How to Hawtin, with a Model 1

Ever wondered how to Hawtin? This video gives you an idea of just how his new PLAYdifferently MODEL 1 mixer lets him create a layered sound scape.

how i play richie hawtin model 1 dj setup

While the vast majority of DJs stick to the core workflow of track to track until closing time, there are some out there who have taken the standard DJ methodology and expanded it into something more. Richie Hawtin is one of those very people, and while he does play other people’s music, he does it in a slickly layered way. And in this video, he explains how his new MODEL 1 mixer is the throbbing heart of his current setup.

Yes, it’s clearly a promo for the mixer, but it does give great insight in how he crafts and weaves his sets. The lack of physical decks will immediately put some people off, but it’s absolutely worth watching the whole thing, if only to get an understanding of how someone outside your regular sphere of DJing has reached the upper rungs of the DJ ladder, and consistently filled dance floors for many years. Yes, it’s possible to do that without a turntable in sight.

INSPIRING

Personally, I found this video to be quite inspiring. As someone who has A to Biggedy B’d his way through the last 30+ years, my mind has recently started to wonder about doing more with music. I ponder the idea of taking all the classic sounds I used to play and throwing them at new tech. I’m a firm believer that music transcends technology, and you should experiment with gear as a tool and not a rule and see what happens.

A lot of innovation has happened via happy accidents, and I’m looking forward to seeing what can be done with a folder full of golden age Hip Hop beats and loops in a 4 deck workflow. And who is to say that I can’t?

I hope some of you can watch this video with an open mind, and maybe even take away some inspiration for your own DJ setups. I just hope that some of you can walk away with a little more knowledge and appreciate that it’s not just pressing buttons and twiddling knobs.

The MODEL 1 is only available directly from the PLAYdifferently site for £2550.

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Mark Settle
Mark Settle

The old Editor of DJWORX - you can now find Mark at WORXLAB

Articles: 1228

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24 Comments

      • Generally speaking, the cost of dvs entry is lower for Traktor than it is for serato. There are plenty of used zero4’s / mackie d2’s / denon dnx-1600’s out there for little to no money. not to mention the rediculously low price of the z2.

        I’d like to see more timecode / though… Us traktor user’s are SUPER jealous of all the timecode option’s serato user’s have, and it’s getting harder and harder to find double’s of Bully Breaks 5

        • Well – Serato runs the TCV game, that’s for sure. I have a couple nice ones myself, and I agree that NI would do well to up the ante a bit – but at the same time, I understand how that’s not a priority for them. In the end, I don’t care if the record is pink or black as long as it tracks well.

  5. Love this.
    Just figured out a way to mix traktor internally in a way that somewhat replicated the behavior of this mixer and the DB2/4 filter eq mode. This might be a well known trick already but ever since playing on a friends DB2 I’ve been missing this workflow, so for anyone who’s interested:
    Each deck gets its own dedicated FX unit, always on and dry/wet to 100%. Set all fx units to Filter 92. First knob cuts the lows left to right, third knob cuts the highs right to left, and the middle knob sets the resonance. You can completely disregard the standard eq at this point. I just snagged a xone K2 for mixing internally, and i think I’m going to be using this mode with it for quite some time.

      • That would be ideal but you might not be able to do it per knob; unless I’m spacing out on something, you’d need to set up a separate modifier toggle function for each knob. Unfortunately Traktor only has 8 modifiers, and you’d need 12 to map out your concept on 4 full channels. If you’re only using 2 decks then it should work, but if you’re running 4 decks, you’ll probably need to switch the entire channels mode between standard EQ and Filter EQ. But otherwise that sounds like a great idea, I might try it out myself ;)

        • Yes, this needs some serious modifier juggling, but as one modifier can store up to three bits of information (from 000 to 111), you actually only need one modifier for each channel.

          The rest is copy and paste in CMDR.

          • And here it is:
            https://mega.nz/#!DchlADYa!g5qOt9_1Wok9f_JiH_70VZRsmP3xvBjwQAru03tL0lM

            For now I have mapped only the EQs, so you can add your own bit of controls to your liking.
            I have set the standard resonance of the filter to 0.7, because I think this sounds good.

            Modifiers 5-8 are in use, but 1-4 are still free.

            I have already added LED feedback: green means EQ mode, red means filter mode and an orange LED means that that the knob is in his standard position for that mode. This way you can set the EQ flat even without potis with middle dent.

            I’m looking forward to your comments!

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