M-Audio Torq 1.5 User Manual

1.5

user guide

Torq 1.5 User Guide

Chapter 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Torq Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Decks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Main Waveform Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

PFL/Headphone Cue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Browser/Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Effect Racks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Sampler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Master Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Chapter 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

System Requir ement s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Mac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Windows XP and Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Macintosh OS X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Authorization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Chapter 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Decks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Song Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Artist Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Time Elapsed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Time Remain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Overview Waveform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Play/Pause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Seek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Cue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Deck Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Looping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Speed Slider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Sync Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Tempo Master . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Nudge Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Offset But tons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Chapter 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Waveform Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Information Shown on Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Waveform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Zoom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Loop Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Cue Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Phase Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Tempo Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Playback Manipulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Vinyl Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Hybrid Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

CDJ Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Chapter 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Automatic Tempo and Phase Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Phase Grid Manipulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Adjusting with the Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Adjusting with Nudge Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Adjusting with Offset Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Sync Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Locked Sync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Momentary Sync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Global Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Global Tempo LEDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Global Tempo Metronome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Using a Deck as a Tempo Master . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Chapter 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

External C ontrol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Enabling Vinyl/ CD C ontrol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

External C ontrol Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Control Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Velocity and Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Error Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Standard Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Absolute Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Relative Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

AMPutate Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Deck Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

BPM Matching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Runout Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

MIDI Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Chapter 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Sampler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Signal Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Sampler Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Record Sample Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Trigger Sample Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Loop Sample Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Sample Volume Knob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Sample Speed/ Rate Knob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Sample Name Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

QuickScratch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Chapter 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Snapshot List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Creating a Snapshot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Masking a Snapshot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Using Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Duplicate Snapshot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Swapping Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Delete Snapshot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Momentary vs. Latching Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Polyphonic Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Table of Contents

Torq 1.5 User Guide

Chapter 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Browser /Dat abase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Browser Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

File List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Editing Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Loading Songs into the Decks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Unloading Songs from the Decks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Sorting the List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Searching the List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Playlists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Session Playlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

iTunes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

iPods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Audio CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Chapter 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Mixer Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Gain /Mute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

EQ/ Kills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

PFL/Headphone Cue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Channel Volume Faders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Line Input Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Crossfader. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Chapter 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

PFL/Headphone Cue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Volume Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Split Button and Source Knob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Chapter 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Master Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Volume Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Level Meter and Limiter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Master Recorder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Filename . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Setting the Record Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Chapter 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Effect Slot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Enable Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Mix Knob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Routing Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Tweak Knob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 8

Tweak Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Saving Effect Racks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Loading Effect Racks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Bypassing the Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Clearing all Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Built-In Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Reverb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Flanger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Phaser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Dual-Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Distor tion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Strobe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Reverse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Brake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Repeat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

VST Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Latency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Selecting Ef fects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Assigning Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

VST Crash Guard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

VST Preset Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Chapter 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

ReWire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Global Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Audio Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Chapter 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Audio Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Torq Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Timestretching Qualit y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Auto Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Audio Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Sample Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Buffer Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Mixer Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

MIDI Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Auto-Detect M-Audio Devices ([On ]/Off) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

MIDI Soft Takeover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Scratch Sensitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Nudge Sensitivit y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Crossfader Curve Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

MIDI SHIFT Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Instant Doubles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

MIDI Clock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

MIDI Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

External C ontrol Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

External C ontrol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

AMPutate Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Lead In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Skip Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Plug-ins Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

System VST Plug-in Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Custom VST Plug-in Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Miscellaneous Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Skin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Tooltips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Search iTunes Librar y with Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Search iPod with Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Transpor t Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Reset Speed on New Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Cue Exclusivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Schaf fel Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Sync Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Loop /Cue Quantize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Loop Out Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

QuickLoop Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

QuickLoop Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Beat Detection Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Beat Detection Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Sample Counter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Chapter 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Preset Key Assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Global Key Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Ortofon: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Shure: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Stanton: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Windows Key Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Mac Key Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

WELCOME

Congratulations on your purchase of a Torq-based performance system, one of the

ﬁnest DJ tools available today. Each qualiﬁed M-Audio hardware product works with

Torq in a unique fashion, and those methods are outlined in each of their user manuals.

This manual will outline the use of the Torq application itself, and we recommend that you read this manual ﬁrst in order to familiarize yourself with the architecture of Torq. It will then be easier to understand how your hardware works in conjunction with the software.

TORQ OVERVIEW

Torq is a software extrapolation and extension of tried-and-true DJ tools and techniques for your Mac OS X, Windows XP or Vista computer. Torq is not bound by the limits of hardware—it embraces the technology of today’s most advanced audio production applications and integrates with them in a fashion that makes you part of the music. Exercising this level of control upon your collection of songs is a task that has many facets, and Torq addresses each of these with a specialized array of controls and features that are cleverly arranged and accessed throughout the user interface. This section will give you an overview of these features and how they contribute to your arsenal of digital mixing tools and techniques.

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Decks

DJing begins with music, so you will get to know Torq’s Decks very well. A Deck is what Torq uses to play back a single digital music ﬁle and is analogous to the turntable or CD player used by DJs. The Deck allows you to play a track, change its speed and its key, as well as rearrange it by looping and jumping to new locations within the song. Torq is equipped with two of these Decks—one on each side of the screen.

Main Waveform Display

One of the wonderful beneﬁts of computer technology is the ability to visualize audio. While being interesting to the eyes in their own right, waveform displays can be an invaluable tool when DJing. Torq’s user interface is dominated by two such waveforms at the top-center of the screen, one corresponding to each of the Decks. Use these scrolling waveforms to check the synchronization of tracks, locate sounds, predict breakdowns, edit Tempo Anchors, and much more.

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Mixer

It’s all in the mix, or so they say, and Torq’s Mixer delivers the goods. The Mixer takes the audio from the two Decks and gives you control over what can be heard by means of volume controls, audio equalizers, and a crossfader. Two Decks and a Mixer: the essential tools for a DJ.

PFL/Headphone Cue

DJs commonly listen to a track on their headphones without letting their audience hear it. This allows them to match the tempo of the new song to the current one, along with ﬁnding the correct starting position for the song. Torq will allow you to monitor either Deck on headphones, preview music from the Browser, and also features a stereo headphone split normally reserved for high-quality DJ mixers.

Browser/Database

There is a third ingredient to DJing, and that’s music—lots of music. To help you stay on top of your massive music collection, Torq features a Database for cataloging and searching tracks. It will monitor your favorite folders and allow you to create

playlists for future performances.

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Effect Racks

Effects are a great way for you to manipulate (or mangle) your music in unique ways to enhance your mix. Torq has a collection of built-in effects that are speciﬁcally designed for DJ use: Tempo-synced delays and strobes. Shimmering phasers and ﬂangers. Glitchy repeats and distortions. Ten effects are ready to go and full of creative potential. You can use up to three of these effects on each Deck, and you can also expand your collection using widely-available VST plug-ins.

