🎛️ **CONTROLLERISM PADS: Why We Need to Stop Calling It “Pad DJing” (Please, I’m Begging You)** by DJ Buddy Holly

 

🎛️ **CONTROLLERISM PADS:

Why We Need to Stop Calling It “Pad DJing” (Please, I’m Begging You)** by DJ Buddy Holly

There comes a moment in every culture where the vocabulary gets so goofy, so off‑track, so wildly inaccurate that someone has to step in and say:

“Okay… are we seriously calling it pad DJing now?”

Because apparently that’s where we’re at.

People see a DJ hit a few cue points and suddenly the entire art form of controllerism — the Moldover/Ean Golden lineage, the custom mappings, the finger drumming, the live remixing, the cue‑melodics — gets reduced to:

“pad juggling.”

Pad juggling. PAD. JUGGLING. My laugh disappears into infinity but never dies.

🎚️ Let’s Clear This Up: Those Are Controllerism Pads, Son.

If you’re hitting pads like:

• they’re an instrument

• they’re a drum machine

• they’re a sampler

• they’re a melodic trigger grid

• they’re a performance surface

…then congratulations, you’re not “pad DJing.”

You’re using controllerism pads — the pads designed for:

• finger drumming

• cue‑melodics

• live remixing

• slicer performance

• stems-as-instruments

• FX chaining

• multi-layer performance

This is not “press button fast.” This is not “demo mode.” This is not “Walmart/Target DJ starter pack.”

This is the actual art form that Moldover coined and Ean Golden weaponized.

🎧 Why “Pad DJing” Makes Controllerists Cry Laughing

Because it’s like calling:

• turntablism “record spinning”

• guitar shredding “string tapping”

• drumming “stick hitting”

• piano performance “key pushing”

It’s technically true… but spiritually, emotionally, culturally, historically, and artistically wrong.

“Pad DJing” is what you say when you’ve never seen:

• Moldover build a beat from scratch

• Ean Golden slice a track into a new song

• a real finger drummer melt a crowd

• a controllerist turn cue points into melodies

• a custom mapping turn a controller into a new instrument

It’s adorable. It’s innocent. It’s wildly inaccurate.

🎹 Controllerism Pads: The Official Definition

(Let’s put this in the glossary before someone else messes it up.)

Controllerism Pads (noun): Pads on a DJ or performance controller designed to be played as an instrument — enabling finger drumming, cue‑melodics, live remixing, stem manipulation, and expressive performance techniques rooted in the controllerism movement founded by Moldover and expanded by Ean Golden.

Not to be confused with:

• “pad DJing”

• “pad juggling”

• “button mashing”

• “cue‑point tapping”

• “demo mode flexing”

These are instrument pads, not elevator buttons.

🎤 Why This Matters Now (REV7 Edition)

The REV7 — especially the Gold — is one of the few controllers where:

• the platters feel like turntables

• the pads feel like an MPC

• the layout feels like a battle rig

• the workflow feels like an instrument

If the platters were any bigger, the controllerism pads would get shoved into the corner like an afterthought.

The REV7 is the perfect balance of:

• turntablism

• controllerism

• portability

It’s the modern embodiment of the controllerism philosophy.

So yeah — call it what it is.

⭐ **Controllerism Pads.

Say it with your chest.**

Because if we let “pad DJing” become the official term, the entire controllerism movement is going to haunt us like a ghost that refuses to leave the booth.

And honestly?

Those are controllerism pads, son.