Another iPad stand with a built-in USB-C hub and a few other useful ports.
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Wow, I’ve not seen such docking station for iPad before. Makes me wish I had a USB-C iPad!
@Slak_Jaw Thanks for that! I am guessing I can use any USB Powerd hub, so long as I use it with the camera adapter from apple (to connect it to the lightning port of the iPad Air 3).
@Sebastian_Kaye if you’re using an older iPad and the Apple camera connection kit, then you’ll likely need a powered USB-A hub. I’m using a new iPad with a USB-C hub.
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That’ll be a matter of time as all new models will get it going forward. 
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I’ve been working on some custom MIDI mappings for my DJ TechTools Midi Fighters to create a portable setup that uses a headphone splitter cable instead of an external soundcard. This all runs off the iPad battery, but I have an external power bank for longer sessions.
Equipment: iPad Air 4, DJTT Midi Fighter Spectra, Midi Fighter Twister, Baseus 11 in 1 USB C Hub, two DJ TechTools USB-B to A cables, Native Instruments Headphone Splitter Cable, Aux cable and Ultimate Ears MegaBoom speaker.
I’m quite happy with how this is working. I have full hardware control of Beat Jump, Loops, Hot Cues, Transport, Instant FX, Neural Mix, Manual FX, Neural Mix EQs, Standard EQs, Library Navigation, Song Loading, Tempo, Nudge, Channel Volumes, Headphone Monitors, Headphone Volume and Master Volume.
For more details on these mappings head over here: DJ TechTools Midi Fighter Twister - Mixer / Looper Mapping
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@Slak_Jaw - that’s properly sexy! Very, very tempted to start saving up a Midi Fighter Spectra/Twister right now, haha
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@Slak_Jaw
Love the look of the MF setup, would save masses of desk space over my enourmous SX2, which needs two big lads and a wheelbarrow to cart around!!!
Plus, if I sell the SX2 I could reasonably cover the outlay for these.
My main issue / question is, how the hell do you remember what controls what? I’m sure I’d get lost!
Probably just a steep learning / memorisation curve to get used to them.
Any issues or missing functionality of the interface that you’d class as problematic?
I’m sorely tempted to invoke the wrath of HWMBO and go for it……
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I found personally that mapping a controller manually helps memorise it. Add the stuff that seems intuitive to you, use it for a bit, add more stuff, use it for a bit. You don’t need everything all at once, and you can change it if something seemed like a good idea at one point then turned out not to be.
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Fully agree @Algy_Taylor, I’ve mapped my SX2 within an inch of its life and apart from Cues and Loops, barely any of the pads perform as intended!!
I’ve been DJing since the late 80s so I’m ‘getting on’ a bit now……the old memory isn’t what it once was!!
So 128 potential button combinations along with up to 128 knob configurations on the MFs set up could send this old fart into a meltdown….
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@sooteee well I do a couple of things to help me remember which button/encoder is which:
- I use colour coding of the LEDs in my mappings to help me remember what the different functions are. Ex. Green for Play and Orange for FX (see my cheat sheet above).
- I make a cheat sheet for all my mappings that I can reference as needed via my phone or iPad.
After using the setup regularly you’ll find you have to look at your cheat sheet less and less as the muscle memory builds. It’s good for the brain! Also, I usually custom map all of my controllers so even when there are labels on the unit, they rarely match the controls anyway. You just get used to it.
Sometimes I miss having jog wheels for manual beatmatching, but usually I find it a worthy sacrifice for the portability.
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@sooteee also, I’m hopeful that Algoriddim will eventually add the ability to MIDI map the different djay GUI display states. This way you could map the MFs to change the GUI to Hot Cues when you select the Hot Cue Bank on the controller. Or switch to the Looper screen when you select either of the Looper Banks on the controller.
Cheers @Slak_Jaw, I’m seriously considering the MF set up, and looking at the price of decent secondhand SX2s on fleabay, I could cover the costs of the two units and have a few hundred in change!!! Bonus…
Fully with you on the GUI changing in relation to what the controller is doing, I’ve seen it mentioned elsewhere on here as well, but no joy yet on that front. It would be a massive help, especially for beat skipping, bounce looping etc, as currently I keep pressing my skip increase so I know it has to be on 64 and then decrease, whilst halving in my head as I can’t see the numbers….after a few ‘small sherries’, it can (and has) gone terribly wrong!!!
I can live without platters as long as I can map the tempo nudge to midi buttons as not always is Sync on point.
Cheers for the reply and I’ll update when the deal is done and I’m in the process of tearing my hair out mapping them, although chances are I’ll acquire yours off TT to get me started!
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Nice! Good luck with your mapping. Make sure to download the MF Utility. It has a bunch of stuff for customizing LED colors, banks, MIDI messages, etc.
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Sorry for hijacking the thread briefly, but I’ve a question about the MF Twister that @Slak_Jaw will be able to answer……
I’ll try and explain this, but it’s not gonna be easy….
So, on my current controller (DDJ XS2) I have the EQs of decks 3 & 4 mapped to the NM of decks 1 & 2. This means I have both EQ and NM controls on the knobs of the 4 decks.
If I fade a stem out (knob to left) and then change the track on that deck, the GUI NM faders reset to all being on again, as designed.
Now, the problem arises if I now forget to reset the NM knobs on the controller as the GUI is ‘on’ but the controller is ‘off’.
The only way to realign the two is to very quickly turn the knob back to full on, but this does have an effect on what’s being played, so trying to time it right is awkward and sometimes not an option depending on the track.
You can hopefully see the issue and it’s all down to operator issues….in fact the forgetting of knob turning is inversely proportional to the amount of Gordon’s consumed!!!
Question is, with the Twister having never ending knobs, would this potentially end my idiocy?
The hope is that regardless of where the knob is, the LEDs on the Twister just reflect the actual state of the GUI and I can then just turn them to the left to fade out without having to ‘reset’ them every time.
Anyway, hopefully that’s made sense….
Cheers
S
@sooteee I’m 80% sure you won’t have this issue with the Twister due to the endless encoders. If memory serves me correct, the LED states do reset on the controller to match the GUI state. Unfortunately, my Twister is packed away as I’m in the process of moving so, it will be at least a couple of weeks before I could confirm this 100%. Hope that helps…
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After 5 years, this is still my ultraportable setup. I always feel like it’s a bit janky, but I haven’t found another rig with this many features, that also fits neatly in a carry-on laptop bag. There’s even room for a 2nd laptop and sun tan lotion! 
Notes:
- Traktor Z1 + Hercules Starlight
- Knobs by CoolorCaps.com
- (not shown) Sennheiser HD25 headphones + Decksavers.
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