djing with apc 40

[sporkles]

For DJing, possibly, but it's the possibility of launching several clips simultaneously that makes
the clip matrix so attractive.

I'd use scenes for that

Well, d'uh, but when you use scenes, you must plan the scene beforehand; when you trigger clips independently,
you can remix on the fly (and I guess this is more of a composition / live performance thing rather than
a DJ thing).

Question (at work now, so I need to ask lest I forget): when you map a clip's play button to a controller
button - does it map to that slot's play button, so that replacing the clip will retain the mapping
for the new one?

If it does work that way, I could probably get by with just a single scene on my nanoPAD for clip
launching in a DJ setting. I've found limiting myself to four tracks (two for EQ based mixing, and two for
crossfading) and two scenes very fun and challenging: I haven't done any pre-planning - I just start off
with a track, and then warp new tracks on the fly through the cue out

I realise that some of you are into more advanced EQ based mixing, but my Nocturn is really coming into its
own now; on the first page, I've got the buttons mapped to effect racks on my master, and the rotaries
are set up for instant mapping. On the second, I have track levels and a rudimentary EQ crossfade, plus
stop and cue buttons for all four tracks. Lots of hands on goodness, and plenty to keep me occupied. I
only wish the Nocturn had a display telling you which page you're on...

[whenchyiv]

Right. Have you ever 'actually' DJ'd with the APC?

Please tell me how you would fade one track into another using a 3-4 band EQ for each track. Also make sure to include how many times you have to switch banks in order to adjust another tracks EQ, and how you would adjust each tracks eqs simultaneously

Yes, I have. I'm using four decks + dummy clips + loops (six channels in all, the two empty channels acting as separators so I don't get confused while staring at the clip matrix). For the decks I've assigned the pan knobs to hi/lo EQ for each track. If I need mids on one of them that I'm mixing I use the automap knobs. I also reassigned the send knobs to condense them and give me instant access to one-knob DJ effects, and remapped the record buttons as bass-kills. It works fine if you don't just take the default mapping and try to us that, and the flexibility and visual nature of the APC more than makes up for those minor limitations. That having been said, if it doesn't work for you it doesn't work for you. Different strokes for different folks and all that.

EDIT: I should also probably note that I also use a soundcard with multiple outs to a DJ mixer, so the in the box EQing isn't the end all be all for me. And yeah, as a basic A/B DJ controller there are better out there, and really there's better software out there for that too. But if you want to do more than that (hacking and tearing apart songs, rearranging them on the fly, etc) then it's the tits. Now I just need Max for Live to drop so I can hack the activator buttons to act as a step sequencer/buffer glitch effect so I can my current setup of Lucifer+ my laptop keyboard.