Ms Pinky VST

[phulon@live.co.uk]

Regarding Ms Pinky VST for scratching Live audio clips.
1) Has anyone tried it?
2) Does it work as well with Timecode vinyl, CD and your regular jog wheels?
3) Does it feel like proper scratching ,in that when you stop scratching and let go does the rest of the audio clip play through at a respectable pick rate or does it "slurr" into play ? -( Turntabilsts will know what I mean).
4) How was it for latency and what hardware did you have hooked up?

Thanks for all comments,

Billy

[glitchrock-buddha]

1) Yes
2) Only used Timecode vinyl on turntables.
3) Sounds and plays just like regular vinyl
4) latency will depend on your soundcard. I've used many different devices but at the point when the audio goes in, it's an analog signal so manipulating the audio file will be similar to what you can get with a microphone or guitar (easily under 10 ms) depending on your buffer and how much cpu you want to use. If you want to use an analog mixer however, then you will increase your latency because the timecode signal will go in your audio device, then the audio signal will come out of your audio device and into your mixer, then go from your mixer back into your audio device. So if you want to do that you're going to want to get very low latency, but it's still manageable. The other option if you don't have great latency is to use a midi mixer for the crossfader on ableton's crossfader and apply that to the channel that Ms. Pinky is on. I've found that works pretty well actually using an M-Audio X-Session Pro for example.

[phulon@live.co.uk]

Great insite, thanks for that. I think i'll take the plunge as scratching in live is something I have always wanted to be able to do. I've looked at countless systems like Traktor and Serato but none seem work within Live.
Thanks again.
Billy

[glitchrock-buddha]

Keep in mind that Ms.Pinky is also now a Max for Live patch, which integrates even better, like letting you scratch the contents of clips (Rather than having to load in the VST).

[JuanSOLO]

After the Ms Pinky M4L device came out, a revised edition was posted along with a video with a misleading title saying you could "scratch clips" in Live. This is far from the truth. The Ms Pinky M4L device does not actually "scratch clips." The Pinky device just uses a "highlighted clip's" name to search for the audio file in a dedicated folder, and loads it into the Pinky device. It's not actually playing the clip you view in Ableton. You could use a BLANK clip in Ableton, even a midi clip, as long as it has the same name as the audio file you are trying to access in the dedicated Pinky folder. So using the M4L Ms Pinky just turns Live into a giant Browser for Ms Pinky. When using 2 decks of Ms Pinky in Live, and you have THOUSANDS of tracks, and you keep them in seperate folders, and Ms Pinky is trying to look one up, It will have a short hiccup affecting BOTH DECKS. This is very frustrating and makes Pinky unbearable to me. HOWEVER, the workaround is not to have sub folders and prior to playing a DJset, only load the tracks your going to use in your Pinky audio folder..

I spent a whole year exclusively using the Ms Pinky M4L Device, and did a lot of custom work on it, with lots of help from others. It's not that Ms Pinky is not capable, it's just not AS capable when it comes to very basic stuff like CUE Points, Looping, and loading Tracks. Granted you can customize it to do things Traktor and Serato, cannot, but it lacks some basics.

As far as simple scratching, it does that fairly well. However it still does not hold up to the competition. The deck will eventually slip the position a bit. If your into heavy beat juggle routines, M4L Ms Pinky is not the way to go.

I am specifically talking about the M4L version of Ms Pinky, not the standalone. I am in no way bashing the device, I love it , still use it from time to time, and it's a lot of fun. I just want to contribute some clarity about what it does not offer that always gets overlooked, unwritten about, or continues to project a misleading feature "clip scratching."

I have little experience with using the standalone or VST version though.

[phulon@live.co.uk]

So Juan,

How did you find the VST version in regards to 3 of the 4 original questions,

2) Does it work as well with Timecode vinyl, CD and your regular jog wheels?
3) Does it feel like proper scratching ,in that when you stop scratching and let go does the rest of the audio clip play through at a respectable pick rate or does it "slurr" into play ? -( Turntabilsts will know what I mean).
4) How was it for latency and what hardware did you have hooked up?


Thanks

Billy

[JuanSOLO]

Like I said, I have little experience with the VST version. Based on my experience with the M4L version, I would not recommend Ms Pinky for a seasoned turntablist. It's not because it slurs, or because of latency, it's because the position skates around more than I care for. From what I have read over at the Pinky forums, it "seems" the VST version is better. My set up was using 2 Technics 1200's, Audio 8 DJ, and a MackBookPro.

