Just announced, NI has created Stems, a multi-track audio format for DJs. A quick scout around the usual online sources has revealed a mixture of future-looking positivity as well as a surprising level of anti-stems sentiment. I shouldn’t be surprised as people general exhibit this when face with something new and potentially revolutionary. So opening this up to the DJWORX massive, read on for varied opinions on Stems. I present the DJWORX Stems Teamtalk.
Jared’s Thoughts
Finally, after all of these months, we see the beginning of what Native Instruments sees as the future of DJing. The S8 and the D2 are simply products which expand on where we are now, and do very little to move anything forward. That’s not a critique of those products, since I personally love my S8, but an acknowledgement of where we are in a technological sense as DJs. Hopefully Traktor Pro 3 becomes part of their discussion of the future soon, since I think all of us who use Traktor Pro 2 are losing our patience.
So moving on, Native Instruments has announced a file format that makes their whole remix deck thing make sense. You have one file, a complete audio file, that can be hot swapped in your software, and you can interact with individual pieces of that song. That’s great. I think we can all see right now whether or not we would use that. I can say, for one, I’d love to but I’m aware that the vast majority of artists I spin won’t go anywhere near it for years. We always get places last, it seems.
But the real story, regardless of whether you use it or not, is that it’s open source. NI isn’t licensing it, they aren’t selling it, they aren’t making any profit off of anyone using it. They are releasing it to the internet for everyone to use, modify, control, monetize and sell. That’s huge. Maybe it’s a step forward for NI, for them getting away from this reputation of being a locked down, controlled environment. They’ve created something new, interesting and, for some, exciting and are giving it away for free. That’s not something to scoff at.
Will DJs use it? I think if the artists that utilize the format do so correctly, whatever that means, there could be a lot of adoption. Every song you purchase would come with a fully controllable a capella. You could have the drums and rhythm section pulled out instantly, and you could interact with it in your DJ software independently of the other features. If you watched the live stream, there are moments where you can see the Uner interacting with two pieces of a song, and then slowly introducing a third part, and dropping a loop on them, out of order from the original layout. It looked easy and intuitive, and that’s a future I’d love to see more from Native Instruments. But beyond that, with them releasing this in an open source, no one is left out. You use Serato DJ? Well, Serato can implement this file format, and allow you to use it in their software. So can Atomix in Virtual DJ. And Cross, and Mixxx, and Pioneer into Rekordbox. I mean, we can all win. And Native Instruments made it possible.
I’m not saying this is going to be something everyone will want. I mean, there are still DJs who we hear from often complaining that there are computers involved with DJing at all because reasons. And this file format will not get instant adoption. But Beatport and Juno are involved, I’m sure NI has spoken to Apple already, and electronica labels will definitely be taking them up on this. But it’s not just for EDM. Craze is involved, and he’s a turntablist through and through. He sees this as a way for any DJ, any user, to have access to instrumentals and a capellas. We all win with this, and instead of it being locked in some proprietary format, we can all access it.
This is a future I’m excited for.
Mark’s Take
About bloody time if you ask me. As an old schooler, we tended to play tracks pretty much end to end — none of this looping and hot cue luxury that you kids get to play with. But the one thing that we were always looking for where isolated beats, basslines, and especially vocals — not to play in isolation, but to mix under other tracks. And thankfully, NI has made this happen, and not just for them but for everyone.
The possibilities are crazy. All I can imagine is having four classic house tracks loaded and synced, and having the ability to mix in and out of any particular elements I wanted. This is a whole new level of (re?)mixing for DJs — it really is a game changer, something I don’t say lightly. Soundcloud is about to groan under the weight of bad mashups for a little while.
Looking at an S8, those remix deck controls that not too many people made use of suddenly become volume faders, filters and maybe even hot cue buttons per track. The S8 begins to be more mixing desk than controller, and the potential for a total shift in controller design is clear. But we’ll probably see a heap of add-ons first.
