SpecialEffect's accessible GameBase

OK so here we go my 2nd blog on GameBase and it’s one that I am particularly excited about so apologies if I go into a bit too much history but hopefully you will find it interesting! If you did want to skip the long story then feel free to go to the heading “Using JoyToKey with VirtualDJ”.

As you may or may not know I have always been a big fan of music and one of the annoying things that I have found with my disability is not being able to mix music or use mixing decks (little twisty knobs and me don’t go together). However in the late 90s and early 2000s there were a few companies that started making DJing software like OTSJuke, PCDJ etc but to use these programs whilst sounding relatively good was a bit of a task as you either had to use keyboard shortcuts to access the different functions or get a mini controller which again had little twizzle knobs. So it was a bit of a YAY but also a bit of a nay.

Anyway, getting back on track now. As I’m sure most of you know SpecialEffect were at this year’s Eurogamer Expo and I was fortunate enough to be one of the volunteers. During the 4 days I managed to tap into Barrie’s (AKA OneSwitch) infinite knowledge who opened my eyes to a little gem of a software called JoyToKey which allows you to use a USB joystick like the one that I use to play the Playstation and map the buttons to perform various tasks (e.g. assigning the X button as the A key on the keyboard). Most of you probably know of the software and I’m just lagging behind but to me it opened up another door to gaming as I can’t really play computer games except when I use my head mouse. On one of the days at Eurogamer Barrie mentioned to me a musical game that was using JoyToKey and it was at that point I had a Eureka moment and thought what if I use a joystick with a DJing software and map out the shortcuts of the program onto the joystick functions! So I did and here we are!

Using JoyToKey with Virtual DJ

Photo: HORI Real Arcade Stick Pro 3 with D-pad/Analog selector

For this example I am going to be using a HORI Real Arcade Stick Pro 3 along with JoyToKey and VirtualDJ Home Free but I am sure that you can adapt this example to suit your own needs. The reason why I decided to go for VirtualDJ as opposed to other DJing software is 1) it’s free, 2) it’s a professional DJing software with some advanced features which are quite cool and useful, 3) it allows you to create your own shortcuts using it’s own very simple scripting language.

Now there are a few things to look out for when you are setting up JoyToKey and because of the person I am I did not look at the help file but instead figured it out for myself the long way round. However if anyone knows of a better way than please feel free to school me below! The arcade stick that I am using allows me to switch the stick to either the D-pad, left analog stick and right analog stick (shown above), which is very useful when playing certain games and something to look out for when configuring JoyToKey if you have this function. I found that on my joystick it’s easier to setup on the left analog stick mode as it equates to the X and Y actions which makes it easier to setup onto JoyToKey (left, right, up, down). In this example I will be using the left and right movement of the joystick to move the fader left and right on the mixer so I assigned the Page Down function on the keyboard to the left setting and the Page Up function to the right within JoyToKey as shown below. Now after a good half an hour of trying to figure out why there wasn’t a constant action when I pushed the joystick to the left I realised what the “Automatic Shooting” setting was for. This setting allows you to fine tune how much repeat you want when you press or hold a key which may be useful to achieve a constant movement of the fader. This is also where VirtualDJ comes into play! By clicking on the “Config” button at the top of Virtual DJ and clicking the “Mappers” tab, you can view, edit and create shortcuts to interact which the program. For example by default the Page Down key moves the fader 10% to the left which I personally found to be too much so I tweaked it by changing the value in the “action” box. IMPORTANT: Adjust this setting when setting the “Automatic Shooting” in JoyToKey as this can have a domino effect overall. You can find help with regards to the programming language used in VirtualDJ by clicking on the blue information button to the right of the action box.

Screenshot: Assigning shortcuts and buttons

For the rest of the settings I decided to use only 4 of the 8 main buttons available on my joystick to start off with. Therefore I made the X button the start/stop loop function ([ESCAPE] to allow me to easily make a loop of a section of a song). The Circle/O and the R2 button on my joystick allows me to change the length of the loop (8 & 9) and the L2 button allows me to switch between the 2 decks (TAB). For my own physical ease I decided to use the START button as the start/play deck function for which the shortcut is the letter P.

The configuration that I have listed above is a very basic one to help me get a grip of the program and my abilities inside it but in time I am hoping to expand the configuration to possibly include more advance features, such as scratching using the up and down movement of the joystick etc! I have spent many hours (some of which were embarrassing) throwing myself into the mix and believe me it is addictive! If you are into music or just fancy a bit of fun knocking around on some decks then I would definitely give this a try!

Below is a small video of the different functions that I have listed in action. For my own pride I’m just doing a demo so please ignore the awful mixing!

I know that I have been going on but as I said earlier I am really excited about the prospects of what is possible when combining JoyToKey and VirtualDJ as I’m sure there are many others like me who are keen to enjoy and mix music but have been limited by their disability. Could this be the first accessible DJ set?

Useful links: JoyToKey via OneSwitch.org - VirtualDJ Website