Sampler

A Sampler can be thought of as a miniature tape recorder. It can record a short segment of sound, and then play it back on command at varying speeds and volumes. DJs use samplers to add additional sounds into their mix like vocal drops, crash cymbals, boomy bass drums, and sound effects. Torq has a 16-cell sampler that can play audio ﬁles and record loops that play in perfect sync with your mix.

Snapshots

DJing is done with the hands, but you may ﬁnd that your mind wants to hear more than your two hands are capable of. To surmount this obstacle, Torq allows you to combine multiple movements, such as button presses and knob tweaks, into one grand gesture called a Snapshot that can be triggered by a single keypress. Torq manages a collection of Snapshots that can be recalled interchangeably, even in rapid succession. The Snapshots can even be layered together to create massive changes in your mix.

Master Module

When all is tweaked and mixed to perfection, the resultant audio is sent to the Master Output. Torq features an automatic output limiter that will keep your music from distorting as well as a module for recording the ﬁnal mix to a ﬁle as you play. You can then burn the results onto a CD or convert them to MP3 for Podcasts.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Windows XP

Minimum System Requirements

OS: Windows XP (SP3)

CPU: Pentium IV 1.4 GHz

RAM: 512 MB

USB: One available port

(for use by approved M-Audio Hardware Device)

Windows Vista (32 bit / 64 bit)

Minimum System Requirements

OS: Windows Vista (32 bit / 64 bit)

CPU: Pentium IV 1.8 GHz

RAM: 1 GB

USB: One available port

(for use by approved M -Audio Hardware Device)

Windows Experience Index of 3.0 or better

Mac

Minimum System Requirements

OS: Mac OS X 10.4.11

CPU: G4 1.67 GHz

RAM: 512 MB

USB: One available port (for use by approved M- Audio Hardware Device)

Recommended System Speciﬁcations

OS: Windows XP (SP3)

CPU: Pentium IV 2 .4 GHz (or greater)

RAM: 2 GB

USB: One available port

(for use by approved M -Audio Hardware Device)

System Disk: 7200RPM or faster

Secondary Dedicated Audio Hard Drive: 7200RPM or faster

Recommended System Speciﬁcations

OS: Winodws Vista (32 bit / 64 bit)

CPU: Pentium IV 2 .8 GHz (or greater)

RAM (32 bit Vista): 2 GB

RAM (64 bit Vista): 4 GB

USB: One available port

(for use by approved M -Audio Hardware Device)

System Disk: 7200RPM or faster

Secondary Dedicated Audio Hard Drive: 7200RPM or faster

Windows Experience Index of 4.2 or better

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Recommended System Speciﬁcations

Laptop:

OS: Mac OS X 10.5.5

CPU: Mac/Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz (or greater)

RAM: 2 GB

USB: One available port

(for use by approved M -Audio Hardware Device)

Secondary Dedicated Audio Hard Drive: 7200RPM or faster

Minimum System Requirements reﬂect the ability to run Torq using a basic feature set. Some advanced or intensive features will require increased system speciﬁcations.

Mac User Known Issues:

• Mac users are strongly advised to pre-analyze all audio ﬁles prior to use in Torq.

• Mac G4 users are advised to not open the Timecode Preferences Dialog while streaming more than one Timecode source into Torq, as this may degrade G4 performance. The user is advised to calibrate before performing, one Timecode source at a time.

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INSTALLAT ION

✓ Note: The following directions are for installing the Torq software onto your computer. Torq will not run, however, unless an

appropriate M-Audio hardware device (such as the Conectiv interface) is installed and plugged in to your computer. Please follow the installation instructions provided with your hardware device before launching Torq.

Windows XP and Vista

1. Place the Torq disc in your CD/DVD drive.

2. Windows will automatically launch the install screen. (If you are using Windows Vista and see an Autoplay dialog

window, click “Run autorun.exe” to launch the installer.) If the install screen fails to launch, you can manually start it by clicking on Start > My Computer 3 > Torq CD-ROM.

3. Select Torq from the drop-down menu and click “Install.”

4. The Installation Wizard will appear. Choose “Next.”

5. The License Agreement window will appear. Select “I accept the agreement” then choose “Next.”

6. Windows will prompt you to select a destination folder. The default path is C:\Program Files\Torq. If you would like

to install Torq in another location, click the “Browse” button and choose a new location.

7. When you have chosen an install folder, click “Next.”

8. You will be asked where Torq should install the application shortcuts in the Windows Start menu. If you are not

familiar with this, leave the default selection and choose “Next.”

9. The installer will give you the option of creating a desktop icon. This icon is used to quickly launch Torq directly from

your desktop. Make your selection and choose “Next.”

10. Conﬁrm your install settings and choose “Install.”

11. Torq will begin installing, its process indicated by a Windows progress bar.

12. When Torq is ﬁnished installing, choose “Finish.”

13. Close the installer screen.

14. Double-click the Torq application icon to launch the program.

If you are using Windows Vista, “My Computer” will be labeled “Computer” in this step.

Macintosh OS X

1. Place the Torq disc in your CD/DVD drive.

2. Double-click the Torq CD icon on your desktop. This will display the contents of the CD.

3. Double-click the “Open Me” icon.

4. Select Torq from the drop-down menu and click “Install.”

5. The Torq installer welcome screen will appear. Click “Continue.”

6. The Software License Agreement window will appear. Click “Continue.”

7. Choose “Agree” from the drop-down dialog box.

8. Select a drive on which to install Torq and click “Continue.”

✓ Note: By default, the “Applications” folder on your main hard drive will be selected; if you would like to select another

folder, click “Choose” and make a selection.

9. Click “Install” to begin the installation.

10. When installation has completed, select “Close.”

11. A Torq shortcut icon will be displayed on your desktop. Double-click the icon to launch the program.

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AUTHORIZATION

1. Launch Torq. You will be presented with a dialog box asking for your serial number.

2. Your serial number is on a printed card (included in boxed versions of Torq) or was sent to you electronically (for on-

line upgrades). If you have not purchased a serial number, click the “Buy” button and Torq will point your default web browser to the M-Audio Webstore.

3. Type your serial number into the dialog box and click OK.

4. Torq is now unlocked and ready to use.

DECKS

When DJing, everything begins with the Decks. The Decks will play the music that you’ll mix and effect using all the tools in Torq. Traditionally, a DJ’s decks will be turntables or CD players. Therefore, the Decks in Torq have been designed to emulate both turntables and CD players, as well as offering a special hybrid mode only possible with software.

Displays

Each Deck has various informational displays

throughout the interface. These are mostly for

relaying information to you, such as which song is playing, how long it’s been playing, and how much

time is remaining.

