Hercules AIR+ User manual

GETTING STARTED WITH DJCONTROL AIR+ AND DJUCED™ 40°

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1 - CONNECTING HEADPHONES,
A MICROPHONE AND SPEAKERS
When connecting headphones, make sure that the volume level is suitable
for listening with headphones: start playing a music track before putting
on the headphones, and turn down the volume if it seems that the sound
coming from the headphones is too loud.
Microphone: you can only connect a balanced microphone, such as a dynamic
balanced microphone.
FRONT PANEL: HEADPHONES AND MICROPHONE
REAR PANEL: SPEAKERS
INSTAllATION
• Run the installer program.
• Follow the instructions.
• Insert the CD-ROM.
The DJControl AIR+ drivers and control panel software are installed on your system,
along with the DJUCED™ 40° software.
The DJControl AIR+ control panel:
1- Main tab
2- Output balance (left/
right) for channels
3- Volume on channels
1-2 and 3-4
4- Unlock/lock right and left
channel volume
5- Mute on/o
6- Adjust talkover
attenuation level
7- Disable/enable proximity
sensor
8- Set jog wheels (disable/
enable and set sensitivity)
9- Select MIDI resolution
More information (forum, tutorials, videos...) available at
www.HERCUlESDJMIXROOM.com
Please note that the DJControl AIR+ control panel may dier slightly on Mac.
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3 - MONITORING A TRACK
Monitoring lets you prepare the next
track to be played (following the track
that you are currently playing for your
audience). You will use monitoring to
beatmatch the next track to be played,
or pause the track at a precise spot so
that playback will start from this exact
position. Or you can place a HotCue
point, which will let you start playback
of the track from that point (please also
see section 6 – WORKING WITH HOTCUE
POINTS).
3.1 You are playing a track on deck A, and
want to monitor the next track on deck B.
3.2 Press the Cue button before you start
playing the track to be monitored.
3.3 Press the Headphones button on deck
B (the deck on which the track that you
want to monitor is loaded).
3.4 Adjust the volume on your headphones
using the headphones volume knob.
3.5 Start playing the track to be monitored
on deck B. Prepare the track (beatmatch
the track, place a HotCue point...).
B
2 - lOADING YOUR MUSIC
IN DJUCED™ 40°
Use the Files / Folders rotary browser knob to browse through
les and folders.
Browse through the list of
folders or through les:
Press the browser knob to
toggle between folders/les:
Press the Load A or Load B buttons to enter/exit
the selected folder, or load the selected le on the
corresponding deck:
2.1 Browse to the location where your music les are stored on your computer.
2.2 After highlighting a track, press Load A to load the track on deck A, or press Load B
to load the track on deck B. DJUCED™ 40° automatically analyzes the BPM (number of
beats per minute) of the track you have loaded.
DJUCED™ 40° lets you play the most popular audio le formats (mp3, wav, wma, aif...)
if the codec is installed on your computer. If a le format is not properly recognized
in iTunes, Windows Media Player... update your version of the software in question.
LOAD A LOAD B
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5 - SCRATCHING
ON A TRACK
5.1 Make sure that the Vinyl button is lit up,
so that you are in Scratch mode.
5.2 Start playing a track loaded on deck A,
for example.
5.5 ... and gently turn the jog wheel to the
right and to the left, in succession.
5.3 Place your hand on the jog wheel on
deck A, as shown in the illustration.
5.4 Press down slightly on the jog wheel...
A
4 - MIXING TRACKS
Mixing tracks means to link up songs,
one after another, without any gaps or
silences between them.
4.1 You have loaded a track onto each deck
(A and B). Position the volume faders as
shown below.
4.2 You start o by playing the track on
deck A.
4.3
Set the crossfader to the side of the deck
on which the track is playing (here, to the left).
4.4 Press the Mix button on the front
panel. The sound that will be played for
your audience on the speakers will be the
same as the sound being played on your
headphones.
Adjust the volume on your headphones
using the headphones volume knob.
4.7 To make the transition, progressively
move the crossfader toward the deck on
which the new track is being played (here,
to the right).
When there are 30 seconds remaining
until the end of the track, an alert is
displayed to let you know that it's time
to get ready to play the next track.
4.5
Before the end of the track being played,
start playing the track loaded on deck B.
