Mixdecks (For the Audiophile)

[Ken L]

I'm curious if anyone as tried using a mix-deck for DJing their game.

I recently picked up a mix-deck for just this purpose. I've already been using MIXXX (https://www.mixxx.org/) Piped through Teamspeak and Mumble for awhile now (mumble more recently). and I've just picked up this deck (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E4J2J4I/ref=psdc_5524094011_t2_B01DTGCMFC) during black friday. Having jumped a few hoops to get the Linux drivers running, I have full turn-table support synced with MIXXX and the neat addition of having up to 16 programmable sampler keys (boo, ahh, cymbal crash, slashing, block etc...) It greatly enhances what I juggle with just a mouse on a secondary monitor.

I'm currently prepping it for my ShadowRun campaign and I'm hyped at actually having a manual controller. For a sci-fi campaign, manually being able to tween and make drops/transitions is pretty awesome; prior I simply used the cross-fader and sampler. Wall running is a thing in my game and being able to drop my current track into slow-mo with a thumping heart-beat sample only to ramp it up again is a pretty neat add.

I'm not sure if anyone else is a huge audiophile here though, but for those who use music, would you invest in a mix-deck?

[Hector Trelane]

I'm curious if anyone as tried using a mix-deck for DJing their game.

I recently picked up a mix-deck for just this purpose. I've already been using MIXXX (https://www.mixxx.org/) Piped through Teamspeak and Mumble for awhile now (mumble more recently). and I've just picked up this deck (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E4J2J4I/ref=psdc_5524094011_t2_B01DTGCMFC) during black friday. Having jumped a few hoops to get the Linux drivers running, I have full turn-table support synced with MIXXX and the neat addition of having up to 16 programmable sampler keys (boo, ahh, cymbal crash, slashing, block etc...) It greatly enhances what I juggle with just a mouse on a secondary monitor.

I'm currently prepping it for my ShadowRun campaign and I'm hyped at actually having a manual controller. For a sci-fi campaign, manually being able to tween and make drops/transitions is pretty awesome; prior I simply used the cross-fader and sampler. Wall running is a thing in my game and being able to drop my current track into slow-mo with a thumping heart-beat sample only to ramp it up again is a pretty neat add.

I'm not sure if anyone else is a huge audiophile here though, but for those who use music, would you invest in a mix-deck?

That all sounds great but I didn't follow half the terms. Maybe you could define what this all means for game purposes and provide some examples that others could follow? Ideally with audio or a tutorial video?

[dulux-oz]

I use Voicemeeter Banana to mix in my voice, any mp3s I might need, and Syrinscape (both Fantasy and Sci-Fi) and pump the result down separate Teamspeak Channels plus back through my own 7.1 Surround System - but really, I just use Syrinscape for just about all my RPG sound needs because its all in one place, has just about all the music and audio one-shots I need, and with the DOE: Sound Extension I can control it all automatically and manually as required from inside FG

Seriously, what more could you want?? :p

[Ken L]

Mix-decks, or DJ turn-tables are used to beat match tracks as well as add FX, drops, and splicing.

Deck: A turn-table, or the spinning record. Commonly there are two; one on the left and right of the center console. In modern DJing, there can be multiple decks since in the digital age they might be playing two mixed tracks while mixing decks 3 and 4 on their headset for the next setup, but only physically have 2 decks.
Crossfade: control the amount of fade between two playing tracks
Beat-match: Sync two playing tracks to the correct BPM to allow for seamless crossfade
Drop: A strong musical shift (see dubstep) variable description pending on who you ask. As for how I use this, I'll mark/cue drop sections that I can hot-key jump to on a playing track (either on the right or left)
Sample: A sample in the DJ sense are little jingles I play to add flair ie: "child yeeeeeyyyy, confetti cannon, crowd booing etc...". Very much like a sound board but I can cross fade them with my playing tracks. Likewise a Sampler is any medium that enables easy playback of these tracks.

