sense that triggering one track to another is just gay.

Can anyone EVER manage a fucking argument without something being "gay"?

Triggering one track to another does not have a fucking sexual preference. Grow a vocabulary, please.

[WeBang]

All I've got to say is, I prefer ableton djs to mix as if they were on decks. I absolutely can't stand mash ups. I want to hear songs properly not just two bars then a big metallic flanger followed by a fifty cent record with an acid house bassline.

I guess the big difference between you and I is that I DON'T want to hear the track in its entirety as it normally sounds. Otherwise, why not just stick a jukebox up there and plug quarters into it? In my mind, there's no reason to even HAVE a DJ if they're not gonna fuck with the music. This is the techno DJ part of me speaking, but I want to hear the place where two or three tunes become a whole 'nother monster.

And no, I don't want it to be cheap or busy either. But again, I think the differentiation here isn't between Ableton or vinyl. It's between good DJs and shitty DJs. You can't cover up shitty track selection and programming with 10 effects, nor with spinbacks and rewinds. Either medium, your mediocrity will show through. So the question is: spend more time bitching about medium or spend more time being a better DJ?

yes in a sense that triggering one track to another is just gay.

Can anyone EVER manage a fucking argument without something being "gay"?

Triggering one track to another does not have a fucking sexual preference. Grow a vocabulary, please.

are you gay? I didn't mean to offend you. It certainly doesn't offend several of my gay friends. Stop being a bitch. Even gay people would make fun of you this day in age.

[yamaz]

The point is playing good music, mixing well enough to keep the groove going and get everyone dancing and having fun, including the dj.......

....who cares what method or tool is used to achieve this. Some people prefer chainsaws to cut wood and other people like axes....just cut the fucking wood already so we can have a fire damnit

[FTG150]

I'd like to see projection screens of whats happening on Dj's computer screen(for ableton) during shows... I'd love to stare at that over someone's idea of a glorified winamp visualization.

Having never jockey'ed any disks I was able to "2 deck" DJ on ableton with no headphones and just a mouse. If I were to DJ, er perform, I would go ableton all the way. I haven't owned a record player in some time nor any records, to start gathering vinyl and learning on decks seems silly to me at this point... Like I'm jumping on the rollercoaster 15 secs before it pulls back into the station. Though its important to retain the vinyl/deck heritage for after the apocalypse, where all the parties will be run on 2 crank-powered phonographs... I'd much rather use the digital media I already have. There is always the possibility of beatmatching two different instances of ableton together (but something tells me theres a way to sync them). Have one instance your normal DJ set, have the other be an arrangement that you have pieced together in your spare time on stage... Maybe tell a few jokes... Theres been a big jokes-shaped hole in every DJ show I've been to.

[djshiva]

yes in a sense that triggering one track to another is just gay.

Can anyone EVER manage a fucking argument without something being "gay"?

Triggering one track to another does not have a fucking sexual preference. Grow a vocabulary, please.

are you gay? I didn't mean to offend you. It certainly doesn't offend several of my gay friends. Stop being a bitch. Even gay people would make fun of you this day in age.

Yes, I am gay, and your lack of vocabulary is still fucking lame. It's less that I am offended as a result of my own sexuality. It's more that I am offended that you can't use a thesaurus and come up with something better.

Oh, and good job digging deep for insults and calling me a bitch. Yes, I am one of those, too.

Got any more gems, choadling?

[contakt321]

are you gay? I didn't mean to offend you. It certainly doesn't offend several of my gay friends. Stop being a bitch. Even gay people would make fun of you this day in age.

Let's keep the personal attacks and offensive comments out of this forum. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but let's keep the opinions to being about DJing w/ Ableton and be respectful of everyone on this board.

[billy the robot]

are you gay? I didn't mean to offend you. It certainly doesn't offend several of my gay friends. Stop being a bitch. Even gay people would make fun of you this day in age.

Let's keep the personal attacks and offensive comments out of this forum. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but let's keep the opinions to being about DJing w/ Ableton and be respectful of everyone on this board.

+1

I think going the lappy route just makes you up your game a bit. Not saying it's any better than a DJ with a crate of dubplates, just a different skill set to learn, which can be scary(and exciting), but the end result can be wicked if your using the technology. First person to blow my mind with a laptop was Taal Mala, holy moly! Has anyone seen Eprom recently, dang... One of the best live performers in the scene right now (imo).

[WeBang]

EZ on the gayness Shiva. I certainly didn't mean to offend you because I said triggering is gay. name calling isn't polite either.

Triggering is Lame if that is all your doing. Like I said ableton can be much more powerful but DJ technology on Turntables is advancing as well and using both in set is even more amazing.

I'd prefer to mix because I suck at matching beats and need the practice. I act like I am Andy C or something when I mix trying to achieve all these perfectly mixed and double drops only to find out I am about half a beat off 75% o the time haha.

I have a launch pad and cut up a bunch of Mp3s and dubstep and break beat loops. Also took acapellas and cut those up to only to come up with about a 15 minute set of triggering everything randomly. It's very fun adding things like beat repeat and filters and delays and other crazy effects, but I can also switch to user mode and play out my own bassline as well like an MPC.

I think my favorite out of the mix was a dubstep loop or the highlander theme by Queen. The problem I have doing stuff like this with ableton is that if you push one wrong button you done fucked up everything.

[Sharmaji]

folks watch the language; let's keep this a forum that's worth reading. We Bang: not cool.

[WeBang]

folks watch the language; let's keep this a forum that's worth reading. We Bang: not cool.

Yeah I got it the first time.....I sinecerly apologize

[philly]

It depends on what you want to do man, i sold my tables to do digital djing a week ago and bought some technics again today because i got bored doing the digital thing in ableton and torq very quickly.
Don't get me wrong you can do tons of creative things with it but you seriously gotta put in some time and and pre make your set to some extend, as mixing A->B already needs to be done properly to avoid things clashing in your mix. So if you wanna trigger multiple clips, use effects, play samples etc... it will take more setting up than just dropping tracks A and B in.
Doing that properly is definitely very tight except that many people unfortunately will probably have no idea what you are doing and how much work you have put in.

Also one beef I have is that midi controllers look like cheap pieces shit so it really does cheapen your image as a DJ as well, obviously the result of the dj's skills should be whats important but it really just looks unprofessional.