…and we’re bringing you weekly updates about the course, how it’s going, what we’ve learnt and so on. If you’ve ever wondered about taking an online course to improve your music in some way, then hopefully this might help you decide whether or not it’s for you.

Week One

All signed up and logged in, we take a quick tour around. The site has a simple design and navigation is easy, although you may not think about this initially when you sign up for something like this, being able to find your way to course materials etc is very important. Being able to find everything easily removes a lot of stress and lets you get on with your research and study — something which you may need to focus more energy into as the course progresses.

So what can you expect?

After reading through the Welcome to Point Blank Online greeting and the rest of the Getting Started material it was time to start learning. The Syllabus for week one initially looks very scary, but be assured that the rate in which the info is introduced will suit even the busiest persons study schedule. Being the first week, there was a reasonable amount of reading, but it shouldn’t be too much of a headache, even if you have a busy schedule. The info is well paced and consistent, and I felt I was learning from page one, but obviously the amount you learn will depend completely on each person’s individual knowledge.

Judging by what I’ve covered already, I’m sure that even a “Pro” could pick up some extra tips and good advice.  As already mentioned, almost all of the learning comes from reading, but there are still a few videos to be watched, most of which are reasonably interesting. I’m a little unsure as to how much knowledge I actually gained from the videos in week one, but they do make a nice introduction and help get to know a bit more about the guys teaching you, which always helps.

Testing Testing 1,2,3

Yep thats right you’ll be tested! What’s more, not once not twice but three times!!! Don’t panic, the tests in week one were very reasonable. In fact, the three tests you take as you progress through the week are multi choice questions, and simply help you realise just how much you are taking notice of what you are supposed to be learning. This is a great concept that seems to work, after all you wouldn’t want to spend money and not learn anything along the way!

Every week has a discussion assignment too, where you should contribute at least a little of what you think on the chosen subject. I, unfortunately,  missed the first week so hopefully can let you know more next week about this. Finally week one finishes off by uploading our given assignment.  Our task for the week wasn’t too hard, we were simply asked to complete a simple outlined business plan.

Obviously I thought my business plan was rock solid, okay, well maybe not that solid, but the tutor Steve Hillier’s video response to my assignment  was great. He helped me realise what may potentially be short falls in the business plan and had me rethinking parts while still having confidence in my ideas.

Week One Summary:

We honestly couldn’t have asked for a better start to any music industry course, the subject of music business is a scary world for many people. Thanks to what we’ve learnt already though, I can definitely see how we’re starting to scratch the surface and look forward to getting stuck into week two.

Check back next week for more, or if you’ve read enough already and can’t wait to sign up, you can simply enrol for one of the dates on site

http://www.pointblankonline.net/music-industry-course-sell-your-music-online-enrol.

Any DJ worth they’re salt should be familiar with the brand that brought us the almost ubiquitous 500 stylus. Now the firm actually makes a whole swathe of DJ gear, from controllers, to decks to mixers. This is where today’s review comes in. We first saw this device back in spring at Musik Messe, when then unit was so fresh that font on the display units was the prototype builder’s default. Some months later, here it is. There’s been plenty of time to let the dust settle, so let’s have a look at what this thing can do.

Stanton SCS.4DJ – Hardware

On first impressions, the SCS.4DJ looks, well, kinda like most of the DJ controllers out there. Two large platters, a mixer section, knobs, faders, and lots of buttons all wrapped up in black plastic. It won’t win any design innovation awards, let’s put it that way. There are, however, a few notable distinctions to many of the “me too” devices you  will have seen out there. First and foremost, this thing is independent – it don’t need no software fool. Well, ok it does… but it’s cleverly all packed away in the unit itself. Yes, that means that you can banish the laptop from the DJ booth altogether.

The barrier created by the computer screen has been a big source of contention for many, ever since the advent of digital DJing. The SCS.4DJ isn’t the first to take this approach of course (the iDJ2, for example did exactly this a couple of years back), it is however, one of the first to do so in directly in competition with the current competition. The SCS.4DJ seems to want to be considered shoulder to shoulder with devices such as the Kontrol S4 or Reloop’s Terminal Mix 4.

