Reply To: Ableton Live DJs

I use live in conjunction with protools and reason for my production needs but I’ve only recently started playing out with it. I’ve been spinning for over 20 years and I gotta say to the purists out there that it enables me to do all of the things I’ve wanted to do in the booth that were hazardous or impossible to do before. What would take me three CDJ’s or 1200’s, a cycloops and fx box i can now just do in software RELIABLY. One thing you have to remember about being a DJ, it’s not about you, it’s about moving the crowd. Nothing kills a floor faster than a trainwreck and not necessarily because of lack of skills, but because of a bad CD, a record with a skip or generally a less than stellar setup. With live I know my equipment is up to par and I can pull off a live remix without skipping a beat every time. Just like a lot of you out there, I can beat match, juggle and scratch in my sleep. The challange there is gone. I really think this is the future of DJ’ing.

My only gripe is the sound quality, which to me is paramount. On big stretches or files with a lot of warp markers you can hear the artifacts of the algorithms. Maybe not a big deal on an OK system, but on a really clean system it really bugs the hell out of me. The crowd doesn’t seem to notice though so i guess it’s acceptable for now.