A few weeks ago we got a chance to shoot an awesome “What’s In Your Bag?” segment with Claude Von Stroke, Justin Martin, Christian Martin, J. Phlip, and Worthy at their show in at Mezzanine in San Francisco – some of the key cast members in the enterprising Dirtybird label and crew. Dirtybird, famous for their outdoor parties, dark basslines, and generally pushing the envelope in house music, are currently on a world tour.

It’s here! Ean’s remastering of Vestax’s flagship DJ controller is available today for preorders, and we’re very excited about this one. The Ean Golden Edition of the VCI-400 features a complete redesign, our Chroma Caps, the craziest DJTT mapping yet, and custom firmware. Continue reading for a full video with Ean showing off some of his favorite features of the device.

In the light of Bento San’s excellent Mapulator patch for Max for Live, many of you will be looking just that little bit harder at Ableton Live and what it can do for you. If your interest was piqued but you’re not quite ready to take the plunge into Max for Live yet, today’s article will be right up your street as we take a look at how Live’s audio effects rack can be used powerfully and how to add randomization to an Ableton DJ set.

Ableton Live’s MIDI mapping is a double-edged sword: super-easy, but somewhat limiting. What if we could go beyond basic mapping? The fact is that complex MIDI translations in Live shouldn’t require a doctorate in computer science to pull off, which is exactly why we’ve created Mapulator, a new Ableton Max for Live patch that allows you to map knobs in ways that we could only have dreamed about with the standard mapping system. We’re giving this first version out for free – see inside for more about this incredible device.

The DJTT labs are crazy this month! We finally had a chance to watch all of the videos submitted to our PowerTools remix competition and now it’s time to announce the winner of the contest. I was completely blown away by the response to this contest – every entry had some amazing qualities, and the final count was over 65 entries!

An awesome DJ set rarely comes down to which equipment you use – it’s singularly about the sound you deliver.  That is, unless you want to scratch. The tools of the turntablism trade are relatively simple, the techniques have evolved at a glacial pace compared with other DJ disciplines, but it’s an artform that is anything but simple to master. So where does the budding DMC turntablist champion go to get the very best education on “cuttin’ it up rough”? In this article, we look at some of the online resources out there that will build those flares, tame your crabs and keep those chirps tight.

Released to the public earlier this week, Mixed In Key’s Mashup is a new simple audio program designed around the creation of super simple key-matched mashups. In addition to taking a look at the software’s features and foibles, we challenged some of the DJTT staff to try and make their own mashups with the tool in under ten minutes – read on for the results and reviews.

The VCI-100 might be dead, but we’ve got good news for all our faithful VCI-100 users. After some persistent requests from our passionate forum community, we decided to produce one final overlay to accommodate the official DJ Techtools VCI-100SE v4 mapping, designed for Traktor Pro 2.

Off-the-shelf DJ controllers have come a long way in the past few years, but they’re still lacking that certain something. The whole digital DJing movement was founded on a DIY approach way before manufacturers started seeing dollar signs in the eyes of a burgeoning market, and there’s nothing quite like that personal touch. Not everyone’s a ‘ground up’ kinda guy though, so what’s the middle ground?

The great irony of DJ equipment protection is that one of the most dangerous places to take your gear is to the exact place that you want to be going to – your gig. Be it an after-hours tech house rager, a weekly wobblefest at your favorite venue, or even a mere wedding reception, the hazards of playing out are there. But don’t fear – we’ve got some great ideas for things to do to make sure that your DJ kit comes home with you ready to play the next show.

The Pioneer DDJ-S1 is just over a year old now, having been announced at NAMM 2010. While a number of other controllers have come on the market since, how well does it hold up? And if we were to compare it to the VCI-300, what makes the S1 superior?

Most DJs have heard the legend of the incredible Innofader – but did you know that this epic fader now has a little brother? Designed to accomodate the many MIDI controllers that don’t have room for a full-sized Innofader, we’ve got the rundown and comparison on this low-profile superhero of a crossfader.