Dale Walker

Anyone got anything good or bad to say about the Hercules DJ console?

I don't intend to use it out in the real world but my DJ friends
(addicts) hate being away from decks for more than five minutes and
often complain that my house doesn't have decks.

I'm after something good enough to keep them happy but small enough to
pack away easily as there isn't enough room for a full setup here.

I'm aware that the PC version doesn't work on a Mac but would a Mac
version work on a PC if I managed to hold of the right software?

In fact as many of my DJ friends are getting quite creative with
Ableton Live, how easy is it to set it up for that? Can all functions
be mapped correctly?

---
Dale Walker
London Techno Events
dale@sorted,org
http://london.sorted.org

Ben

Dale Walker wrote:
> Anyone got anything good or bad to say about the Hercules DJ console?
>
> I don't intend to use it out in the real world but my DJ friends
> (addicts) hate being away from decks for more than five minutes and
> often complain that my house doesn't have decks.
>
> I'm after something good enough to keep them happy but small enough to
> pack away easily as there isn't enough room for a full setup here.
>
> I'm aware that the PC version doesn't work on a Mac but would a Mac
> version work on a PC if I managed to hold of the right software?
>
> In fact as many of my DJ friends are getting quite creative with
> Ableton Live, how easy is it to set it up for that? Can all functions
> be mapped correctly?

Do YOU want to learn to dj? If so, what would make the most sense for
you to be using.. CD? Vinyl? MP3? etc...

What media do your friends use?

That is what should determine what you will get. If your friends all
spin vinyl then hercules (which is for playing mp3's and other audio
files off your hard disk) will be of no use to them. If your friends
play CDs then they can, with some effort, use your setup. But it will
be a pain in the ass. Only if they are already big into MP3's will it
be relatively easy for them to use your setup as they can burn discs of
their favorite tracks and copy them to your system and play them. Or
use portable hard disks. Basically, the tracks need to exist as files
on your computer for them to be played through the hercules or anything
like it. It is possible that if someone put a CD-ROM filled with MP3's
into your CD-ROM drive, that if the drive and your PC was fast enough,
you might be able to play those tracks directly without copying them to
the hard disk.. which is a nice option for visitors.

If you are interested in learning for yourself, you should get the kind
of decks that make sense for you and not for your friends. For example
I have cd players, no turntables. That is what made sense for me at the
time. Some of my friends, at the time I got the players, were all
vinyl and could not play on my decks. And I could not play on theirs.
But that's the way it goes. If they wanted to play at my place they had
to bring CDs or bring their decks. If I wanted to play at their place,
I had to bring my decks... But of course I also know a lot of CD DJ's
and we can carry our CDs to each other and play them with ease. So
that's great. It's just a choice you have to make.

Here is a good review of the hercules:

http://www.hothardware.com/viewartic...id=342&catid=6

-Ben

PS: Once you get decks and learn to use them, you will want to play in
the real world. Especially seeing as you have lots of DJ friends. You
will want to play on their systems, at the very least.

Dale Walker

On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 10:21:28 -0500, Ben <ben_google@cownow.com> wrote:

>Dale Walker wrote:
>> Anyone got anything good or bad to say about the Hercules DJ console?
>>
>> I don't intend to use it out in the real world but my DJ friends
>> (addicts) hate being away from decks for more than five minutes and
>> often complain that my house doesn't have decks.
>>
>> I'm after something good enough to keep them happy but small enough to
>> pack away easily as there isn't enough room for a full setup here.
>>
>> I'm aware that the PC version doesn't work on a Mac but would a Mac
>> version work on a PC if I managed to hold of the right software?
>>
>> In fact as many of my DJ friends are getting quite creative with
>> Ableton Live, how easy is it to set it up for that? Can all functions
>> be mapped correctly?
>
>Do YOU want to learn to dj?

Not really. Too expensive, too time consuming to learn, takes up too
much space in my flat but most of all my attention span for a good
tune is probably half a dozen plays these days. Frankly, playing the
same tunes week in, week out would bore me to tears. My record
collection would have to be huge (again taking up more space and
money) to cope with my boredom threshold.

So, instead, I have many willing DJ friends (some internationally
known) who are able and willing to treat me to new aural experiences
at regular intervals. I've even been a promoter for several London
clubs and I'm currently involved with some serious events in London
that feature DJs like Derrick May, Robert Hood, etc.

>If so, what would make the most sense for you to be using.. CD? Vinyl? MP3? etc...

Space is the big limiting factor here. Like I said, I want something
small enough to pack away when not needed but useful enough to a
serious DJ to be able to use when they fancy entertaining me at home.

The other thing is, I really like the idea becoming an Ableton Live
style DJ where any tune I play can be significantly mangled enough to
not sound the same as the original. I know of several DJs who use
Ableton Live for a significant amount of their sets to create new and
unique versions of tracks on the fly. That kind of thing interests me
much more than regular DJing due to my short boredom threshold (short
attention span probably due to 15 years worth of listening to techno,
house, trance and other electronic dance.).

