skratchworx - Number 1 for DJ news and reviews!

Hoops and Loops = TV gold

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 04:46:50 PDT

Just a little something to make you smile. I saw this ad on TV the other day and found it on Youtube this morning. Just some mindless snack based scratch fun to lighten an otherwise dull Friday.

NI No Show No More

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:42:50 PDT

You may recall my piece on the future of trade shows, specifically sparked by the absence of 2 major German companies from MusikMesse, both with releases at that time. Well it seems that my 6th sense was bang on the money, because Native Instruments has made the bold decision to not bother with the time and money sucking black holes that are trade shows henceforth.

The scratch sound of dissent

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:05:45 PDT

I received an email this weekend from an unhappy reader, who decided it was OK to have a go at me for using the familiar and dare I say it industry standard scratch sounds. It's an argument that has raged inside the scratch scene for years now but I'm interested in what the rest of you scratchers and non-scratchers think about this subject. Is it OK to scratch ahhhh and fresh anymore?

J1M for DMC UK champ!!

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:04:03 PDT

This Thursday sees me heading off to the bright lights of London, to see the 2009 UK DMC finals at the Islington Academy. The flyer above tells you who's on, but of most interest to me (and the major reason I'm spending money I haven't got to go to a city I don't like) is to cheer on skratchworx's own Johnny 1 Move, who does stand a good chance of taking the title.

Scratching the surface

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:01:06 PDT

Just when you think you've seen it all, something turns up that puts a fresh spin (hahahahaha) on DJing and music making. Essentially a fun project from Microsoft surface developers VectorForm, Surface DJ brings something more creative than the other surface apps seen before, and allows you to drag instruments onto the surface turntable to make all new tracks. And a mini version is available for iPhone too.

OTTO - palindromic pad bashing

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:40:51 PDT

It seems that while I was away from the internet, absolutely nothing happened. Yes people - the industry is in recession and the normally active R&D labs and PR departments are playing Solitaire on their computers or retweaking their Myfacespacebook profiles. But thankfully in this tumbleweed central news free scenario, some people are still pushing envelopes, crossing lines and thinking outside boxes. Say hi to OTTO - an all new box of tricks for jamming with loops.

Welcome Woody Madera

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 06:51:01 PDT

Aside from my deceased but now resurrected broadband line, it seems the last few weeks have seen more than the usual number of losses in the world. But one specifically related to the DJ world is that of DJ Woody. But fear not - it's in name only. DJ Woody is dead - long live Woody Madera. And in a parting gesture, he's got together with The Bodysnatchers and put out one last mixtape under the old DJ Woody moniker.

Pimp my DJ gear entirely

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:18:52 PDT

But I got a mail a couple of days ago that I felt was worth taking the time to fight with my ADSL line to bring to your attention. I've bemoaned at length the near total lack of customisation for DJs and their gear, largely down to the absence of standards. Wouldn't it be nice if faders, pots and sliders where all easily interchangeable and available off the shelf as 3rd party spares? Well DJs-face! aims to give you a step in the right direction with the ability to order fully customised faceplates AND fader caps AND knobs in a variety of colours and sizes.

It's awful quiet round here...

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:53:44 PDT

Skratchworx followers on Twitter will know that I've been trapped for close to 4 weeks in a slugish support line spiral of phone line death with o2 and BT to get my landline fixed, thus updates have been thin on the ground. This time of year traditionally sees news dry up to a trickle anyway, but combined with the recession, getting news worthy articles as rare as my connection to the interwebs. But I just wanted to stop by and let you know that the wheels on the skratchworx bus are still going round and round, albeit everso slowly.

Folding 3 pin plugs - what kind of witchcraft is this?

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:31:42 PDT

The UK 3 pin plug is a design conundrum. On one hand, its ability to stick to the wall like glue is legendary in comparison to the rest of the world. But the downside is the sheer bulk, not to mention the damage they do to our expensive stuff when wedged into our laptop and DJ bags (and feet when stood on). Well check this out people - pure prototype right now, but I'll happily send them a donation if it helps to clear up the collective clutter that is 3 x 4 and 6 way extensions sat at my feet. This readers, is the best idea I've seen in a very VERY long time. Dragons Den - jump on this now.

