Rock On Moldover – Roll On Remix Decks On Moldover – Roll... · MIDI Controllers Media Players...

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April 20, 2012

Rock On Moldover – Roll On Remix DecksApril 16, 2012 By Mark Settle 9 Comments

Rock On Moldover – Roll On Remix Decks http://djworx.com/rock-on-moldover-roll-on-remix-decks/

1 of 12 4/20/12 12:10 AM

Strap in DJs, because you’re about to be dragged kicking and screaming into the brave new worldenvisioned by Native Instruments. And holding your hand through the potential head wrecker that areTraktor v2.5′s Remix Decks and the Traktor Kontrol F1 is Moldover, the Godfather of thecontrollerist movement.


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This is all about live controllerism in its purest form – manipulating loops and individual sounds andinstrument samples, which Moldover does effortlessly and seems immediately at home with this newNI gear. I like this video – partly because it’s perhaps a more suitable method for showing the remixdecks, but also because it offers practical examples, and also shows the little utilised live sampler onthe S4. I still struggled with just how punch mode works (I get it now), but there’s still a lot ofexplaining to do of this new workflow.


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Unless I’m very much mistaken, “DJ” isn’t mentioned once. I don’t know if it’s deliberate, but for meit underlines the differences in mindsets when approaching the Remix Decks. Controllerist is a termbandied around and is more often than not generically tagged onto DJs who use controllers for DJing,rather than musicians and producers who use controllers for live performance.

But this inspiring demo shows us that DJs can be performers too. While Moldover uses the F1s andS4 as instruments rather than players to make a clever live performance, DJs can take cues from thistype of thing and incorporate more performance elements into their sets too.

My concern right from seeing it back in January was that it’s a very complex proposition to get acrossto DJs. The Serato/Ableton Bridge mashup has suffered because of the simple fact that DJs don’t getAbleton Live. It’s not so much a learning curve as a learning wall that has to be scaled for DJs, whoare used to working largely in a simple 2 deck setup.


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The success of this way of working will be down entirely to explaining it properly. Technology ismoving at a breathtaking speed right now, and it’s easy to forget that there’a a lot of DJs out there whoare still getting used to using loops in their sets, let alone cramming a semi-DAW into their headspace.Generally, we know deck A and deck B playing long tracks, and to be confronted with a 4×4 paddoing so much more than we’re used to is daunting to say the least.

So software vendors – please do not expect us to run towards an entirely new way of working withoutshowing us the way first. And use music we recognise too – that’ll bring understanding on leaps andbounds. Dig deep for that sample clearance for your promo videos and you’ll reap the benefit later.

Thus I urge NI to break the Remix Decks down idiot style so that people can see the real potential. Itwould be a shame to see a possible game changer fall by the wayside because the potential audiencesimply didn’t get it.

Incidentally, Moldover has a full free album to download – grab it here.

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Filed Under: News Tagged With: Kontrol F1, Moldover, Native instruments, Remix Decks, Traktor

About Mark Settle

Dragging DJing and web stuff into one place, Mark Settle created skratchworx 9 years ago and laiddown the online blueprint for DJ gear reporting. Now he's about to do it all over again withDJWORX. Enjoy the ride.

People left comments

Ryan Supak said this::April 16, 2012 at 2:03 pm

To me this is great but it isn’t what I’d call DJing. To me DJing is primarily about presentingsongs to people.

This has some technical similarities to DJing, but this is more about “playing” loops. That theloops happened to come from existing songs is incidental. (If anything it’s more like a DMCroutine, but personally I can handle about 5-7 minutes of DMC routine. I wouldn’t go dancingto a spot where they were performing DMC routines all night.)

But “I’m OK, you’re OK”, and all that, of course.

rs

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Ryan Supak said this::April 16, 2012 at 2:10 pm

Oh, and just to stave off any hair-splitting, I know it’s possible for a DJ to do a “mini-routine” during an otherwise conventional set, and I know turntable mashups have existedsince at least the 70′s. But I’m talking about the general traits of a thing, not theexceptional parts of it.

rs

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Jared Helfer said this::

1.


6 of 12 4/20/12 12:10 AM

April 16, 2012 at 6:14 pm

I think it’s a valid concern, though. There are DJs and producers who go out andspin/perform these sets where just too much is going on. I don’t want to hear the 2minute intros and outros to songs, but I also want to hear the songs, especiallythose awesome parts, instead of just hearing them cut in and out and mashed upagainst other things, for three or four hours.

Moderation is key.

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Loudist said this::April 17, 2012 at 10:24 am

Personally, I couldn’t be more excited. Computers and software have finally got to the pointwhere they are both reliable enough for live remixing to become a credible artform. Plus, thepossibilities for whole new forms of performance via this sort of set-up are literally staggering.

This may not be DJ’ing, but (whatever it ends-up being called) we wouldn’t have got to thatpoint without DJ’ing. Bring it on!

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Mark Settle said this::April 17, 2012 at 10:30 am

Just to add to this Loudist – DJing as a movement came about by people doing things thatyou weren’t supposed to do with music. Records were designed to be listened to end toend, not blended and mixed. Scratching was a complete accident as well. The veryfoundation of modern DJing has been based on using sections of music, either in isolationof repeating them to extend a break.

We’re at a time when this foundation is being added to and extended thanks totechnology. I for one embrace it wholeheartedly.

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Carlos Hernandez said this::April 17, 2012 at 11:22 am

Amen! Brother!Experimentalism, accidents, creativity, exploring new frontiers! Remix,

2.


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reconstruct, new tools, new paradigms, from the old to the new and the new to theold, embrace the new and mix it up with the old and come out with something thatis absolutely just you!Try new tools, new ways to express yourself, use the new tools for what they aremeant to be use, or even better, find ways to use those tools on ways they were notmeant to be use! There is no rules written on stone when it comes to Djing. Theworld of the Musician, the Producer and The Dj is merging more and moreeveryday thanks to new technology! Embrace it and make it yours, give it yourown flavor and be the next person that bring something new and fresh to the worldof Djing and music in general!

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GroovinDJ said this::April 17, 2012 at 11:45 pm

I don’t see how this can really work well, especially for those who aren’t used to using loopsand samples, unless this new Traktor software has onboard Ableton Live style warping.

All these bits and bobs of tracks that need to be kept in sync. Unless you’ve spent agespreparing it all and making sure it’s all at one tempo, the potential for it to get messy veryquickly is enormous.

I’d love to see DJ software with warping. It’d save having to run stuff through Live first.

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3.

KLH said this::April 18, 2012 at 3:34 pm

What we’re seeing (IMHO) is the embodiment of a minimal setup to do Live Remixing, a la DJEnferno (http://djenferno.com/lrp/). NI does this with Traktor v2.5 and Serato+Ableton do itwith Scratch Live, the Bridge, and Live 8.

Is this the future of DJing? Time will tell. So far, crowds don’t seem to be dazzled by theincreased skills required to do this type of performance…

-KLH

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DJ Koopa said this::April 18, 2012 at 6:09 pm

4.


8 of 12 4/20/12 12:10 AM

Agree with the “crowds don’t seem to be dazzled by the increased skills required to dothis type of performance” point – especially not in the clubs I play at anyway. A lot of theyounger crowds (18-21) these days seem to stop dancing if you play a slightly differentversion of a song they like, let alone a mad self made mash-up. I’m sure the crowds forthese types of performances are out there, and I long for the day they start taking over thedancefloors, but as far as mainstream clubbing goes I don’t think they are ready for thissort of thing yet.

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