>What media do your friends use?

The good ones use either pure vinyl or vinyl/Ableton/Final Scratch
combinations when playing in clubs. None are scared of using CDs, DATs
and effects units like Kaospads if required.

>That is what should determine what you will get. If your friends all
>spin vinyl then hercules (which is for playing mp3's and other audio
>files off your hard disk) will be of no use to them. If your friends
>play CDs then they can, with some effort, use your setup. But it will
>be a pain in the ass. Only if they are already big into MP3's will it
>be relatively easy for them to use your setup as they can burn discs of
>their favorite tracks and copy them to your system and play them. Or
>use portable hard disks. Basically, the tracks need to exist as files
>on your computer for them to be played through the hercules or anything
>like it. It is possible that if someone put a CD-ROM filled with MP3's
>into your CD-ROM drive, that if the drive and your PC was fast enough,
>you might be able to play those tracks directly without copying them to
>the hard disk.. which is a nice option for visitors.

Many of my DJ friends write their own stuff so Ableton Live is a piece
of cake for them. I know the pure vinyl junkies might have a problem
but hey, even they might get itchy enough away from their decks to
have a go. Remember, this is just for fun but I want to make sure it's
gonna be long term entertaining fun rather than just a gimmicky toy.

PC is V-fast games monster so speed, memory and disk capacity are all
well above that needed for most audio stuff. (athlon XP 3200,1GB RAM
270GB HD (3xRAID 0)

>If you are interested in learning for yourself, you should get the kind
>of decks that make sense for you and not for your friends.

Ableton Live using my PCR-30 midi keyboard as the controller is the
only real DJ experience I've had. But that's irrelevant. I know (if
it's good enough that is) I'll be the one using this thing the least.
My mates are always jumping at the chance to play.

> For example
>I have cd players, no turntables. That is what made sense for me at the
>time. Some of my friends, at the time I got the players, were all
>vinyl and could not play on my decks. And I could not play on theirs.
>But that's the way it goes.

I appreciate your thoughts on this but well, most of my DJ friends are
professional DJs who generally can cope with most pieces of equipment
after a few minutes of messing about. One DJ friend of mine managed to
do a 2 hour set using Ableton Live and that Edirol PCR-30 (midi
keyboard) as the controller at my place simply because he's a DJ
addict and can't seem to enjoy himself at a party unless he's playing.
He just brought his tunes in on a couple of DVD-Rs, remapped a few of
the sliders on the keyboard and away he went.

In fact, it was his DJ set, using 'live' equipment that made me wonder
if there was a dedicated DJ controller that could do the job for some
of my less adventurous DJ friends.

>If they wanted to play at my place they had
>to bring CDs or bring their decks. If I wanted to play at their place,
>I had to bring my decks... But of course I also know a lot of CD DJ's
>and we can carry our CDs to each other and play them with ease. So
>that's great. It's just a choice you have to make.
>
>Here is a good review of the hercules:
>
>http://www.hothardware.com/viewartic...id=342&catid=6

Yes, I've seen that. Enough information to whet the appetite but not
quite enough information to get a good idea how good it really is
(eg., it says it's ASIO but gives no latency timings). As I've said to
many times before already, many of my DJ friends are already very
familiar with Ableton Live so it's primary use would probably be to be
the controller for that. However, as they'll be using Ableton as a DJ
tool rather than production in this particular case, they'll probably
be better off with more DJ friendly functionality on the controller
than a more studio based mixer controller.

So my biggest unanswered questions relate to how well the DJ console
can marry up with Ableton Live. If everything can be mapped and the
Jog wheels can control Ableton in the correct fashion (eg for
scratching. Apparently they can't in all software, even the ones that
come with the box), then it's probably going to be good enough.

>PS: Once you get decks and learn to use them, you will want to play in
>the real world. Especially seeing as you have lots of DJ friends. You
>will want to play on their systems, at the very least.

Sadly, this is not the case with me. I've been involved with various
kinds of techno, house and other electronic music forms for many years
(first rave was in 89) and regularly go out clubbing (sometimes 3
times a week) but I've never seriously thought I could ever really
spend enough time, effort and money to get anywhere near good enough
at for me to be happy with my performance. I know it'll be fun
learning but it'll be hard and I've simply got too many other projects
(like club promotion, DJ agency work and my website) to be able to put
much effort into it.

Well, thanks for your time and comments. They've been useful. The more
I think about it, this kind of device is the way I want to go. I'm
just not yet sure if it's up to the job I have for it.

And I still can't find any info on whether the Mac version will work
on a PC with the appropriate software.

---
Dale Walker
London Techno Events
dale@sorted,org
http://london.sorted.org