Yeah, this looks like a pretty good way of getting an idea of song structure by just glancing at the deck.

I know that some people will just be horrified though - as if this is taking an art and making it into more of a science! I reckon that it needs to be a bit of both.

I'm not sure if SSL should be expected to give an overview of song structure (my original idea was to have an app that would allow me to tap out bars/phrases and so create a 'map' of a tune), but if this feature could be incorporated into SSL at some point in the future I think it would be very handy.

My primary aim in producing an overview of a song's structure is to know how many bars and phrases it contains, so that I can count from certain known points and then cue up the second record in plenty of time. I know some will view this as cheating, but why rely on memory all the time? If I had a visual database of all of my tunes' structure I reckon that would also help me learn that structure faster also.

I know that the beat mapper feature you get in Acid Pro and (possibly) Ableton might go some way toward the suggestions that have already been made about matching up the beats on screen via SSL. If this sort of thing could be achieved through the SSL interface, and combined with text labelled markers I'd be very happy.

I haven't analysed any of my tunes for BPM yet in any case - still trying to learn without looking at the screen much!

Anyway, good stuff nik39. I'll think some more about this...

mmm interesting... when i spin house, i set markers in the beginning of the first break, and in the beginning and in the end of the bassline. this allows me to create perfect house mixes hehe :)

but of couse we could go further... this suggestion is really interesting!

anyways, it seems that the first step is to implement new GUI, or modify the current one with larger overall waveforms views. as i said few time ago, why not create a switch that allowed us to select between "turntablism interface" and "beat mixing interface"?

fist one with spinning displays; second one with larger overall waveform views. maybe im repetitive, sorry! :P

BassChamber - do you set your markers right on the beginning of the phrase where something happens or several bars before? I'm starting to think it might be better to set them ahead of the action so that I have a bit more time to get my mix sorted...

Sp3nny, you see the markers in advance, on the screen, so I wouldnt think its a biggy.

i set it right on the beginning. then, just look the timer and make a mental calculation.

for example, im playing track A and i want to mix it with track B. track B has a break on minute 1:30. when track A is 1:30 minutues before end (before the last beat) i begin to mix it with track B.

this way track A finish exactly when track B break begins... hehe a perfect mix! ;)

setting markers in the beginning of phrases or breaks and making some mental calculation allow me to make beautiful synchronized sets. but if SSL showed some kind of bar counter, i would avoid to calculate. the bar countdown will show me when to start mixing itself...

lets see and example about how to use a hypothetical bar countdown:

SSL is playing track A. i put a marker on track B (lets say, the beginning of the bassline). SSL would show me that this point is on the track B 5th bar. then, when track A is 5 bars until the end, i will start to mix. the A track finish will meet the beginning of the B track bassline. beautiful... and no need to use mathematics ;)

Yeah, that sort of thing would be very handy - I think that's essentially the sort of feature i'd be looking for if any improvements were made to SSL in this area.