Song Name

At the top of the Deck is the name of the current song. The name is taken from the song category (seen in the File List). If there is no song name listed in the File List, the name of the actual ﬁle will be shown instead.

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Artist Name

Below the Song Name is the Artist Name. Like the Song Name, above, this ﬁeld will be empty if there is no entry in the Artist category of the ﬁle.

Time Elapsed

This is the current location of the song, marked by the yellow Now Line in the Overview Waveform Display. The Time Elapsed is expressed in hours/minutes/ seconds/frames (30 fps). When the Current Position Marker is at the beginning of the song, the Time Elapsed will be 0:0:0.0.

Instant Doubles

Using the mouse, you can click and drag the song name from one Deck to the other. Doing this will copy the song to the other Deck and will match playback locations and speed, thus allowing you to juggle the two songs. This function can also be triggered using the computer keyboard or an external MIDI controller. Please see Chapter 15 “MIDI Tab” for information on making these assignments.

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Time Remain

This ﬁeld indicates how much time is left before the song ends. At the beginning of the song, the Time Remaining will be the same as the entire length of the song. When the Deck is playing, the Time Remaining will count down.

✓ Note: The Overview and Scrolling Waveform displays will begin to ﬂash red when there is less than 30 seconds remaining

in the song. This is to notify you that you’d better get ready with another song to play!

Overview Waveform

Each Deck includes an Overview Waveform display which shows a miniaturized version of the song’s waveform in its entirety. This display serves several purposes:

1. It allows you to see where the breaks and builds are in a song before they happen.

2. The yellow Now Line indicates your current location within the song.

3. White QuickCue points and green Tempo Anchors (described later) will be superimposed over this waveform.

4. You can click anywhere in this waveform and playback will jump to that location.

Controls

As mentioned before, the purpose of the Deck is to play a music ﬁle, similar to how iTunes or WinAmp plays ﬁles on your computer. However, in the scope of DJing, things don’t stop there. A DJ needs to be able to control the playback of the music with greater detail, such as changing the speed and/or key of the song, looping sections of audio, and jumping to other locations within the song. This allows the DJ to match tempos of various songs during a mix, or to re-arrange the song (in essence, creating a live remix of the song). The Torq Decks accomplish these tasks using the controls described below.

Play/Pause

Songs are played and stopped by clicking the Play/Pause button. Simply load a song into the Deck and press Play/Pause to start it. Press Play/Pause again to pause

the music.

✓ Note: When you pause the music, the song will not return to the beginning—it

will stay in the same location as when you stopped it. If you want to return to the beginning, use the Seek controls described below.

Seek

The Seek buttons are used to skip forward or backward through the song, allowing you to ﬁnd certain points (or beats) within the song from which you can start playing.

1. If you click brieﬂy on the Forward or Backward buttons, the music will jump only slightly in that direction.

2. If you click and hold one of these buttons, Torq will scroll through the song, going faster and faster as long as you

hold the button. Scrolling will stop when you release the button.

3. To jump to either the beginning or end of the song, hold the Shift key while clicking Seek buttons.

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Cue

The Cue button will establish a primary Cue Point within a song. A Cue Point is a reference position within the track that you can jump to instantly, rather than having to seek through the track to ﬁnd it. Typically, a DJ will set the Cue Point where the beat begins in a song. It is visible (in orange) within the Waveform Display. The Cue button abides by the following rules:

1. If a song is playing, pressing the Cue button will make the song jump to the Cue Point and will pause there.

2. If Cue is pressed and held again, the music will begin playing from the Cue Point. The music will stop playing

when the Cue button is released and the song will jump back to the Cue Point.

3. If a song is paused in a location different from the Cue Point, pressing the Cue button will set the Cue Point to

the current location.

4. If you hold SHIFT and press Cue, a Cue Point will be placed at the current location, even if the song is already

playing.

5. If you hold Cue and press the Play/Pause button, the music will continue to play after you release both buttons.

QuickCue

In addition to the primary Cue Point described above, Torq allows you to set up to ﬁve QuickCue Points in a song that are assigned to the QuickCue buttons below the Overview Waveform display. These buttons can then be used to quickly jump between the various QuickCue points. Torq will save the locations of the ﬁve QuickCue points with each song so they will be available the next time you play the song.

< Setting QuickCues

There are a few different ways to set QuickCue Points, but all methods

deliver the same results.

1. Click the Set button, then click one of the QuickCue buttons. A

QuickCue Point will be set at the current location (this can be done while the Deck is playing or paused). When added, the QuickCue will be visible in the Overview Waveform display.

2. Hold the Shift key while clicking one of the QuickCue buttons. Again,

the QuickCue Point will be set to the Now Line, whether the Deck is playing or not. When added, the QuickCue will be visible in the Overview Waveform display.

✓ Note: If Quantize is turned on in Torq’s Toolbar, new QuickCue points will be aligned to the nearest 16th-note in

a song.

✓ Note: If you try to assign a QuickCue to a button that is already set to a particular location, the old

QuickCue location will be overwritten in favor of the new one.

< Playing QuickCues

Once you’ve set a couple QuickCue Points, all you have to do is click on the desired QuickCue button and

the Deck will immediately jump to this new location and begin playing. If you set your QuickCue Points at key positions within the song, you can immediately jump to different sections on-the-ﬂy, such as jumping ahead to a chorus or back to the intro.

✓ Note: If you reposition playback using one of the QuickCue buttons while Looping is activated, playback will jump

to the new location. Torq will then automatically place the Loop In Marker at that point and will place the Loop Out Marker in a position to maintain the same loop length in use prior to pressing the QuickCue button.

< Clearing QuickCues

If you’d like to clear all of the QuickCues in a song, hold the Shift button while clicking the Set button. Torq will

ask if you really want to do this—click Yes to complete the procedure.

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Deck Mode

In order for Torq to feel familiar to all types of DJs, the Decks can be operated in one of three different modes.

< Vinyl Mode

Vinyl Mode will make the Deck behave as if it was a turntable. This means:

1. Pressing Play/Pause to pause playback will cause audio to stop, just like pressing stop on a turntable.

2. Clicking and dragging on the Scrolling Waveform will have audible results, like scratching a record.

< CDJ Mode

CDJ mode will make the Deck behave as if it was a CDJ player. In use:

1. Pressing Play/Pause to pause playback will cause the Deck to stop and begin repeating a small section of

audio. The repeating section corresponds to the position where playback will resume when you press Play/Pause again.

2. While the audio is repeating, you can click and drag on the Scrolling Waveform to move the start

location—you’ll hear the repeating audio slice change as you do this. Press the Cue button to set the Cue Point to this location and the repeating audio slice will stop.

