I would have felt that way many years ago myself. However, these days I don't mind at all if only for the fact that if a person is interested enough in a track to ask about it or try to see what it is, I want them to know. This way they can go buy it themselves and support the artist. I would hope most DJ's would approach it this way. Without the artists, there would be no music for us to play.

Having been in several record pools, I know that the smaller and independent labels sure as heck appreciate as much underground play as they can get. Nothing creates a buzz quicker than a DJ dropping something hot and new, and making sure people know what track it is that they are dropping.

Please do not take this as an indictment on you or your skills, I am just one of those guys that believes that the music does not make a DJ good. A good DJ makes the most of his music. My motto: Share the knowledge; compete on execution.

/flame on…
I know I should have probably kept this all to myself, but sometimes a do get the proverbial bee in my bonnet.

Word.

No disrespect, DJ Yaz. We're all entitled to our own opinion. But if/when you start producing your own tracks, wouldn't it be nice if the DJs playing them would let other people know what song it is that's making them dance like crazy? ;-)

Nice attitude :-)

i agree. who cares what the track title is? knowing what a track is and having it (tracking it down and buying if it's a rare title for example) are two different things.

i disagaree on execution tho. nobody books a dj on how good he mixes--unless you spin more mainstream styles which is all about playing what everyone else plays anyway. you can be the most technical dj in the world, but if the punters aren't feelin' it, then what's the point? to put it another way, book writers write from the heart, not on how complete and technical their sentences are. you could pen what's supposedly excellent english but is what you're writing coming from what you're feeling? my take on DJing is the same way. track selection first, mixing 2nd.

Execution - that also means to me track selection and in which order and when you play what track, not only the technical performance.

I think keeping track names secret is kinda weird, I have to say this is the first time I've ever heard anyone suggesting it. For me, part of the role of a DJ (and the fun of being one) is bringing new music to people and letting them listen to cool stuff. Why wouldn't I tell them what it is? What's the worst thing that could happen? loads of people go and buy the record and the producer gets loads of cash, so he makes more cool tunes...sounds good to me.

I mean, when I go to an art gallery I expect them to tell me the names of the painters :)

I believe the same thing. Give any two DJ's the same 50 cuts and chances are that they will not come up with identical sets. Track selection is definitely part of your overall execution.

well isn't this the same thang as white labels on records? they all started so dj's couldn't bite another dj's tracks. anymore, with someone wanting to know the exact name of the song is so they can download it, not buy it. i think as a dj i should promote artist but i kinda understand where he is coming from (not that i would use this feature).

Wow, I appreciate everyone's input! I didn't realize anyone cared about this? Thanks for being respectful while you voice your opinions. I agree with a lot of the feedback outlined above. I think it's really cool you are all very open about your tracks, and I try to be that way most of the time (see my sidenote at the bottom). When it gets sticky for me is when I have DJ's who work at other clubs that compete with my venue's looking at my track names. These are guys I go head to head with for jobs in the area, and if they want a track name I would like them to have to ask me for it. I will give it to them, but I would like them to have to ask me for it. The way the tracks are displayed so big on the screen makes it easy for them to read it without asking me about it. When they do have to ask, and I tell them the track name it's kind of understood that they "owe me one." When they don't have to ask it doesn't help me as much. For example, a guy who runs several local clubs asked me about a track the other day, and I told him I couldn't remember the label off the top of my head but I would send him an email. This email started a line of communication that will hopefully develop into new business for me soon.

I strongly agree with everyone's comments about supporting the artists by advertising the names of tracks and artists. In some cases though, I would like to be the only one who has something for a few weeks if I'm the one who dug it up. I know this is frowned upon by many DJs, but I feel strongly that one of my greatest strengths as a DJ is the time I spend every week digging. I am happy to share the great tracks I find, but on my terms rather than as the unavoidable result of using SSL.

