DJs - digital vs. vinyl

wobbly_panda

wobbly_panda

Member
So its the classic argument of digital vs. vinyl. Personally i think as great as digital is, it just doesn't have as greater feel as vinyl. I've had serato for a couple of months and cos its so easy and cheap to get new tracks i find i never play them enough to find sick mixes cos its too easy and tempting to get new ones. When you can get whatever track you want straight away it looses the excitement of waiting for something to get released on vinyl, waiting for it to arrive and finally getting to spin it. Thoughts...?
 
Only REAL dj's use vinyl...

but in all reality it doesnt matter. whatever works better for you is the better choice. Sure vinyl is a lot more of an authentic feel and is where dj'ing came from but there is just so much you can do with digital. Gotta weigh the pros and cons for what you're gonna be doing. If you're doing some turntablism with a bunch of scratches and cuts and shit you might want vinyl but if you're just doing mixs and shit and parties than digital would prolly be the better choice in my opinion. Plus if you're doin parties theres no crates to carry around with digital....
 
Love the feel of vinyl. It's palpable, and you watch your collection grow. digital has it's advantages (cheap as shit compared to vinyl, no crates as mentioned above), but I will be using vinyl until something drastic happens.
 
considering digital is at the point where the quality is high beyond what our ears are capable of distinguishing (192k), there's virtually no difference in the quality of sound. forget CDs- Ableton is where it's at. i'm slowly getting to the point where i'll be recording mixes through Ableton with a MIDI controller as opposed to my CDJs.
vinyl (and Serato- fuck Serato) is for dinosaurs. Ableton's the future.
 
lol
there's a huge difference between simply mixing and doing a live performance through Ableton. yes, a 10-year-old could MIX in Ableton, but it takes someone who's truly mastered the program to do an original live performance through Ableton. Ableton allows you to do things vinyl will never be capable of doing, even with gay-ass Serato.
you're just pissy because i stepped on your dinosaur toes and happen to be correct.
 
how old are you? this is an attitude i hear from a ton of 25+ DJs, while the rest of us younger guys tend to go straight to CDJs or Ableton... because we adapt to technology quicker and easier and digital is better.
there's a reason virtually every top DJ on the planet is making the transition from vinyl to CDs and eventually to Ableton. only older DJs and hip-hop DJs are holding to vinyl.
from a technical aspect, i think many, many would agree that Deadmau5 (and Steve Duda) are near or at the top of the game right now. the things they're doing with sound at the absolute highest quality digital is capable of is just mind-blowing. i can guarantee they can do things on their setups that no vinyl-spinning DJ is able to do. if you're DJing EDM, there is ZERO reason to use vinyl. since Ableton linked up to a ProFire 610 (purely for a live setup- you'd obviously use a rack /andor soundcard in a studio) is capable of putting out sound at 192kHz (over 4 times the quality of CDs and nearly 10 times the quality necessary to cover the full range our ears car hear), you don't scratch in EDM (ok, i have no desire to scratch and judging by the lack of scratching in EDM, i'd say most DJs feel the same way i do), and because of the live remixing capabilities (you can mix shit with vinyl and CDs, but you can't truly "remix" stuff unless you have a big setup with a turntable for each stem... yeah right), and the many, many, many options with gear and plug-ins, Ableton is the future of "DJing"... and because of the obvious short-comings associated with vinyl (price, storaging and transporting your collection, versatility- or lack thereof- and the limitations presented by the equipment- no hot cueing or looping... Serato doesn't count as it was already established that it's lame) and CDs (44.1kHz? no thanks), it's laughable that people who are sooo "in the know" are still defending either forms.
something tells me you're one of those frustrated dinosaurs still clinging to the only two arguments all the vinyl guys have- digital is less quality (true, but at this point, indistinguishable by the human ear) and digital is "easier" or "cheating"... really? then i'd LOVE to see you walk up to Ableton controlled by an APC 40 or Maschine and do the kinds of shows Justice and Deadmau5 are doing... you'd be so damn lost on Deadmau5's setup, meanwhile i could VERY easily walk up to a vinyl setup and throw together a mix.
cry all you'd like that Ableton is the devil, but A) you're wrong, and B) it's taking over.
 
I think at the end of the day what comes out of the speakers is what really matters.

I have a couple of hundred vinyl records at home in australia and love to get on the decks for a good seession. At the moment i am, living in the U.S. for the winter, and could not possibly lug my records across the other side of the earth to play em.

I agree that Ableton is the way of the future and is awsome for production and remixes on the go, also good vinyl is gettin harder and harder to come by, one of the biggest suppliers of vinyl in Australia Vinyl Warning just sold off all its stock and went into the online Mp3 bussiness.

In saying this when i am done with travelling in the future i will be investing in something like serato so i can play the ableton projects im currently working on, with my trusty ol decks.

I also feel ppl souldn't hate hate on other djs for what they use to play there music and if your only using ableton coz you cant beatmatch using decks that ya should give up in advance....

peace...

http://djseeanoo.podbean.com/
 
I'm 21 years old, and the scene that I am djing in, you'll be hard pressed to find anyone using ableton, cdjs are popping up more and more these days, but the most used template is still vinyl. I can't stand deadmau5 (live wise, his production is alright) at all, and really have no desire to reproduce anything that he is doing when he plays out. Yes you may be able to do much more with your music, but if you can truely put together a good set on vinyl nothing in the world sounds better.

Justice and Deadmau5 don't even compare technically to some of the bigger djs over here, just look up a mix from andy c. You may not like drum and bass, but if you can appreciate what the man can do with a mixer and two decks, 3 if you're lucky, you'll understand what I mean.

maybe we'll have to agree to disagree

 
nothing in the world sounds better? considering your ears aren't capable of distinguishing a difference in quality between 196kHz and analog, that's simply not correct. you can stick to your guns all you'd like, but at the end of the day, with the quality of digital where it's at and the things that are being done in Ableton's relative infancy (i realize we're on version 8, but i think it goes without saying that ALL digital EDM performance techniques- DJ or otherwise- are still very new), Ableton is the future of EDM performances. the only DJs i see spinning vinyl are either older or staring at Serato the entire time, watching their beat matches... and Serato is as much "cheating" or whatever anyone wants to call it as Ableton is.
i'm trying to move out of actual DJing,though, and into a true live performance. the things you can do with an APC 40 make DJing boring.
 
This is quite debatable..I've heard banger sets in both types of performing and whatever crosses in between. Girl Talk with his Ableton-heavy performance, Flosstradamus with their dual laptop + 4 CDJs + APC40 (for live loop / sample mashing), Designer Drugs with Laptop / Vinyl. I don't even remember the last time I saw a DJ using just vinyl with no computer. Laptops are pretty much standard (your argument seems to be pushing for just vinyl + mixer).
Anyways, the point is, whatever you do to make your awesome set is on you. If shit's good, it's just fucking good.
 
Fair enough, especially as you have said that you're moving away from actual djing more into live performances. and I think vinyl has that warmth, crackling that you don't get with digital (sound I'm talking about not clarity) that gives the music that extra little dimension. To each their own though, because at the end of the day a great show is what we are all after.
 
fully agree if a dj is doin a good set im stoked no matter what they're using.

the funny thing is ableton comes with a vinyl effect that adds that warmth to your tracks...
 
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