So one of the many hobbies I have, is playing around with DJ software/hardware and creating mixes/mashups, back in the day we called em mix tapes, for myself, friends, and as well as background music for videos/movies. I've always made mixes, but i've never been a "real dj" per se, in the sense, i've never been on stage and performed a "set" or even "dj'd" a wedding/party. The closest I ever came was making my mix tapes, putting em into the car stereos while on road trips with friends or throwing them into the high schools store audio system when I was in high school.
Last year, however, I picked up the Traktor Software from Native Instruments along with a few other controllers. A couple of Traktor X1's, a VCI-100, and a pair of Dicer controllers. I then happened upon, and started following a blog out of San Francisco called DJ Tech Tools. The more I played around with the software, watched videos from Ethan, the more I enjoyed myself and had dreams of creating great and wonderful mashups myself and friends would enjoy. So far I'm having a good time at it. It's a pretty fun hobby.
Recently Native Instruments again set the dj scene abuzz with a new piece of kit called the Kontrol F1, they didn't release too much info, but it was to be released May 30th and was to tie into the Traktor software pretty tightly. Eagerly I waited until I could pre-order and picked up two of em! If you want the in depth nitty gritty on the F1, here is the DJTech tools review and a video of the power of the F1:
Well, yesterday I got my hot little hands on em (they shipped early! Yay!) and i'm having a great time mixing, on the fly, with em. Woot!
The devices are primarily used with the revamped "remix decks" of Traktor 2.5 so you can capture"on the fly" loops, samples, and effects, then tweak it live for a more personalized dj set or recording. Also remember these can be use as a generic midi controllers so if you have any software that can understand midi you can use these controllers! Pretty sweet!
After the jump are some of the initial videos, from Native Instruments, showing you how to use the Kontrol F1. This thing doesn't come with a manual but you really don't need it, its pretty intuitive!
