I just got my long awaited Allen & Heath Xone:3D mixer last week. Didn't get to really push it too hard yet because I didn't have my laptop but as a mixer it is unreal. On top of being a straight up mixer, it's also an 8 port 24 bit sound card and a dual MIDI controller.
WTF you're probably asking. The deal is that these days turntables, computers and mixers are talking very nicely to each other in some crazy ways.
FYI, I'm not talking about dweebs with iTunes pretending to be DJ's. The deal is that software like Ableton Live runs MIDI sequences and loops in sync with an external clock. The Zone:3D extracts a clock from analog records and syncs to Ableton. All together, the turntables, Ableton and the mixer are all locked together in sync and can be mixed together with little fuss.
Yeah I know it sounds complex but just watch this video to figure it out...
What else? It's been mad hot around these parts and I've just dropped my boat in the water. Went for a ride on Sunday and my testicles still haven't completely descended :)
Too much stuff to do, too little time.
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Light in the absence of eyes illuminates nothing. Visible forms are not inherant in the world, but are granted by the act of seeing. Events contain no meaning in themselves only the meaning that the mind imposes on them.
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2 comments:
Fack. You're such an old school purist. I can do some hot shite with iTunes; don't be such a hater! One day the s/w will take over the h/w...you know it as well as I do...
Peter, at most of my parties if you were playing an iTunes set, you'd have to call some firemen to pull your laptop out of your ass.
Here's the deal, you can qualify to be a DJ with an iPod and/or a laptop but you're missing the performance element. Beatmixing, morphing, double drops, syncopations, and all that kind of stuff needs performance controllers and skill. You can do all that with Ableton, Scratch or Traktor but you need skill and practise.
Being a great DJ in the nightclub/performance art sense requires as much skill and practise as playing a guitar. I am both a mediocre guitar player and a mediocre DJ and I can tell you that the technical DJ stuff is harder.
Go crazy with your iPod, just give Traktor a chance and take a look at the M-Audio and Behringer controllers. For a hundred bucks or so, and a few hundred hours of practise, you too can be a "performance" DJ without ever touching turntables.
Personally, I think that the hardware and software and the analog stuff blends together really well so I don't hate any of it.
I just think that some people with iTunes totally miss the point of what goes into a full performance.
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