If I get the chance this weekend I will load up the VST and give it a spin, and repost my thoughts about it.

For whatever it's worth, the Ms Pinky Timecode Vinyl gets a way stronger signal than Serato or Traktor. It's just as low latency as your sound card will allow. For 100 bucks it's worth the risk of buying it to find out if you will like it or not. I dont use it when I do DJ gigs anymore. I did for a year, but I went back to Traktor for gigs. I still play with Pinky at home sometimes, and if I get a new computer, I may even work it into my "Live" set that I use with my band.

[phulon@live.co.uk]

We look forward to that,
Thanks again.

[buzkin]

i have a problem with the ms pinky pluggo.
i have a analogue mixer and i want to to route the timecode signal thru the mixer thru my audio4dj to ableton with asio4all.
how could i set this up?
regards

[Rabalder]

i have a problem with the ms pinky pluggo.
i have a analogue mixer and i want to to route the timecode signal thru the mixer thru my audio4dj to ableton with asio4all.
how could i set this up?
regards

Bad idea.
You wont get a continuous audio signal if you do it like this.
The file youre scratching/playing will only move forward/backwards when you let the timecode signal through. Otherwise it will stay where you last left it, even if the vinyl is spinning..

You need to feed the timecode signal into the plug-in at all times. Its the audio signal from the plug-in you want to route externaly through your mixer.

[buzkin]

i have a problem with the ms pinky pluggo.
i have a analogue mixer and i want to to route the timecode signal thru the mixer thru my audio4dj to ableton with asio4all.
how could i set this up?
regards

Bad idea.
You wont get a continuous audio signal if you do it like this.
The file youre scratching/playing will only move forward/backwards when you let the timecode signal through. Otherwise it will stay where you last left it, even if the vinyl is spinning..

You need to feed the timecode signal into the plug-in at all times. Its the audio signal from the plug-in you want to route externaly through your mixer.

yeah thats right i need to feed the timecode singal to the plug-in - but how do i do this?
i got the audio4dj and want to cut/scratch with the analogue mixer the ms pinky pluggo.
so should i route the mixers-master to my soundcard-line in and route the line-in to ms pinky?

thanks for your help!

[Rabalder]

i have a problem with the ms pinky pluggo.
i have a analogue mixer and i want to to route the timecode signal thru the mixer thru my audio4dj to ableton with asio4all.
how could i set this up?
regards

Bad idea.
You wont get a continuous audio signal if you do it like this.
The file youre scratching/playing will only move forward/backwards when you let the timecode signal through. Otherwise it will stay where you last left it, even if the vinyl is spinning..

You need to feed the timecode signal into the plug-in at all times. Its the audio signal from the plug-in you want to route externaly through your mixer.

yeah thats right i need to feed the timecode singal to the plug-in - but how do i do this?
i got the audio4dj and want to cut/scratch with the analogue mixer the ms pinky pluggo.
so should i route the mixers-master to my soundcard-line in and route the line-in to ms pinky?

thanks for your help!

1. Plug the output from your turntable directly into your audio4dj.
2. Route that^ signal to the vst within Live.
3. Send the output from the vst to your mixer.
4. Route the output from your mixer back into live.

[buzkin]

1. Plug the output from your turntable directly into your audio4dj.
2. Route that^ signal to the vst within Live.
3. Send the output from the vst to your mixer.
4. Route the output from your mixer back into live.

this sounds very good man!!
and does that even work with asio4all or should i only use asio and then audio4dj as device in ableton preferences?

[Rabalder]

1. Plug the output from your turntable directly into your audio4dj.
2. Route that^ signal to the vst within Live.
3. Send the output from the vst to your mixer.
4. Route the output from your mixer back into live.

this sounds very good man!!
and does that even work with asio4all or should i only use asio and then audio4dj as device in ableton preferences?

I use a mac.. I have no idea.. sorry

[buzkin]

1. Plug the output from your turntable directly into your audio4dj.
2. Route that^ signal to the vst within Live.
3. Send the output from the vst to your mixer.
4. Route the output from your mixer back into live.

this sounds very good man!!
and does that even work with asio4all or should i only use asio and then audio4dj as device in ableton preferences?

should i plug the output from my turntable to input A oder output A?