Another month - another watch

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:53:31 PDT

Firstly, well done to Moto from the US who won last month's inaugural Flud Watches competition. This month sees my favourite of the 6 I have up for grabs - the Gun Metal Tableturns. While I wouldn't wear it myself, I really like the Black Chrome stylings. And just like last month, all I need is an email from you.

Nextlevelness in my pocket at last

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 08:37:52 PDT

Followers of skratchworx will know that I have long desired one particular item of non-DJ nextlevelness. And last Friday, I finally gave in and joined the cool cats of the iPhone fan club. Yes people - behold the geeky trouser trauma joy that is the 32Gb iPhone 3G S.

REVIEW: Native Instruments Maschine

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:22:51 PDT

Akai's MPC range has long been the accepted face of button bashing, to the point where anything with a set of square pads is almost generically known as an MPC. But there's a new player on the scene that aims to loosen Akai's vice like grip around the neck of the beat making scene in the shape of Native Instruments' Maschine. Essentially a MIDI controller, Maschine's huge benefit is that all the work is done inside your computer on a big screen, thus opening up a world of production capability that's not especially workable inside your average small groove box window. Another fresh reviewer in the shape of Chris Cartledge got intimate with Maschine and wrote words and made a video as well.

REVIEW: Serato Scratch Live v1.9

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:25:26 PDT

The steady but slow march forward to v2 of Scratch Live hit a milestone last month with the release of the GM version of v1.9. While not radically changing the face of SSL, a handful of key features were added that make it even more attractive to users and buyers, without suffering feature creep. Words come courtesy of new fresh reviewing talent - DJ Bozak casts his seasoned SSL eyes over v1.9.

BPM 2009: Tickets on sale now

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:26:09 PDT

It has been firmly established that from a DJ's perspective, PLASA is pants. But in it's place is The BPM Show, which clearly is not. And despite the global crunch, BPM is moving to a bigger venue - The National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham (again UK, not Alabama) which is better served by road, rail and air. This is happening 3rd and 4th October, and if you feel like being an early bird, you can save �4 on the weekend ticket price - that's �8 instead of �12.

REVIEW: 69ep H Bag (updated)

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 09:26:45 PDT

It's nice to know that when I write reviews, a lot of people read them and some actually act upon my unfocussed ramblings. So when I laid my bag-loving hands on the 69ep h bag, I expressed on one hand my love for the minimalist stylings and extreme quality, but constructively and very politely opened both barrels on the lack of shoulder straps. 69ep clearly heeded my words (plus those of others I suspect) and made the necessary changes.

REVIEW: Cockos Reaper v3

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 05:26:26 PDT

While skratchworx started its life as a turntablist focussed gear site, that niche expanded almost from day 1 into an all encompassing generic DJ gear news and reviews site - and with this expanded portfolio comes a whole different set of products to look at. One such area of product is digital audio workstations or DAWs for short. New reviewing blood Flexinoodle has been test driving Cockos' Reaper v3 through the beta cycle right up to the final release and pulls no punches in his opinion. And bugger me if we don't have a copy to give away as well. Double whammy!

COMPETITION: Win DBM Labs swag!

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:22:56 PDT

DBM Labs are a company with a vision, part of which is "building upon those who turn their passion for music into a lifestyle". So considering that's what I did when I started skratchworx, I guess that means they're supporting me. And in a bit of mutual backslapping, DBM Labs have offered up some of their somewhat delectable t-shirts for you lucky readers.

REVIEW: EKS OTUS MIDI Controller

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 03:23:53 PDT

Yet another example of "just wait for the next release it's sooo much better" problem with reviewing technology has been the epitome of nextlevelness - EKS's OTUS MIDI controller. I've had it since Christmas, and revisited the review a couple of time with each new firmware upgrade or software release. But with the last release, I drew a line under my writings and have released the review for public consumption.

There's money in the scratch game(s) apparently

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:35:51 PDT

Welcome to last week. That's when the world saw the first renderings of Numark's scratch deck controller and learned a little more about the new game from QD3 and Numark called "Scratch - The Ultimate DJ". Having already established that this type of game does nothing for me at all, and that my blessing is hardly going to make or break a game, I was livid to read about Activision's latest marketing for their competitive and still litigious DJ Hero game.