4.6
To ensure a transition at the same tempo,
synchronize the BPM (number of beats per
minute) of the track that you are getting
ready to play. Here, press the Sync button on
deck B (1), so that the BPM value of this track
will match the BPM of the track that is about
to nish (on deck A). Or set the same BPM as
on Deck A using the pitch fader (2).
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A B
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8 - WORKING WITH EFFECTS
8.1 Applying an eect on a track that has been loaded and is being played:
Make sure that the Bank1button is on. Press button(s) 1, 2and/or3 to toggle the corresponding
eect(s) on or o. Press button 4 to toggle MacroFx (a combination of eects) on or o.
The Mapping tab in the SETTINGS panel of the DJUCED™ 40° software lets you choose
from among the dierent mapping congurations available for eects and loops.
The corresponding eect is displayed in DJUCED™ 40°, and is applied to the track being played.
7 - WORKING WITH SAMPlES
Playing a sample on a track that has
been loaded and is being played:
7.1 Make sure that the HotCue/Sample
button is on (this is Sample mode).
7.2 Tap on one or more pads to trigger
the samples (a short snippet of music or
sound). The more pressure you apply on
the pad, the louder the volume of the
sample played will be; however, you can
disable this velocity-dependent aspect
in the control panel, if you prefer. When
a sample is triggered on a pad, the pad
stays lit up the same amount of time as the
sample length: perhaps one second, for a
short sound like a drum hit; a few seconds,
for a sample of music (for example).
6 - WORKING WITH HOTCUE POINTS
A HotCue point is a marker that you can place in a music track. It lets you start
playback of the track from that point.
6.1 Make sure that the HotCue/Sample
button is o (this is HotCue mode, the
default mode).
6.2 You can place up to 4 markers, known as HotCue points: press pad 1 to place HotCue 1,
pad 2 to place HotCue 2, etc. Once this is done, when you are in HotCue mode simply press
one of pads 1 to 4 to access the corresponding marker in the track.
When you press the Cue button, playback starts from the last HotCue point you have
placed in the track.
6.3 To delete a HotCue point: when in HotCue mode, press the Shift button and press
the pad associated with the HotCue point that you want to delete. Or you can click on the
Minus sign button (in the DJUCED™ 40° software) to delete the corresponding HotCue
point.
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10 - USING THE AIR CONTROl
11 - CREATING A PlAYlIST
10.1 In the DJControl AIR+ control panel, make sure that the proximity sensor (air
control) is enabled.
A playlist is a set of tracks that you choose to group together – as part of a specic
genre (electro, rock...) or theme (favorites, party, birthday, 80s...).
10.2 Make sure that the Bank 1 button is on. Press and
hold button 1, 2, 3 or 4and move your hand above
the proximity sensor at the same time to modulate the
amount of the eect applied.
11.2 Click the button to create a playlist.
Enter a name for the playlist, then click OK.
11.1 Highlight one of the tracks
that you want to add to the
playlist, using the Files / Folders
rotary browser knob:
The new playlist appears in the Playlists folder.
11.3 Return to the folder containing your
music, using these controls:
11.4 In DJUCED™ 40°, select one or more
tracks using your mouse.
By holding down the SHIFT key on your
computer's keyboard, you can select
several consecutive les.
Drag and drop the selected les into the
play list you have created (here, “My Playlist”).
The button appears on the left.
9 - WORKING WITH lOOPS
9.1 Looping in or out
Make sure that the Bank 2 button is on.
Then press button 1 to set the loop’s start point, and button 2 to set the loop’s end point.
Use the vertical lines in DJUCED™ 40° (1 line = 1 beat), as well as the music being played, to
help you determine the best place for the end of the loop.
9.2 Increasing or decreasing the length of the loop
Make sure that the Bank 2 button is on. Then press button 3 to divide the length of the
current loop in half, or button 4 to double the length of the loop.
Press the MAGIC button to instantly split the current loop into 4 parts, and
assign the parts of the loop to the 4 pads. If you press the MAGIC button without
having a current loop, nothing will happen and a message will be displayed at the
bottom of the DJUCED™ 40° window, instructing you to rst create a loop before
you can generate samples.
DJUCED™ 40° plays a part of the track as a loop.
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