crazy mp3 mixing!

February 13, 2005 11:14 PM

This is a great tool to mix mp3s with, especially if you don't have $400-600 for final scratch pro. It was designed specifically for DJing live and works like a virtual turntable. Besides being free, it's far better than most of the other toy-ish mixing programs available. Having two soundcards makes things easier, but it can even run on a system with one soundcard (although you still need a real mixer). We've come a long way since this.
posted by EvilKenji (21 comments total)

Sure, but can it play 78s?
posted by HTuttle at 11:30 PM on February 13, 2005

If you're on Mac OS 9 or OS X, you can spend $99 on Ms. Pinky and get video scratching, to boot.
posted by AlexReynolds at 11:31 PM on February 13, 2005

Effin' sweet. More intuitive than Acid Pro for quick and dirty beatmatching. Works well on one soundcard for me. Thanks!
posted by sourwookie at 12:01 AM on February 14, 2005

awesome, thanks!
posted by First Post at 12:11 AM on February 14, 2005

Traktor is still the daddy, particularly if you use it with an external mixer (though you don't need to)... (If course, it's not free.)
posted by benzo8 at 12:29 AM on February 14, 2005

polar opposite
posted by analogue at 1:53 AM on February 14, 2005

Wasp T12 - "It's well weapon"
posted by jonvaughan at 3:15 AM on February 14, 2005

We've come a long way since this.

Yeah, DJing has come so far since the Technics SL-1200 that this tool you link to is called the "MR-1200". And this site is dedicted to selling parts for it (the Technics, obviously, not the digital beatmatcher thing). And this site is dedicated to the care and feeding of SL-1200's, including this nice history page on the "wheels of steel." No, the Technics SL-1200mk5 is still standard equipment for pretty much every DJ on earth who can afford it, even Richie Hawtin, though he manifestly could do without them.

I mean, this new digital stuff is cool, I'm just sayin'. Little respect.
posted by rkent at 6:37 AM on February 14, 2005

[Plur]

But not to be snarky...i'm looking forward to testing this out when I get home. I have been severely dissappointed by most mp3-mixing tools i've tried out in the past.
posted by tpl1212 at 6:50 AM on February 14, 2005

For the Mac, try DeKstasy. No "faux turntable" bit, but it supports internal and external mixing, AAC, on-the-fly importing from CD, beat matching, etc. Great interface (unlike 99% of audio software out there, including, ahem, Apple's Logic, it actually attempts to conform to some published human interface guidelines), and it's free.
posted by esoterica at 6:59 AM on February 14, 2005

Props for having "Trip II the Moon" cued up in the screenshot, but what's the point of having a big fake turntable on the computer screen? There's no comparison between Final Scratch and its competitors, where one has real turntables, and something for which you've got to use some substitute control mechanism.

The fake CD turntables, like the one analogue linked to, and the Denon and Technics models, are where it's at right now in terms of portable, mostly-real-feeling control of digital audio. If you want to lug a laptop and real decks, then Final Scratch is the ticket...
posted by rxrfrx at 7:10 AM on February 14, 2005

You can control Traktor DJ Studio with a super-cheap MixMan DM2 using this DM2-to-MIDI driver. As far as I know it's the cheapest way to get a DJ-like MIDI controller. It's not great but it makes the DM2 (otherwise worthless) into a neat little controller. The DM2 software itself is useless - it doesn't even play MP3s, if I remember correctly.

You would have to buy the DM2 off of eBay - retail, it went for around $60, but they're eBayable for about $15.

Those interested in controlling Traktor can save themselves a lot of time and download this guy's Traktor mapping file.
posted by drstupid at 7:36 AM on February 14, 2005

Wow! Analogue's link ("polar opposite" above), is what I have been saying is the immediate future of dj gear. I am not surprised to see that Gemini is the first to actually implement a turntable with a CD player built in it. I just wish Numark would hurry up and create their equivalent. It would be super nice to not have to lug around both turntables and cd players anymore.

Thanks for the link!
posted by Rattmouth at 7:44 AM on February 14, 2005

or: We've gone a long way from this.

depends on how you look at it.
posted by blendor at 7:52 AM on February 14, 2005

For the PC, I like MixMeister. They say you can use it live, and I have, but I find the real power is in it's ability to make "mix tapes."

Every track is loaded into the system and automatically scanned for its BPM as well as its Key. I can't speak much for the automatic Key detection as I'm not that musically inclined, but I do know the BPM is pretty spot on generally.

After getting the files imported, you specify a intro and extro portion for each of the tracks you want to use. The power is that the program shows you each waveform for each part of the file - and where the beats line up. If the program hasn't got the beats down exactly, you can go in and fix it so everything lines up.

One you have everything lined up you just drop the tracks onto the performance panel and it automatically lines them up beat-prefect. Then you can test the mix of the songs. Pitch is preserved automatically, so there's no "chipmunking" due to two different BPMs. BPM is gradually adjusted as well over the course of the transition.

If you don't like the fading, no problem - fix the volumes independently, or work the bass, treble and mids independently for both tracks.

Repeat for the next track... export when finished.
posted by Fat Elvis at 8:44 AM on February 14, 2005

First time listener love the show, I've been on the one's and two's for decades now and while nothing can replace the feel of a motor spinning at 33, 45 or 78+ for that matter I recently found these widgets a lot of fun and useful has well one's free for 30 days the other free forever (I think) They are both available for Mac and Windows
posted by RecordBrother at 4:52 PM on February 14, 2005

oops meant first time caller oh well a sort of joke sort of shot doh!
posted by RecordBrother at 4:58 PM on February 14, 2005

Welcome, RecordBrother! Thanks for the tips.
posted by squirrel at 5:47 PM on February 14, 2005

Yah, I like. But, I find that I want more power over sound manipulation, especially if I'm going to go live. If this were a VST instrument, or had a virtual mixer where you could add VST effects, or if MixMeister would allow you to have VST inserted effects into the tracks, that would be hella cool.

I'm pretty sure what I want doesn't really exist yet.
posted by geekhorde at 8:10 PM on February 14, 2005

"extro"? Whatever happened to "outro"?
posted by Wolof at 12:05 AM on February 15, 2005

geekhorde - Not entirely sure if MixMeister supports VST plugins, but it certainly does utilize DirectX Plug-ins. Automation of those plugins might be a bit lacking for you, however. Plugins can be applied globally or to a certain part of a track, etc.
posted by Fat Elvis at 6:10 AM on February 15, 2005