NI is doing something quite revolutionary in the DJ industry. Instead of creating something closed and proprietary, they’ve flung open the doors — wide open, without a clear way of making money directly from it. Maybe it’s a way of moving DJing into a new direction that will require more hardware purchases. Or maybe they’ve seen the error of their closed ecosystem ways and are just doing something very cool for all DJs. Perhaps we’ll remember today as the day that NI changed DJing. Or maybe just made it more complex — time will tell.
So you can begin to see that NI hasn’t been quiet, and it’s a very long way from over. They were absolutely correct when they were on about the #futureofdjing being live remixing. Not the remix decks with their constructions set nature, but mixing stems has universal appeal. It’s just a shame it’s taken so bloody long to get to this point. Welcome to the future.
Dan’s thoughts
The idea of a multitrack music file has been an ongoing discussion for a long time. Whilst it seems an obvious next step for mixing tunes, it’s taken until now for it to finally become a reality. It’s hard to argue that there isn’t infinite possibility to these new Stem files, but is it a revolution or just simply evolution?
For me as a Traktor (and remix deck) user, this is the announcement that takes remix decks to the masses. Having an open standard backed by Dance Music heavy hitters certainly gives it weight. The biggest news though, is the change in philosophy for Native Instruments. I’m hoping this is a sign that they are putting their isolationist stance behind them. That they realise that no matter how great their kit is, they need friends out there to get people using their stuff. Making good products just isn’t enough in a connected world.
But it makes you wonder. There are so many ‘What Ifs’. What if the next version of Traktor allowed you to pay a fee to unlock Scratch for any capable audio interface or mixer? There’s really no technical reason why not. Hell, they could charge a hundred quid and it would still be attractive to many people!
Back to the story… really, apart from getting Traktor to understand the new multitrack files, all NI need to do is remove the limit on how long a clip can be to get this working. As a user, you’d be able to create new loops and sample them to further remix deck slots in some sort of infinite loop-ception. As great as this news is, being a Techno DJ, the thing I really, really want to see in Traktor is some sort of basic step sequencer. Give me the ability to create texturing loops of claps, toms, vocals or whatever is in my remix deck on the fly, and I’ll be a happy man.
Still, this is another, further step for NI in blurring the lines between DJing and production. It makes you wonder, with Native having distinctive products in both categories, how much more are they planning?
Ray’s take
While going over some screen shots Jared took during NI’s live streaming session, we pretty much immediately nailed this based on the image that showed one track loaded with four lanes visible on the screen. What we didn’t know is the open-source nature of this new format, and this is where I get a little excited. I’m saying “a little” because it all depends on how well this will be implemented both in terms of mix and performance control. First of all, I’m curious how well these files will actually sound when played back. You don’t have to be a world-class producer to know that slapping together a bunch of drums, synths and vocals cranking them up isn’t the smartest of ideas – some mix control is required, and currently the Remix Decks don’t really offer a lot of that in regard to individual slots. I don’t expect Traktor to become a DAW, there’s no competing with Ableton Live (the fact that the Stems logo looks like one half of the Ableton logo says everything) – but I would like to see individual EQs per slot/stem at least, which begs the question how you’d control that. I doubt NI would build a dedicated controller just for this – but maybe TSP3 will come with a companion app to cover that… and give us library browsing & loading controls while you’re at it, seriously – I would even pay for an app that does just that. I hope you’re reading this too, Serato. Anyway, back on topic.
If none of the above ends up happening, the artists offering 4-track versions of their music will have to bounce mixed stems, which may make them less than optimal for remixing. Or they could be really cool about it and offer both a mixed and an unmixed version for those who’d know what to do with the latter. Would I pay premium for that? Yeah, absolutely. But probably no more than double of what a WAV/FLAC costs.
