DJ CONTROL AIR and DJUCED™ Reference Manual More information (forum, tutorials, videos...) available at www.HERCULESDJMIXROOM.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR A. DJUCED™ overview .............................................................................................. 3 1. Browser area ................................................................................................................................. 4 a) b) c) d) e) f) g) Definition.......................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Organization .
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR D. DJ Control AIR MIDI messages............................................................................ 48 1. MIDI channel ............................................................................................................................... 48 2. MIDI Input .................................................................................................................................... 48 a) b) Definition............................................................
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR Introduction DJUCED™ for DJ Control AIR is a DJ tool adding beauty to the power of mixing audio tracks, scratching and recording your music creations. DJUCED™ is designed to make mixing user-friendly, thanks to a unique graphic interface and userfriendly features. A.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR 1. Browser area a) Definition The browser is an explorer to browse the drives and select the files to load on decks. b) Organization To the left: folder browser In the middle: files browser To the right: search area c) Folder browser (1) Definition Folder browser = area to explore the folders, playlists and drives tree structure of the computer.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR (2) Use Press the DJ Control AIR Folder button to access the folder browser. Press the DJ Control AIR Up & Down arrow buttons to move up and down in the folder tree. Press the DJ Control AIR Folder button again to expand a folder (to see its subfolders). Once you have accessed the target folder, move to the files browser by pressing the DJ Control AIR Files button.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR Type the first letter of the track’s title on the computer keyboard to find the track. Once you have accessed the target track, load the track on a deck: - Press the DJ Control AIR Load A or Load B buttons to load the track on deck A or B; or - Drag and drop the track on the platter of the virtual deck.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR (c) Relocate Relocate is an option to update your tracks’ location if: - You have moved/renamed the folder where the tracks are stored; or - The driver letter of the storage unit has changed. (d) File operations The operations that you perform on a file in an explorer: delete, rename, copy or move the file.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR e) Search area In the SEARCH field, type the title of the song or the artist whose track you want to look for. To search files in all folders you have already visited, use the Folder browser to go to Sound Libraries > All Songs, and then enter the string of letters you are looking for. You can reset the search by clicking on the icon. You can select the search criteria by clicking on the icon .
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR You can restore the platter display by clicking on the g) Browsing controls on DJ Control AIR DJ Control AIR has 6 browsing controls: • Folder button sets the pointer on the folder browser. • Files button sets the pointer on the files browser. • Up button moves up in the browser. • Down button moves down in the browser. 9 icon.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR • • Load A loads the selected track on deck A. Load B loads the selected deck on deck B. 2. Deck (A = left or B = right) a) Definition The virtual deck gathers the controls of the track’s playback, similar to the controls on a CD player. b) Organization Bottom: the Loop area and the Play/Stop area. Center: platter, pitch and cue points area. Over the platter: effect rack area. Over the effect rack: waveform area. On top: text information area.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR (1) Definition Loop: a portion of an audio track that is played repeatedly. Its symbol is . (2) Use Looping, or making a loop, is a way for the DJ to make a rhythm last longer. The DJ can either: - Manually set the start and the end of the loop; or - Set the length of the loop in beats.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR (5) Display If you are in a loop, the loop is visible in 2 areas: - In the waveform display: the part of the track outside of the loop is greyed out. - On the platter: the loop is displayed in pink. Each concentric circle of the platter lasts 1 minute (if the track doesn’t exceed 6 minutes), so the pink area located on this circle shows: - The loop in the first (outer) circle = in the first minute of this track.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR d) Play & Stop area On each deck: - The Play / Pause button switches between playback and pause on the deck (Pause stops playback at the current position in the track). - The Stop button stops playback and returns to the track’s starting point. The Play/Pause button in DJUCED has the same function as the Play/Pause button on DJ Control AIR. e) Cue point area (1) Definition Cue point: a bookmark that you place in a track, allowing you to instantly access this exact point.