Dj'ing with the APC40

[techtom]

Hey guys I'm in the process of going from traditional vinyl dj'ing to dj'ing 'in the box' with the APC40 and Live 8 and thought it would be interesting to hear how people are doing this (how many channels people are using and any remapping setups).

My setup is a work in progress as i get used to it but so far im using;
-4 channels with pans remapped to high and low eq on eq3
-Cue level mapped to master tempo
- 3 scene launch pads mapped to LOOP/Start/end
-1 send mapped to a channel with dummy clips for beat repeat 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 and some builds etc
-Basic effects rack device with reverb,flager,filters (high and low sweep),gain on each track
(im toying with differnt effects to find my favs just now -theres loadsa knobs tht need utilising!)

[CwT9M97r]

Thanks for sharing. There are definitely a lot of knobs. I use the APC mainly for a dj'ing set up but recently have found myself spending more time playing around with it producing beats. Considering I'm not a producer the results are a work in progress. But the apc was designed for music production. It works great with my novation Sl25.

As for DJing with the apc - I'm not a fan of sharing one set of knobs on multiple channels and effects. So I still run a second device to control all of my effects per channel. I'm using the Korg Zero 8. Which is probably overkill for what I'm now using it for. But I still use it for other set ups. Its a great mixer. I have each row of knobs and faders assigned to each channel in live.

On the APC40 I switched the master volume to scroll through the scenes and the cue knob for tempo control.

I cant wait for Max for Live. for now I am keeping it pretty simple and using most of the default settings.
I have two DJ effect racks I've compiled one for effects (smart knob, looper, gate, echo, flanger and I also have a hi-lo knob) and one for sound tweaking (eq, gain, etc...)

I'm also running some 3rd party effects vst (Artillery2) through a nano keypad and nano pad. I have a handful of stutter looping effects, reverse and a few other effect that are easier to get out of this vst vs. creating in Live.

curious to hear what other people are doing. There's already been some crazy things posted on youtube.

[sacredgeometry]

at the moment with the apc i have 2 tracks for the songs i am mixing and another 6 for synth parts, stabs, rhythmic bits, vocal samples and just generally bits and bobs i want to add after that i have my effects set up on the next 8 tracks routed through sends and returns i have listed a file in the tips forum recently of how i set up my effects to use dummy clips so i can have effects automation.

generally ableton has just allowed my to only pick and choose the best bits from songs and key match everything get the beat grids perfect so i can stick anything on anything within reason and it sounds new and great my current set is nowhere near finnished and i can get a good hour set from it allready i jsut want more choice on the day so i can work off the crowd alot more.

i dont need panning so i set it so that it controls the first two tracks eq and gain (well limiter shelf)

a good place to look for tips is at tom cosm he has some very interest videos and shared files that demonstrate some incredibly thought provoking ideas. My effects routing file is a reworking of his idea in a way that worked better for me...involved less fucking about.

peace

brian

[techtom]

Ha yeah I'm the same dunno if I'd have the patience to build a megaset from scratch so I've borrowed the dummy clips. I was starting to wonder where you could really go next with dj'ing on ableton until I found his site. Tom cosm is awesome!

[sacredgeometry]

Ha yeah I'm the same dunno if I'd have the patience to build a megaset from scratch so I've borrowed the dummy clips. I was starting to wonder where you could really go next with dj'ing on ableton until I found his site. Tom cosm is awesome!

yeah i know what you mean....i am trying to build the fx on my current set and its a head ache to get it all set up but after it is it is so worth it........btw on my set you have to cross fade to the right for the effects to work. I just wanted to i guess out a way to remove the need to mute a track before you could use the effect i think it works ok but there is always room for improvements.

:S

peace

brian

[Tarekith]

I used my APC40 a few weeks back to DJ with for the first time, and I found really fun. More than I expected.

I still have my first two channels in Live being used as my DJ "decks" (routed seperately to a Xone62 DJ Mixer), as the music I play doesn't lend itself to layering more than 2 songs together usually. So the other 6 channels in my DJ template were used as my 'crate', where I had sorted a ton of tracks based on tempo. All 6 of these tracks were fed to a seperate ouput on my MOTU Ultralite for cueing, via a Xone62. This way i could preview and cue tunes while my decks were playing, all by using the APC grid. Then when I wanted to play one of the tunes I'd found, I just dragged it into my 1st two channels with the trackpad (I'm not someone against using a mouse on stage), and triggered it via the grid again. Cue Level knob on the APC was set to control tempo, as my sets span a wide tempo range.

