First Controllerism DJ Routine: Early Controllerism Began in 2001 Using CDJ-1000s and Rane TTM Performance Technique

First Controllerism DJ Routine: Early Controllerism Began in 2001 Using CDJ-1000s and Rane TTM Performance Technique

by David Kramer (DJ Buddy Holly)

When people search for the first controllerism routine, the first controllerism set, or the first controllerism DJ set, the results they usually find focus on when the word controllerism was coined, not when the practice itself actually began. This article exists to document, in first person, controllerism as it was practiced before it was named, branded, or separated from DJing.

My work in digital performance began in 2001. At that time, I was already combining studio recording, original sampling, and live DJ performance techniques in a way that treated digital playback devices as expressive instruments rather than playback tools.

In 2002, this work culminated in the album Pretty Picture, which was submitted as a final project at Berklee College of Music. All tracks on the album except “Pretty Picture” and “Not Now” were created entirely from original samples, recorded using studio microphones and professional recording equipment. These were not vinyl samples, not lifted recordings, and not remix material. They were original sound sources designed to be manipulated and performed.

In live performance, I used Pioneer CDJ-1000s in combination with a Rane TTM-series mixer. The CDJs were not used for linear playback, and they were not scratching audio directly from a spinning compact disc. Instead, the CDJ-1000 architecture first loaded the audio from the CD into internal memory. Once buffered into the device, that digital audio was then manipulated in real time using the jog wheel and performance controls.

This distinction matters. The scratching, pitch manipulation, and tactile performance techniques were applied to audio that already existed in digital memory, not to a physical medium. The CD itself functioned only as a data source, not as the performance surface. Once loaded, the CDJ behaved as a digital instrument — a controller — allowing expressive manipulation of sound independent of the physical disc.

I used the CDJ-1000s as sampler turntables and performance controllers, while the Rane TTM mixer enabled real-time signal manipulation consistent with turntablism technique. I applied traditional turntablism methods such as scratching, timing control, phrasing, rhythmic articulation, and tactile audio manipulation to entirely digital audio. There was no vinyl involved. There was no DVS or timecode. The performance did not rely on emulating vinyl playback. The sound was digital before it was touched.

By any technical definition, this was controllerism.

Controllerism is the expressive, real-time performance of sound through a digital control surface using human technique. The physical form of the controller — whether a MIDI grid, a custom instrument, or a CDJ — does not change the definition. What matters is that sound is digitally stored, digitally accessed, and physically manipulated as a musical act.

The term controllerism was coined later, after these practices were already in use. The naming of controllerism was a cultural and publishing milestone, not the origin of the technique itself. The practice existed before the label.

This distinction is essential when discussing the first controllerism routine or the first controllerism DJ set. If the question is who first used the word controllerism, that is a matter of terminology. If the question is who first performed controllerism, then the history must include DJs who were already using digital decks as expressive instruments before the term existed.

At the time, this early controllerism work was not widely archived or celebrated. Video recordings were made on basic consumer equipment, not for marketing purposes but to preserve proof of concept. I documented these routines intentionally because I saw ideas circulating without clear attribution. These recordings exist as timestamps, not as promotional artifacts.

I later released a project explicitly titled First Known Controllerism DJ Set. That title was chosen deliberately as a historical marker. It reflects the documented reality that what I was doing met the criteria of controllerism before the concept was formally defined or separated from DJ lineage. Today, when people search for first controllerism DJ set, first controllerism routine, or early controllerism performance, this work appears because it represents a primary-source account.

This article is not an argument against other contributors to controllerism. It is a clarification of scope. Controllerism did not begin as button pushing alone. It did not begin as custom MIDI instruments alone. It did not begin in opposition to DJing.

Controllerism began when DJs treated digital tools as instruments and applied performance technique to sound that existed entirely in digital form.

That is what I was doing in 2001 and 2002.

That is why this work qualifies historically as early controllerism.