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR (2) Use Cue points are necessary for DJs, allowing them to: - Instantly access a point in the track where the beat is audible, to avoid a slow start and instantly go to an audible rhythm. - Instantly access different points in the track, if the beat changes. (3) Commands In DJUCED, clicking on Cue buttons 1, 2, 3 : - Sets cue point 1, 2 or 3 at the current position in the track, if there was no such cue point already set in this track.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR (b) On the instant waveform The largest waveform display, showing the current position in a track, shows the cue point as a vertical red bar with the cue point’s name (Cue 1, Cue 2 or Cue 3). f) Pitch area (1) Definitions (a) Pitch Pitch is the control of the playback speed: - A -6% pitch means slowing down the track by 6% compared to its default playback speed. - A 0% pitch means that the track is played at its original speed.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR The BPM rate measures a track’s rhythm. (c) Pitch fader The pitch fader is a slider that lets you speed up or slow down playback of the track: - You slow down playback by moving the pitch fader up. - You speed up playback by moving the pitch fader down. - You set playback at its default speed by setting pitch fader at the center. The music keeps its latest speed when you stop moving the pitch fader (i.e.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR (b) Pitch scale The pitch scale is a % value (for example, 6%) displayed on top of the fader in the DJUCED graphic interface. This % is the maximum speed change that you can achieve by moving the pitch fader up or down. For example, a 6% pitch scale means: - Setting the pitch fader at its top position slows down the music by 6%. - Setting the pitch fader at its bottom position speeds up the music by 6%. You can change the pitch scale by clicking on the % figure with your mouse.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR - The beat of one deck at the same moment as the beat of the other deck. So if you play tracks on decks A and B, and press the Sync button on deck B: 1) It instantly changes the playback speed of deck A to match the playback speed of deck B. 2) It instantly sets the beat of deck A to play at the same moment as the beat of deck B.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR (a) Time information In its center, the platter shows: - The current position = how far playback is from the track’s start = here, at 0:53. - The remaining time = how for playback is from the track’s end = here, at 4:02. The platter shows, via its concentric circles, how long the track lasts (if it doesn’t exceed 6:00).
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR • • • • • • Flanger Reverb Chorus Autowah Compressor Rotate (b) Sampler A sampler is a section playing several short sounds, called samples, over the track or instead of the track. If a sample is played once, it is called a jingle. If a sample is played continuously, it is called a looped sample. The DJUCED sampler plays up to 4 samples per deck. (c) Step sequencer A step sequencer is a music creation tool used to define the pattern in which a sample is played and repeated.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR (2) Use (a) Effects Effects are added to the music to customize, enhance, or tweak the sound. You can apply an effect temporarily to a track to make it sound nicer, or sound closer to another track that you want to mix with this track. (b) Sampler Samples are played to customize a track and to add a rhythm over the music. (c) Step sequencer The step sequencer is an elaborate tool, allowing you to use the sampler to play samples over the music.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR - Modulate the second setting of the effect by keeping your finger on the pad, and moving your hand over the proximity sensor (within 4 inches / 10 cm). Change the effect loaded on the pad by keeping your finger on the pad, while using the (Up) and (Down) buttons (located around the button labeled Effects) to browse through the effects list. (b) Sampler DJUCED includes a sampler of 4 samples per deck.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR - If you find it too difficult to control the sample volume with the velocity, you can disable this sampler velocity function in the DJ Control AIR control panel (in the control panel, go to Advanced, and then switch velocity off for the sampler mode).
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR i) Waveform area (1) Definitions (a) Waveform The waveform is a display of the audio signal as a wave, where: - The signal’s amplitude is the distance from the central line: o The closer to the central line, the weaker the sound. o The further from the central line, the louder the sound. - The waveform length is the time length. - The colors shows the type of sound: o Red = low frequencies. o Orange = medium frequencies. o Yellow = high frequencies.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR - Zoom In/Out: the +/- buttons zoom in or zoom out on the wave. Scratch: click on the waveform and move the pointer to scratch with your mouse. (b) Wave overview Browse within the track: click on a position of the wave overview to instantly access this position, as you can do with the small blue dots around the platter (in the DJUCED interface).
