Post your keyboard controllers, synths, drum machines, etc!

[skate323k137]

I've used the Pioneer DDJ SX before, as well as tons of CDJs and vinyl turntables.

My go-to DJ rig is still a couple 1200MK2's and a decent 2 channel mixer (pioneer or otherwise).

Honestly, I was really impressed with the DDJ SX. The cue point buttons under the jogwheels make things really fun. I can set several cues in a song and kinda play out samples MPC style before mixing in the song. Quality parts, etc. Lots of fun IMO even as a usually all vinyl DJ.

If I was going to switch from vinyl, I'd be torn between nice CDJs, a DDJ SX, or the Numark NS7. The NS7 has to get a nod because of the motorized patters; It's the only non-vinyl or non-timecode setup I can scratch on properly and intuitively.

 

[Cylotron]

Does anyone know what the most popular drum machines were for 80s pop music (something that would have been used on "Get Into The Groove" for example)?

hard to say for sure on that. both the TR-808 & TR-909 came out in the early 80's & were hugely popular(still used today). a couple of other notable ones were the oberheim dmx & the e-mu sp-12.

 

[ApolloBoy]

hard to say for sure on that. both the TR-808 & TR-909 came out in the early 80's & were hugely popular(still used today). a couple of other notable ones were the oberheim dmx & the e-mu sp-12.

The LinnDrum and its earlier sibling the LM-1 were really popular too, those plus the DMX were all over a ton of records back in the early-mid 80s.

 

[OrochiEddie]

Sort of "on topic", but I have a question for the DJs in the room.

I do some house parties for my friends and usually the reception is pretty good and people are liking what I do. I have thought about taking it outside of the basements and living rooms and doing some actual for money gigs. Here is my concern though. When I do parties 8/10 songs are just whatever I want, rarely anything "new" or "popular", and periodically I listen to some suggestions. I really don't have much interest in compromising my "Style" (so to speak) and having to play a bunch of stuff I dislike for people. Part of my interest in DJing initially was just making mixes of stuff I enjoyed and sharing that with friends.

So not to be too long winded, but how much do you feel when you are playing a gig, are you creating stuff for yourself and how much is it for the people in the room? Do you enjoy the music you put on and play or do you just listen to what the patrons want and play that instead?

 

[potetoboy]

when i play a gig I try to only play stuff I want to hear and get the crowd to feel it and dance. it's a tricky game but since I play vinyl only it can be really fun to try and pack a limited bag of stuff for the whole night without losing the floor. of course I bring a varied bag of all kinds of stuff to match the different moods/genres of the night (openers, build up, peaktime, chill time, after hours, etc). Obviously it doesn't always work out the way you want it too, but when you get the floor going off to YOUR selections without compromising for requests or top 40 bs - nothing beats the feeling. i find NYC/Brooklyn has many bars + clubs that allow for this kind of night and ppl are generally pretty open minded to music they don't necessarily know..

I used to play to crowd more so to speak when i had Serato, but it ended up feeling more like work than fun. Constantly keeping up with the latest tracks and trends just wasn't for me so i gave up the digital DJing and went strictly vinyl so i don't even have the option to play something i didn't bring (tho i've had ppl try to give me their ipod/iphone for requests before LOL..)

 

[potetoboy]

it doesn't hurt to bring some MJ, Madonna, or Prince tho in case of dancefloor emergency :P

 

[skate323k137]

So not to be too long winded, but how much do you feel when you are playing a gig, are you creating stuff for yourself and how much is it for the people in the room? Do you enjoy the music you put on and play or do you just listen to what the patrons want and play that instead?

Depends greatly on the gig. If I'm playing a guest spot at a club, I play whatever the fuck I want. If I'm booked for an event or a whole night, then I have to find ways to be creative while mostly playing what people want to hear.

You have to learn how to connect with the crowd, control the mood in the room. That's as much a part of being a DJ as any technical skills. Music selection is key; if you can rock a dance floor with something they've never heard then you're doing it right. If you start to "lose" them, play some shit they know (or at least a remix of a song they know).

 

[Takumaji]

I used to play to crowd more so to speak when i had Serato, but it ended up feeling more like work than fun. Constantly keeping up with the latest tracks and trends just wasn't for me so i gave up the digital DJing and went strictly vinyl so i don't even have the option to play something i didn't bring (tho i've had ppl try to give me their ipod/iphone for requests before LOL..)

Same here, including the ipod/phone thing. "Hey, here's xyz's latest, could you play it?"... "no, get lost"... really hate it with a passion. I'm not a fucking format radio station, eh.

I did about ten gigs or so with only my laptop, an amp and a pair of speakers but yeah, it's not that cool tbh. There's zero skill involved when mixing with stuff like Virtual DJ and I have my best tracks on vinyl anyway. The thing is that many club owners these days give you strange looks if you tell them that the little 40x40 cm cat table they have is not enough for two decks and a mixer. The last club I played didn't even have a phono pre-amp... man, what's wrong with people these days?

I prefer doing real live gigs with my equipment but it's almost impossible to get a booking. Except for three clubs that like my live stuff, people mostly want that dreadful loungy and jazzy stuff... not really my thing but hey.

Heh, I'm booked for an afterhour party after a wedding come friday, this will be interesting. 200 drunk people wanting to hear AC/DC and pop... well, guess I'll start my set with Dominee Dimitri II then, this should do the trick to scare the natives. Gotta love it, lol

Listen to it here:





Well... I play what I like and what comes to my mind when I'm mixing. It's the only way... only dead fish go with the flow.

 

[fake]

hard to say for sure on that. both the TR-808 & TR-909 came out in the early 80's & were hugely popular(still used today). a couple of other notable ones were the oberheim dmx & the e-mu sp-12.