Stanton’s approach to build quality is admirable. All the faders fell fluid and have the appropriate resistance for their purpose. The same is also true for the pots and and buttons, the former having a smooth rotation, with notched ‘centre’ point, the latter sitting low with responsive, firm clicking action. The ?? inch screen that sits up top there is comfortably viewed, but you may want to position the device slightly higher than, say, regular CDJ’s to prevent having to stoop over too much.

Stanton SCS.4DJ – Connections

Around the back is probably one of the first places you’ll be headed if you purchase one of these, and if you do, you’ll be greeted bu a pair of RCA / Phono outs, a set of balanced 1/4 inch outs, two USB ports (one for PC connection, the other for media) along side a power port and a secure-lock connector. Pretty straightforward then in that regard. What is slightly less conventional, is the removable panel on the underside that conceals a further two USB ports. Combined with the one on the front face of the unit, this brings the total to five, or four if we’re counting those usable for music sources (which is what we are counting, BTW).

The section underneath means you could conceivably leave your USB drives in situ semi-permanently, without them causing any obstruction, and also keeping them out of the way of naughty, pilfering hands (I’m sure it happens). Just make sure you keep your SCS.4DJ away from spilt beer and other liquids, as the panel’s door has ventilation holes, meaning it could get sticky down there.

Stanton SCS.4DJ – In use

Transport:

Turn this thing on, and you’ll be greeted by the obligatory light-flourish. Total boot-up time seems to take about 30-35 seconds, which you may or may not deem reasonable depending on what you’re currently using. Plugging in a USB drive sets the machine to automatically start scanning and importing your music. This can take varying amounts of time, of course, depending on the size of your collection, but is a relatively painless task none the less.

One initial gripe is that the software imports all the music into one central library. This might sound like a good thing, and for many users it probably will be, but in our experience, being able to specify which drive you want to browse can massively speed up the process, and help you keep your music library organised. It also means that when handing over to a new DJ, they can go straight to their music, without wading through yours. Perhaps something that could easily be solved with a software update that lets the user choose whether to merge, or compartmentalise the libraries?

Once your music is loaded, it’s pretty simple from then on in. Find a tune you want to play and press one of the buttons either side of the screen to send it to the corresponding deck. If you are at all used to digital DJ gear, then you there basically you’ll know where you are with the SCS.4DJ. Each deck has a play / pause , cue, sync and tap button. Pretty self explanatory stuff. Above these transport controls is the platter which us flanked by Touch and Scratch buttons.

By default, the platter acts as a pitch bend control, but tap the Scratch button and it’ll effectively behave like vinyl mode. Touch on the other hand sends the track back to the cue point, playing the track from there when you release it. This could be great for some turntable-like trickery if used cleverly. It can also be a source of confusion when not! The platters themselves are fairly responsive. Not as solid and tight as, say, the CDJ series from Pioneer, but certainly serviceable, especially if you are just getting into DJing, or looking for something for the bar or bedroom (most likely if you are considering this).

Effects and Looping:

Up top on the deck sections are Effects and looping controls. Lets get it out there and say straight away, the effects are basic — Filter, Flanger Slice and Delay. You get a Time / Rate and Freq / Amount control too. That said, each one performs its allocated task just fine, but compared to the likes of Traktor, these are basic tools for spicing up your mix, rather than an arsenal of creative weapons.

Much the same can be said for looping — the essential controls are there, and not much else. There is certainly everything you need there to perform the rudimentary mixing tasks, but the isn’t the ease of use, and breadth of capability available in some of the dedicated software programs.

In the mix:

This is where it really matters right? And indeed it’s where the SCS.4DJ holds its own the most. Pitch controls are responsive, and the transport solid enough to make bread and butter mixing a pleasure. If you’ve used any other controller, the SCS.4Dj will likely be an easy transition. There isn’t all that much more to say about it other than it’s reliable, solid and does what you want it to.