Then there’s the topic of using this new format to enhance a performance. Besides the obvious stuff, will it be possible to use loops, hot cues, flux mode and key adjust on individual tracks as well as globally? Will you be able to play the deck in internal mode and have vinyl control over individual stems? If so, how will all of this be implemented on a future hardware unit (or the D2, even)? The sheer possibilities are mind-boggling, but everything depends on how far NI will take this “open-source” approach and let hax0rz hax0r. As Dan said, a NI counterpart to Serato’s DVS expansion is almost a no-brainer. I can already see cool things happening on the turntablist front – multitrack scratching sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it? Mute/unmute parts of a juggle, scratch chords… yeah, this could be very cool. But NI is likely to make a lot of decisions for us, as they have in the past. We’ll have to see what happens and how Serato and others respond to this development – in any case, 2015 will be very interesting.
STEMS — YOUR TAKE
Happy to see them? Are you excited at the possibilities? Or do you see this as another way for DJs to make a mess and pretend to be producers?
Love the idea, and I hope it takes off. There’s no doubt that plenty of DJs will lap it up, and the gear manufacturers will enjoy selling all new controllers to support a multitrack environment. The ball’s really in the court of the music producers and record labels now – will they really be prepared to let Joe Public pull their mixes apart so easily?
It won’t be “joe public” though. These are going to almost definitely be sold at a premium, with the DJ in mind. You’ll need DJ software, or something that presents this information as stems, in the first place. Joe Public doesn’t even understand what iTunes is.
Come on Jared, EVERYONE is a DJ nowadays! If you have a laptop, a pair of headphones, a facebook page and an ego, you’re in. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see this take off in a big way, but let’s just say I’m not holding my breath for the moment I can download every club hit as a multitrack stem file… but I can dream. ;)
I’m not going to bother with the “everyone” is a DJ thing. I mean, I deal with people who don’t know how to open files on a computer on a regular basis. Outside of our echo chamber in the DJ world, everyone is definitely not a DJ.
Regardless, even if everyone is a DJ, this is still a good thing in every way. It might mean that more bad DJs will be doing shitty mashups, but let’s be honest: they already are and no one listens to them.
I think you just bothered…
True enough about bad DJs. People talk about great DJs, and they still rise to the top.
Exactly. I find it ridiculous when Djs get all “don’t make it easy for everybody to try being a DJ”. The point is, a great freedom that not everyone enjoys, is being able to do whatever you want. Those with greater skill, understanding, experience and insight rise to the top. In today’s world that can also involve the creative use of local and online marketing, but that is just what it is. For example, my creative art teacher from school is revered in my country as fine artist using real paints and as a sculptor. The man is in his 70’s and still paints with traditional media, but guess what – he is also using an iPad! He is spanking some of his fellow artists who are 50 years younger and “all up in the tech”.
It’s not about how it easy it is to start and take shortcuts, but what you make when you finish it. If you are in it to entertain with something special that you have created, then your audience is your judge.
Yupp, won’t take long for them stem tracks appearing as torrents, with people nicking every good bit from em for their own musics.. We shall indeed see!
What I personally think is great about this stems business is that coming up with a pseudo-live of one’s own material just got a lot more streamlined and spontaneous, especially if it won’t take about a minute to open a new stem file on the fly ;)
I like the idea and I really wish both Serato DJ and iTunes will support these files soon. I won’t buy those on Beatport though. I don’t like how they already charge a premium price for MP3s (which are already less good as iTunes AACs) but also an additional Dollar/Euro for lossless files… How much will stems be then? 5 bucks?
Another thing I would really like is if there were lossless versions as MP4s/M4As support Apple Lossless which is open source too. That’d be really cool.
iTunes already supports the compiled file, not the stems (but I don’t really know how they would present that). And Serato DJ has every reason in the world to support this.
I’m not sure if this is lossless, though, but I think it is. If it’s lossless and open source then why use FLAC/ALAC? Wouldn’t this be just as good, if not better?
It’s four MP3s using a MP4 as a container. iTunes would just read it as a normal MP4 file. My questions is how do they make sure everything is synced up? It’s bad enough when video/audio loses sync, but four audio sources?
