Anybody have an iPad as an EFX in their setup?
Anybody have an iPad as an EFX in their setup? Posted on: 22.06.2012 by Palma Hanslip After watching the James Zabiela interview with Pete Tong a while back i'v been sitting believeing about his setup and how he uses a traditional CDJ setup but with digital age add ons..Like James i use CDJ's and a mixer to mix. No laptop used at all, but i recently got an iPad for my birthday and was wondering what ways there were to put it incorporate it into my setup, preferably EFX. I'm waiting for the RMX1000 to come into stock at my local DJ store but i also want a bit more. But never having intentions of using Traktor for sets (even though i have it) i can't see any other ways apart from having Ableton running also. I know there are apps like TouchOSC, iMaschine and other apps but thats where my digital stupidity comes into play. Does anybody use an iPad in their setup non stop? Input would be appreciated. | |
| Palma Hanslip 22.06.2012 | After watching the James Zabiela interview with Pete Tong a while back i'v been sitting believeing about his setup and how he uses a traditional CDJ setup but with digital age add ons.. Like James i use CDJ's and a mixer to mix. No laptop used at all, but i recently got an iPad for my birthday and was wondering what ways there were to put it incorporate it into my setup, preferably EFX. I'm waiting for the RMX1000 to come into stock at my local DJ store but i also want a bit more. But never having intentions of using Traktor for sets (even though i have it) i can't see any other ways apart from having Ableton running also. I know there are apps like TouchOSC, iMaschine and other apps but thats where my digital stupidity comes into play. Does anybody use an iPad in their setup non stop? Input would be appreciated. |
| Twanna Mastellone 25.06.2012 | The only way to really use the iPad as a proper effects unit would be to use a midi-control app like TouchOSC, TouchAble, or Jazzmutant's Lemur App (there's others too, but those 3 come to mind as the most widely used etc). Your options with those would be to use either Traktor or Ableton in conjunction with a soundcard that has inputs & outputs. There's a couple of different ways you could set this up to still run your set with CDJs and a mixer. Method 1: iPad + laptop + soundcard working as a send/return-style effects unit, much like the EFX/RMX-1000 and other standalone effects units. This will only work if the mixer you use has a send/return loop for external effects usage (most decent mixers do). You would have your gear set up as normal, 2 CDJs into the mixer, then plug an RCA cable from the "send" output on your mixer to an input on your soundcard, and another RCA cable from an output on the soundcard back to the "return" input on your mixer. You'd then set Ableton or Traktor (whichever you prefer to use for effects) to have the input from your soundcard as a live-input channel, and the output from your soundcard as the master-out for the audio from the software. At that point, you go browse some mappings for whatever midi-control app you decide to use on your iPad (I use TouchOSC with Traktor, for instance.) Any mapping will come with the GUI-layout for the iPad app, and a midi-control mappings file for the DJ software. Alternatively, you could design your own GUI-layout / midi-mapping to suit your specific DJing needs, this tends to be a little more work than just loading up something that someone else made. Once you've got all that figured out, you just gotta make an ad-hoc wireless network between the iPad and the laptop (there's some pretty slick instructional videos / tutorials on this on the internet, very easy to do on mac & windows) and get the midi-data flowing over the network. Method 2: Requires a soundcard with at least 2 inputs and 2 outputs, like an Audio4DJ. The base concept is still the same, iPad runs midi-control app for Traktor or Ableton over wi-fi. The main difference is that instead of using the send/return loop on the mixer, which only allows you to apply effects to the master signal, you route the audio from both CDJs into / out of the soundcard and back to their respective channels on the mixer. This allows you to apply effects to whichever channel you choose, instead of only being able to affect the master signal. All you do is make sure 2 separate decks / channels on your software are set to the 2 different inputs on your soundcard, and then setting those same decks to send their audio to 2 different outputs on the soundcard. This way, you can affect either channel, and you're still doing the core of your work on the CDJs and Mixer. Pros & Cons: Method 1: CDJs & mixer are still set up such that if the laptop starts messing up, freezes, etc, you can still run your set just like you would normally. Only issue is that you can't affect individual channels using the send/return loop. Method 2: You're able to affect separate channels, but if your laptop starts fucking up, it may stop the music as you have it set up as a middle man between your CDJs and mixer. These 2 methods are what I would consider as close to what you are looking for as possible. You can set your laptop somewhere out of the way once you have everything up and running so it looks like you are doing your thing on just decks & a mixer, with an iPad somehow doing effects work. http://digitaldjtools.net/ that site has a lot of good info on iPad / iPhone apps for midi-control, as well as some pretty slick TouchOSC / Lemur layouts & mappings for Traktor. I personally use the iFighter TouchOSC layout & mapping for Traktor. The bulk of its design is tailored towards pad-based effects application, set up almost exactly the same as a Midi-Fighter. 12 pad-style buttons on the GUI allow me to have instant touch control over Beatmasher, Filter LFO, Gater, Lo-fi (bitcrusher), Filter92, etc. I run my sets using Traktor, 2 decks (turntable or CDJs, doesn't matter), an Audio4DJ soundcard, and a mixer. I use this mapping a LOT because on top of the really nice effects control, it also has cue points, instant looping with halving / doubling, and direct filter control, among other things. These wouldn't matter too much to you since you seem pretty adamant about sticking with just CDJs and a mixer, but its worth at least knowing / trying it out. http://community .djranking s.com/showthread.php?t=33438 that's the link if you're interested in trying out the iFighter mapping. |
| Bunny Sockel 22.06.2012 | I use an iPad as my main effects machine for traktor and i also use my iPhone for sample decks. Using touch osc bridge a application that can be downloaded via hexler.com |
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