Stanton SCS.4DJ – Conclusions

The two things we can’t fault are the over all build (in relation to its price point) and the basic functionality (again, all things considered). To that end, the SCS.4DJ is a solid device that would be a great introduction to DJing as well as a decent tool for perhaps a small bar, or for someone who just wants to keep a hand in, without the cash investment required by other solutions. The fact that you can also use this as a controller for DJ software gives it welcome double functionality, and makes it even more of an all-rounder at a solid £450 price point.

Likes:

Ease of use, simplicity, numerous USB ports, record sets easily

Gripes:
Library management is a bit lacking, browsing for tracks can be slow

Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ 

Official Product page

The thing certainly looks impressive, if not a little N6-ish, but that’s not exactly unlikely considering. The platters in particular look quite luxurious being described as ‘ultra-flat’, and packing an impressive 15.5cm, there’s also a non-slip vinyl-grip coating for those butter fingers.

Reloop hasn’t given us release dates of dollars yet, but we’re going to make a guess at about $/£/€ 499 coming out soon after NAMM, and you’ll get Serato DJ Intro and Virtual DJ 4-Deck (Reloop edition) bundled in. All the rest of the tech spec can be found below.

Features
4-Deck SERATO DJ Performance controller
Integrated 4 channel USB audio interface
Plug and play: Connect your computer and mix your MP3s
Designed for world’s leading mixing software developer SERATO
Large Transport section with all-new smooth touch rubber buttons
Newly developed ultra-flat XXL Jog Platters with Vinyl-grip surface
Ergonomically arranged mixer/CD player design for quick and easy access
4-Channel Club Mixer design with dedicated Filter knobs and Fader start
Cross fader curve & assign switches on the front
Large 14-bit 100mm Pitch fader with Range and Keylock functions
Mouse-less Playlist Management Control
Versatile controls for Effects, Smart Looping, Hot Cues and Sampler
Performance Section prepared for individual live remixing updates (Cut & Slice)
Stereo RCA input (with phono pre-amp) for hooking up a CD player or turntable with flexible
routing control (into the Software or to the Master)
6.3 mm microphone input jack with volume and equalizer control
Power House Interface: Boost your PA with balanced 6,3mm jack outputs or unbalanced Stereo
RCA outputs
Stereo RCA Booth outputs for extra DJ monitors
2 headphone connections: 3.5 mm & 6.3 mm stereo for which ever plug is convenient including
equalizer control
Shift buttons for second layer controls including Shift lock feature
All controls in club size and quality
Altogether 111 MIDI controllers (60 buttons, 7 faders, 7 push encoders, 31 turning knobs, 4
switches, 2 touch-sensitive jog wheels)
Controller is compatible with every MIDI-Learn capable software
USB bus powered: Terminal Mix 4 can be powered via USB only (power supply optional)
Anti-theft device: Kensington safety slot
CORE / ASIO drivers with minimum latency and high quality audio characteristics (Mac / PC)
Mac OSX and Windows XP/Vista compatible
4-Deck Mapping available for Traktor PRO 2
Comes ‘plug and play’ ready with Serato DJ Intro & 4-Deck Virtual DJ 7 LE (Reloop Edition)
technical datas
Mixer section:
- Classic 4 channel design- 1 x PRO Longlife crossfader with adjustable crossfader curve
- 4 x volume controllers with PRO Longlife line faders
- 4 x 3 band equalizer knobs
- 4 x gain turning knob
- 4x Filter knob
Player section:
- 2 x 15,5cm touch-sensitive, two-part jog wheels for scratching, cueing, etc.
- different jog modes (Scratch & Pitch Bend, Quick Search)
- 2 x high resolution 100mm 14-bit pitch faders without locking position
- 1 assignable encoder, 3 assignable knobs, 4 buttons for effect control
- Unicoloured, glistening red illumination
Master section:
- Cue mix, headphones volume, sampler volume and master controllers
- Extra large Trax Encoder for quick and easy music library browsing (with 4 load buttons)
- 2x 8bar LED chain (master L+R)
- Dimensions: 515 x 44 x 320 mm
- Weight: 4.65 kg (netto)
Incl. Serato DJ Intro & Virtual DJ LE 4-Deck Reloop Edition and USB cord

…it’s almost too much to handle. And, this is exactly what happened today. Is this a surprise? Kinda… sure, this is a new product, but also we’re a week or so out from NAMM, the biggest Music equipment trade show of the year, so prime-time for new gear announcements.

