Maxd
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I am very into DJ'ing, specifically turntablism. I am curious about anyone who has noticed the lack of utilisation of turntables with MIDI-compatible chiptune mainstays such as Gameboys, the NES, and others. I have explored the possibilities of laying down top 40 acapellas on chip backgrounds I write myself. Reception has been overwhelmingly positive, and further integration with other software such as Ableton have yielded colorful results.

My main question is if anyone has ever tried scratching acapellas or instrumentals over a chip background. Who has? I do it sometimes (beatmatch and sync by ear, I have nothing to sync my DMGs to my computer with at the time being) and despite getting great reception, I am mocked by other DJ's in my area. Is it jealousy, or pure negativity? I know most DJ's are assholes, many of whom are a little lacking in the creativity and talent departments. But is it just a gimmick to them?

So, is DJ'ing with chiptunes an option? Is it crowd-friendly? Could it be a neat niche in DJ'ing if done right like Danimal's guitar integration? I am interested in your views and opinions.

Lazerbeat
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Tokyo, Japan

I don't know how he does it but Saskrotch is someone you might want to look at. Loads of dancehally stuff over chip musicish beats.

http://www.8bitpeoples.com/discography/8BP102?show=all

Sabrepulse also did it a little I think?

godinpants
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hardcore, Australia

Baseck Baseck Baseck Baseck Baseck

Lazerbeat
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Tokyo, Japan

And Bankai I guess?

spacetownsavior
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San Diego, CA

I dunno, for a crowd that's always been really really invested in the technology used to perform the music, DJs are really fickle about who uses what. I feel like if you're going to use gameboys in your DJ set you shouldn't even really be asking a DJ whether it's "right" or not. DJ tech heads are already so mired in analog vs digital vs turntable vs controller that the entrance of a gameboy would probably make them scoff their faces off. And any responses you have with regards to judging standards by crowd responses will have those people telling you you're a sellout and you don't know what "real" music is (despite the fact that DJs are pretty much SUPPOSED to give the crowd what sounds good).

Pretty much, dgaf DJ opinions, just go for it. If the crowd likes it, then that's a plus. Brostep heads have already gone apeshit over stuff like "zomg he got a square wave in my well-produced dubstep this shit is RAW" so you pulling out a gameboy on stage would probably blow heads open.

Saskrotch
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Chicago IL
Lazerbeat wrote:

I don't know how he does it but Saskrotch is someone you might want to look at. Loads of dancehally stuff over chip musicish beats.

aw shucks :-*

i would've linked this though (and i'm gonna do it now anyways!)
http://chipmusic.org/forums/topic/4717/ … astorrent/

kitsch
Offline
matt's mind

i always thought ms. pinky + arduinoboy would be a lot of fun to play around with...  just never got ms. pinky...

ms. pinky

Kris k
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BK

I remember seeing a dj perform with Minusbaby a few years back at Blip Festival- it fit really well, actually. I was wondering when someone was going to make that a major part of their act- I say go for it.

iNFOTOXIN
Offline
Dublin, Ireland

Yeah, DJ Big Wiz.

godinpants wrote:

Baseck Baseck Baseck Baseck Baseck

This. Guy's a legend.

Last edited by iNFOTOXIN (Dec 27, 2011 7:35 pm)

e.s.c.
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IL, US

baseck & saskrotch are both fucking awesome when it comes to this sort of thing

SKGB
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Godzilladelph
e.s.c. wrote:

baseck & saskrotch are both fucking awesome when it comes to this sort of thing

this.

NO CARRIER
Offline
GNV / FL / USA

Of course there is STJ by gwEm: http://www.preromanbritain.com/stj/

Stu uses it live. Here are some mixes: http://soundcloud.com/stjstu

Lazerbeat
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Tokyo, Japan

Hally DJs with Famicoms as par of his performance, as does Kaz a.k.a. Hige http://soundcloud.com/kazcorp

iNFOTOXIN
Offline
Dublin, Ireland

gwEm also created these devices which would aid integration in beatmatching with turntables:

LSDJ Pitch Control - Control pitch/tempo of LSDJ.
Ultra-Wicked DJ Device - control tempo of MIDI and sync 24 devices.

Last edited by iNFOTOXIN (Dec 28, 2011 2:14 pm)

goto80
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CHIPTUNE

If you need a gimmick, use the real hardware. Boys like it a lot! smile

Mixing your own chip-things with turntablism sounds like a good idea to me. Crowdpleasing for sure, just give people some room to breathe aswell.

Afaik there are very few beep-jockeys. Joakim Cosmo, C64-demoscener and DJ since the 80's, uses Serato and sometimes does SID-only sets as Jucke (highly recommended). Trez & Brioche DJ'ed a lot of chip shows before 2006 or so.

There's plenty of mashups, of course. Some of them are here: http://is.gd/2cT36q

gwEm
Offline
London
NO CARRIER wrote:

Of course there is STJ by gwEm: http://www.preromanbritain.com/stj/

Stu uses it live. Here are some mixes: http://soundcloud.com/stjstu

CrazyQ and 505 are also very nice with it.

It works very close to real decks, heres a mix I did combining the two:
http://truechiptilldeath.com/blog/2009/ … ym2149-ii/

a picture of it in action:

Last edited by gwEm (Jan 22, 2012 1:26 pm)