M-Audio Torq 2.0 [58/171] Speed slider speed

Chapter 5: The Decks

Torq 2.0 User Guide

Speed Slider (SPEED)

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 neigh-

boring ADJ display will show how much the song’s speed is being altered (expressed as a percentage 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 follow-

ing:

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 nat-

ural.

Speed Range (RNG)

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

tremes, 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 DJ's 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 detec-

tion, BPM displays, scrolling waveform displays, and automatic synchronization.

Speed Slider

All tempo changes made on a designated Master Deck will also be applied to the Master Tempo.