Anyway, back to the goodies we have on display here. On first look, we think it’s safe to suggest that this is likely a controller of some variety. It also looks like it might be similar in width to the Kontrol X1, with similar buttons pots and faders. The rainbow coloured buttons appear to be in a 4 x 4 grid, which would make it ideal for MPC or Launchpad style tomfoolery. The rainbow colouring seems a little unusual however. Most grid controllers have off, play, paused and maybe pending/cued which is four states, here are at least five, and that doesn’t include off. This might lead us to think that Ableton control is on the cards… but then the device was teased explicitly under the Traktor branding, which then kinda rules that out.

The 4 x 4 grid also alludes to four strips of faders, which would fit nicely with Traktor’s four  deck configuration, so our best guess at this time is that it is a controller similar to the X1, but with more focus on hot-cues and sample playback. Of course, this is all based on that tasty slice you see up there. Perhaps the crafty shooting angle hides a whole control panel of joy. Perhaps not. Either way we want it, regardless of what it is.

More as we get it.

…with new sites and new companies popping up every other week. Obviously all of themwill claim to give you the answers that no-one else does and although many do give you relatively good information, many fail to deliver. That’s because holding back what seems like the essentials and promising more in the next tutorial is just enough to keep you coming back and paying for the next DVD or Online pass and monthly subscriptions.

On the other hand, the huge changes in internet speed in the past few years means that some of these guys who have been around for a while teaching in schools and universities, writing books and generally teaching people the methods involved in recording and producing dance music can now teach more people at much lower prices.

The super fast broadband speeds mean that you’re now able to download complete DVDs with out taking days opening the doors to huge amounts of information that you can learn at your own speed without ever once having to hand in homework or sit in on a lecture.

Dance Music Production  are one of those companies that have been around for a little while, In fact the tutorials available are written by Rick Snoman, Rick has over 20 years experience and is already an accomplished producer, remixer and author of best selling Dance Music Manual. Hopefully this already gives you an insight into the level of information you will gage from these tutorials.

Now that Dance Music Production have made their Fundamental range available online we take a look over one of the very essentials of dance production ‘DRUMS’

DMP Fundamental Drums 1 is almost 4 hours of tutorial, aimed almost entirely at building great drum sounds and loops. This should be something we all want to better ourselves in, after all whats the point in writing a killer riff or breakdown for people to hold their hands in the air too if you don’t have the drums to keep them there when the track drops back in.

In the first two videos DMP show you how to program most of the basic timbres including kicks, claps, snares and hats really drilling home the importance of a great kick to the bottom end of your track. These videos do cover all of the essentials that every producer should know and will easily get you started programming your own sounds.

Following on from the first two tutorials, things start to become very interesting as Rick steps into the world of ‘Subliminal Modulation’: subtlety using modulated filters and effects to breath life into the programmed loop, trust us it works!

Now if Ambiguous Displacement sounds to you like something painful or something that should only be displayed on the top shelf then you’re obviously not into minimal house or techno, if you are and you don’t know what this is then you’ll want to head to this very interesting section of the DVD as there is much to learn.

After Ambiguous Displacement Rick moves onto Metrical Dissonance, no really! we’re not just making these words up, These are very real and trust us after watching the tutorials everything will become much clearer; some of this you may already know in practice but not actually know you were doing it and clarification that you’re using legitimate techniques is always good for the confidence.

The final three videos cover examples of loops and further processing with the last video being a few words letting you know you now have the tools to get to work.

In short we found the tutorials to be really friendly, with plenty of great information. Rick really manages to deliver the goods at levels well above the cost of this download, which at £24.95 is not gonna break the bank. Don’t let the low price sway you into thinking you’re not gonna get much.

