Ableton Forum

As im not a dj (onece had cd players but sold em) i still dont get the point of djing with ableton.I ask this because im about to perform live, adn i already have my live set structure, still i've always seen dj'ing with live as as an option.


So....what can i do besides just warp tracks to match in tempo?? thats what i dont get, do u beatmatch tracks and use built effects???

Might be a real boring question but i would appreciate some advices.

if you've warped the tracks you don't have to beatmatch.
Aside from that, you do the same thing that every dj does, mix two (or more) records together, throw in some effects (or a lot), drink a beer, dance around a little etc...
The thing about dj-ing with Live is that it's easier to spice up your mix with edits, loops (either cut from existing tracks or stuff you've made yourself), and more options for effects than your average dj mixer.

yep yep - gotta agree with the above.

DJing with Live means that you don't have to manually beatmatch, though of course you do still have to sometimes warp on the fly...

But yeah, it's alot of fun and you can do crazy, and really nice mixes that just aren't possible on turntables... like running an acapella from one tune over a techno track, then slowing the speed (but not the pitch) right down in a break, before mixing into a Cure song or something...

Thanks for ur replies

I see it as being freed from the mundane technical task of beatmatching with turntables so that I am able to do much more with the mix, as mentioned above. So so so much more to do than beatmatching.

btw,

What external hard drive (brand/model) would be a good choice to store and play tracks from. Are there any benefits or drawbacks using an External DRive for Dj'ing. Would tracks remain warped on the external drive?

Thanks!

these guys (Pitch Black) play out their own material from soft synths/wav files, same techniques apply (with fewer layers?) when you DJ. anyway, great video on how it can be done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1siG6_Pd-Mg

Check out tom cosm's site www.tomcosm.com he has really good ideas for Djing with Live.

oops I mean www.cosm.co.nz. Useleless lol

Caymus Cab wrote:What external hard drive (brand/model) would be a good choice to store and play tracks from. Are there any benefits or drawbacks using an External DRive for Dj'ing. Would tracks remain warped on the external drive?

Make sure the drive doesnt have some power saving mode that can't be turned off. The MyBook's suffer from this and it causes problems if the drive falls asleep while you're performing!

Yes, tracks remain warped on an external drive. When you put a file in Ableton, it creates an additional file with .asd at the end. This is the analysis file, and as long as it is in the same folder as the track, and the names match exactly, it will work.

i have no isse on how to perform live, i strip my tracks to loops and then rearrange them i live,order them in scenes and play wit fx..i was just wondering what was so special about dj'ing with live., now i see its more than just beatmatchng