I can also scratch forward/backward the 'needle' on either of my playing 'decks' as well as add slow-mo or pitch rise/falls to any currently playing track so I can mutate the music on the fly to suit the situation. My physical deck now lets me do that without having to dance my mouse across the HUD control panel. These are things you can't really do without manipulating the audio in-stream live. Note that this doesn't alter my voice, only the playing tracks I use for my games; I typically don't use any voice modifiers outside of switching accents or demeanor.

Regarding video, tutorials etc.. See any DJ tutorials. As for an actual use-case as GM, I'll have to leave that up for deduction as I'm not going to write a step-by-step process.

Dux mentioned Syrinscape which is interesting but limited to fade in/out of tracks with a bit of randomness mixed in (in relation to their sound-set creator). Being able to scratch my disc at inappropriate moments or add reverb to any currently playing track is something I found more enjoyable, but does require hoops to jump which a physical deck makes seamless. My players like it and It's overall a great way to mix up the standard TTRPG; more so than fancy graphics.

[Hector Trelane]

Mix-decks, or DJ turn-tables are used to beat match tracks as well as add FX, drops, and splicing.

Deck: A turn-table, or the spinning record. Commonly there are two; one on the left and right of the center console. In modern DJing, there can be multiple decks since in the digital age they might be playing two mixed tracks while mixing decks 3 and 4 on their headset for the next setup, but only physically have 2 decks.
Crossfade: control the amount of fade between two playing tracks
Beat-match: Sync two playing tracks to the correct BPM to allow for seamless crossfade
Drop: A strong musical shift (see dubstep) variable description pending on who you ask. As for how I use this, I'll mark/cue drop sections that I can hot-key jump to on a playing track (either on the right or left)
Sample: A sample in the DJ sense are little jingles I play to add flair ie: "child yeeeeeyyyy, confetti cannon, crowd booing etc...". Very much like a sound board but I can cross fade them with my playing tracks. Likewise a Sampler is any medium that enables easy playback of these tracks.

I can also scratch forward/backward the 'needle' on either of my playing 'decks' as well as add slow-mo or pitch rise/falls to any currently playing track so I can mutate the music on the fly to suit the situation. My physical deck now lets me do that without having to dance my mouse across the HUD control panel. These are things you can't really do without manipulating the audio in-stream live. Note that this doesn't alter my voice, only the playing tracks I use for my games; I typically don't use any voice modifiers outside of switching accents or demeanor.

Regarding video, tutorials etc.. See any DJ tutorials. As for an actual use-case as GM, I'll have to leave that up for deduction as I'm not going to write a step-by-step process.

Dux mentioned Syrinscape which is interesting but limited to fade in/out of tracks with a bit of randomness mixed in (in relation to their sound-set creator). Being able to scratch my disc at inappropriate moments or add reverb to any currently playing track is something I found more enjoyable, but does require hoops to jump which a physical deck makes seamless. My players like it and It's overall a great way to mix up the standard TTRPG; more so than fancy graphics.

Wow okay. You are doing real deal DJing, not just using virtual tools. Pretty sweet for the right genre--modern/classic World of Darkness/cyberpunk. Thanks for the explanation.

[darrenan]

I wouldn't drop $300 because I think the improvement over Syrinscape+DOESound is incremental. It's almost as much as I can handle to remember triggering different sound mixes while GMing. But that's just me. Sounds like it's really your thing and would love to hear it in action.

[Ken L]

With Syrinscape, I need to create the sound-sets in their sound-set creator which is a software-as-a-service which is odd given what little it does. I don't need to rent the ability to use my own tracks. Otherwise, you're a bit limited from their offerings.

I like streaming my own audio from my mumble server which is part of my webserver which I use for other things so I don't really pay anymore than I usually do.

That's the content part of the equation, which was my initial push to this system. The other is stronger audio control which ironically isn't as difficult as it sounds. I rarely beat match during game as I typically crossfade from combat/ambient and I would have to search my audio database for samples as I needed them in MIXXX. Now though with the physical deck I can hit multiple knobs with one hand allowing me to do more at once. I can now do more beat matching from low/high intensity combat music which I couldn't do before. Using a mouse was akin to controlling MIXXX with a single finger and having multi-control is pretty liberating. If you don't stream audio from a Mixer, I suppose it's odd to get a deck, but if you do it's amazing.

