So when you guys mix using CD turntables do you guys usually keep the [master tempo/key adj] off so it's like using vinyl, or do you guys turn it on only when needed, or is it on all the time??? I find the beats drift easier when the [master tempo/key adj] is on...

or is this just me....

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As master tempo has to 'cleverly' insert/remove little bits of sound to make it sound faster/slower but at the same pitch, sometimes at high speed differences the prominant parts of the beats can fall in slightly different places, so the mix often sounds a bit rougher which can make it sound like you haven't beatmatched it quite as accurately but should theoretically on average stay at the same speed (it will only waver very slightly, practically unnoticably to the crowd but to the DJ it can sound a little bit out at times)... this isn't really a problem within about +/-3%

One of the reasons I'm considering going 100% CD in the near future is that master tempo means you don't have to worry about the speed difference between two tunes detuning the key too much when harmonic mixing (at the moment I have to try and make sure 2 tracks which are in the same/matching keys are within 2% pitch of each other, otherwise they become detuned from one another)... all gets very confusing ... but they could do with improving the algorithms they use to reduce the aliasing a bit.

So at the moment it varies which one I use - usually the one that gets me the best pitch match between two tracks. All not explained very well, sorry

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Stu Cox |

I once spoke to Lenny Ibizarre, who is a professional DJ in Ibiza exactly the same question and he told me he knows a promoter who gets pissed off because the djs playing at his venue were doing it, he explained to me that when its activated, the bass subsequently loses its "umph". If I was you I would use it very sparingly, but if vocals in the track start to sound like chipmunks, you know what to do.

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quote:

Originally posted by ibiza_cat I once spoke to Lenny Ibizarre, who is a professional DJ in Ibiza exactly the same question and he told me he knows a promoter who gets pissed off because the djs playing at his venue were doing it, he explained to me that when its activated, the bass subsequently loses its "umph". If I was you I would use it very sparingly, but if vocals in the track start to sound like chipmunks, you know what to do.

how so? if i play a track at 0%, and it has MT activated, it'll sound the exact same way as if it wasn't on. same goes for other speeds, generally, afaik. however, i would understand that might happen in extreme situations, but i doubt those DJs were consistently playing records at -8.7% and stuff...

anyways, you can notice corrections will only slow down/speed up the tracks, you won't hear much of a pitch waver either. due to this, it can make your mixes a lot more troublesome. but it's doable. my idea is to just use it when the track needs it.

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Iv noticed that with lots of lower end dj software master tempo is impossible to use without it soundlike your song is being diced up on the spot.

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Originally posted by DJ 00 Tommy Iv noticed that with lots of lower end dj software master tempo is impossible to use without it soundlike your song is being diced up on the spot.

This is it. To make sound play at a different speed but the same pitch takes a fair amount of DSP (= digital signal processing, for those who haven't heard the term before) which involves some pretty complex algorithms... but there are different ways in which these can be written to achieve the desired effect. Different algorithms will work better for different kinds of sounds (if anyone here uses Sound Forge you'll probably know how many different time stretch algorithms they've got... about 20 in fact) and less complex ones might not work so well at all. But CD players just use the same one all the time (although the algorithm may vary between manufacturers/models) so that may or may not be perfect for the sound you're using.

Hopefully soon someone will devise an algorithm that works better, maybe one that detects the nature of the sound and works out the best process to use... but until then the chances are you'll get a bit of a grainy sound if you push it too far.

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Stu Cox |