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR BPM analysis: analyses the track’s BPM. BPM unit -/+1: removes 1 from the BPM rate (123.48 becomes 122.48). adds 1 to the BPM rate (123.48 becomes 124.48). Double or divide the BPM rate by 2. Beatgrid fine tune: moves the beatgrid left or right. Manually type in the BPM value (replacing the analyzed value). Click on the BPM zone (displayed vertically, indicated with a red rectangle, below) to return to the text display of the song. 3.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR c) Headphones commands (1) Cue/Mix This setting lets you choose what you play on your headphones. (a) Cue Cue for headphones = PFL (Pre-Fader Listening). You can choose what to play on your headphones: • The preview = next track (the music you will be playing for your audience); or • The mix = the music you are currently playing for your audience. The preview is also called Cue for headphones, but this Cue is not related to the Cue points.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR - Bass, for low frequencies. The DJ Control AIR equalizers control the equalization in DJUCED. DJUCED also includes: - One gain volume per deck. The gain sets the maximum output volume: if the tracks loaded on the 2 decks have different recording levels, the gain volume of the deck lets you set the same level on both decks. - A main volume rotary potentiometer. e) Volume and crossfader commands DJUCED and DJ Control AIR include: - 2 volume faders: 1 per deck. - A crossfader.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR a) Audio settings The audio path menu lets you select the audio outputs for the mix and the headphones. - Master is the stereo output where you play the mix, where you connect the active speakers. - Headphones is the stereo output where you play the preview, where you generally connect headphones. The recommended settings are: - Master = Outputs 1&2 on Hercules DJ Control AIR (ASIO). - Headphones = Outputs 3&4 on Hercules DJ Control AIR (ASIO).
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR c) Keyboard menu The keyboard menu lets you define shortcut keys on your computer’s keyboard. d) General The general menu lets you define 3 settings: (1) Song alert time The song alert is a visual change in the DJUCED waveform display: the waveform area blinks in red when the song is close to its end. This feature is included to prevent the DJ from reaching the end of the track without noticing it, with nothing then playing for the audience.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR e) Browser The browser setting lets you: - Choose what is displayed in the browser. - Select the colors of the music genres. - Manage your database: - Import or export the database from/to another computer. - Check or clean the database (if you have moved files, folders or drives on your computer).
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR f) About The About menu displays the version of DJUCED, and a link to check for updates to the software. B. Mixing in DJUCED with DJ Control AIR 1. Preliminary operations When mixing in front of an audience, you must focus on the music and the audience, so you should prepare your tracks and audio library in advance: - Locate all of your songs. - Analyze the audio library. - Place cue points in the tracks. - Create playlists.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR BPM analysis is slow and CPU-intensive, so you must not carry out BPM analysis while mixing during a public performance, as this would slow down your computer. If you analyze a complete library of hundreds of songs, you don’t need to remain in front of your computer during the analysis: this can take hours, depending on how fast your computer is. You will know that a track has been analyzed when the browser displays its BPM rate.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR Playlists are made for DJs to gather tracks together that they are likely to play at the same party. Example of playlists: • Wedding • Birthday • 1990s • New Wave • Old standards • Sports songs • 160 BPM As you can place the same audio track in different playlists, you can use playlists to sort the tracks according to several criteria, such as: - The type of event where you may play this track (birthday, wedding, club, café...). - The speed of the track (BPM).
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR b) Loading the track Once you have found the track, you can load it on deck A (the left deck) or deck B (the right deck) by pressing the DJ Control AIR’s Load A or Load B buttons. c) Browsing within the track Once you have loaded the track, you can browse within the track using the jog wheels. (1) Fast browsing - Check that scratch mode is off (the scratch button’s LED must be off).