3. Clicking and dragging on the Scrolling Waveform while the Deck is playing will not stop audio. Instead,

you’ll be able to drag left or right to offset the playback speed of the track. This will allow you to align the track against the other Deck when beat-matching.

< Hybrid Mode

Hybrid mode provides a blend of the CDJ and Vinyl control modes:

1. Pressing Play/Pause to pause playback will cause audio to stop, just like in Vinyl mode.

2. While paused, clicking and dragging on the Scrolling Waveform will have audible results, like scratching in

Vinyl mode.

3. When playback is active, clicking and dragging on the Scrolling Waveform will not stop audio. Instead, you’ll

be able to drag left or right to offset the playback speed of the track like in CDJ mode. This will allow you to align the track against the other Deck when beat-matching.

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Looping

Technology is always evolving, thus DJing is always evolving. With the introduction of DJ CD players, DJs gained many new exciting capabilities that were unavailable to them when working within the conﬁnes of vinyl records. One of those features is looping, which is merely the act of repeating a section of a song.

The creative aspect of DJing suggests that a simple trick such as looping can be exploited in a variety of ways. Indeed, you can use looping to “remix” a song by changing the arrangement—extending your favorite parts of the song. You can also use looping as a “safety net” allowing the end of a song to play inﬁnitely, giving you more time to mix into the next song. Looping can also be used to isolate a section of the song, such as the breakbeat, for layering on top of other songs.

Torq offers you two different ways to loop audio. You can specify the start and end points of the loop manually, or you can capture loops of a speciﬁc length using the QuickLoop buttons. Furthermore, Torq will help you make the perfect

loop every time by automatically matching your loop points to the tempo of the song.

< Loop In/Out

Looping an entire song doesn’t have much beneﬁt for a DJ, so Torq allows you to move the Loop Markers by

using the Loop In and Loop Out buttons:

1. Load a song into a Deck and press Play. The song will begin to play.

2. When playback reaches the beginning of the section you want to loop, click the Loop In button. This will

place a Loop In Marker at the Now Line (shown as a yellow marker line in the scrolling and overview waveforms) and the song will continue to play. If the Quantize button is on, Loop In marker will snap to the beginning of the nearest 16th-note in the song’s waveform.

3. When playback reaches the end of the section you want to loop, click the Loop Out button. This will place

a Loop Out Marker at the Now Line, which will also snap to the nearest 16th-note (this behavior can be changed in the Preferences). At the same time, the Loop On/Off button will automatically be activated causing playback to jump back to the Loop In Marker. The music will now loop between these two points indeﬁnitely.

4. When you’re ﬁnished looping this section of the song, you can click the Loop On/Off button to turn it off.

Now, when playback reaches the Loop Out Marker, it will simply pass it and proceed playing the rest of

the song.

✓ Note: If you reposition playback using one of the QuickCue buttons while Looping is activated, playback will

jump to the new location. Torq will then automatically place the Loop In Marker at that point and will place the Loop Out Marker in a position to maintain the same loop length in use prior to pressing the QuickCue

button.

< Loop Out Preference

By default, Torq will always quantize the position of the Loop Out marker to a location that results in a quantized

16th-note length from the position of the Loop In marker. This requires that you press the Loop Out marker within a 16th-note of where you want the loop to end. Torq has a second Loop Out mode that will make it easier to achieve even loops without having to press the Loop Out button with 16th-note accuracy:

1. Open Torq’s Preferences and click on the Behaviors Tab.

2. Switch the Loop Out mode from “16th” to “Smart” and close the preferences.

Now, when you press Loop Out, Torq will place the Loop Out marker at a position that is a multiple of 2 in

length from the Loop In marker. In other words, Torq will only allow you to make loops with the lengths of 1 beat, 2 beats, 4 beats (1 bar), 2 bars, 4 bars, 16 bars, etc.

< Loop On/Off

The Loop button will indicate whether Torq is looping audio or not. Whenever this button is illuminated, Torq

will be looping something, whether triggered with one of the QuickLoop buttons or set manually with the Loop In and Loop Out buttons. Click this button to toggle looping on and off.

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< QuickLoop

More often than not, a DJ will loop audio that is an even number of beats or bars. That is, they will loop a single

bar (four beats) or two bars (eight beats), or may do micro-loops of only one or two beats. Instead of having to quickly press the Loop In and Loop Out buttons to create loops of these lengths, Torq provides one-button

access to these loops via the QuickLoop buttons.

» Using QuickLoops

The QuickLoop buttons allow you to instantly loop a section of a song by a preset length. By default, each

of the four buttons represents a different bar length; one bar, two bars, four bars, and eight bars. Simply press one of these buttons at the beginning of the section you want to loop and Torq will automatically place the Loop In and Loop Out Markers in the appropriate locations:

1. Load a song into a Deck and press play.

2. Press the QuickLoop button labeled “1.” The Loop button will be switched on and the Loop In

Marker will immediately be placed at the Now Line. Furthermore, the Loop Out Marker will be placed exactly one bar later and the song will begin looping a perfect bar.

3. To turn the loop OFF, click the Loop button. Playback will now proceed beyond the Loop

Out Marker.

» QuickLoop Size Preference

As mentioned above, the default loop lengths for the four QuickLoop buttons are one bar, two bars, four

bars, and eight bars. The QuickLoop Size preference allows you to change the QuickLoop buttons to beat values instead of bar values:

1. Open the Torq Preferences menu and click on the Behaviors tab.

2. Click the arrow next to QuickLoop Size option and choose “Beat” from the drop-down list.

3. Click the “X” to close the Preferences window.

Now, when you use the QuickLoop buttons as described above, you’ll ﬁnd that they capture loops of

one beat, two beats, four beats, and eight beats in size.

» Changing QuickLoop Lengths

Along with being able to capture loops of a speciﬁc size, the QuickLoop buttons also allow you to change

the size of the loops after they have been made. Torq has two methods for changing QuickLoop lengths which are selected from the Preferences:

1. Open the Torq Preferences menu and click on the Behaviors tab.

2. Locate the QuickLoop Mode item—you’ll see that it has two settings: “Cut and Grow” and “Direct.”

Cut and Grow is the default behavior and was the only behavior available prior to Torq 1.5--use this setting

to preserve the Torq 1.0 workﬂow. When this mode is selected, each additional press of a QuickLoop button will cut the current loop length in half. For example, if you press QuickLoop 4, Torq will grab a 4 bar loop. Pressing QuickLoop 4 again will result in a 2 bar loop. Press it again and you’ll get a 1 bar loop. If you hold SHIFT while pressing the QuickLoop button, the loop will grow in size—doubling in length with

each press of the button.

