7 replies to this topic

[graham]

KBDJ

Description
KBDJ is a work-in-progress DJ program using SXMS that can be efficiently controlled without turntables, a mixer, or complicated MIDI mapping.  I've built it to be easy to use with just a mouse and keyboard controls.

Screenshot

Demo Video

Still need major work on the optimization; I couldn't run CamStudio and KBDJ or the audio would be terrible.  Early development demo.  Tracklisting:

Brazil - Deadmau5
Strobe (Club Edit) - Deadmau5
Better Run (Inpetto Remix) - Tocadisco ft. Nadia Ali

Download
3.2 MB, GameJolt, .zip file: Download
GM7 Pro, Does not change resolution, uses highest program priority

Brief Controls
To activate or deactivate a button, click it. To turn a knob, mouse over it and use Q to decrease and W to increase. Hold space while turning a knob to increase the turn amount. Right Click any knob, dropdown, or the crossfader to reset it.

Refer to the help file in the game folder for more detailed information and techniques.

Note
If the sound quality is bad on your computer, it is because your computer is having trouble handling KBDJ. Try closing down some programs. If the problem persists, it is because your computer does not have sufficient sound capabilities to run KBDJ.
KBDJ is still not really practical for any live use
The pitch control does not affect BPM, use the frequency for that
It's impractical to mix tracks without an efficient way of controlling BPM (Freq just doesn't really cut it)
The graphs are mostly impractical as they aren't for the full song

Bugs
Placeholder track ID3 tags unrecognized, garbage characters
Some ID3 tags not read
After playing a placeholder track, once reloaded the track will loop somewhere around 25%

To Do (*Possibility)
*Implement BPM detection, track sync
Fix loop bug
Fix track error bug
*Better ID3 reading
*Significant speed optimization (GM is at its limits)
Optimize effect modulation knobs
Keyboard Shortcuts (after more testing)
*Recording
Additional knob subimages
Help file
Change visualization to the song's wave graph

What to Mix?
If you need an idea on what to mix, I'll tell you what I like.  Unfortunately I can't put up any files on here for you, but try searching for artists like deadmau5, Benny Benassi, Afrojack, Crookers, or David Guetta.  Those are some house and electro artists that I like and are fairly common.

If you download, thank you, and please leave a comment! That's what WIP's are all about!
If you encounter any bugs or glitches, please post the message from Game Maker and describe the scenario if you think it could help.

Thanks!

Edited by graham, 14 July 2010 - 05:42 AM.

[Igloo]

I personally get too confused just looking at all the little nobs and switches, but the program looks great, almost commercial quality. If I were you I'd upload a youtube video of this thing in action.

[graham]

I personally get too confused just looking at all the little nobs and switches, but the program looks great, almost commercial quality. If I were you I'd upload a youtube video of this thing in action.

Done. I was planning to upload a video, but the problem is how much of a resource hog KBDJ is in it's current state. I can't run CamStudio on top of it without ruining the sound (my computer isn't all that glorious, either, however).

All the knobs and buttons are very confusing; I was perplexed the first time I walked up to a pair of turntables. I want to get some tutorial videos done, but first I have to get the program up to par.

Thanks for the positive comments on the looks!

Edited by graham, 12 July 2010 - 06:00 AM.

[YellowAfterlife]

Well, a nice little program, but not very usefull yet.
Things to add:
» File selection start at the folder of last loaded file. It's not very cool to browse the folders every time I want to change the soundtrack.
» More subimages to the pitch sprite, and perhaps a slider instead of knob. Now the minimum changable value already changes the soundtrack too much.
» Additional ways of interaction: allow knobs to be changed by mouse (by clicking\dragging over them and by mouse wheel instead of Q\W). Add a pair of keys associated with each 'main' knob (like, A\Z for Hi1, S\X for IO1, 1..6 for deck 1 controls, 7..= for deck 2 controls, etc)
» A way to record & save the work.
Things to fix:
» Min\Max knob values. For example, right after starting the program you can hover over the red Mod1, hold Q for a second, and watch it spinning because of -1 value.
» Look into possible filters used when "None" is applied: when loading some high-quality soundtracks into the program right after starting, there were defects (noise) while playing. These seem to be something from the program side, because they were gone while I was dragging the window around.

[Soillbegone]

I messed around with it, some of the mod nobs don't work well. They are sometimes unresponsive, and I got a crash before of error not finding track one.

Good idea though, keep working on it.

Btw, doing something like this with GM would be hard to optimize.

[Igloo]

Nice demonstration, it seems to work pretty well.
Keep working on it bro - it's always good to see unique game maker creations aside from the typical platformers and top-down shooters.

[graham]

Well, a nice little program, but not very usefull yet.
Things to add:
» File selection start at the folder of last loaded file. It's not very cool to browse the folders every time I want to change the soundtrack.
» More subimages to the pitch sprite, and perhaps a slider instead of knob. Now the minimum changable value already changes the soundtrack too much.
» Additional ways of interaction: allow knobs to be changed by mouse (by clicking\dragging over them and by mouse wheel instead of Q\W). Add a pair of keys associated with each 'main' knob (like, A\Z for Hi1, S\X for IO1, 1..6 for deck 1 controls, 7..= for deck 2 controls, etc)
» A way to record & save the work.
Things to fix:
» Min\Max knob values. For example, right after starting the program you can hover over the red Mod1, hold Q for a second, and watch it spinning because of -1 value.
» Look into possible filters used when "None" is applied: when loading some high-quality soundtracks into the program right after starting, there were defects (noise) while playing. These seem to be something from the program side, because they were gone while I was dragging the window around.

Added the file selection ability, fixed the min & max values (forgot to do the mod values, I'll add that next version). The noise defects were probably because of the lack of efficiency on KBDJ's part, but I'll look into that some more. Could have been bad values for the lo and hi, which are now fixed.

I'll add recording if I can ever get it able to handle recording and playback. I also want to add keyboard shortcuts like you suggested eventually, I first need to make sure all the controls are set in stone. A little more testing before that.

As for additional subimages, I had someone do the knobs for me. I'll ask him to add more subimages when he can; I agree that they'd certainly look better with more.

I messed around with it, some of the mod nobs don't work well. They are sometimes unresponsive, and I got a crash before of error not finding track one.

As for the knobs, I fixed all the knobs in the mixer. I still need to optimize all the effect knobs a lot; that will take time. The error - I've had that happen once and I'm looking into it. I'll try to have it fixed before the next release.

Nice demonstration, it seems to work pretty well.
Keep working on it bro - it's always good to see unique game maker creations aside from the typical platformers and top-down shooters.

Thanks!

I've updated KBDJ to version vb2.0.

vb2.0 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
	+ Lightened background
	+ Removed deck volume controls, crossfader is fine for this program
	+ Simplified HI and LO controls into LO/HI
	+ Changed knobs to only update SXMS when changed rather than every
	  step
	+ Added version number to header of program
	+ Added default music folder setting
	+ Added ability to change frameskip settings in the program

[Soillbegone]

I'm going to see if I can get the error I got to happen again in the new one when I download it, and I'll give you the report so you know what to look for.