dj's using pre eq'd tracks with final scratch

[the_psychologist]

"and then you've GOT to mix it at exactly the right point so you aren't left with, for example no bass at all."

exactly. i've seen him play his usual multi-source DJ sets, and i have no idea why he'd want to play this way.

i've also seen him use a footpedal with FS/Traktor, which allowed him to tap his foot to get the tempo more accurate (thereby making adjustments while in the mix).

[g]

oh fer chrissake.

the footpedal is nothing more than an on/off switch for the efx box.

[dJpZ]

lol

[the_psychologist]

sorry, but that's not true. i took video of him usung the pedal, and it's clear that it's for matching the tempo. whenever the beats would drift a bit, he'd tap the pedal in time with the kickdrum, and the beats would snap back together. it had nothing to do with effects.

[g]

or he was timing a multi-tap delay unit.

before moving to the 2nd laptop for efx, that pedal was used to control a Lexicon (or DP4, sometimes) efx box, which was routed out the Send and then back into an empty channel strip on the mixer, making the efx another ~instrument. he could mix all the way out of both decks, 'play' the efx track, and come back in with a record (or sampler) whenever he felt like it.

what you're suggesting is not possible with fs. pitch is still controlled with the decks, manually.

it's theoretically possible he's tapping into the 2nd computer which is now a Live/multi-effects unit but in that case he would have been interacting with an AIFF file and/or the new efx send in Ableton, not a FS mp3 file you're hearing on the decks.

there's also a lot of tapping that goes on with the c-loops sampler, but that's all by hand.

he also just likes to tap his foot a lot.

[the_psychologist]

hehe, i didn't realize you were a Hawtin anorak!

anyway, all i can do is report what i saw, and that suggested that *whatever* he was controlling with the pedal was having the tempo synced by tapping. i've been spinning long enough to have pretty trained ears, and the beats were definitely being corrected this way.

this was about 1.5 years ago in NYC, at the weekly summer event PS2.

cheers

[the_psychologist]

oh, and i know that FS is adjusted by the deck pitch sliders. i'm not THAT clueless. i was curious if he could have been controlling Traktor on one laptop with the pedal. sad that i use the program, and still don't know if you can do this. but i imagine that they'd bend over backwards to suit his needs if he wanted a non-standard setup.

[g]

a hawtin hooded pullover? ;) well, no, but rich is a friend and i've helped tear down his rig more than once.

i remember talking to him about that PS2 event & he sent me some video. whole damn place was jumping up and down! mid-day and it really looked like it was going OFF.

i can't say he's never used traktor but i can say that, in general, he doesn't. i'd be surprised if he ever had in a live situation. francois K does sometimes. wouldn't make sense tho, cuz pitch correction is a one-button-press affair in traktor. you can tap tempo but that's normally done way ahead of time, when you're setting up the files. anyway whatever he was tapping had to be tied to ableton. or you were hearing timing corrections on the delay line, as it related to the decks.

[the_psychologist]

yeah, that party is usually pretty rammed with energetic people. too bad the sound cut out a couple times on him! he looked well annoyed.

i figured it would be natural for him to use Traktor, since he and Aquaviva were basically the first DJs testing FS for the company. but maybe the blending of the products was a recent development?

anyway, this has gone round and round enough for now

[davethedrummer]

i played with ritchie twice well before final scratch existed
and the footpedal was there then, he was using it as somekind of controller for his delay unit.(i think it's just a basic volume pedal but it could be a midi peadl to control delay times)
as for pre eq'ing trax before you play them
i've never heard anything so ridiculous in all my born days.
firstly: it would make it impossible to get right but very possible to get wrong
secondly: ritchie hawtin IS a very accomplished dj (whether you like him or not)and after me looking over his shoulder as he was playing i'm convinced of the mans integrity in so far that i'm sure he wouldn't "cheat"
thirdly: it sounds like a playground rumour invented by someone who just either wants to have a conversation about final scratch or ritchie hawtin or both, or just purley doesn't know how either djing or final; scratch works and is just taking a wild stab in the dark.

sorry to be so blunt but come on really , the whole idea of this is just so silly its absurd.

[g]

i figured it would be natural for him to use Traktor, since he and Aquaviva were basically the first DJs testing FS for the company. but maybe the blending of the products was a recent development?

you're just misunderstanding what the traktor implementation in FS consists of. it's just a back-end/file structure thing. FS has operationally been the same since day 1 and using the current 'Traktor/FS' (just marketing speak) has nothing in common with using Traktor, the application.