MIXVIBES CROSS DJ User Manual page 16

Basic Concepts of Digital DJing
croSS DJ le can be bundled with controllers from various manufacturers. the
layout of the controls on the controller may vary, but you will find controls that are
needed to perform your set.
How does the croSS DJ software know which action should be triggered when you
press a button on the controller or when you turn a knob or move a fader? every
time you press a button on your controller, or move a knob or fader, the control-
ler sends a message to the croSS DJ software. these messages are called mIDI
message as they use a protocol that is defined in the MIDI specification. MIDI is the
abbreviation of Musical Instrument Digital Interface, an interface definition from
the early 80s. The MIDI protocol is one of the components of the MIDI specification
and defines the structure and content of communication between a MIDI sender
(master) and a mIDI receiver (slave).
Whenever croSS DJ receives a mIDI message, the software looks into a table
that basically consists of two columns: one column contains information about
the message and the second column contains information about the action, that
shall be triggered when that message is received. If there is a match between the
incoming message and a row in the table, the corresponding action is triggered.
the whole process of connecting a mIDI message to an action is called mapping.
the term mapping, or better controller mapping, is also used for these "tables"
explained above. the tables contain the information of how one particular control-
ler is mapped to the action that croSS DJ provides.
you can have a look at these mappings in all different croSS DJ versions. How-
ever, these mappings can only in croSS DJ be changed. In croSS DJ le you need
to use the mappings as they are provided, as you cannot modify them.
the same mapping concept is also used for the keyboard as well. croSS DJ con-
tains a standard mapping for your keyboard. It allows access to the most important
actions. you will learn most of the keyboard shortcuts in the following chapters of
this manual.
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