Direct mode resembles the behavior found on some DJ CD players. When selected, the QuickLoop

buttons will become divisors once a loop has been captured. For example, pressing the QuickLoop 4 button will capture a 4 bar loop. Pressing QuickLoop 2 will now divide the loop length by 2 resulting in a 2-bar loop (4 bars / 2 = 2 bars). Pressing QuickLoop 4 will result in a 1-bar loop (4 bars / 4 = 1 bar).

Pressing QuickLoop 1 will reset the loop back to its original length (4 bars / 1 = 4 bars).

» Pre-Loop

You can also reverse the behavior of the QuickLoop buttons by holding Shift when you create a loop. If

you do this, Torq will place the Loop Out marker at the current playback location and will set the Loop In marker at the indicated number of Bars or Beats (depending on the QuickLoop Size preference) before the playback location. Using this feature, you can loop sections of audio that just played. For example, to repeat the last 2 bars of music that played, hold Shift and press/click QuickLoop 2.

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Speed Slider

Torq’s Decks are each equipped with a Speed Adjust slider for the purpose of beat-matching songs. This slider behaves just like the pitch adjusters found on DJ turntables and CD players. As you move this slider, the neighboring ADJ display will show how much the song’s speed is being altered (expressed as a percent where 0% is the original speed of the song) and the BPM display will change to show the new tempo of the

song.

For those not familiar with these controls, your ﬁrst impression may be that the slider is working backward since the speed of the song will increase as you move the slider down on screen. However, this is the proper behavior for pitch controls found on DJ turntables and CD players. It makes sense if you consider the following:

The pitch adjust slider on a turntable is mounted ﬂat on the surface of the turntable’s housing. Therefore, when you use the slider, you either push it away from you or pull it towards you. When a song is going too fast, you push the slider away from yourself, just as if you put out your hand in a “slow down” motion. If you need the song to go faster, you pull the slider toward you, similar to how you would gesture towards yourself if you wanted someone to move quickly. After a few hours of practice, this “backward” response will feel natural.

< Slider Range

By default, the range of the Speed Adjuster is +/- 8%. That means that if you move the slider to either of its

extremes, you’ll only get an 8% change in the speed of the song. To the left of the Speed Adjuster is a display showing the current range setting for the slider:

You can change the range of the Speed Adjuster by clicking on this range display. Each time you click, the range

will advance to the next highest setting. The order is: 8%, 10%, 20%, 50%, then 100%. When you click the display again, the range will “wrap around” back to 8%. You’ll only need to increase the range when you’re trying to match two songs with very different tempos, or when you want to perform an extreme speed change as a special effect (especially effective when the range is set to 100%).

Most experienced DJs will simply match the tempos of two songs by hand using the Speed Adjust slider, which

is a perfectly acceptable method of matching songs (indeed, this is the way it’s been done for decades). Since it requires a lot of practice to hear when one song is playing faster or slower than another, those new to DJing will beneﬁt from some of the extra features built into Torq. Such features include automatic beat detection, BPM displays, scrolling waveform displays, and automatic synchronization.

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< BPM Display

Tempo is a measurement of the speed of a song and is normally expressed as Beats Per Minute (BPM). As the

BPM increases, the speed of the song increases. In order for two songs to be mixed together with their beats aligned, the two songs will need to be playing at the same tempo. This is why Torq’s Decks are equipped with Speed Sliders. In the event that you are trying to mix two songs with different tempos (which happens more often than not), you will need to use the Speed Sliders to match the tempo of the new song to the tempo of the

current song.

» Automatic BPM Detection

Any time you load a new track into

a Deck, Torq will analyze it and

attempt to determine the tempo

of the song. For most dance music, Torq will be able to determine the tempo accurately. Once scanned, the tempo of the song will be shown in the BPM display for the Deck, which is located just to the left of the Speed Adjust slider.

✓ Note: Determining the tempo

of a song is a complicated process for a computer. While Torq’s beat-detection system will usually provide accurate results when set to its default settings, some types of complex music can confuse the beat-detection system resulting in incorrect tempos. To increase the accuracy of the beat-detection in these cases, you can specify the type of music you’ll be using in the Preferences menu thus limiting the tempo range used by the beat-detection system. Be sure your selection matches the type of music you’re trying to analyze. If you have “Drum & Bass” selected as your style and attempt to analyze a trip-hop track, Torq will give you the wrong tempo. You can then change the music type and re-analyze the song if needed.

The BPM shown here is a “living value”—it will change when you alter the speed of the song with the

Speed Adjuster. This is extremely helpful when trying to synchronize two songs since you’ll be able to match the tempos of the two songs just by matching the BPM values shown in the displays.

» Double/Halve Button

When Torq incorrectly identiﬁes the tempo of a song, it will often return a result that is a multiple of the

actual tempo. This occurs frequently when using Drum & Bass tracks with tempos in the neighborhood of 174 BPM. Torq may think that the tempo of the song is 87 BPM or 116 BPM. When this happens, you can quickly adjust the tempo using the Double/Halve button.

This button works by applying a multiplication factor to the current BPM. The ﬁrst time you press

this button, the up arrow will light and the tempo of the current song will be multiplied by 1.5 (the multiplication factor will be shown in the Tooltip). If the song was detected as 116 BPM, it will now show 174 BPM (116 BPM x 1.5 = 174 BPM). The second time you press this button, the multiplication factor will increase to 2. If the song had been detected as 87 BPM, it would now show 174 BPM (87 BPM x 2 = 174 BPM. The multiplication factor will continue to increase in .5 steps each time this button is pressed.

This button can also be used to divide the current BPM by the same amounts on the occasion that Torq

detects a BPM higher than it should be. Simply hold the SHIFT button when pressing the Double/Halve button to move downward through the sequence of factors. If you decrease the factor to a point where

the new BPM is less than the detected BPM, the down arrow will be lit on the button.

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» Manual Tempo Adjustment

As mentioned above, Torq can determine the tempo of most dance music. Some music, however, is too

complex or not repetitive enough for Torq to detect the tempo with precision. Fortunately, you can help Torq to determine the proper tempo through a number of different methods. The appropriate method will be based on the type of tempo correction you’re trying to achieve.

» Tap Tempo

On rare occasions, Torq will determine an incorrect tempo that has no direct relation to the actual tempo

(not a fraction or multiple). At times like this, you’ll want to use the Tap Tempo feature to determine the tempo of the song while it plays.

1. While the song is playing, click on the BPM display with each beat that you hear.

2. The BPM display will update the BPM to reﬂect the timing of the taps you performed.

3. The more taps you provide, the more precise the calculation will become.

✓ Note: If at any time you wish to revert back to the automatically determined tempo, hold the Shift key

while clicking on the BPM display. This will also clear any Tempo Anchors if any have been created. Tap Tempo cannot be used if there are Tempo Anchors in a song.

» BPM Entry

If you happen to know the BPM of the song, you can manually enter it into the BPM display, thus overriding

the tempo detected by Torq.