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR d) Previewing the track Preview = Pre-listen = PFL (Pre-Fade Listen) = listen to a track on your headphones, which the audience doesn’t hear. (1) Setting the headphones to Cue mode To use your headphones for previewing tracks, set the headphones output to Cue mode: - If the headphones mode is set to Cue, your headphones are set to preview tracks. - If the headphones mode is set to Mix, your headphones play the mix (i.e.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR (3) Playing the track Press the DJ Control AIR’s Play button on the deck you want to preview. You can hear the track on your headphones. You can now preview the track, meaning that you can check that its rhythm and tone fit with the track you are currently playing for the audience.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR If you reach the limit of the pitch fader (up or down) while still being far from the target BPM, then you should change the pitch scale by clicking on the % figure displayed on top of the pitch fader in DJUCED. (b) Use pitch bend so that the track’s beats play with the beats of the other deck Once both tracks are playing at the same speed, you still need to move the beats of the track that you are previewing to play at the same time as on the reference deck.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR As soon as the beats of both tracks play at the same time, you can stop turning the jog wheel, since the tracks are now synchronized. f) Checking that the tracks are synchronized On DJ Control AIR, you can see whether both tracks are synchronized: if so, the LEDs on its VUmeter (located below the AIR sensor) blink in synchronization.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR - Move the crossfader to the center, to play both the tracks on deck B and deck A. After a 10 second pause, move the crossfader from the center to deck A. - Restore the medium and treble frequency levels. 3. Scratching and effects a) Scratching (1) Definition Scratching is the sound produced by a vinyl record playing on a turntable, when you place your hand on the record and move it with your hand directly touching the record.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR (3) Notes on scratching The quality of a scratch depends on the DJ’s talent, and also on the music track used to scratch. You cannot make a good scratch sound with just any music track: your scratching performance depends on how the music track you have loaded on the deck sounds when it is scratched. Some DJs emphasize their scratching talent by scratching using music tracks which already include scratch sounds.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR In this example: - Echo is on pad 1. - Flanger is on pad 2. - Reverb is on pad 3. - Chorus is on pad 4.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR - In DJUCED: on the 2 rotary buttons in the Effects bar. As soon as you take your finger off of the pad, the AIR sensor setting is saved (so the AIR sensor does not disturb any other settings). c) Samples (1) Definition A sample is a short sound played alone or in combination with other samples, over the music or instead of the music. If a sample is played once, it is called a jingle. If a sample is played continuously, it is called a looped sample.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR (c) Playing samples You can control the playback of the 4 samples by tapping on the pads. One tap starts the sample playback. A second tap pauses the sample playback. The velocity with which you tap the pad controls the volume at which the samples are played.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR d) Loops (1) Definition Loop: a portion of an audio track that is played repeatedly. (2) Controlling loops on DJ Control AIR (a) Setting the DJ Control AIR pads to Loop mode Press the Loops mode button, between the 2 columns of equalizer controls. It lights up: - The Loops mode button, - The Loops label over the 2 sets of 4 pads. (b) Setting a Loop In point = start of the loop: Pad 1 While the track is playing, you place the starting point of the loop using Pad 1.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR (f) Exiting the Loop: Pad 2 Once inside a loop, you can exit the loop and keep on playing the track at the end of the loop by pressing Pad 2. C. Frequently asked questions 1. DJUCED a) Is DJUCED for DJ Control AIR a time-limited version? No: DJUCED is not time-limited if DJ Control AIR is connected, although DJUCED operates in demo mode (a 30-minute limit per session) if DJ Control AIR is not connected to the computer.