NOVATION DICER REVIEW
Posted on Tue 02 November 2010 in entries
Having been fascinated by the art of DJing since the age of 15, and been working the club circuit on the South Coast for the past 5 years, my allegiance has purely been to the gods of vinyl. But with the plummeting prices of the Traktor software series, and the release of the nifty looking Novation Dicers, is this the time to reconsider my options? It was time to investigate!
VINYL vs DIGITAL
It’s one of the great debates, vinyl vs digital, the oldskool vs the newskool. As much it makes me feel like an old man to say this (and I’m only 23!), back in my day, the only way to DJ was to get yourself a decent pair of direct drive turntables, lock yourself in your room for a few months, and learn to beatmatch. That is, practice hard until you teach your brain to distinctly distinguish between the separate signals arriving at each of your ears, before determining the tempo difference between the two, and adjusting the pitch fader accordingly until both songs groove harmoniously together. I literally remember thinking to myself when I took my first steps into the DJ world, ‘no instrument in the world could ever be harder than this!’ Whilst I now realise how naive this thought was having since become comfortable with the technique, I very much doubt todays digital DJs have ever had the same thought about pressing a button on their laptops to lock two tracks in time…
Having said that, the thought has occurred to me, ‘why run a marathon when you can drive a car?’ The act of using digital technology to aid a performance means the DJ has more time to concentrate on other aspects of the set. Instead of worrying about beatmatching and jumpy needles, the DJ may have full creative control over the precise flow of the mix. They can drop samples in and out as they wish, loop sections, and add rousing effects to further accentuate a euphoric build up. And as long as they have done their homework, it will always sound perfect. If only there was a way to implement such things without having to look like you’re shopping for your groceries online by staring at a laptop screen and clicking away (not the most engaging thing for any crowd), a way which could still involve your turntables if required, and a way that didn’t break the bank! Enter the Novation Dicer…
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS OF THE NOVATION DICER
It has to be said, I was very much looking forward to my chance to play with the Novation Dicer before I had even opened the box, having been introduced to following official Novation Youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPO4kyUrKbw
Pretty mouth watering stuff I think you will agree!
Tearing into the box with excitement, I find the two Dicer’s sitting there in their moulded plastic compartment, looking rather like a cross between an American stealth bomber, and an electronic version of Yahtzee! And I’m going to mark that down as a positive! There’s nothing wrong with a bit of good old fashioned dice throwing family fun on a rainy day! (And, before anyone says anything, I assure you I am definitely still 23!)
Without even connecting the Dicers up to my system, I note how the buttons feel really pleasing to work with: not too flimsy, but with a nice pad like feel, just dying to be played with! And that is exactly what I intend to do…
NOVATION DICER CONNECTIONS
Attaching the Dicer’s to my laptop could hardly have been more straight forward, using just two supplied wires! The Novation Dicer to control ‘Deck A’ slots into an available USB port, and the second Novation Dicer connects to the first via a simple TRS connection. Finally, the Dicer’s were held down to my laptop using specialised putty (included in the package), which proved to be suitably stable for the task at hand. It was almost time for the fun part to begin…
Loading up my demo version of Traktor Scratch, I take note that the Novation Dicer was originally designed for the Serato software, and so it takes a simple trip to the Novation website to download the mappings that allow the Dicer’s to integrate seamlessly with Traktor. The download takes no longer than 20 seconds, and from here it is just a simple case of following the instructions outlined in the downloaded text file. Again, this process took me a minute maximum, and from then on it was smooth Dicing!
SETTING CUE POINTS WITH THE NOVATION DICER
I decided to start by taking a look at the first Novation Dicer mode, accessed by pressing the button with a black triangle printed on it, which glowed red when activated. With my track playing in Traktor, I began experimenting with cue points (created by hitting the large dice-like buttons). It was simple enough, and with a bit of planning I was able to produce some pleasing results.
In essence, this mode allowed me to control the whole structure of the track in real time. For example, I could cue up some important parts of the song such as the intro, a breakdown, and an energetic drop with the Novation Dicer, and then trigger them whenever I felt the time was right. For example, if I wanted a burst of energy, I could trigger the drop after the intro, where usually there would have been a breakdown, and take the crowd by surprise. Or, if I wanted to build up tension, I could revert back to the intro after the breakdown when everyone was expecting the drop! I was in full control! MWHAHAHAHA!