1. Hold the Shift key and double-click on the BPM display.

2. Type in a new BPM value from your computer keyboard and press Enter.

3. The new BPM will then be set for the song.

✓ Note: If at any time you wish to revert back to the automatically determined tempo, hold the Shift key

while clicking on the BPM display. This will also clear any Tempo Anchors if any have been created.

» Tempo Anchors

Torq provides you with another alternative in the event that none of the above methods provide an

accurate BPM for the song, or when the song contains tempo changes. Torq will allow you to create a custom tempo map for a song employing a feature called Tempo Anchors. Please see the Tempo Anchors section in the next chapter for details.

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Key

The Key Adjust is used to raise or lower the key (pitch) of a song without changing the tempo. This is useful when attempting to match the melodies of songs in both Decks during a mix, known as key-matching. You can adjust the key of a song with the Key Adjust buttons or by dragging the up or down on the Key Display.

< Fine Tuning

1. Click and hold the mouse cursor over the Key Display number.

2. Drag the mouse up or down. The number will adjust in increments of one cent.

✓ Note: To reset the key transposition to 0, hold down the Shift key on your computer keyboard and click on either

of the Key Adjust buttons’ Key Displays. If you have adjusted the key in ﬁner increments, the key will be reset to 0, however the fraction will remain. For example, if the key is 4.23, resetting will make it 0.23.

< Key/Speed Lock

The Decks in Torq have the special ability to change the playback speed of the song without changing the pitch

of the song (this is known as time-compression and time-expansion). This means you don’t have to worry about music changing pitch as you beat-match. However, if you would like to disable this feature and essentially lock the Key and Speed of the music together, turn on the Key/Tempo Lock button. With this on, the music will behave like a regular vinyl record (slowing down the music will make the music drop in pitch).

< MIDI Slider/Knob Control

MIDI control of the Key Adjust is different from other controls in Torq. You can assign a knob or slider to the

Key Adjust, or you can assign keys on your MIDI keyboard—the behavior of the Key Adjust is dependent on

your control method.

1. Make sure that your MIDI keyboard or control surface has been properly installed and is conﬁgured to

work with Torq. Please see chapter 6 for more information about conﬁguring your external MIDI hardware

to control Torq.

2. Right-click (CTRL-click, Mac) on the Key Display; it will turn red indicating that it’s waiting for an

assignment.

3. Move a MIDI knob or slider on your MIDI controller. This will automatically assign the knob or slider to the

Key Adjust.

4. The Key will be adjustable in one-semitone steps.

5. MIDI CC value 64 equals + 0 semitones. This generally means when the knob or slider of your MIDI

controller is at center position, the Key will be at 0.

< MIDI Button Control

1. Make sure that your MIDI keyboard or control surface has been properly installed and is conﬁgured

to work with Torq. Please see chapter 6 for more information about conﬁguring your external MIDI hardware to control Torq.

2. Right-click (CTRL-click, Mac) on the [+] Key Adjust button. It will turn red indicating that it’s waiting for an

assignment.

3. Press a button on your MIDI controller to assign it to the [+] Key Adjust button.

4. Right-click (CTRL-click, Mac) on the [-] Key Adjust button. It will turn red indicating that it’s waiting for an

assignment.

5. Press a button on your MIDI controller to assign it to the [-] Key Adjust button.

6. Now that your buttons are assigned, press the button assigned to [+]. The Key will move up one semitone.

7. Now press both buttons simultaneously.

8. The Key Adjust will return to 0.

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< MIDI Keyboard Control

1. Make sure that your MIDI keyboard or control surface has been properly installed and is conﬁgured

to work with Torq. Please see chapter 6 for more information about conﬁguring your external MIDI hardware to control Torq.

2. Right-click (CTRL-click, Mac) on the Key Display. It will turn red indicating that it’s waiting for an

assignment.

3. Press a key on your MIDI keyboard. This key will automatically be assigned as the “root key” of the Torq

Key Adjust.

4. If you press a MIDI key that is 1 semitone ABOVE the root key, the Deck’s Key will be changed to +1

(semitones).

5. If you press a MIDI key that is 2 semitones BELOW the root key, the Deck’s Key will be changed to -2

(semitones).

6. The range of Key transposition is plus or minus (+/-) 12 semitones. This makes it possible to control the

Key Adjust of both Decks using a single MIDI controller keyboard, as long as the keyboard has enough keys to make up four (4) octaves.

✓ Note: Torq will allow notes from the same controller and same MIDI channel to be used as long as the root

keys are at least two octaves apart.

< External Control

When using external Vinyl or CD control, Torq will preserve the pitch of the music even if you change the speed

of the turntable or CD player. When you scratch, Torq will disable time-stretching and will re-enable it when you let the music play again. If you want Torq to respond like a true vinyl record, turn on the Key/Speed Lock button so that key and speed are locked together. You will then hear pitch changes when altering the speed of the turntable or CD player.

Sync Button

The Sync button provides an automatic method of synchronizing the beat and BPM of one Deck to the other or the Global Tempo. When you engage Sync on a Deck (the Sync icon is on), it will change that Deck’s tempo to match the other Deck or Global Tempo. Furthermore, when you press Play, Torq will align the song to the phase of the other Deck or Global Tempo. Essentially, the Synced Deck will be “slaved” to the other Deck (which would be the “master”).

Sync will remain active until you turn it off by clicking the Sync button again. While Sync is active, the Deck will be affected by tempo changes made to the opposite Deck or Global Tempo. If you slow down the “master” Deck, the “slaved” Deck will also slow down in kind. If you attempt to scratch or re-align the “slaved” Deck, Torq will automatically

snap it back into alignment to match the phase of the “master” Deck.

Tempo Master

Torq also has the ability to use a Deck as a Tempo Master for the entire program. Simply hold SHIFT while pressing the Sync button on a Deck. When doing this, you’ll see that the Sync button starts to ﬂash, indicating that it is the Tempo Master. Additionally, the Global Tempo will be activated and will follow the tempo of the Deck. With a Deck set as the Tempo Master, all other aspects of the program will follow its tempo even if there are tempo changes (set with Tempo Anchors). Looped samples will follow the Deck. The opposite Deck will also follow if its Sync button is turned on.

When you turn Sync off on a Deck, it will keep the tempo setting allowing the song to keep playing in time with the other Deck. However, Torq will no longer attempt to keep the two Decks in sync if you make changes to them. Torq will no longer snap the songs back into alignment if you move one of them, nor will Torq continue to match tempos if you change

them.

✓ Note: Setting a Deck as a Tempo Master is the only way to hear the original timing of the song after adding Tempo

Anchors.