For effects, I had two custom racks on channels 1 and 2. If you know my 1-knob DJ effects:

http://tarekith.com/assets/TarekithDJEFXv6.5.zip

You'll know that they are designed to be controlled by only 1 knob. At 64 (center) the knob does nothing, the audio is passed through unaffected. Turning the knob left introduces one effect, turning it right introduces another effect. So I racked 8 of my favorite DJ EFX into a new single rack. This way, when that track was selected, the 8 device control knobs on the APC would by default control 16 different performance-based effects per channel. I aso set up a reverb/wash sound on Send 2, and a simple delay on Send 1, so I could use the Send knobs on the APC.

The Arrow Right and Arrow Left buttons on the APC I assigned to the track view buttons in midi map mode (the pie chart showing clip playback status). This way I can easily swap between my left and right decks, see the effects on each channel, an make adjustments quickly.

I still prefer a highquality DJ mixer for actually EQing and doing the mixing and cueing. I'm old school I guess, the Allen and Heath Xone62 mixer I have sounds sweet, so I don't mind using it. I have the record outs from the DJ mixer going back into an input on my MOTU, and then feeding a few audio track in Live. This way i can record my performance post-DJ mixer back into Live, and capture the whole performance with not much in terms of signal chain.

[sacredgeometry]

I still prefer a highquality DJ mixer for actually EQing and doing the mixing and cueing..

i cant blame you Allen and heath mixers are incredible still want to get a job with them as they are not to far away from me.

peace

brian

[djboyoboyo]

Hey guys I'm in the process of going from traditional vinyl dj'ing to dj'ing 'in the box' with the APC40 and Live 8 and thought it would be interesting to hear how people are doing this (how many channels people are using and any remapping setups).

My setup is a work in progress as i get used to it but so far im using;
-4 channels with pans remapped to high and low eq on eq3
-Cue level mapped to master tempo
- 3 scene launch pads mapped to LOOP/Start/end
-1 send mapped to a channel with dummy clips for beat repeat 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 and some builds etc
-Basic effects rack device with reverb,flager,filters (high and low sweep),gain on each track
(im toying with differnt effects to find my favs just now -theres loadsa knobs tht need utilising!)

with pans re-mapped to EQ's - is it possible to see when you are at 0DB on EQ for both tracks simultaneously?

[trilo]

I'm still exploring and tweaking my setup, it's a very flexible piece of gear and there are some really great ideas on these forums (note to self, try mapping the APC master volume to the scene scroller in the morning).

First thing I did was remap cue volume to tempo. From there, I've added a few racks/effects to each channel. I can use the left-right buttons below that bank of knobs on the lower right to page around between them, but to save a little time I mapped the pan/a/b/c bank of 8 knobs in the top right to bass drops/filter sweep/beat repeat/slicer, and the clip activation buttons have been remapped to show me that track's clip view (when a clip is loaded/playing). I'm currently using 1-5 for tracks/songs and 6-8 for loops/drops.

That's been feeling really good lately, though I'm sure it will mutate a bit more as time goes on

[Rerun]

Just got the APC and am quite impressed overall.

I am confused about a few things I have read. It seems that some people have remapped for example the clip activation buttons to the clip view of the current track that is playing. However, it seems can't you always get there by using the Track selection buttons and then pressing the clip/track button if you are not in the right mode?

Also, I have been playing around with remapping a few of the controls. I thought I could remap one the pan encoders to the start position of the currently selected clip and I was able to which was great. However, I have no way to control the sensitivity and the best I can do is have the encoder move the start position by 2 bars. It would be fine if I could get it to 1 bar increments.

Anyone know of a workaround?

Thanks

[nezzyidy]

Rerun, That sounds like your global grid is set to 2 bars, am I Right? Try decreasing it to one.

[Rerun]

I don't think that is it as i tried it with different settings and it doesn't seem to work. I think I may need Bomes to help control the midi messages which are sent. Have you gotten it to work?

[pbajzek]

For effects, I had two custom racks on channels 1 and 2. If you know my 1-knob DJ effects:

http://tarekith.com/assets/TarekithDJEFXv6.5.zip

I'm not a DJ, but I've been working on a similar concept (lots of bang for very few controls) since I got an APC a few weeks ago. I have to say your implementation here is brilliant. Thanks for sharing these racks- they've helped me figure out ways to build my own effects better.

[djazz]

check http://www.thehousemusic.co.uk/ableton/?l=apc