[dulux-oz]

That's great Ken - you've found a system that works for you and one that you enjoy using.

For someone like me, who is a "wannabe" Audiophile, I find what Syrinscape does and provides covers everything that I need it to. In my opinion the 2400+ moods and one-shot sounds is more than enough to cover my gaming, no matter if its SF or Fantasy or SuperHero or WildWest (just) or any other type of genre (yes, some of those 2400+ are effectively duplicates, which brings the number back down: let's say for the sake of the argument 2K+). The biggest problem I had was swapping apps or swapping computer screens/keyboards (something which you effectively have to do as well) - this was becoming a PITA, so I wrote the DOE: Sound so I could control Syrinscape from within FG.

Now, of course, I can/have set up a bunch of automatic triggers so I don't even have to worry about doing it manually for a lot of stuff, and I can also share triggers with my players so they can play sounds when they want as well. And because the DOE: Sound works off of URLs, I'm not restricted to Syrinscape but can play any sound/music that can be accessed via a URL.

So for me, this system is "the best". For you, your system is "the best". For others... well, if you look at it in terms of cost, ease of use, required knowledge, and similar factors, then people will need to make up there own minds - but I think I know where the majority will go.

So, it's great that we have such a audiophile in our midst (that's you) as it means that we as a community have got another resource we can tap when we need to, and its also great that we as a community have a number of choices as to which games we play and how we play them, and how we add in all those little extras that can make out gaming so great.

Good luck with it all, and May All Your Rolls Be Crits :)

Cheers

[Nylanfs]

That all sounds great but I didn't follow half the terms. Maybe you could define what this all means for game purposes and provide some examples that others could follow? Ideally with audio or a tutorial video?

No Trelane, that way lies madness and despair...

[Hector Trelane]

With Syrinscape, I need to create the sound-sets in their sound-set creator which is a software-as-a-service which is odd given what little it does. I don't need to rent the ability to use my own tracks. Otherwise, you're a bit limited from their offerings.

I like streaming my own audio from my mumble server which is part of my webserver which I use for other things so I don't really pay anymore than I usually do.

That's the content part of the equation, which was my initial push to this system. The other is stronger audio control which ironically isn't as difficult as it sounds. I rarely beat match during game as I typically crossfade from combat/ambient and I would have to search my audio database for samples as I needed them in MIXXX. Now though with the physical deck I can hit multiple knobs with one hand allowing me to do more at once. I can now do more beat matching from low/high intensity combat music which I couldn't do before. Using a mouse was akin to controlling MIXXX with a single finger and having multi-control is pretty liberating. If you don't stream audio from a Mixer, I suppose it's odd to get a deck, but if you do it's amazing.

Making more sense. Personally, I'd love to hear a demo of what you can do with your rig (and perhaps others in the community would benefit too). This is not a tutorial but sample audio of you going through the paces to teach us all what cool things are possible. Then of course we'll all flock to your Shadowrun game at the next FG Con. :D

[LordEntrails]

Making more sense. Personally, I'd love to hear a demo of what you can do with your rig (and perhaps others in the community would benefit too). This is not a tutorial but sample audio of you going through the paces to teach us all what cool things are possible. Then of course we'll all flock to your Shadowrun game at the next FG Con. :D
Agreed, it would be cool to hear what's possible.

[Ken L]

Sure, I can throw together a recording of myself with my current sounds, I'm no real DJ but I like blending. Also, I'm in the process of acquiring more samples for drops as well as making the selector hub universal across workspaces (as the controller is directly linked to the program, I don't need that window to have focus except for changing tracks). That I'll probably have to write as a module for MIXXX, a simple pop up in the upper right that shows a mini-list of your playlist/crate tracks. The deck has a selector knob between the track loaders for that purpose, currently it works as a scrollbar in MIXXX since I'm not using the application recommended by the deck.

