Marc Reck

The sun is glorious, so it was most definitly time for a bbq and beers in evening. I’d however gone to town to pick up my birthday present, so from 11pm it was time to get to know it.

On monday i went through the pain staking process of setting my other keyboard up. Working with midi and cubase sx, is not the most straightforward of processes, and one that i have found very troublesome. On of the main secrets i learnt if you are trying to use the learn funtion is that you need to keep clicking learn while you turn the controller! It does work, (though for years i thought i was missing something!)…..Anway more on this on my reckorder site coming soon.

This new little baby however is supposed to be designed for intuitively mapping itself to the plugs and controllers, mixers and instruments, that it is almost impossible to do in cubase sx 3. (though very easy with most other sequencers, thanks to the more intuitive midi learn functions).

The main reason for buying this was to have hands on control for my Traktor setup though, so as soon as i plugged it in, i was hoping to see the controls in Traktor moving. This however was not to be, and a little reading of the manual was needed. Being me, like most others i know, the manual was the last thing i wanted to read, so i played with it for about 5 hours, reading forums, and watching video tutorials.

Along the way i worked out a fair few things thoug, but basically to control Traktor you need to assign each controller in the remote sl editor, save the syx file as Traktor, and then create a .tks file in Traktor. There are some about on that djtech tools site, but unless you like using what they do, you better of creating your own.

In cubase however its a lot better, and most of the plugins are already recognised. All you need to do is load up the latest automap from the website, and then open up cubase, and the plugin, and it should automatically map your controls. There are also some templates you can dload from the site, if automap doesnt work well (like stylus rmx for example)

Either way making electronic music is a whole new world when you can actually move play the instrument, as opposed to program the instrument. Dynamics and flow of sound is crucial to making your ideas sound good, so get on those knobs, and record you movements.

I should add btw, that its only Cubase that i’ve had the controller problems with. Reason and Ableton have an easy midi learn. Still with whatever program i can def recommend this automap feature on the Novation control series of midi controllers, as its nice for it to map automatically.

In Traktor i’ve now built a template so that i can drop loops and cue points on the fly, and then play them with the pads and keys live. This is my first step to the live jamming idea i mentioned, and think it could really work and open up some new avenues for my djing (with a whole lot of practice of course!)

I also just ordered my first (30th birthday) djembe, from a friend that makes them for pretty much cost. With the arsenal of instruments, and people to play them, i’m more excited about djing, than i ever have been.

And this new controller is small enough for me to go and sit outside in the sunshine and dj with!