The Pioneer DJ DDJ 400 is one of the most popular controllers on the market. One of the reason that is has become so popular is thanks to its design and layout. However the club style layout being shrunk onto such a small chassis has meant that certain buttons had to be removed. One of the most notable buttons missing is vinyl mode.
In this tutorial, we are going to show you two methods to reinstate this control either by using your computers keyboard or by MIDI mapping the controller.
What is does Vinyl Mode do?
Vinyl mode changes the behaviour of the jog wheels. With Vinyl mode turned on, the deck will stop when you touch the top of the jog wheel. Just like a vinyl on a turn table, you can then scratch the track.
In contrast, when Vinyl mode is turned off you can touch the top of the platter and nothing will happen. The playing track can still be nudged faster or slower with the jog wheel. With Vinyl mode off you can nudge the track without the risk of accidentally stopping it or scratching.
Out of the box, the DDJ 400 has Vinyl mode enabled. Sadly, the DDJ 400 doesn’t have a dedicated button to toggle Vinyl Mode on or off. You also won’t be able to find a button in the Rekordbox software. This leaves us with two options, we can either remap the controller or set up a keyboard shortcut.
Setting up Vinyl Mode Keyboard Shortcut
Plug in the DDJ 400, open Rekordbox and click Preferences.
I
In the Keyboard section, open deck one and scroll down to Vinyl Mode. You’ll see no shortcut has been assigned.
Click the plus button to add a shortcut. The software will ask you to press the button you wish to assign.
V for Vinyl Mode would be an obvious choice, however this is already assigned to the sampler.
If you try and overwrite a preset shortcut this message will appear. Press cancel and find a new button to use unless you’re happy to overwrite the sampler shortcut.
It’s worth remembering you can use modifier keys in these shortcuts. Shift, Command and Control can all be used.
For example CMD+V isn’t preset. It’s free to assign to Vinyl Mode.
Press okay. This shortcut is now saved for Deck One.
Repeat the process for Deck Two.
You can’t use the same shortcut so we recommend the use of a different modifier key, for example Option+V.
Download the MIDI map file
Rather than following the tutorial below, you can download the file from the link below. To use this map file, click MIDI when the DDJ-400 is installed and press IMPORT in the bottom right corner. Then navigate to the download to load it. The vinyl button will now be mapped to the Memory Delete button as per the tutorial below.
How to MIDI map Vinyl Mode on the DDJ 400
The keyboard shortcut method is ideal for users who make use of most of the DDJ 400 preset mapping. However if you’d rather the Vinyl Mode control be on the controller itself, we can customise it with a MIDI map.
In this example we are doing to remap the function to the Memory Delete button. This is accessed with Shift+Call Left.
To remap this function, plug the DDJ 400 in and start Rekordbox. Then press MIDI in the top right corner.
Now, find the original mapping of the button you wish to remap. This must be deleted first before you can overwrite it. For our example, memory delete is under the PAD tab as shown below.
Delete the mapping for both Deck 1 and Deck 2.
Once deleted we now need to add the Vinyl mode. Go to DECK>ADD>VINYL.
Remember to do this twice, for deck one and then again for deck two as shown below.
Highlight deck Vinyl on Deck One and click LEARN.
The LEARN button will stay illuminated. Now press the button you wish to map, in our example it’s SHIFT and CALL LEFT.
The software will automatically add the code in. Repeat for each deck and your MIDI mapping should now look like this.
Video Guide
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Here are our best suited courses for the Pioneer DDJ-400 and Rekordbox.
Helpfull stuff!