Pioneer CDJ-2000 and CDJ-900

Pioneer announces the release of their two new players and they are REALLY advanced!
Both players are shipped with the Rekordbox software from Pioneer, which is really Pioneers own DJ-software paralell to Traktor or Serato. And as a DJ dedicated to Traktor I can say that the palyers also work really nicely on their own.

Digital media:
Both players have an easy to reach USB input on the top of the player and RJ-45 (LAN) connection on the back called "LINK" for working with other players and both players can read from one source! The link also works when connecting CDJ-2000 to CDJ-900. It reads MP3, AAC, WAV and AIFF.

Midi-controller?
Both players also has a USB connector for connecting to a computer on the back, so they both can be used as midi-controllers.

CDJ-2000:
This player is basicly a CDJ-1000, but a massive update.
To quickly sum up the new features:

• USB/SD-card reader (With accordinly a super-neat browsing feature)
• 6,1" color-screen (Sweeeeet!)
• 4 Beat-loop cutter (Auto-loops 4 beats based on BPM)
• Needlesearch (A touch-bar for searching through the track)
• Slip mode (Continues the track as you play around with loop, reverse or scratching)

CDJ-900 is an upgrade of the CDJ-800.

Pioneer has alot of media on their pages, so go check it out!
CDJ-2000: http://www.pioneerprodj.com/gear.aspx?product=CDJ-2000&cp=2
CDJ-900: http://www.pioneerprodj.com/gear.aspx?product=CDJ-900&cp=2

Videos:
CDJ 2000 video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ-S9Xf3waY
CDJ 900 video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4LjQSyTr9U

Traktor Scratch Pro 1.2 beta

The current available verison to Traktor Scratch pro is version 1.1 (1.1.2) where alot of bugs where mended and a couple of cool features was added. Native Instruments has now released version 1.2 for public beta testing. And this version has ALOT of cool upgrades.

The official release or new betaversion is sat to 15 september.
Let's hope they get a go for the full version.

New and improved features:

• New "Elastique Pro" timestretching algorithm for best keylock quality with timecode
• Number of separate effect units increased from two to four (Pro version only)
• "Preparation List" feature with diamond icons, "Append/add next" menu functions
• Adjustable "minimum playtime" for play count and history functions
• Internal EQs enabled for external mixer mode
• New track caching technology with reduced memory footprint
• Improved Tap Tempo function
• Additional effect algorithms: Beat Slicer, Formant Filter, Peak Filter (Pro version only)
• Tag editing in Explorer node
• Native HID support for Pioneer CDJ-400
• Drag & Drop from decks to playlist
• New "Progressive Sensitivity" option for Pitch Bend
• Pitch Bend controller assignable to jog wheels
• Customizable Cue Play button behaviour (Instant/On Release)
• Improved cue point handling
• 2 additional favorite slots
  

Sign up here:
http://www.native-instruments.com/forum/showthread.php?t=90223

Follow the official post form NI here:
http://www.native-instruments.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72703

Allen & Heath X-One 4D Midi

To my sad supprise there was not a single good midi mapping for the 4D out there, so together with Tiny, we made a setup for Allen & Heath Xone 4D for Traktor Pro.

It's all there with documentation and everything. Hope you'll enjoy it, and give me feedback if something is not right.

Download from here

The coolest smoothie ever!

Mixed Up - Beat Blender and Mixmaster 1200 from Matti Niinimäki on Vimeo.

Traktor CPU Load

I've noticed lately that my CPU load is quite large and wondered why.
I found out that I've sat on all the effects on on both effect chains.
So to ease of the CPU load I just sat the effect to "no Effect", and it worked...

Connecting two instances of Traktor

I'm going back home this easter and I'm gonna play together with two of my best friends on Long Friday (April 10th) at Tiger Tiger. We are gonna use two instances of Traktor and run them together and I looked into connecting the Master BPM from one of the computers to the other.
The concept is quite simple. One Traktor (The master) controll the Main BPM and the other Traktor (The slave) reads off it through MIDI.