The over all delivery of the information was well paced and easy enough to take onboard, their was the occasional points in the videos were concentration drifted but with video tutorials its easy enough to hit rewind on those bits you missed and it won’t be too long before you find yourself producing much better loops and pushing the techniques you learn in to the other areas of your music.

We recommend you get in a copy because at that price you really can’t go wrong.

Loopmasters and Producertech LTD have joined forces to launch Reasoncourses.com: a new website which features two online Reason video courses for users of all abilities (covering beginners, intermediate and advanced level students) and locations. All together there are 27 modules which last around 30 minutes each, which include a huge collection of Reason-optimised samples and instrument present from Loopmasters (worth over £50).

We here at Bang the DJ loved their previous courses, so we expect more of the same good stuff with their Reason offering. If the promo video above doesn’t get your juices flowing, check the two sample modules below for a look at the goods directly.

http://www.reasoncourses.com/

Its Duet range of built-for-Apple devices have been a popular choice for some time, especially since the release of the vastly improved, and all together sexier Duet 2. So it is with this in mind that we got a little bit pumped at the idea of some Apogee magic coming to the iPad.

The Jam is designed specifically to make your guitar play nice with the famous tablet. In terms of hardware, there’s not a lot to cover really, a cable out to your iPad on one side, and a jack for a quarter inch guitar cable on the other. Typically it feels solid and well built, but also compact and light. Arguably it could have been designed to plug straight into the iPad, but we think a little bit of flex is never a bad thing, especially when vigorous axe-wielding is on the cards. A single LED lets you know when you are connected, ready to rock, and rocking too loud. A lone gain control completes the physical features of the unit.

In use, it’s pretty straight forward. Fire up a suitable app such as Garageband (although it also works with many others, such as Amplitube and AmpKit) plug in, and rock out. There are other devices on the market, some which simply plug into the 1/4 inch input, which might look simpler, or be cheaper, but the main difference here is the audio conversion.

The Apogee takes care of this using the iPad dock, which makes the process cleaner, rather than using the analogue only jack option. This also means that you can monitor through a pair of headphones without having to fiddle with splitters and through-jacks.

While the device is built specifically for the guitar, clearly it’s also going to be ripe for use/abusing with other audio signals. If you don’t look at an in/out device wondering what else you can run through it, then you’re in the wrong game, and the same applies here. In the future we’ll run some videos of it in use with a variety of sources, but for now just know that with guitars – it works a charm.

Price-wise, the Jam retails for around $99/£75, but you may find a better deal on-line, and this does make it slightly more expensive than, say Griffin’s forthcoming GuitarConnect pro, but not much so, and after all, who would you rather buy audio gear from?

Conclusion:

Apogee know their audio onions, and if you are in the market for some 1/4 inch A2D goodness then this is a great solution. Don’t let the price put you off as, like all good bits of kit, you are getting what you pay for. Bundle in the fact that you can also use this with your Mac, and not just your iDevice, then the deal suddenly seems markedly better.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Each week their resident tune-smith Danny J Lewis takes to the helm and creates music on the fly using just Ableton, a Novation Launchpad and some clips. Each week the genre he makes is different, and best of all, YOU dear reader get to determine what style.

If you want to have your say about what style he makes, get your social media on over at the links below, and take a look at the video to get an idea of what goes down. Enjoy!

Youtube  Facebook  Twitter    

Point Blank Online – Music Production School

We couldn’t help getting flashbacks of using an old Roland TB303 after watching the video below, and that’s pretty much all we need to get behind something like this. Sure that price tag might not slip down as smoothly as some cheaper units, but in this VST-sound-alike world, sometimes you need to pay a little to stand out. Watch this space for a review forthcoming. Full press release below.

