Using the s.p for djing with

[Slushy]

Hello fellow sp heads, nice up yer selfs!.. This is my first post. Had my 404 a while now.. mainly using it to rock out some live performances and twisting the hell out of found sounds using the fx. I was wondering if anyone has used the sp for doing live dj gigs with, by this I mean using the sp to trigger tracks/songs from each pad. This way you could add effects to each track/song as you go, use the line input to say add a mini Kaossolator synth for extra bleeps or whatever but most of all to save you bringing out your super rare records. Bearing in mind, you will need to keep notes of what tunes you have recorded on each pad!.. Anyone??

[dman5000]

i thought about trying to think of a way to do this well before, the main problem if any, i think would be with mixing, because if it starts to fall off theres nothing you can do about it and fading things out rrequires a workatound and theres no cue. that woud be with whole songs... theres a bunch of youtube videos of people using song loops and doing like live mash up stuff so i guess it depends on what style dj gig your looking to do , the song loops more creative style can def be done

[Slushy]

I'm not looking to pull off tight mixing, as I play raw 70's funk, latin and soundtrack grooves. Any good dj knows how hard it can be to mix old records together as older music can slightly 'drift' as it's mostly recorded live.. I'm thinking in terms of echoing/delaying out the tracks and throwing in some interludes, mad noises, synth bleeps and swoops inbetween each track/song to 'glue' it all together and give it that old school mixtape feel!

[dman5000]

in that case it would be perfect and probly awesome - good luck

[Jmoki]

You could do fade outs by using the start/end/level button....
although you probly worked that out already hahaha

[hurlingdervish]

you could always have the 404 in your mixer set up so you could very very easily cue loops and fade them in, you would just have to nudge your records. throw it on the AUX or something or one side of the dj mixer if you have extra inputs or a smaller mixer to mix one of your turntables with 404

[kel]

my girlfriend and i did dj sets with my 404 for valentines day. it took forever to program because you have to wait for the whole song to play while recording. it turned out great tho cuz we chose like-tempo songs so it was fluid. so at the end of one song i'd hit delay or something and it would fade into the next song (pretty cool, but man i wish i knew about effects grab back then, would have been more smooth) it worked well, but man it took forever cuz i had to resample those kinds of delay things for her set, cuz she thought she might screw up if she had to do it manually. and if you screw up on the resample, guess what, you gotta hear the song all over again. but how cool is having your entire dj setup in your hand... running on batteries!

[THEWEAZ]

Interesting Idea....


@kel : Did you find it difficult to fit everything onto one card? How long was the set your girl did??

I got a friend who wants me to show up every friday at this joint and DJ an hour or so set while he rests.. I have been considering it but wanted to just use my SP instead of lugging around my other gear.

[kel]

hey WEAZ, i had a 1gb card and we each had a 30 min set. not sure that i checked to see how much space it took up, but i managed to save all of it and throw it on my computer.... you could create a few different sets and choose between them before you take off, which is nice. the recording of the sample themselves is definitely tedious, but if you aren't doing anything fancy with the samples with resamples, and plan on using the tap tempo and effects grab to do stuff live than it won't take as long. and you can set up and tear down literally in seconds!

[hurlingdervish]

you dont have to listen to the song when its recording...


whats the time limit on imported samples?

maybe it would be better to convert mp3s to wave and import them

[kel]

you dont have to listen to the song when its recording...

oh yeah, good point you can just import.

[dman5000]

yeah in fact its been discussed on here that the quality of imported samples is superior to ones recorded through the audio ins. but that quality is relative, although for djing songs i think youd want it

[THEWEAZ]

Damn good to know..
One last thing. Say if i wanted to import a song I wasnt completely familiar with, like a requested song.. What would be the best way of keeping track of your timing in relation to, when the songs ending,when to start mixing.. .ect ...
since there is no indication on the SP how far along the 'sample' is.


only real idea ive thought of is a stop watch with lots of notes for each button.. any better options would be very appreciated.

[dman5000]

are you using the 404 or in your sig it says 555 as well?

[THEWEAZ]

I actually only got the 555.