Kipp Wieland demonstrates how they do it in Cedar Rapids, IA, demoing a custom digital DJ setup.
The system is capable of playing up to eight stereo elements at one time, be they whole songs, clips, or loops:
“I loop everything that goes into it – even 9-minute tracks!
I put this together when Mike (running camera) asked me to come up with a system that did not use turntables, CDJ decks, or headphones.
We can render a three-day-long seamless show with this stuff.
I e-mailed Ableton at one point and asked if there was a way to cherry-pick through the on-screen clips externally, and they told me there was not. I proved them wrong with that $30.00 Logitech joystick there. The system also incorporates a Quasimidi Raveolution 309, a Novation X Station, and a Korg KP3 Kaoss Pad.
Brilliant setup, eh?
Kipptumor is my Youtube name. Anyway – The cubes are capable of a lot more functions than just changing clips, but we’ve been working on getting our Ableton sets edited to a comfortable point, and I spent three months just getting the system to the point where we can perform with it. One problem was that the Raveolution has been out of production for a few years and when I acquired my used unit it came with no manual. So I found a copy on line and downloaded it. Everything involved sticking my nose in manuals for months, but we have the entire system to where we wanted it to be originally. It keeps teaching us new tricks, however, and it was built that way on purpose. I wanted it to keep surprising us and holding our interest. There are literally thousands of tricks hiding in there.
Kipp – thanks for the feedback.
I updated the link.
Let us know if you’re going to be in the Des Moines area performing.