The DJ world has made leaps and bounds over the past years. It was reported that turntables were actually outselling guitars and the hype doesn’t look to be slowing down anytime soon. However, as DJ’ing quickly became big business, the technology didn’t catch up until a few years ago. Eventually, specialized mixers and different turntable designs made there way to DJ booths around the world, and as with pretty much everything else it was only a matter of time before a computer would show up on stage too. There was a need for DJ’s to play digital music and there were many who were having big vinyl collections and a digital soundbases at the same time. The best way of combining these using traditional tools is by using a digital vinyl system.

[Vinyl emulation software allows the user to physically manipulate the playback of digital audio files on a computer using the turntables as an interface, thus preserving the hands-on 'feel' of deejaying with vinyl while allowing playback of audio recordings not available in phonograph form. This allows DJs to scratch, beatmatch, and perform other turntablism that would be impossible with a conventional keyboard-and-mouse computer interface. source: TraktorWiki ]

Digital vinyl systems consist of a soundcard (connected to a computer and a mixer) and special records that can be used in order to spin digital music files by using normal turntables. The records are supplied with a timecode signal and can be played via traditional turntables. The signal is routed from the interface to the computer where it gets decoded and rerouted to the mixer. This way it is possible to spin MP3 files without losing the typical vinyl feeling. These systems can be described as one of the DJ sector’s most important and innovative developments in recent years. The result is digital audio playback that feels like it can be manipulated like a vinyl record. With almost endless storage on harddisks, DJ’s can carry their whole music collection with just one laptop.  This makes it almost impossible for a DJ to bring the wrong records! Another big advantage is that a DJ can use the softwares effects and other tools while he’s still using real turntables and a real mixer. It looks, feels and really is  “DJ” but with the addition of digital possibilities. A DJ can now play his own produced songs, downloaded mp3′s, recordings, samples and loops, and use many effects along with them. The really cool thing is that there’s no need for new equipment and playing regular records and cd’s is also still possible.

How it works

The software shows 2 players on the laptop monitor and every deck responds to a turntable or cd-player. The DJ selects a song he wants to play and adds it to the player. Spinning the left turntable makes the left player on the computer do exactly the same at equal speed while the timecode noise on the vinyl tells the computer it’s place in the song. So when you drop a needle one minute after the beginning, the computer will play the song also at one minute. If you make the turntable run faster or brake it down, the computer will also do this at same time. It really feels like playing real records on a turntable, but it actually is mp3 you’re playing from your laptop. It’s realisitic, a blind folded DJ can’t tell if it’s true vinyl records or digital.  There’s no need to search for a record no more, songs can be found on your harddrive real quick using the database, making playlists easier then it ever was before. Because the mp3 waveform is displayed big on the monitor, the musical information becomes visual. This makes it very easy to overview a track because every change, like an intro or break, can be spotted instantly. With thousands of records in a laptop and the quick way they can be loaded, much time is saved for putting more personality into the mix. The software’s effects section gives many possibilities like looping, delay or mash up sounds to make a live remix to put your creativity to the test.

To Me

I’ve been using digital vinyl since the early beginning of it.  I did some feedback and bugreporting to Stanton and Native Instruments during development of new releases and helped many people on user forums.  All gigs during the last 6 year were done with digital vinyl systems, so I guess you can say I’m really into it. Digital vinyl is the best of two worlds: the traditional way and the new digital way. I think it’s the only solution for anybody who want’s to DJ regular but also wants to use modern effects and tools found on the most modern cd-players and mixers. DJ’s can still use turntables, but with the added digital features it brings DJing to a whole other level with so much more control and fantastic extras.  It saves me so much time and money finding records and with my music collection always at my disposal, I’m always prepared for any crowd! Although digital systems are very often seen in booths worldwide, here in Holland I still get some strange faces when I use these.
Beau.

Filed under: DJ Talk
by Beau