![]() ![]() 44100 measurements per second, or 1 measurement every ~22.68 microseconds). How often these measurements are taken is determined by the sample rate (or sampling rate).įor example, Audio CDs use a sample rate of 44100 Hz (i.e. Instead, digital signals work with measurements (called "samples") that indicate the value of the wave position at specific points in time. It's important to know that in contrast to analog audio like vinyl or music cassettes, the computer doesn't actually work with the continuous (smooth) wave that we see in the screenshot. We can't actually wait for a second, because the delay (also called latency) would be very noticeable and make the system unsuitable for scratching. If there are 2000 cycles per second, it's playing a double speed, at 500 cycles per second the record is playing at half speed, and so on.īut how does the computer know how many cycles there are in a second? With that information, the DVS system can detect how fast the record is playing by checking how many cycles there are in a second of audio recorded from the turntable. Hence, we now know that the signal has a frequency of 1000 Hz (Hz = 1/s, so it's basically a fancy way saying "per second"). You can divide that signal into "cycles", where each cycle starts from zero and goes into a positive part (above the black line) followed by a negative part (below the black line) and then repeats:Įach cycle has the same length and if we count the number of cycles in a single second of audio, there are 1000 of them. The wave basically looks similar to a sine wave that you may remember from your high school math classes. The left channel is on top and the right channel is on the bottom.īoth channels look very similar, but the right channel is shifted a little. If you open the WAV file with an audio editor like Audacity, it looks like this:Īs you can see, the timecode signal is a stereo signal. Let's take a look at the control signal (also called " timecode signal"). Since the latter essentially works the same as the vinyl version and can be downloaded for free from the Serato Website, I'm going to explain how it works based on that format. The Serato Control CD can be used to achieve the same thing on CDJs instead of turntables. Serato is one of the most popular and robust digital vinyl systems. Mixxx (and the underlying xwax library) support the latter 3 formats. VirtualDJ, Rekordbox, Numark, MixVibes, Traktor and Serato all provide their own solution. The computer transforms this signal into information about direction ("Is the record playing forwards or backwards?"), pitch ("How fast is the record spinning?") and position information ("At which position of the record is the needle?") and uses it to manipulate the playing track in software. Such a record contains a special signal that is processed by the computer. Instead of a traditional record that contains music, a "control" record is used. Jumping to different positions instantly inside a track using hotcues - without picking up, moving and dropping the needle - just isn't possible with vinyl records, and carrying around heavy crates of records isn't the best you can do for your back either.ĭigital Vinyl Systems (DVS) aim to provide the best of both worlds by combining the flexibility and power of digital DJing with the tactile control of traditional vinyl DJing.īut how does it actually work? The Basics In contrast to the 80s, nowadays many tracks are only released digitally, and a pure vinyl setup makes it impossible to play them. On the other hand, going digital has its benefits: Motorized controllers like the Rane One try to provide a similar workflow, but it's still to be seen whether they will be able to take significant market share and replace vinyl setups or if they stay a niche product. There's a reason for that: the tactile feeling of manipulating music with your hands is something that controllers have had trouble archieving. In recent years, digital DJ controllers became more popular, but there are still many DJs that stick with their notorious Technics SL-1210s turntables. Since the dawn of DJing, spinning vinyl records has never really gone out of fashion.Įven when CDs became popular in 90s and most music listeners happily phased out their record players, the classical "two turntables and a mixer" setup stayed the epitome of DJing. Sun 21 November 2021 Jan Holthuis timecode, ![]() How Does Timecode Vinyl Actually Work? (Pt.
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