Hmmm. I was always under the assumption that the Roland x0x boxes were mainly used in hip-hop. Am I wrong about that and they were used in pop as well?

 

[complexz]

listen to marvin gaye's sexual healing it's kinda trippy to notice the 808 in things I've heard a billion times but only notice now because I am familiar with the machines.

 

[fake]

listen to marvin gaye's sexual healing it's kinda trippy to notice the 808 in things I've heard a billion times but only notice now because I am familiar with the machines.

I'll check that out. I was listening to demos of the DMX today and that sounds like the closest thing to what I'm looking for. I'll have to see if there's an emulator or sample library out there.

 

[skate323k137]

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2010/01/11/free-roland-tr-808-sample-library/

I didn't check the download but 808 samples are out there in no shortage.

 

[OrochiEddie]

when i play a gig I try to only play stuff I want to hear and get the crowd to feel it and dance. it's a tricky game but since I play vinyl only it can be really fun to try and pack a limited bag of stuff for the whole night without losing the floor. of course I bring a varied bag of all kinds of stuff to match the different moods/genres of the night (openers, build up, peaktime, chill time, after hours, etc). Obviously it doesn't always work out the way you want it too, but when you get the floor going off to YOUR selections without compromising for requests or top 40 bs - nothing beats the feeling. i find NYC/Brooklyn has many bars + clubs that allow for this kind of night and ppl are generally pretty open minded to music they don't necessarily know..

I used to play to crowd more so to speak when i had Serato, but it ended up feeling more like work than fun. Constantly keeping up with the latest tracks and trends just wasn't for me so i gave up the digital DJing and went strictly vinyl so i don't even have the option to play something i didn't bring (tho i've had ppl try to give me their ipod/iphone for requests before LOL..)

That's really interesting to hear and I appreciate the insight. I only know two individuals/groups that I'd say are to any extent "professional". One is a house duo (we're from Chicagoland go figure) and the other does mostly a load of remixes of popular music. I actually did a gig with the latter where I was drumming to his DJing. Wasn't the best because he refused to listen to my suggestions, but I still had fun just fucking around. I'd actually hope to mix my V-drums with the equipment somehow.

When I've done parties or my own private mixes I tend to mix popular stuff with some indie vibes. I love finding ways to sneak in experimental music that has a good vibe and play under a popular track. Can's 'Smoke' is a great example of something I'd sneak under a more popular song to create a bit of a trippy vibe.

Again, thanks for the insight.




My fallback is always' the peppermint remix of 'Sexbomb' It ALWAYS works

 

[OrochiEddie]

The developer’s website gives no info on the pack, so everyone was puzzled by it’s contents… people on KVR forums suspected the whole thing may be a fraud, an attempt to share viruses, etc. Click here to go straight to the KVR thread and read the details.

Still, it turned out that these VST’s are all clean, authentic freeware, and that the developers have created a great hype by being so mysterious. And they sound AMAZINGLY AWESOME! The plugins were meant to be released as payware, but Elektrostudio ran into troubles when they tried to start a business, so they decided to go freeware. THANKS TO THEM!

http://www.elektrostudio.ovh.org/?lang=en

 

[Cylotron]

cool beans. can't so no to free vst's.

 

[Cylotron]

Takumaji... I'm assuming you like stuff like this:




i love blasting that from my car on occasion(4,000w sound system). personally, i haven't made any hardcore tracks yet... but have tweaked some bass & kick drums to make them suitable for such music. i figure i'll do something with them eventually.

 

[BeefJerky]

That was a pretty sick track. Thanks for sharing!

 

[SPINMASTER X]

Hey guys, I'm late to the party. 2 months ago or so I jumped back into production after a hiatus from about 2001 LOL. So I'm basically new again and I haven't produced crap due to a lack of free time so don't ask for any of my material haha.

My setup:
Ableton Live 9(DAW)
Ableton/Akai's "Push" Midi controller
Focusrite Audio Interface.


Push is the most amazing piece of home music production hardware I've ever seen. You can do so much with it, It's ridiculous.

 

[SouthtownKid]

Happy late birthday, Spin.

 

[Cylotron]

when are you getting the launchpad?

 

[SPINMASTER X]

Happy late birthday, Spin.

Thanks bro! Good to hear from you!

when are you getting the launchpad?

NEVER. Push pretty much nullifies the launchpad and a bunch of other hardware that I'd need. Push needs Ableton to turn on but once Ableton is on you can use Push in unison with the software or you can use it by itself without even looking at the screen. I can make, cut, duplicate, sequence, quantize, etc. SOLELY on the Push. It can act as a drum machine plus any other instrument I upload to it. Push is an absolute monster.

 

[Takumaji]

Making music with software is boring.

 

[complexz]

ohhhh shit, disapproval from the synth guru! you better be grabbin them volcas now dan

Using software is weird for me, It's like when you get a new arcade game and you play it to death learning all the little intricacies and develop skills.... but if you get a CD full of roms you might put 10 minutes into that same game just credit feeding and never get the most of it. Give me all the synthesizers and effects I could ever dream of and I will just get overwhelmed and lose interest, But if you give me one machine to play with at a time and I will get way more out of it.

That being said, sooner or later I see myself with a push or a MPC ren

 

[Takumaji]

I've forgot to add "IMO".

Everyone has its own style. I'm a hardware guy but I know that software is where it's at now.

I'm sooo friggin' behind the times.

 

[potetoboy]

to each his own.. great stuff can be made on software or hardware or both!

I'm a hardware guy but I know that software is where it's at now.

i think hardware is making a comeback tho. i mean look at the volcas and arturia stuff, plus the prices of vintage hardware just keeps going up which means the demand is there. there's even a brick & mortar synth/modular shop that popped up here in brooklyn recently..