Beat Matching Program Questionairre- Please Read

[Jon]

Some of you may remember that i mentioned i was designing a program for my computing coursework for next year to help beat matching. Heres a quick explanation of what it will do: The program will allow you to select a song from the self entered database and find songs that have a similar bpm and list them. This will be able to be used on a laptop when djing live, or when preparing your wax when building a record crate as there will be the function to print bpm's records in lists.

However the program will not calculate bpm, so a program such as mixmeister bmp counter or counting manually will have to be performed. The system simply stores information in a database and displays similar values.

 

 

I would be very grateful if some people could fill out the following questionaire, the more the merrier as i will gain a greater knowledge of peoples needs for such as program:

 

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1. Do You Normally Use BPM (beats per minute) calculating aids other than beat matching? (if no skip to question 3)

 

2.If so What sort of aid and what features do you find useful (clear displaying of bpm for example)?

 

3. The product being created will be run using a personal computer. Do you use a laptop when performing at gigs?

 

4. Have you access to a computer printer?

 

5.Which of the following interest you? ( state Y [yes] or N [no] )

 

(i) The ability to find similar bpms whilst building a crate mixing by selecting the current track

(ii) Printouts of your libary's BPMs sorted by BPM

(iii)Printouts of your libary's BPMs sorted by Artist

(iv)Printouts of your libary's BPMs sorted by Genre

(v)Printouts of your libary's BPMs sorted by Key (please note that key will have to be calculated by the user)

 

6. Do you have any suggestions for features that have not been mentioned in question 5?

 

7. Which of the following interest you? ( state Y [yes] or N [no] )

 

(i) A program consisting of many pages with a simple uncluttered layout

(ii)A program consiting of a single page to cover all features

(iii)A simple colour scheme

(iv)A flashy colour scheme

 

8. Do you have any additional comments?

 

 

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Thanks in Advance

[Deft]

Not to dismiss your project, but the majority of dj'ing software works by a tag driven database - so provided you have tagged your tracks with their BPM or other additional info you want, you can just sort / search from within the program itself.

[Jon]

very true. I just thought it was a good idea for coursework. Of course you could sort serato for example into bpms. But my software will be free

if any of you programmer heads want to know im making it in ittl be access with a little visual basic 6

[Liam]

Something that combines beatmatching with keymatching would be more useful, if a touch ambitious.

[Jon]

Something that combines beatmatching with keymatching would be more useful, if a touch ambitious.

that could easily be done if the dj new the keys of records.

[rygon]

what about if the song playing had been pitched up/ down by 6% ...would it be able to work out the new bpm and then choose songs from the list..maybe having it so it tells you how much each song needs to be pitch shifted to get it to the correct bpm

[Jon]

what about if the song playing had been pitched up/ down by 6% ...would it be able to work out the new bpm and then choose songs from the list..maybe having it so it tells you how much each song needs to be pitch shifted to get it to the correct bpm

 

my beatmatching skills arnt that great to be able to do that. but good idea i'll see if i can come up with a way of doing it

[Liam]

Something that combines beatmatching with keymatching would be more useful, if a touch ambitious.

that could easily be done if the dj knew the keys of records.

 

True, but there's the challenge innit

[monophonic]

[Jon]

doh dont tell me that, thats essentially the program i was going to make but with printouts

[monophonic]

why printouts?

 

i mean, it would be cool to have that option, but the main program should be something like my sketch.. a lil tool to have a look what fits to a certain song.

 

edit: just to prevent any misunderstanding: that pic is a quick sketch of a user interface i did in Apples interface designer, no real program actually.

[Jon]

why printouts?

 

i mean, it would be cool to have that option, but the main program should be something like my sketch.. a lil tool to have a look what fits to a certain song.

 

edit: just to prevent any misunderstanding: that pic is a quick sketch of a user interface i did in Apples interface designer, no real program actually.

phew, yeh i was thinkign a similar thing. then ud have a data entry page for entering song details. you should be able to print lists of genres with their bpms, prossibly on a different page. some people suggested doing that so they can put notes in their crates

[Paul_Caruso]

The thing is if you're doing it for coursework it doesn't really matter if it already exists, whoever's markingit won't be into DJing, they'll just assume you did everything. Also they won't be investigating/care as to whether there is a market for the product, if you say in your write-up that there is one then that's good enough!

 

You don't need to know how to beatmatch at all to do the "within 4%" option, it's just maths.

 

What's 95bpm + 4%? 98.8bpm

What's 95bpm - 4%? 91.2bpm

 

If you can get it to show all titles with a certain bpm I'm almost certain you can specify a range as well (between 91.2 and 98.8).

 

Finally could you explain the first question of the questionnaire?

 

Also, fake the questionaire results. Make up 10 yourself and multiply the results by 5.

[Jon]

The thing is if you're doing it for coursework it doesn't really matter if it already exists, whoever's markingit won't be into DJing, they'll just assume you did everything. Also they won't be investigating/care as to whether there is a market for the product, if you say in your write-up that there is one then that's good enough!