Follow these 4 easy steps to make it work:
1. Connect a MIDI cable from midi out on the master to the midi in on the slave
2. Ensure that you have activated the midi on both computers: Preferences > MIDI Setup. Activate both the Input and Output devices.
3. On the master Traktor activate Send MIDI Clock. The offset is for compensating the lag from the MIDI interface and cable.
4. Now set the correct master tempo settings:


Click on the metronome beneeth the FX1 to access the midi options.
4.1 On the picture is the setup for the master.
4.2 On the slave select Clock Master to EXT.
(See the Master buttons on the decs become inoperable on the slave Traktor)

Now the MASTER deck BPM will gradualy adjust the BPM on the master which then will controll the master tempo on the slave through the MIDI interface.

I got it working, but I'm not to happy with the stability. I needed some time to match the midi clock offset, but I used two of the same tracks and looped them and adjusted them untill satisfactory and that seems to be the way to do it. The master tempo on the slave computer seems to be working overtime trying to adjust and jumps up and down alot.
However it will still after that it was got off beat quite quickly.
Use Sync button on the MIDI Clock on the master to resync the slave. I noticed that it was even better to tur it of and back on ( Play / Pause ).

Hotkeys documented

I've documented and somewhat updated my hotkey setup. Hope you'll enjoy it.
http://sites.google.com/a/sevendays.no/sevendays-dj-s/DJ-Crew/Fredrik-C3/files

And please vote in my poll. --->

Last couple of months

I’ve been off for a while doing mostly work for my day job, but I’m back to just give some scoops on what I’ve been looking at for the last couple of months.
Korg NanopadOn the gadget side, I’ve indulged and bought a Korg Nanopad. Ever since I saw Ean Golden playing around with it I just had to have it. Check out this convincing piece of performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2pP4FDZERE
I’ll upload a midi mapping later on for using it as a controller unit when using Traktor with timecode CD or Vinyl.
Check out Ean Golden site: http://www.djtechtools.com/.
New TRAKTOR!I’ve upgraded my Traktor to version 1.1 and I’m so satisfied with the new features.

New HOTKEY SETUPI made a hotkey setup which I feel is the bomb and that everyone should have. I haven’t got time to document it quite yet, but I’ll get to that this month. I promise/hope…
The idea was basically that I don’t want ANY buttons that can mess up my performance on hand on the keyboard. It’s happened one too many times that I’m trying to search for a track and mess up because I wasn’t in the search window.
You can download it on the Sevendays site: http://sites.google.com/a/sevendays.no/sevendays-dj-s/DJ-Crew/Fredrik-C3/files

EKS OTUSI just got this baby for demo and trial. It's a nice controller but I haven't had time to fully set it up. I'm hoping to get cracking next month on this superstar controller and I'll keep you updated once I get started.



Check it out on http://www.eks.fi/






Enjoy and keep on sending me emails with comments.

Serato or Traktor and Acer One or Asus EEE

I wrote in my previous blog that we tried Acer One and Traktor Scratch, and that it didn't work. However that was with controll vinyl and I figure that demands quite alot more processing power then by just playing dirrectly in the program. So... If anybody out there can tell me if Traktor Pro works with Acer One or Asus EEE, but not using controll media (CD or Vinyl) and report back to me. :)

On the other hand I've heard that Asus EEE worked fine with Serato, but I have not had this confirmed. Serato is a much lighter suite and I don't think it requires that much process power (If not counting playing video-files). Can anybody give me a holla if they've read about this somewhere or tried it out them selves? Thanks...

I won't change to Serato (never ever), but I'm curious to know if it works.

Setting up Midicontrollers for Traktor

I've recieved quite alot of mail asking for the default MIDI template for the controllers and there are alot of templates stored. I had some trouble finding it my self, and I got so desperate that I actually called the support and they showed me. Hehe... =S And for your convenience I'll show you where to find it.

In Traktor Pro you need to open the settings window and click import (It's in the bottom left corner of the window along with export).

The folder it default opens directly should be the Traktor settings folder:
C:\Users\[USER]\Documents\Native Instruments\Traktor\Settings

Click on the folder "MIDI Mappings" and then select your gear.

The list I have is:
Allen & Heath 1D/2D/3D/4D ( I WANT IT!)
Behringer BCD3000/DDM4000
Denon DN-HC4500/DN-S1200
DJTech iMix/iMix Reload
Ecler NUO 4
EKS XP series
Hercules DJConsole MK2
Numark OmniControl/TotalControl
Pioneer CDJ-400/MEP7000
Reloop Digital Jockey (Interface)
Vestax VCI-100/VCM-100