@Dux, I didn't say it was the best for everyone, I mentioned that it might seem odd if you don't have an audio mixer. Though I wouldn't call syrinscape a mixer.

Regarding FGCon, not really my thing to be honest. I'm currently pulling from my network +1 person I vetted for my shadowrun game so I'm not really in the mood for new players. I tend to customize my deck list for the players at my table as I learn their quirks and personalities and I've got a happy medium.

As a note, fantasy music is more difficult to blend as opposed to those used in cyberpunk settings. Most of the tracks I use are dark-electronica/techno-acoustic + grunge dubstep.

[MadBadHare]

Of course I am late to the party here - But just to put it out there I have thought about incorporating My Native Instruments "Maschine Studio" + Maschine software for this. I just haven't had the time to play around with it all -
DISCLAIMER - I would not go out and buy my set up for gaming - It is a bit pricey for this purpose - That being said I do play in a couple of band and have been doing music production for years -

Just my $0.02

[Ken L]

Quick track 'Shape da future' by Hideki Naganuma I recently used a few sessions ago.
link here (https://soundcloud.com/ken-xl/sample)
I just messed with the sliders one at a time to show the variations you can combine, nothing special and no crossfading or anything. Most of the sudden drops are just me messing with the high/low/mid tone hold buttons.

Most of these effects I'd only use when an event happens as I typically don't follow the music unless I know I'm going to transition low->high intensity, or back to ambient; or when I want to play a certain jingle.

I'm curious what MadBad can come up with, I've been looking to for a MIXXX effect package for time-dilation drop distortions.

[Hector Trelane]

Quick track 'Shape da future' by Hideki Naganuma I recently used a few sessions ago.
link here (https://soundcloud.com/ken-xl/sample)
I just messed with the sliders one at a time to show the variations you can combine, nothing special and no crossfading or anything. Most of the sudden drops are just me messing with the high/low/mid tone hold buttons.

Most of these effects I'd only use when an event happens as I typically don't follow the music unless I know I'm going to transition low->high intensity, or back to ambient; or when I want to play a certain jingle.

I'm curious what MadBad can come up with, I've been looking to for a MIXXX effect package for time-dilation drop distortions.

Nice! Thanks for the demo. You guys literally custom DJ your games. A whole level of skill and sophistication beyond what is normally done.

What might be nice tutorial for other GMs is less the technical, more the "how to use sound to convey emotional beats and add drama" to a game.

[Ken L]

It's really more about feel, sometimes I'll hold the mid-tones to muffle the sound to illustrate focus, mostly I just like injecting random jingles and scratch transitions. Ideally I should have done something better with that sample, I kinda threw that together in 5m.

[LordEntrails]

lol, 5 minutes... I could only tell a few places where it seemed you altered what may have already been a techno track. So, if you mixed that in 5 minutes, well, good for you :)

[Ken L]

lol, 5 minutes...

Did you think I made the track? I just hit play then messed with one slider at a time, I think you're confusing DJing and EDB remixing which is done manually :p .

Either way I'm more interested in MadBadHare's setup.

[Hector Trelane]

It's really more about feel, sometimes I'll hold the mid-tones to muffle the sound to illustrate focus, mostly I just like injecting random jingles and scratch transitions. Ideally I should have done something better with that sample, I kinda threw that together in 5m.

I'd be interested to hear how well this works for fantasy or other pre-dance rave genres. Can a medieval feel be achieved that isn't as atrocious as Heath Ledger's dance scene in that jousting movie?

[Ken L]

I'd be interested to hear how well this works for fantasy or other pre-dance rave genres. Can a medieval feel be achieved that isn't as atrocious as Heath Ledger's dance scene in that jousting movie?

For fantasy there's less looping intervals so your beatmatch loop (where you can loop 8/4 beats on the fly as they come up) won't be as useful to extend tense moments. If you own video game soundtracks, you can bookmark sections of music escalation and use it that way for a smooth ramp up with the crossfader (same track, both decks).

Really though for my case in a cyberpunk/traveller setting, I've been using more sound features than I've used for my fantasy games prior.