 

You don't need to know how to beatmatch at all to do the "within 4%" option, it's just maths.

 

What's 95bpm + 4%? 98.8bpm

What's 95bpm - 4%? 91.2bpm

 

If you can get it to show all titles with a certain bpm I'm almost certain you can specify a range as well (between 91.2 and 98.8).

 

Finally could you explain the first question of the questionnaire?

 

Also, fake the questionaire results. Make up 10 yourself and multiply the results by 5.

 

its to check if people use bmp aids such as electronic timers, bpm charts etc, to see if the project is worthwhile, will people use it

[Liam]

Rusty,

 

If you REALLY want to impress your course tutors, get two LCD displays, either buy them or rip them out of old alarm clocks or whatever. There's absolutely shitloads of documentation on the web about controlling LCD's via serial or parallel port. It's an incredibly popular hack.

 

Anyway, if you can rig two external LCD's to sit on a blob of blue-tack on either turntables and read out the BPM of the respective tracks from your database (i.e. those that are playing), I promise you that whoever is assessing it will jizz their pants with delight. It's an afternoon's work at most and a surprisingly fun project (once you've done one you'll get bitten by the bug).

 

Explain that you could augment this value by reading the resistance of the pitch fader of either turntable and you might even have something that could become a useful tool. But mostly it'll be about bullshitting and saying that it'll be indispensible to a working DJ, or as a 'tuition aid'.

[Liam]

Also, what about the option to drag a bunch of files into a playlist and have a report of the % shifts required all the way along? Idally, reporting both the % difference from the last track, and the actual required % change (with the shift for the first track specified). Adjustable along the way, as nothing ever goes exactly to plan...

[rygon]

yeh liam that would look great ..thinking about the pitch part..its all simple maths move 100% up by 6% and you are multiplying the original by 106% move 98bpm by 6% and you are still multiplying the original by 106%. couldnt you come up with a program to say 100 + (what ever value they enter here..ie -4) = bpm (in this case 100+ (-4) = 96...so multiply the bpm by 96% (or 0.96) and find anything within, say +/- 5%. to make it a little more complicated you could say that anythijng above +/-8% will be cancelled out of the query due to technics decks only having a +/-8% pitch shift..anything above or below wont work.

 

also having the music sorted by either type or % difference with the song playing option will look good.

[rygon]

also is it worth making a website (use a free webhost like siteled.com) to put up a questionaire and also prelims of the design and have anyone visiting to give their opinions...this hsould make it much easier for ppl to give answers you need and for you to collate the information ..and im sure it will give you extra marks in the designing part of the project (ie most djs you speak to are via internet so a good solution is an internet bassed questionaire..along with paper ones for locak djs) what about asking shops and companies on their views on your project....is it likely that ppl would use it do they reckon..how much would they charge...any reply will add to research

[Jon]

Rusty,

 

If you REALLY want to impress your course tutors, get two LCD displays, either buy them or rip them out of old alarm clocks or whatever. There's absolutely shitloads of documentation on the web about controlling LCD's via serial or parallel port. It's an incredibly popular hack.

 

Anyway, if you can rig two external LCD's to sit on a blob of blue-tack on either turntables and read out the BPM of the respective tracks from your database (i.e. those that are playing), I promise you that whoever is assessing it will jizz their pants with delight. It's an afternoon's work at most and a surprisingly fun project (once you've done one you'll get bitten by the bug).

 

Explain that you could augment this value by reading the resistance of the pitch fader of either turntable and you might even have something that could become a useful tool. But mostly it'll be about bullshitting and saying that it'll be indispensible to a working DJ, or as a 'tuition aid'.

 

 

haha thats a class idea. although the coursework is not marked internally it is sent off i could still take pictures. i'm not that good at science but i have mates who could explain that to me.

[mattnice]

whats wrong with two records and ya ears

 

any cunt can use a program

 

bring back a big bag of tunes and ya ears

 

 

fuck software

[Jon]

i know mate, ive never used software before for bpm. i just thought it was a good idea for coursework for my computer programming a level, something i that could actually work, theres some market for and wont be that boring to make. Also means i can ramble on about djing for a bit of my project.

[Jon]

i know mate, ive never used software before for bpm. i just thought it was a good idea for coursework for my computer programming a level, something i that could actually work, theres some market for and wont be that boring to make. Also means i can ramble on about djing for a bit of my project.

[mattnice]

and double post

[Paul_Caruso]

haha thats a class idea. although the coursework is not marked internally it is sent off i could still take pictures. i'm not that good at science but i have mates who could explain that to me.

 

 

Not to labour the faking point but if it's not marked internally and photos will do just fake it, take a photo of a couple of LCD displays and draw some diagrams. Figure out basically how to do it and then write it up. If I've learnt anything from doing GCSEs, A-Levels and a degree it's that trying hard to do the fun stuff and getting distracted from what's actually getting you the marks is an easy way to not get the marks. If you spend 5 minutes making up the fact that you did it you can concentrate on doing well.

 

Seriously.