using ableton to DJ from the confines of a wheelchair?

shadeofgrey · Post by **shadeofgrey** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 1:58 pm

i know it would be pushing ableton to its limits, but i refuse to accept that DJing from a wheelchair is difinitively impossible.... use your imagination, and read carefully - with luck, one of you will have an idea as to what i have to do to fufill my dream...

i got into electronic music in 1999 and have been dreaming of the day technology would finally enable me to overcome insurrmountable odds and chase my dream of finding sonic fulfillment through DJ'ing. I'm not interested in fame or glory or riches -- all i want to do is DJ because i love the music with every fiber of my heart and soul. whenever im in a lot of pain, or i shake uncontrollably i put on my headphones and listen to my favorite sets and all the circumstances i cant escape melt away. really great electronic music and DJ'ing are as close as ill ever get to being free of the invisible chains that bind me to four wheels and 15 pounds of titanium - so please... take five minutes and mull this over - finding the answer would undoubtably improve my quality of life:

imagine for just a moment that you have one limb you can move under your own power - your left arm and hand... your right arm has 25% of the mobility your left does, and your right hand is always a clenched fist - but your very capable with a track ball mouse and can type with 4 fingers on your left hand at close to 55-70 wpm depending on how medicated you are. now imagine that you want to DJ - and ableton is most likely the key you've been waiting for. how do you harness it?

if i converted tracks on CD and Vinyl to digital .wav files or .aac files - something high quality, and copied them all to a highspeed hard drive (either 10,000 or 15,000 rpm) loading and switching tracks wont be an obsticle anymore. if i got my hands on a mixer that already has a midi controller attached, like the xone:3d and then added a second midi controller to handle all critical events so i dont even have to look at my laptop -- is it doable? obviously it would take hundreds of hours of practice, but thats okay because it took me 3-4 hours a day every day of the year for over a decade to learn how to type one handed. im not afraid of hard work - or attempting the previously unheard of... all i need is guidance.

how awesome would it be if - through hours and hours of dedicated practice - i used ableton 6 to take the dis out of disabied? i make less than $700 a month, but i doubt the folks behind ableton would refuse to sponsor me - and if they did, i'd just save up the cash slowly... it'll take me a long while to find 120 minutes worth of kick butt breakbeats and really hard trance for my first double CD live set anyway. the one truth everyone involved in the scene has discovered is that for every kick ass track there are five thousand bad tracks to dig through. thanks very much for reading this post - and if you think its ultimately possible to pull off im open to any and all suggestions.

cheers,
shadeofgrey

djastroboy · Post by **djastroboy** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 2:40 pm

Paul Johnson, one of the greatest DJs ever, has been djing from a wheelchair for a looong time. Vinyl no less.
Don Tinsleyhas one arm. He's great too.
But tarnce is bad, um-kay?

sweetjesus · Post by **sweetjesus** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 2:41 pm

shadeofgrey wrote:i know it would be pushing ableton to its limits, but i refuse to accept that DJing from a wheelchair is difinitively impossible.... use your imagination, and read carefully - with luck, one of you will have an idea as to what i have to do to fufill my dream...

i got into electronic music in 1999 and have been dreaming of the day technology would finally enable me to overcome insurrmountable odds and chase my dream of finding sonic fulfillment through DJ'ing. I'm not interested in fame or glory or riches -- all i want to do is DJ because i love the music with every fiber of my heart and soul. whenever im in a lot of pain, or i shake uncontrollably i put on my headphones and listen to my favorite sets and all the circumstances i cant escape melt away. really great electronic music and DJ'ing are as close as ill ever get to being free of the invisible chains that bind me to four wheels and 15 pounds of titanium - so please... take five minutes and mull this over - finding the answer would undoubtably improve my quality of life:

imagine for just a moment that you have one limb you can move under your own power - your left arm and hand... your right arm has 25% of the mobility your left does, and your right hand is always a clenched fist - but your very capable with a track ball mouse and can type with 4 fingers on your left hand at close to 55-70 wpm depending on how medicated you are. now imagine that you want to DJ - and ableton is most likely the key you've been waiting for. how do you harness it?

if i converted tracks on CD and Vinyl to digital .wav files or .aac files - something high quality, and copied them all to a highspeed hard drive (either 10,000 or 15,000 rpm) loading and switching tracks wont be an obsticle anymore. if i got my hands on a mixer that already has a midi controller attached, like the xone:3d and then added a second midi controller to handle all critical events so i dont even have to look at my laptop -- is it doable? obviously it would take hundreds of hours of practice, but thats okay because it took me 3-4 hours a day every day of the year for over a decade to learn how to type one handed. im not afraid of hard work - or attempting the previously unheard of... all i need is guidance.

how awesome would it be if - through hours and hours of dedicated practice - i used ableton 6 to take the dis out of disabied? i make less than $700 a month, but i doubt the folks behind ableton would refuse to sponsor me - and if they did, i'd just save up the cash slowly... it'll take me a long while to find 120 minutes worth of kick butt breakbeats and really hard trance for my first double CD live set anyway. the one truth everyone involved in the scene has discovered is that for every kick ass track there are five thousand bad tracks to dig through. thanks very much for reading this post - and if you think its ultimately possible to pull off im open to any and all suggestions.

cheers,
shadeofgrey

i think u will be fine, i dj from a chair without wheels day in dayout, i think your chair will be OK

this is the right program for you, due to the flexible manner in which you can use it with a multitude of controllers depending on which one is right for u.