Interesting point. Being on one deck, they’d all remain at the same BPM. But if you have hot cues per stem, the chances are that you could put all stems out of sync, unless of course it’s all quantised, which knowing NI will be the case.
I meant during normal playback. Syncing in Traktor is just more of the same.
They are four audio tracks with the same start point. Audio players play at the same rate. How would they go out of sync?
The same way A/V goes out of sync?
But audio and video together is not the same as only audio. And since these are just files being exported from a daw, would this actually be an issue?
All it takes is one stream to stutter slightly. Data-wise, video and audio behave very similar. It wouldn’t be an issue with DJ software but might be a problem when playing back with a music app.
I seriously doubt that. You could probably run into trouble if each stem were encoded differently, but who in their right mind would even… what I’m tryin to say is: if the source material is good, it has little reason not to work. Although I’m all for a lossless version of this.
They could simply include the mixdown as a 5th stem and have that used by non-stem decks?!
I guess. I mean, it’d be unacceptable if it happened, but I’m going to reserve judgement to see it actually occur before I worry. I have faith that this will be tested by very smart people, and probably with more care than Traktor is ;)
In the video you can see that the green loop marker shows up over all 4 stem waveforms simultaneously. Which makes totally sense to me. These stems seem like a easy to use version of remix decks. Making hotcues and loops for each and every stem possible would make the whole thing way to complicated.
Xpress-2 had the right idea 15 years ago with the Smoke Machine double pack, all the component parts on the reverse of the 2nd disc. shame we didn’t have more examples. but this sounds amazing, so many times i want to drop a bit of a track over another or an accapella thats not available normally
I’m right with you Stu. There seems to be a lot of conversation around producing, but I’m looking at this entire lyfrom a DJ perspective. Give me stemmed tracks of House and Hip Hop classics and I’m in heaven.
Honestly if this takes off it might finally make a 4 channel controller truly useful to a lot of DJs, I love laying accapellas over tracks now but to be able to use say an MK piano riff over a dubby house track with a garage vocal, quality. I just hope it doesn’t get ruined by people looking to pinch these component parts for their own tracks. It’s purely an awesome new DJ tool in my eyes
Yello got there first with “How How” in 1994, that is almost 21 years ago.
The concept is great – but (much like Remix Sets) how many well known, commercially successful artists will be willing to release their music in this format?
I can’t imagine the latest hits by the likes of Clean Bandit or Disclosure being made available. Instead it’ll be the obscure, specialist, niche stuff that never gets anywhere near a chart or radio playlist. How useful is it to be remixing something that no one on your dance floor has heard anyway?
If the artist can get an extra $1-2 per download, maybe.
I just have a hard time thinking that a producer would spend so much time creating a track.. Then have it sliced up perfectly so that someone who had no blood, sweat and tears in its creation can take it and do whatever they want.. DJ’s have always looked for acapellas or baselines as loops but part of the reality was that the artist basically decided if they wanted that part of their work available thru special releases or leaving parts out of a bar of the track, outside of the people that spend time slicing with samplers for hours getting material of course, … And all to make another $1 or $2 a track… I guess we will see.. I think the people that are uncreative and spit out tracks daily by copying others ideas will love it.. But the truly creative producers won’t take part..
Even now, with artists/sites/labels running remix contests (which provide track stems), very few big names take part in them. There’s a site called remixcomps which lists all current contests – how many are familar names?
Now and again they crop up, and if you’re lucky you’ll spot them (i.e. Jamiroquai’s “Too Young To Die” Ableton Live pack in 2013) but I can’t see NI Stems making it widespread.
Without a doubt, the future of DJing is blending production with DJing. This is a HUGE step forward in that direction. Its already to the point where you have to create your own music to get recognized. You can’t just be a DJ anymore. Those days were done in the early to mid 2000s.
The major record labels will jump on this bandwagon at some point.. they will have to. I believe most of the independent and underground labels are going to fully embrace this from the get go.