(As a side note: I have begun hooking my laptop up to the Plasma TV's at both clubs I work at so that the crowd can see what I'm doing, and what I'm about to play. It has been very well received! There are some instances though, where I would rather not broadcast the track names to everyone there. So in this sense, this issue is a bit more sensitive to me because I am sharing all or most of what I'm doing with hundreds of people. Not just those that can see over my shoulder. At this point it's worth it to me because I know I'm helping to popularize Rane SSL and educate people about music they don't hear on the radio everyday. However I would like to have the flexibility to hide some tracks.

Yax, you make some very valid points. We'll have a think about how we could implement this.

Sorry, Yaz

While I'm thinking about video, I had another thought...

As part of an enhanced version of SSL (suggested as SSL gold in other discussion threads) it would be nice if someday we could integrate videos into the music, or somekind of visualizer (like the ones in I-tunes or Windows Media Player). I know this seems like a huge bloat feature, and I don't even like the idea that much. However, I got a chance to play with a Pioneer DVJ-X1 this week and it was impressive. For 6K for a pair though I doubt they are flying off the shelves. When they get cheaper I suspect they will get popular. They just have a very good "holy shit" factor. When you see someone do a scratch on a video, or a backspin it just looks amazing. I expect to see posts about that this is bloat, it's all about the music no the visuals etc. etc. I agree, but since the early 80's music has been getting more visual (MTV) and it would be nice if we had more flexibility to integrate video into our performance.

Right now I'm using Arkaos visualization, powerpoint and also putting up live shots of my SSL screen. However it would be nice to have this more integrated with the beat and to be able to scratch music videos.

I know this may take an additonal external interface, like a video mixer, maybe some additional video cards and a faster processor. It would be nice though, and luckily I don't think it will be a real issue for a few more years. So I'll start collecting and ripping videos and hopefully you folks at Serato will Call Edirol or the makers of Arkaos and begin working on something that will meet this need.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

I would suggest to open a new thread, as this has nothing to do with the topic "Hiding Labels", just a hint ;)

It's possible to scratch video with the current SSL interface if you're clever enough, you know. A visualization would require unnecessary amounts of CPU. Could be optional though.

But as nik said, this has nothing to do with hiding labels...

bump.

I love that idea if this function could be turned on and off (for example in the setup menue). With the resulting larger screen space the overviews could take this space to become bigger.

Good idea!

Yeah it would be cool if for example Serato could have this new feature (or new "mode") which just hides the crates, and the library listings and the big track names at the top of the screen. It should just keep the Serato visuals on the screen (with now a lot more space!) making for example the song overview bigger and easier to see and make the screen less cluttered with separate and more clear areas for cuepoints, loops, etc. It could just be a small button on the main screen and the screen changes (just like going from the main screen to the setup).

Because honestly depending on what and how you play, at least in my case I don't need to touch my laptop or see the library right in front of me the whole night... I just touch the laptop when I'm going to change songs and a simple shortcut could change the views so I can choose a song and go back to the "stealth mode" (with bigger visuals, cleaner and more spaced out interface).

www.scratchlive.net

Bump. Come on SSL crew. I asked for this in 2004. It's 2007.

Sorry, I don't mean to come off rude. I appreciate all the feature improvements thus far but I would really appreciate this being addressed. I have also seen some new threads started on the topic.

hahaha shiiiiit
why didnt they made it in 1.7.1.??????

i´m feelin you yaz
its really a usefull thing
i´d need it too

I think part of the issue is that the SSL crew might just disagree with what it is we are doing. I can't imagine it's really a three year wait for something like this. This is pure speculation on my part but I don't feel it's wild speculation.

I think whether they like it or not I should be entitled and empowered to make the choice.

I agree with you Yaz, shouldn't be really hard to implement.
A usable, but crude, workaround would be Stickies www.zhornsoftware.co.uk or similar. ie: virtual post-it notes on your laptop screen. (I'm sure there's some MAC similar?) They can be set to whatever size & position and to stay on top of all other windows. You've could even write some offensive message there or whatever ;-)

I've never felt the need for something like this, but it could work for those special moments?

WarpNote, this feature is already part of 1.7.3 (hidden easter egg).

How do I use it?

Seems good, havent tried the beta yet. I'll get on the beta wagon. Thanks Nik!