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR b) How can I set DJ Control AIR to ASIO mode in Windows? DJ Control AIR exposes both its WDM and ASIO drivers constantly, so you don’t need to switch between ASIO and WDM drivers in the control panel: you can select either the ASIO driver or the WDM driver in the DJ software. c) Is the AIR sensor compatible with other DJ software? Yes, the AIR sensor sends a standard MIDI command.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR d) Can I use the AIR sensor for other settings in DJUCED? No, the functions mapped in DJUCED cannot be changed. D. DJ Control AIR MIDI messages 1. MIDI channel DJ Control AIR requires only 1 MIDI channel. The MIDI channel is set to channel 1 by default, and can be changed to channel 2, 3, …15, 16 in the DJ Control AIR’s control panel. 2. MIDI Input a) Definition The MIDI Input commands are the commands received by the computer and the software.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR b) Commands (1) Deck A Control Pads (Sensitivity On) Pad 1 Loop Deck A MIDI Message 9x 09 Value Button-Toggling Output Pad 2 Loop Deck A 9x 0A Value Button-Toggling Output Pad 3 Loop Deck A 9x 0B Value Button-Toggling Output Pad 4 Loop Deck A 9x 0C Value Button-Toggling Output Pad 1 Effect Deck A 9x 01 Value Button-Toggling Output Pad 2 Effect Deck A 9x 02 Value Button-Toggling Output Pad 3 Effect Deck A 9x 03 Value Button-Toggling Output Pad 4 Effect Deck A
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR (2) Deck B Control Pads (Sensitivity On) Pad 1 Loop Deck B Pad 2 Loop Deck B 9x 1F Value 9x 20 Value Button-Toggling Output Button-Toggling Output Pad 3 Loop Deck B 9x 21 Value Button-Toggling Output Pad 4 Loop Deck B 9x 22 Value Button-Toggling Output Pad 1 Effect Deck B 9x 17 Value Button-Toggling Output Pad 2 Effect Deck B 9x 18 Value Button-Toggling Output Pad 3 Effect Deck B 9x 19 Value Button-Toggling Output Pad 4 Effect Deck B 9x 1A Value Button-Toggling
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR Load Deck A Load Deck B 9x 15 Value 9x 2B Value Button-Toggling Output Button-Toggling Output “7F” : Pressed – “00” : Released “7F” : Pressed – “00” : Released Pads mode Loops Effects Sample Select Down Select Up 9x 37 Value 9x 38 Value 9x 2F Value 9x 31 Value 9x 32 Value Button-Toggling Output Button-Toggling Output Button-Toggling Output Button-Toggling Output Button-Toggling Output “7F” : Pressed – “00” : Released “7F” : Pressed – “00” : Released “7F” : Pressed – “00” :
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR Pitch Sync Deck A 9x 13 Value 00 : OFF – 7F: ON Playback Cue Deck A Play Deck A 9x 11 Value 9x 12 Value 00 : OFF – 7F: ON 00 : OFF – 7F: ON (2) Deck B LEDs Control Pads (Sensitivity On) Pad 1 Loop Deck B Pad 2 Loop Deck B Pad 3 Loop Deck B Pad 4 Loop Deck B Pad 1 Effect Deck B Pad 2 Effect Deck B Pad 3 Effect Deck B Pad 4 Effect Deck B Pad 1 Sample Deck B Pad 2 Sample Deck B Pad 3 Sample Deck B Pad 4 Sample Deck B MIDI Message Value Description 9x 1F Value 9x 20 Value 9x
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR E. Technical Support If you encounter a problem with your product, please go to http://ts.hercules.com and select your language. From there you will be able to access various utilities (Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), the latest versions of drivers and software) that may help to resolve your problem.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR G. Additional warranty provisions In the United States of America and in Canada, this warranty is limited to the product’s internal mechanism and external housing. Any applicable implied warranties, including warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, are hereby limited to two (2) years from the date of purchase and are subject to the conditions set forth in this limited warranty. In no event shall Guillemot Corporation S.A.
DJUCED™ and DJ Control AIR K. Disclaimer Guillemot Corporation S.A. reserves the right to make changes to specifications at any time and without notice. The information provided by this document is believed to be accurate and reliable. However, no responsibility is assumed by Guillemot Corporation S.A. either for its use or for the infringement of patents or other rights of third parties resulting from its use. This product may exist in a light or special version for PC integration or other purposes.