Experimenting in this way also gave me a little time to appreciate the skills of being a digital DJ, as I realised that there could be a lot more to it that simply hitting a button and pressing play! If I didn’t particularly think about how I was jumping between cue points, the results sounded very amateur, despite both tracks being locked perfectly in tempo. Something as small as cutting to a cue point that contained a cymbal tail when no cymbal hit occurred in the passage that had been cut from could really ruin a mix! Maybe there is more to this digital stuff than originally meets the eye…
Further fun could be had with cue points using the Novation Dicer that was controlling the inactive deck. By setting cue points on the second track to trigger just before a specific ‘hit’, I could drop in my own effects over the currently playing track! For example, if I set up cue point 1 to trigger just before a bass drum, cue point 2 to trigger just before a snare, cue point 3 to trigger just before an open hi-hat, cue point 4 to trigger just before a closed hi-hat, and cue point 5 to trigger just before a tom, I could essentially play along with the current track with a custom made drum kit, by hitting the corresponding buttons. This was made even easier as each cue point on the secondary track is only played for as long as the button is held down, eliminating the risk of triggering a sample for longer than intended.
I should also add that deleting cue points was just as easy as creating them, but was achieved by holding the mode button and pressing the button relating to the cue point to be deleted.
However, the feature that made the Novation Dicer even more worthwhile….*drum roll*…. every cue point that you create is stored within the Traktor software, and is automatically recalled whenever you next load up the song, so once you have made them, you will always have all your cue points available at your finger tips!
LOOPING WITH THE NOVATION DICER
The second (green) mode of the Novation Dicer is the loop mode, in which the 5 dice buttons become loop controls, allowing you to adjust the size and position of a loop, and trigger and un-trigger it on the fly. With my vinyl background, real-time looping is not something I am particularly accustomed to, but I can definitely see potential for how it may be used in a creative manner.
FX WITH THE NOVATION DICER
The third and final (orange) Novation Dicer mode is the FX mode. Effects are a big part of the digital DJ experience, and to be able to control them with such ease made them even more accessible and fun to use. For example, I could have a Flanger effect, a Reverb, and a Filter all assigned to one track, and using the Dicer, I could control which effect or combinations of effects were active, and by how much they collectively effected the assigned track!
NOVATION DICER - THE VERDICT
I would be lying if I were to say that the Novation Dicer hadn’t impressed me, as I can most definitely see how they can add to the whole DJing experience, and offer greater creative possibilities (especially if you are into your scratching). I can definitely imagine myself using the cue points feature of the Novation Dicer in a live situation if I decided to fully embrace digital technology, as the beauty of the Novation Dicer is that it is right there in front of you on your turntable (or your laptop if you choose). In all honesty, the loop and effects modes, would probably be more suited to a control surface such as the X1, where dials would offer a little more control over these aspects than buttons, but they are still handy additions to be featured in such portable devices.
Now for the big question…Am I tempted to go digital? Although I am still yet to be totally convinced by the powers of digital beat matching, the drop in price of the Traktor software is not one to be missed, and is worth purchasing if not only for the advantage that it will allow me to keep my whole vinyl collection with me at all times, in a form that won’t degenerate with time. Plus, with the precision time-coded vinyl, I will always have the option of using my Technics decks to mix in the way I know and love if I choose. It will certainly be a little while before I decide whether or not to take my digital setup into a live situation, but there is no harm in experimenting further in the mean time, to discover for myself the true potential of the digital world. And will I add some Dicers to my collection? At £79 for the pair, when I find myself with a bit of spare change, the added creative potential that they offer in such a small accessible package, makes me rather inclined to say ‘yes’…
Purchase the Novation Dicer (Pair)
Purchase the Traktor Kontrol X1
MASSIVE SALE! HURRY NOW WHILE STOCKS LAST:
Purchase Native Instruments Traktor Scratch Pro
Purchase Native Instruments Traktor Scratch Duo