There is no extra work outside of bouncing the stems within their projects separately and then dumping them into NI’s Stem Creator. Maybe 10 minutes of extra work per project? The stems are already in the producers DAW. Well worth an additional $1 or $2 a sale. The producers who don’t want their tracks messed with are the ones who won’t take part.
It’s not the extra work.. Clearly most producers use bussing and would be able to group the stems into 4 or less for the NI software with no problem ..but.. 1) you would be asking producers to release sub standard music… glue compressors, final mixdown eqing , final mastering, etc.. are used for a reason.. 2) producers don’t create a complete song so it can be dissected later.. And 1 or 2 extra dollars won’t change their minds… I can see dj/producers using the tool for their own sets..for their own songs.. But not letting their hard work be used however another DJ would want..
My thoughts exactly.
The success of this really depends on the artists that are willing to play ball.
I feel like this step will only be as large as the overall community acceptance. I’d love to see it happen, cmon serato – open the door too ;)
I don’t think serato will be the limiting factor here. Pioneer has their monopoly and they will play it.
Sorry, I don’t mean serato is a limiting factor; I actually mean the people / community who will buy this format and play it out will be the factor – and I hope serato jumps on this so I can start using it myself :) As I’m all for it ;)
I hope that other vendors do add this functionality. There’s money to be made indirectly from it for everyone, and ultimately we all wins. Given that it’s all open source and pretty much ready to go, I cannot think of a reason for everyone not to go for it.
What’s interesting (to me personally at least) about this was that, as a Traktor DJ playing techno and house, I’ve just been trying to STOP myself using loops all the time. Why? Because I felt like it was killing the energy the artists had written into the tracks. At worse I was starting to sound like one of those monotonous Hawtin/Dubfire tech house DJs were everything just goes on and on without any sense of urgency….that’s not the style of music I play, I’m more Detroit/Chicago, but still. Having too much control felt like it was actually making the music MORE predictable. Like I was losing the chance for something to go wrong, losing urgency and danger.
Don’t get me wrong, I thing this tech sounds exciting and I’ll give it a go. I’m not a purist or a hater. I just personally feel like I’ve gone full circle and want to be able to lose control a bit more :)
I know that feeling you’re talking about. Using too many loops makes you lazy, you can basically mix everything with enough loops. I have the impression that it makes my mixing and music selection and mixing sloppy. I definitely try not to use too many loops because of this. But the good thing about this is, that its not loop based or so, I see it rather as an EQ + Filters on stereoids. Can’t wait to try this on a big soundsystem. Imagine how a nice baseline or kick will impact if you can put fx and filtering only on only this certain part and bring it back in.
The only positive thing I see there, is that it is an industry leader that put it onto the table and it is an open format.
On the negative side, there have already been some try at file types that can embedded multiple parts/tracks/stems, so nothing really new here.
This is what we call evolution, take a concept and try to push it some more (Pioneer, Apple, etc etc).
Honestly I would prefer an universal library/database standard to use any software with your medias…
Oh god yes. Or a universal tagging system for grids and hotcues and loops.
I’ve been forced to achieve this effect in the past with 1000 different boxes and cables, so the thought of it happening all in one device is pant-wettingly exciting …for some of us – but probably *completely* unimportant to 95% of DJ’s across the world.
If you like the potential of this development though, or incorporate your own music into a set, or solely perform your own music via the medium of DJ technology, then this is a very VERY handy next step.
I’m *definitely* going to use it. You might not. C’est la vie.
is amazing idea. Just concerning:
– Old track will be stems? For example “House of pain jump around” ? (just to do an example)?
Moreover Traktor Pro 3 must to be release as soon as they can. Is still unacceptable their beatgrid solution in the light of their announced features
For me THIS is the the #futureofdjing. Great news! Not only for techno/house DJs. I am playing hip-hop, glitch hop, breaks, funk, drum and bass etc. so it will be very cool to take glitch bass and mix with some hip-hop, or funky bass with some drum and bass drums, or to put hip-hop acapella over some breaks… The possibilities are endless! And it will be easier to use stems, than the remix decks(which are nice, but not form me), I think.