Leipzig-S

Analogue Solutions announces analogue monosynth/step sequencer

KINGSWINFORD, UK: Analogue Solutions is proud to announce availability of Leipzig-S, the latest addition to its lengthening line of critically-acclaimed, quality-crafted ‘boutique’ designs from founder Tom Carpenter in the true spirit of vintage analogue synthesisers befitting the true analogue synth enthusiast…

Evolving from its namesake Leipzig (rack-mounting) and Leipzig-k (keyboard-endowed) analogue monosynthpredecessors, the rack-mountable/tabletop Leipzig-S literally goes several steps further by incorporating an in-built eight-step analogue sequencer that can be used to produce simple melodic lines as well as acting as a modulation source to affect the filter cutoff (or to create additional effects, depending on other control settings). VCO1, VCO2, and the VCF are all available as sequencer destinations; seemingly simple, yet favourably flexible, the step sequencer can be creatively controlled (clocked) by multiple sources — at audio frequencies (using VCO2 as a clock source), or using the output of the sequencer itself as an audio source to be ‘played’ via MIDI while the eight step controls then alter the ‘waveform’/tonal content, for example, such are the adventurous advantages of packaging an analogue step sequencer with a true analogue monosynth!

The entire design is traditional early-Eighties analogue (voice and modulation) circuitry, comprised entirely of discrete components and op-amps (bar, of course, the digital sequencer controller and MIDI-CV interfacing); since the Leipzig-S is a strictly no-memory affair, all controls are not quantised, resulting in an authentically vintage sound, replete with musically desirable quirks and subtle artifacts (much in the same way that, say, a valve amp or vinyl record adds sonic character) — unlike some other modern ‘analogue’ synths that arguably sound almost as perfect as DSP analogue modelling.

With electronic percussion having influenced the choice of routings, the Leipzig-S boasts a huge range of modulation possibilities to facilitate creating the widest possible range of sounds, including deep basses, sound effects, analogue loops, and (obviously) electronic drum sounds.

With this — his latest — design, true analogue synth enthusiast Tom Carpenter is confident that he has achieved a modern analogue synth that truly does sound vintage!

LEIPZIG-S KEY FEATURES:

• Pure analogue voice and modulation circuitry

• Fat Moog-style filter

• 2 VCOs (each with Glide and Sub-VCOs)

• Osc Sync and Cross-Mod

• Flexible modulation routing

• Analogue step sequencer (with ‘creative’ clocking options)

• Audio input (synth can be used as a sound processor)

• MIDI In (for software sequencer control)

• Rugged steel/aluminium construction

Leipzig-S is available to order directly from Analogue Solutions (http:// analoguesolutions.org.uk/v2/leipzig-s/) for £649 GBP (excluding tax and delivery) — delivery is approximately four weeks from receipt of payment — or through one of their dealers.

Follow the links for the good, and the full press release below:

Download here

Fancy corporate video:

Novation are excited to announce that Twitch – the touchstrip DJ controller – now has a free application that allows Twitch to control parameters and build custom mappings in Ableton Live, and any other MIDI-compatible software.

A video explaining the application can be seen here: http://youtu.be/eLbibADLa80

The application can be downloaded from here: http://www.novationmusic.com/products/digital_dj/twitch/Other_DJ_Software/

The Twitch Live Translator software receives ‘raw’ MIDI messages generated by Twitch, and translates them into MIDI messages that can be ‘learned’ to parameters in Ableton Live. Every Live user will want to use Twitch in a slightly different way, so this allows a blank starting point to map hardware controls to parameters in Live in any way you want. The application has been created using Cycling 74 Max/MSP. This means that anyone can run this application — regardless of whether they own Max/MSP — but users of Max/MSP will be able to open the source code to edit and tweak to their own preference. What’s more, Novation are encouraging users to share and redistribute their versions to the wider community on the Novation forum: forum.novationmusic.com

Twitch was designed in partnership with Serato for their ITCH software (which comes with Twitch), and a Traktor mapping and overlay have been available for Twitch since the controller was unveiled. Now, with full control through the Twitch Live Translator, the world of Twitch has been opened up to Ableton Live DJs and performers. Twitch has a built in two-in four-out audio interface and 16 backlit trigger pads, as well as conventional DJ mixer controls and plenty of rotary encoders, making it an attractive option for Live control.