One is the loneliest number...

[dj_placenta]

Hey,

I was wondering if anyone had any hot keys for changing vinyl control on and off for each deck when only using one physical turntable?

I am also having trouble with using two Maxi-patches in the Maxi-patch itself. It's probably not made for this but my problem is I will start Maxi-patch, then drop another Maxi-Patch_AO.mxf in the window to open another set of decks but I have a lot of trouble using the audio settings to change inputs and outputs of each set of decks.

I almost got it to work because I set one deck up and then opened the second. If I try and change anything after that, it only effects the last deck I changed settings on. Is there anyway to expand Audio Settings to work with 4 decks?

What I am trying to do is to set up Maxi-patch so that any deck can be cued by my physical turntable and heard through one of the inputs to my mixer. Simpler, let's say I have one maxi-patch up and running:

Input 1 (turntable) -> Left Deck(vinyl control on) -> Output 1
Input 1 (turntable) -> Right Deck (vinyl control off) -> Output 2

Then to change decks I simply turn off the vinyl control on the left deck and turn it on for the right one. What I want to be able to do is:

Input 1 (turntable) -> Left Deck 1(vinyl control on)-> Output 1
Input 1 (turntable) -> Right Deck 1(vinyl control off) -> Output 2
Input 1 (turntable) -> Left Deck 2(vinyl control off) -> Output 2
Input 1 (turntable) -> Right Deck 2(vinyl control off) -> Output 2

In this set up, to change the cuing deck I would do the same as the first example except I want Output 1 to follow vinyl control. If I were to cue up on the first right deck, it would then look like this:


Input 1 (turntable) -> Left Deck 1(vinyl control off) -> Output 2
Input 1 (turntable) -> Right Deck 1(vinyl control on) -> Output 1
Input 1 (turntable) -> Left Deck 2(vinyl control off) -> Output 2
Input 1 (turntable) -> Right Deck 2(vinyl control off) -> Output 2

It's a little bit confusing and I hope I am not the only one who wants to do this. I think it would be a cool thing to have. Essentially, this turns Maxi-patch into a 4x1 DJ set up, which is really cool because you can mix two beats on the go, then scratch with some random sound and have another mix ready to be faded in.

Obviously this is only important because I am using a PC for mixing, otherwise I assume I'd just use Binky Toy. There is a program out there already that does this called Quad. It's not that cool looking in my opinion and it would be better to do this in Maxi-patch because, if my computer didn't crash, I could even load 2 more decks in and even another 2. It would be mayhem! Exactly what everyone needs.

[dj_placenta]

P.S. I haven't used Max/MSP before and I'm not a great programmer. If I need to do this kind of thing I my own I will try. I am a college student though and don't have oodles of time. Any help on this would be great. Even just pointing me in the right direction for modifications would be awesome.

[dlpinkstah]

Hey Placenta,

The things you describe wanting to do are going to require a bit of Max/MSP programming on your part, but they can be done. You should start by examining the patches "MsPinky_absolute_mode" and "MsPinky_MPTCFS" which show you how to use Ms Pinky's Max/MSP objects to bring vinyl/CD control signals into the Max/MSP environment and use those to control audio file playback. You can create as many virtual decks in Max/MSP as you want using the MsPinky objects. But if you want to use more than two decks, then Maxi-Patch as it stands is not going to cut it.

peace.

[dlpinkstah]

Hey Placenta,

Just realized that what you should probably try is using the Ms Pinky's Pinky Pluggo VST plugin inside a VST host like Ableton Live, for instance. That way you could instantiate as many decks as you want and let Ableton handle the audio I/O. It would also give you the ability to MIDI map your vinyl control on/off switch (and almost any control in the plugin) to any MIDI controller you could want to use.

Are you an Ableton user? If not, there are other VST hosts that will work with the Pinky Pluggo, but Ableton is our favorite.

[dj_placenta]

I have Cubase Studio 4.0. Will it work in that OK?