The key here is if the producers are going to make stems for us, because we will buy them :) And I am wondering if old tunes are going to be stemmed :)
Would be nice to make it work with SDJ and VDJ, use it with NS7II, where I can map the FX knobs on the top as volume control for the 4 tracks.
On all A B C D deck
Than I can have 4 x 4 tracks, and if every track can be scratch-ed, looped flip-ed, sliced, reversed whatever (use the touch sensitivity option for manipulating on/off)
With multi screen setup (large screens, not the NS7 III variant),
Than all I miss is an interactive label (maybe color e-ink) in the middle of my spinning plates :)
If, and it’s a big if to me, this really takes hold, it will be interesting to see the industry-wide repercussions. I see a few key areas where this will cause a lot of chaos:
1. Mashup Nightmare – So many horrible horrible mashups are about to head your way. It’s hurting my head just thinking about the terrible combinations people are about to unleash on an unprepared world.
2. Copyright – this is already a crazy problem for DJs who want to post mixes online. Both Soundcloud and Youtube are making it nearly impossible to do that and the other sites will all fall in line eventually as record companies continue to crack down. How will they police it when you can officially cut up tracks to this extent, and at what point does it become your own creation (ie – you are mixing only 1 stem from multiple tracks such that it no longer even sounds like any of the originals)? Given the past, I think we can predict that they will make things more difficult for the end users so I imagine this will be very problematic.
3. B-sides and Remixes – What will be the point of releasing your hot new track with 2-3 additional remixes, when everyone is just going to go in and cut it up themselves? That would be sad because a lot of producers really get their first hits doing remixes.
4. The money – I don’t honestly see how or why these tracks would cost more or be considered more valuable than a ‘solid’ track. It certainly won’t take more effort to create them from the producer’s standpoint. Why should the DJ be on the hook for more money just to have more granular control of a track? That doesn’t really make sense to me. So, while NI is touting this as a new income stream, I honestly don’t see it. And with it likely killing official remixes on new releases, I see it as being detrimental if increased revenue is the goal.
5. Not all DJs are also musicians – There are plenty of DJs who are very good at finding and mixing tracks, but who will just suck if they have to create songs in a live environment. I already have seen this in the DJs who are constantly using loops. They will let their tracks drone on and on and become so muddy and monotonous simply because they are not familiar with how to structure music or keep track of timing in their heads.
6. No more ‘shazam’ or music finding apps – They are already hard pressed to properly identify underground tracks and frequently get it wrong. So I guess this is good for the DJ who doesn’t want anyone knowing the tracks they play, and bad for the listener who does.
Still, I do look forward to this evolution of the industry and exactly where it goes (if anywhere). At this point though, I really feel NI has lost so much of the marketshare, I’m just not sure they can make a change like this and propagate it to everyone. This has all the markings of the many classic Sony attempts to create ‘better’ formats that were briefly popular but soon faded.
@ dj0le response to your points ..
Point 1
I have memories of growing up listening to endless officially released remixed remixes of Eric B & Rakim – I know you got soul .Eric B & Rakim paid in full. The Jungle Brothers – I’ll house you & countless Public Enemy bring the noise mixes..So there’s nothing new here.
Point 2..
Ive had my many full length DJ championship videos removed from my Youtube channel because of copyright .The djs / turntablist were manipulating audio into new songs. But it was still removed or regionally blocked .I don’t see this changing. And it should not make an impact on creative minds.
Point 3…
It does not matter how many times a track is remixed . It’s just another audio source for a dj, a beatdigger , turntablist to manipulate etc etc
Point 5..
I agree that there will be many technical issues … As simultaneous playback of pre mastered tracks may still need need to be synced, mixed & panned correctly for the type of venue or listeners . Eg ( Club , Radio , stage mixes)
Eg ..That perfectly balanced stem mix which was calibrated on headphones sounds weak on a heavyweight sound system.