theres heaps of controllers for vrying degrees of accuracy in tactile control, rubber buttons, pads, triggers etc.. combine that with automated clips (Dummy clips) in Live to preautomate actions such as filter sweeps and rhuthmical cuts etc, you will find a way to work that is natural to you.

a few of us have made some programs which control live on a touch screen, perhaps we can help you a bit... but before getting into the nitty gritty of the controllers perhaps it would help better guide answers by describe a tiny bit more about the kind of moments that are feasible with reliability using your right hand. Also what part of ur hand and fist are you most comfortable to use?

u will find everyone on this board is more than happy to help.

welcome and regards,
sj

popslut · Post by **popslut** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 5:29 pm

My friend Pascal has no arms and DJs with his feet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiIpoyByvTM

shadeofgrey - Ableton Live is absolutely the program for you. Keep asking the right questions and the more knowledgable bods on here will make sure you get the right answers.

D K · Post by **D K** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 5:35 pm

you can absolutely do it!
and i imagine quite quickly at that...
just using the program and a trackball mouse for starters.
live is the way to go....go for it!

Sales Dude McBoob · Post by **Sales Dude McBoob** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 6:03 pm

The Xone 3D is enticing & pretty to look at, but man, on your budget just buy what you need now.

Get Live 6. Use it for a while, and then pick out a controller, like a Faderfox, or something more affordable. I DJ with an Ozonic.

You're right, the hardest part is picking out the music. Don't wait around for a $3000 box... get some affordable gear & Live and get to practicing!

djadonis206 · Post by **djadonis206** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 6:33 pm

yeah, wheelz has been tearing up seattle for years - ina wheelchair

www.djwheelz.com

anything is possible - except for a deaf dj

ARDJ · Post by **ARDJ** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 6:44 pm

popslut wrote:My friend Pascal has no arms and DJs with his feet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiIpoyByvTM

shadeofgrey - Ableton Live is absolutely the program for you. Keep asking the right questions and the more knowledgable bods on here will make sure you get the right answers.

what a trip

rbmonosylabik · Post by **rbmonosylabik** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:00 pm

djadonis206 wrote:anything is possible - except for a deaf dj

you sure?

But seriously, I think it's completely doable. You say you're able to type with 4 fingers of the left hand. Which are they? If you can't use the thumb, maybe a controller with faders rather than knobs would help. Maybe a BCR2000 or BCF2000.

Also, for your right hand, besides the trackball mouse, you could also consider a pads controller like the PadKontrol or Trigger Finger mapped to Live's transport functions and scene/clip browsing.

With those 2 and a little practice I could see you switching tracks, transitioning and mangling the sound in a very fast and efficient way.

Also, you can map almost everything in Live's GUI to your computer keyboard as well as anything that sends MIDI to it, so the possibilities are almost endless.

popslut · Post by **popslut** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:06 pm

djadonis206 wrote:
anything is possible - except for a deaf dj

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Glennie

If Evelyn Glennie can carve out a long and successful career as a percussionist and composer, despite being prodoundly deaf, I'd have thought a deaf DJ would have more chance than you'd at first assume...

P.s. Apologies to shadeofgrey for semi-hijacking his/her thread...

Patch · Post by **Patch** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:09 pm

shadeofgrey - I wish you all the luck in the world, mate. What you want is DEFINITELY doable using Live. It's been mentioned in this thread already - DUMMY CLIPS are definitely the way to go. You can achieve what you want to do using just the trackball and keys that you are used to. Without spending any cash on controllers.

(DUMMY CLIPS are clips that can be triggered to carry out any type of action in Live [fades/settings changes/effects on & off] and can be triggered by a mouse click, or assgned to a key on the keyboard. Imagine assigning a key to a dummy clip that fades a track out over 8/16/32 bars. Hit a key and the fade starts, so you'd still be able to firing clips/sarting tunes as the fade is happening. DUMMY CLIPS have been described as an extra pair of arms in Live...)

You'll get all the help you need here on ableton.com - try also AbletonLiveDJ

rajcoont · Post by **rajcoont** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:11 pm

djadonis206 wrote: anything is possible - except for a deaf dj

sqook · Post by **sqook** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:13 pm

If you could type a post longer than 90% of the cruft on this board, then you could definitely use live.

It's just a matter of finding the right controller and ergonomics for your needs.

As a random suggestion, you might consider checking out the lemur by jazzmutant. It's a bit pricey, but very offers a very configurable layout.

vinkalmann · Post by **vinkalmann** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:21 pm

The knobs on the Behringer BCR2000 are fairly large and very easy to deal with compared to controllers like the UC33e.

blank · Post by **blank** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 1:13 am

I'm working part time with disabled kids of all genre since over ten years.

Some of them, 1 year and a half ago ask me to help them doing music with a computer ( like hip hop dance and all the things) cause they know I work in studios.

After testing many apps with them, one called ableton live, killed any other software options cause of the simplicity but also cause its totally controllable ( and life 6 make all the things pretty much easier).

So now, since a couple of months of pratice and of work to build controller (we just achieve a midi trigerring system using the neck movement) these kids are able to use live for music creation purpose and also for djjing.

I admit they still need a lot of pratice and I also admit that Live is not the only software involved, there is also max/msp and plogue bidule and this is a lot of work.

It is possible to achieve this, in my case i'm facing many kinds of disabilities, I guess your case should be more simple than the ones I face now.

Hope you will get it, sincerly.

using ableton to DJ from the confines of a wheelchair?

using ableton to DJ from the confines of a wheelchair?

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