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Nudge Buttons

If you’re not taking advantage of Torq’s ability to keep tracks aligned using Sync, you can do it manually using the Nudge buttons. If you hear a song become ahead or behind the other, the Nudge buttons will allow you to push the song back into alignment by creating a small change to the playback speed of the song. If the song is ahead of the beat, press the right Nudge button to slow it down. You’ll see the waveforms of the two songs move in relation to each other. Release the Nudge button once the songs are aligned properly and the original playback speed will be restored.

✓ Note: The behavior of the Nudge buttons can be reversed in the Preferences if you prefer the song to speed up when

pressing the right Nudge button.

Offset Buttons

Sometimes when mixing two songs together, you may ﬁnd that the beats are aligned with each other, yet the two songs are still out of phase. This is most obvious when one song is offset by one beat, causing the snare drums of the tracks to be out of alignment. The Offset buttons can be used to correct this. Pressing these buttons will make the Current Song Position jump forward or back by one beat-length.

✓ Note: : If you have the Sync Mode set to “Bar” in the Preferences/Toolbar, the Offset buttons will have no effect when the

Deck’s Sync button is on. This is because Torq will counteract a one-beat offset when set to Bar mode. If you want to offset the music by one beat when Sync is on, you’ll need to offset the Phase Grid (which is explained later in the section titled “Synchronization”), or switch Sync Mode to “Beat.”

WAVEFORM DISPLAY

One of the most prominent features of the Torq user interface is the Scrolling Waveform Display, which takes up a decent amount of real estate above the Mixer and Effect Racks. Unlike the smaller Overview Waveforms found in each Deck, the Scrolling Waveforms only show a few seconds of the current song before and after the current play position. The song in Deck A (on the left) is shown at the top of the Scrolling Waveform display. Deck B (on the right) is shown at the bottom of the window. While the Now Line moves from left to right within the smaller Overview Waveform Display as a Deck plays, the Now Line remains ﬁxed in the Scrolling Waveform window while the waveforms move behind it.

Information Shown on Display

So what purpose do these Scrolling Waveforms serve, other than looking really cool? Answer: They offer you a way to visualize the alignment and synchronization of the two Decks as well as providing some other important information:

Waveform

By looking at the audio waveform itself, you can see where the beats are in the song. These sharp hits (transients) typically look like long, thin spikes in the waveform. In the picture below, you can see the heavy bass drum beats of both songs in the Scrolling Waveforms.

CHAPTER

When the drums stop, you’ll notice that the tall spikes go away. This is how you can tell if a breakdown or slow section of the song is approaching. By the same token, you’ll also be able to see where the drums come back in again.

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Zoom

At times, you may ﬁnd yourself wanting to “zoom in” to the Scrolling Waveform Display to match beats more precisely or to “zoom out” in order to see more of each track. Use the magnifying glass icons directly above the display to do this. The magnifying glass button on the left zooms out while the button on the right zooms in. The total amount of time (in seconds) from the left edge to the right edge of the Scrolling Waveform Display is listed between the two buttons.

Loop Points

The Loop Points of the song (set with the Loop In/Out buttons or the QuickCue buttons) will be shown on the Waveform. The looped area of the music will appear in a lighter shade compared to the rest of the waveform.

Cue Points

If you’ve used the Cue button or QuickCue buttons to place various Cue Markers in the song, you will see them here. The QuickCue markers have numbers attached to them (corresponding to the assigned QuickCue button) and the standard Cue Point appears as an orange line.

Phase Grid

Torq superimposes a Phase Grid over the Scrolling Waveforms to indicate the location of the beats in a song. The thicker lines in the Phase Grid indicate the locations of the downbeats in the music. Torq will attempt to position the Phase Grid in the proper location as part of the analysis when loading a song into a Deck. Torq uses the position of the Phase Grid to properly synchronize the song.

If you would like to turn the Phase Grid lines off, click the “Hide Phase Grid” button located above the waveform display (next to the zoom controls).

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Tempo Anchors

In addition to its automatic BPM detection features, Torq provides you with another alternative for BPM matching that becomes an indispensable tool when working with songs that include tempo changes or ﬂuctuations (Torq’s automatic beat detection is designed to work with songs that have a constant tempo). Using Tempo Anchors, you can manually specify the location of beats within a song thus allowing Torq to follow the tempo of any song even if it speeds up or slows down in the middle. Editing Tempo Anchors is a more involved process and should therefore only be used in the event that none of the normal methods yield the proper results.

Tempo Anchors are edited within the Scrolling Waveform window and should be done at the highest zoom factor so you can place the Anchors accurately. Furthermore, this is more of an “off-line” process—you should prepare a song with Tempo Anchors before trying to play it to an audience. Torq will save the Tempo Anchors in the TQD ﬁle so that you will only have to do this once for any particular song.

To properly add Tempo Anchors to a song:

1. Play the song.

2. Use the Tap Tempo feature to determine the approximate tempo while the song plays. This is very important

since this will get the Phase Grid close to the proper position leaving only minor edits for you to do later.

3. Stop the song and rewind back to the beginning.

4. Hold SHIFT and drag the Phase Grid so that the downbeat (the thicker line) is aligned with the ﬁrst visible beat

of the song. This will ensure that the Phase Grid starts at the right location—you will only need to use Tempo Anchors to ﬁx issues where the Phase Grid drifts out of alignment.

5. Click the Tempo Anchor button in the Toolbar. The background of the Scrolling Waveforms will turn blue

6. Now, search through the song looking for places where the Phase Grid no longer aligns with the beats of the

7. Now that the grid line has been converted to a Tempo Anchor, you can now move it left or right until it aligns

8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 until all of the tempo anomalies have been accounted for. When complete, every grid line

indicating that Anchor Edit is active.

music. When you ﬁnd one that is out of alignment, double-click it. The line will change from grey to green indicating that the grid line has been turned to a Tempo Anchor.

with the beat. Simply click-and-drag the Anchor to set it to a new location.

and Tempo Anchor should visually align with the beats in the song.

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9. Click the Anchor icon again to exit Anchor Edit mode. The Scrolling Waveforms will revert to their original

color.

10. Now, when you play the song, it will play with a constant tempo (the tempo variations will be removed)

Some will say that editing Tempo Anchors is more of an art than a science. Indeed, there are other techniques

that can be used other than the steps listed above which will give the same results. As you edit more and more songs, you’ll learn which techniques are best for various types of music. Here are a few other methods that can assist with Tempo Anchors:

1. Tap Tempo Anchors. If you try using Tap Tempo when Anchor Edit is on, each tap will place a Tempo

Anchor at that location. If you’re working with a song that has lots of tempo changes (such as older music that was not recorded to a click track) this can be very advantageous. Just tap along with the music and the Phase Grid will be pretty close to where it needs to be. You can then manually adjust any of the Tempo Anchors that need it.