( I personally think a sequencer is better suited rather than dj software as it can automate , store & recall infinite settings. )
Point 6
I think most stripped down songs will be still recognizable. As it’s a easy way to gauge someones artistry.
……..
Expanding on point 4
Ive been using multitrack stems for over 13 years ..I hope this format encourages recording artists & labels to release more multi-track content. But i’m sceptical for a simple reason that Ive always found it difficult to get a simple officially released acapella from any genre. Which could also be considered as an additional source of income.
I also know from personal experience that a lot of the multitrack stems or acapella’s in the eco system were incorrectly posted to recording studios or copied from studio sessions & leaked.
So .
A large majority of industry was reluctant to release an acapella for decades but we are anticipated to have access to multi-tracks. Can anyone give me a recent example of how a dj software company instigated a change in the recording industry?
I’m very eager to see how this’ll fit with the unofficially announced Maschine integration. My setup looks like it’s going to grow quite a lot, and soon.
Here’s a strange thought — with stems, it could be possible that you’d never hear a DJ play a track that you know. It would be possible to create an entire set effectively as a mashup rather than a mix. I don’t know if I’m excited or horrified to hear a mix where no track is left intact.
That will probably be a major sticking point for some producers in adopting the format. Why put all that work into a full song if we’re only going to use the drums, when the producers real focus was the vocals.
@ Mark settle.
George Clinton released a series of multi-track stem based albums named.Sample some of disc sample some of dat in the early 90s. Gangstarr – Blowin up the spot. used the stems of the George Clinton track… I Didn’t Come… but re-arranged the drums..
There’s also a George Clinton track which sounds very similar to Metro area – Miura… Also take a listen to any Uk garage / 2step remixes of popular songs from 1998 – 2003.. You’ll be lucky to hear 30 seconds from the original song.
EG
Armand van Helden’s remix of Tori Amos – Professional widow.. Nothing new here.
With or without stems… there will always be DJs who manage to play crappy sets.
I think most DJs will not use stems as a crazy remix tool, but as some kind of EQs / FX on stereoids.
I imagine a lot of DJs will probably go this route.. However, as one of them myself I am sure there will be loads of DJs that understand some songs need to be respected based on their original merit.. There are just some tracks you can’t get away with messing with too much people the dancefloor is expecting exactly that “thing” the song provided.. If people play that track and don’t include whatever it is.. a lot of people are going to wonder why you as the DJ played it in the first place..
Not to mention.. Whatever technology comes out.. Whatever is on the Horizon.. Some DJs will never be able to phrase worth a crap… and some will.
Like stated above, I’ve always wanted the main mix, acapella, and instrumental of every track to give me options , so this is a way to have it all in one file. Perfect.
im excited about this :)
The sample is dead. Long live the sample. :)
Thank you NI, open source is the right thing to do here, this excites me way more than remix deck sets ever have (especially overpriced remix deck sets).
Great news for Native Instruments, horrible news for music…..
The format is great, finally NI took some lessons from the fail of remix decks. But that’s not the question. Real question is are producers willing to share the secret sauce of their tracks by giving out stems ?
As a producer myself, that’s not something I would want.
I think the answer to this is very genre dependent. In the more electronic world, a lot of producers and labels will get behind this.
But for music with more vocals, I don’t think it will be the case.
Stems has potential. Is the market for DJs and Producers large enough to support this niche product? A similar product would be remix deck sample sets. While proprietary to NI, remix deck sets are sold at Beatport and a few others and make a similar promise – enabling DJs to remix live. Pricing ranges from $5 – $20 depending on the number of tracks. Remix decks and sets haven’t taken the world by storm. I fear that Stems will be another niche product that doesn’t break out by itself.
Who predicted this during worxmas? Oh, right. I did.
This is a website we are working on that lets users share and explore song stems:
http://www.dubseed.com
Another up for ONE DJ’s multitracked timeline!
Soon it will be copied extensively
http://www.one.dj
Why aren’t all songs created in a format like that in the first place?