The Controllerism Movement

[Gazza75]

The purpose of this thread is to discuss the movement in the industry (especially the club/production) towards a controller based DJing style.

I have wrestled with the question does controllerism have a place in mobile DJing ever since I started this profession. Admittedly the majority of the time my answer was no. Although there are times when I believe these may be useful.

I currently use a setup involving a traktor kontrol S2 and F1 pictured below.



Each pad on the F1 can have a sample or live recording attached to it and play-backed at will.

Possible uses:

• Sample deck containing either full tracks or phrases eg "surprise!", "happy birthday"
• A touch pad with songs required to be cued constantly throughout the night (saves time reloading the track)
• Recording of an analogue input (mic, guitar, etc) and application of effects.
• Endless remix possibilities
• Dropping of a clients name into a song (eg use the wet/dry filter to filter the name out of happy birthday and at the press button insert your name of choice)
• Have a promotional message (similar to a radio jingle) with company/DJ name to promote business
• Pre-recorded public service messages (last orders, rules on children in premises etc)

These are just some of the uses and admittedly there are ways of doing these with just a mic but I find some of these useful and wondered how many of us have even considered these possible uses?

So do you use this technology?
Are you even interested?
Do I even make sense?

Yes i do understand that some may even question why even bother? Well if you spend as much time as I do building sample libraries and mixing in this format you can create songs from snippets of others a massively gratifying task, the link below shows an example of this. My main reason however for starting down this road was innovation in an attempt to create something unique and elevate myself to a stage where I am more skilled than the average DJ.

For those interested in some of these idea's the hardware is easy to find info on however an excellent guide on how to sample any sound from the internet can be found here.

Your thoughts and opinions are appreciated.

[simonp]

My set up is similar - Kontrol S4 and F1 - I did a controllerism demo at SEDA around 18 months ago - The word 'contollerism' was pretty new then and I had to spell it several times for the piece that went in pro-mobile magazine - I still don't think it is a proper word

[ukpartydj]

I'm very interested in the DJM-T1 from Pioneer.

I currently use Traktor 2, audio 6, X1 and pioneer DJM-600.
Seems like the DJM-T1 is all my hardware in one mixer - good stuff... trouble is that it's only 2 channel + 2 remix decks!
I currently use my mixer -

1) deck A
2) deck B
3) decks C & D
4) Media Player through headphone jack, so I can just shove on a playlist / if traktor crashes I have a quick recovery.

If it was 4 channel I would sell all my hardware and swap straight away - I'd probably not pay much more after I've sold all my stuff

[Dynamic Entertainment]

I must admit, even though I can pick and choose between Serato Scratch Live, CDJs, and a whole range of other hardware....for the pub gigs, I'm reaching for my XoneDX. ...the ease of 4 deck mixing and the power at my fingertips to get creative is a big draw.

[atlanticdisco]

So guys staying with the theme of this thread. I am looking to move away from my Pioneer DJM5000 and MEP/SEP that i currently use with VDJ Pro and quite fancy the new Pioneer DDJ SX setup.
Do you own or have you ever played around with this new controller.

I am also looking at if i go for this using serato rather than VDJ. again, have any of you used the serato DJ software?

thanks

Iain

[simonp]

So guys staying with the theme of this thread. I am looking to move away from my Pioneer DJM5000 and MEP/SEP that i currently use with VDJ Pro and quite fancy the new Pioneer DDJ SX setup.
Do you own or have you ever played around with this new controller.

I am also looking at if i go for this using serato rather than VDJ. again, have any of you used the serato DJ software?

thanks

Iain

With respect Iain your post isn't staying with the original theme of the thread. You're talking about getting a new set up that involves a digital controller (I've played with the DDJ SX and its a nice piece of kit - Ian Forest has one and could give you a better low down on the kit). However, having a digital controller and DJing with one shouldn't be confused with 'controllerism', which is completely different.

[atlanticdisco]

@ Simon

can you explain controllerism for me.

the information to gain from such a thread as this for someone like myself who is looking at the controller market is very valuable. it allows me to get a feel for whats going on regards controllers from the people using them.

Iain