2. Use fewer Tempo Anchors. While you could surely turn every single grid line into a Tempo Anchor, this is

usually not necessary. Often, long sections of a song will have a consistent tempo. In these cases, it’s usually enough to place a Tempo Anchor at the beginning and another at the end of that section. All the grid lines will distribute themselves evenly between the Tempo Anchors.

3. Fixing corrupted audio ﬁles. From time to time, you may notice that a song seems perfectly in sync then

suddenly falls out of sync. This can be due to corruptions within the audio ﬁle. Torq will skip over sections of data that are corrupted and will continue to play the remainder of the song. Every time Torq skips over corrupted data, it will make the Phase Grid look like it has shifted to the right. In cases like this, you can use Tempo Anchors to adjust the tempo only where the jump occurs. Simply make two Tempo Anchors— one right before the jump and one right after. Drag the second Anchor to the left until it is aligned with the beat. All of the grid lines to the right of the last Anchor will shift as well so the remainder of the song will then be in alignment (unless there is another corruption).

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Playback Manipulations

The Waveform Display allows you to manipulate the song playback in a variety of ways using your mouse. The method of control differs depending on the control type you have selected for the Deck (Vinyl/CDJ/Hybrid).

Vinyl Mode

With this mode selected, using the mouse on the waveform will work in a similar fashion to using your hand on a

turntable.

1. Click and hold the mouse on the waveform. Playback will stop, as if you have placed your hand on a record to

stop it.

2. Continue holding the mouse button, then drag the mouse left and right. This will scrub, or “scratch,” the song.

3. Releasing the mouse button will cause the Deck to play the song back from the current location.

Hybrid Mode

With Hybrid mode active, the waveform will respond exactly like the CDJ mode while the Deck controls (Play/Pause, Cue, etc.) behave like Vinyl Mode.

1. Click and hold on the waveform. The music will continue to play

2. While holding on the mouse button, drag the mouse left. The playback tempo will be momentarily increased,

making the waveform scroll a little faster to the left.

3. Now hold and drag the mouse to the right. Playback will remain going forward, but the tempo will be slowed

slightly, resulting in a waveform that still scrolls right to left, but at a slower rate.

4. As soon as you stop dragging, playback will return to its original tempo even if you are still holding the

mouse button.

CDJ Mode

With this mode selected, the waveform will not be “scratched” with the mouse. Instead, mouse movements will simply

nudge the music ahead or behind by a small amount.

1. Click and hold on the waveform. The music will continue to play

2. While holding on the mouse button, drag the mouse left. The playback tempo will be momentarily increased,

making the waveform scroll a little faster to the left.

3. Now hold and drag the mouse to the right. Playback will remain going forward, but the tempo will be slowed

slightly, resulting in a waveform that still scrolls right to left, but at a slower rate.

4. As soon as you stop dragging, playback will return to its original tempo even if you are still holding the

mouse button.

SYNCHRONIZAT ION

At most of today’s dance clubs and events, the DJ will mix the songs together using a technique called beat-matching. The goal is to fade the volumes between two songs while keeping them perfectly in beat with one another. If done properly, the audience will never have to stop dancing as the beat of one song will blend in with the beat of the new song—sounding like one single song. DJs will do this for hours at a time, creating one gigantic non-stop mix from the individual songs they have in their collection. Proper execution of this technique requires the mastery of two tasks: matching tempo and

matching phase.

Automatic Tempo and Phase Detection

As mentioned before, tempo is the measurement of speed of a song expressed as BPM. Phase refers to the location within a song in reference to its downbeat. Torq automatically determines the tempo and phase of a song when you load it onto a Deck, so matching tempos is as simple as moving the Speed slider on a Deck until the BPM Display shows the same value as the other Deck. If you’re using external vinyl or CD control, you can adjust the speed of the song using the turntable’s or CD player’s pitch adjuster.

Once you have matched the tempos of two songs, you need to start both songs at precisely the right moment, or in-phase with each other. When beat-matching songs, you’ll normally want the downbeats of both songs aligned with each other. When aligned properly, the beats of both songs will blend together into one larger beat. If the songs are misaligned or out-of-phase, it will sound terrible as the beats of the two songs will be playing at different times (in DJ jargon, this is known as a “train wreck” and is something that should be avoided at all times).

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Torq’s Scrolling Waveforms will help you match the phases of the two songs. Not only can you visually align the transients in the waveforms, you can also use the Phase Grid for automatic synchronization.

Phase Grid Manipulations

Torq places a Phase Grid over the Scrolling Waveforms to help you see where the beats are, even during a breakdown or rhythmless intro of a song. In order for Torq’s automatic synchronization to work, the Phase Grid will need to be aligned properly with the music. With the Phase Grids of both songs aligned properly, Torq will be able to sync the two songs together without creating train wrecks. Torq will attempt to place the Phase Grid in the proper location during song analysis. If Torq positions the Grid incorrectly, it will be up to you to re-align it to the proper beat.

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When a mis-alignment occurs (as seen above), you’ll see that the grid does not line up with the beginnings of the beats (transients) in the waveform. In the example, the Phase Grid is too early, leaving a gap between the grid lines and the transients in the waveform.

There are a number of ways to ﬁx a mis-aligned Phase Grid. Which method you choose to use will probably depend on whether you’re comfortable using the mouse and keyboard, or whether you prefer to use external MIDI control. The results are all the same, so choose whichever feels good for you.

✓ Note: If the song you’re attempting to use has tempo variations, Torq’s automatic beat and phase detection will not work. You

will have to manually set the tempo for the song using Tempo Anchors as detailed in Chapter 3 before you will be able to exploit Torq’s automatic synchronization.

Adjusting with the Mouse

1. Hold down the Shift key, then click-and-drag left or right with the mouse.

2. The Phase Grid will move left or right, following your mouse movements.

3. Once you have aligned the thicker “downbeat” marker of the grid to the downbeat of the music, release the

mouse button.

  ✓ Note: You can turn on Caps Lock instead of holding Shift if you need to adjust the grid using just one hand. Turn off

Caps Lock when you’re ﬁnished so you can regain proper control of the waveforms.

Adjusting with Nudge Buttons

1. Hold down the Shift key, then click on one of the Nudge buttons.

2. The Phase Grid will move left or right depending on which Nudge button you click.

3. Use the buttons to align the thicker “downbeat” marker of the grid to the downbeat of the music.

Adjusting with Offset Buttons

1. Hold down the Shift key, then click on one of the Offset buttons.

2. Instead of making a small change to the Phase Grid, this will have the effect of moving the grid an entire beat left

or right. This is a quick way to ﬁx the Phase Grid if it happens to be aligned to the beats but has the downbeat in the wrong location.

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