Undiscovered

No he uses both Ableton and Traktor it just so happens that he gets paid more by N.I. to promote Traktor at this moment in time. He along with John Aquaviva developed Final Scratch the forerunner to Traktor but has used Ableton since its release (he even hand built, along with his dad, some of the first dedicated midi control surfaces for Ableton long before Sasha laid hands on it). Richie is a smart cookie and knows where his bread is buttered and will let you know what technology he's using as long as the cheques keep rolling in. He as well as many other DJ's combine the functionality of both programs. Hell even Cian from Supper Furry Animals runs both on stage.

As far as you saying beatmatching not making you a DJ, you are saying that if you allow the technology to assist you with this "it's cheating". Why? Have you ever seen a DJ using CDJ's but no headphones? I have and it's not that hard. Its possible because most tunes these days are written at pretty standard BPM's and the DJ can label his/her discs with the relevant numbers. From there the DJ looks at the currently playing CDJ's pitch level and makes a simple mathematical calculation to adjust the next CDJ to the appropriate level. Cue points have already been set and then it's bombs away. Is this cheating? Or, is this knowing your tracks and using the knowledge to your advantage.

No I haven't. I've seen and heard Richie Hawtin, Henrik Schwartz, King Roc, Marc Houle, Magda, Heartthrob, Glimpse............. the list goes on and on and not one of them ever looked bored to me or anyone else there. All of them were so involved in the music to a degree that I would rate higher than if they were just spinning discs, because, they weren't using the technology to simply replicate the process of DJ'ing, they were branching into a new style of performance, DJ'ing, remixing on the fly, writing new elements to the tracks, right there in front of you. When your doing this you shouldn't have time to check your emails. Most of these performers would have computers dedicated to audio and not able to facilitate online applications. If your just laying pre warped and synced tracks end to end I still don't think it's "cheating" but it's just plain lazy and you'll be found out or get bored with the charade.

As far as Richard James playing Warcraft thats plain rude but I don't blame the technology, if his commitment to the paying audience is so low he would have put exactly the same lackluster effort in no matter what medium he was using. Just because he would have to put a new record or CD on every few minutes doesn't make me think he would give a shit anymore than he did when playing Warcraft. You think every guitarist whacked out on booze and drugs is giving it they're all? No they're just going through the motions. It happens sometimes in any profession.

If you think using Ableton or Traktor or any other program that allows you to bypass or pre empt the beatmatching element of performance is cheating then thats fine, don't use it. Don't go see the performers that do, don't buy the mixes they produce or download their podcasts. Somehow I think you'll come around to their way of thinking a long time before they give a shit what you think. Try doing what they do before saying that it's cheating. Post it here, I'd like to hear the results and compare them to those of these performers you say are cheating. Somehow I don't think you'll be able to do what they do just you use the same programs that do the beatmatching for you. It still requires a lot of skill, practice, forethought and talent to move the crowd.

I use vinyl, CD's and a laptop and respect any one's decision to use whatever tools they feel necessary to get the job done. The quality of the performance lies firmly with them and not the medium.

http://www.ableton.com/pages/artists/richie_hawtin

This is quite old but I can guarantee he was still using Ableton when I saw him in London last year.