RELEASED: VirtualDJ V6

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 02:25:02 PDT

If there's one product that it's fair to say I've overlooked it's Virtual DJ. The reason for this is quite simple - no Mac version for a very long time. V5 came, crashed my Mac a lot and ended up in the trashcan. But V6 is here, with a heap of bug fixes, but importantly a truckload of new stuff as well.

Beats by Bjango - old and new collide in your hand

Thu, 28 May 2009 15:09:24 PDT

Due to Apple's closed approach to music use on the iPhone, real DJ mixing apps are still someway off. It seems that anything encroaching on iTunes capabilities is deemed as evil and threatening to the Apple mothership, when actually people would still buy iPhones anyway. Still, Beats by Bjango is a really useful tool, that for me harks back to my early DJ days of manual BPMing of tracks and writing it down on paper, as well as a few other tricks up its sleeve too. Do iPhone apps have sleeves?

RELEASED: MixEmergency v1.2

Thu, 28 May 2009 13:26:59 PDT

While DJs and video technology are still circling each other and slowly forming an uneasy alliance, Inklen continue to develop their MixEmergency video mixing package and have now pushed it up to v1.2. And it's still able to use Scratch Live as an external controller too.

REVIEW: Deckadance v1.5

Thu, 28 May 2009 04:48:21 PDT

The DVS scene is somewhat dominated by the big 2 of Scratch Live and Traktor Scratch Pro, in that order and by some margin. On reflection, this is probably because of the all in one nature of the product. So for now, it seems that the 3rd place position is being jockeyed for by a handful of potential packages such as Torq and MixVibes. But Deckdance is very much up and coming and should most definitely be taken seriously by every player and potential buyer. Skratchworx OG Professor BX has been playing with Deckadance for an eternity, right up to the brand spanking new v1.5 under the skratchworx microscope and is suitably impressed.

xone 2:02 vids - the sequel

Thu, 21 May 2009 04:40:21 PDT

How to be a crap DJ part 1Uploaded by EBMARKETING - See the latest featured music videos.AAfter the recent ruckus caused by the first rushes of the new A&H xone 2:02 virals, the dust has settled and the final versions are ready for DJ consumption. The theme is still the same, but the intent of one of them has been... can we say somewhat muted.

Xones corrupted by the dark side

Thu, 21 May 2009 04:15:20 PDT

While the rest of the DJ scene has stuck with the normal dark aesthetic, Allen & Heath's somewhat distinctly industrial looking Xone mixer range image has been very much of an acquired taste, more resembling a science lab than a DJ booth. But the charcoal paintbrush has been wielded big time to drag the Xone range kicking and screaming over to the dark side.

Bye Bye Skratchmobile

Thu, 21 May 2009 03:50:56 PDT

When I had a real job where I actually had to go to a place of work, it generally meant leaving the house and having to drive to the aforementioned hellhole of tedium and politics, thus necessitating a car. But now my trip to the office is down 2 flights of stairs, the need for a car is almost nil. So in a radical carbon footprint and general bill reducing move, I said a fond farewell to my little black roller skate. What... you though I rolled with the big dogs?

RELEASED: Deckadance v1.5

Wed, 20 May 2009 13:48:49 PDT

You may recall from the recent Traktor Scratch Pro review, that I've identified a phenomenon that I'll refer to as "review rot". This is where a review is completed but sat on because the next all singing and dancing bug busting version is coming out - allegedly. By the time it comes out, a significant rewrite is needed and a massive delay has you guys all antsy and shouting at us for the bloody review already. Well the news that Deckadance v1.5 has been announced is a cause for the review not appearing. This will soon be fixed.

The Pacemaker has landed. Bout bloody time.

Wed, 20 May 2009 07:59:04 PDT

It's been some time since Tonium shamelessly used skratchworx to tease the original Pacemaker, and then cast us aside like an unwelcome relative at Christmas. But after some badgering with "you're too scared to send it to us" type emails, that has all changed, and the all spangly Pacemaker 60Gb has made its way to the skratchlab, and will subsequently be on its way around a few reviewers for a flash mob equivalent of a review.

REVIEW: Ortofon Omega cart

Tue, 19 May 2009 05:10:08 PDT

While you all unload your wallets to get the higher end of the range, Ortofon have made a cart for the rest of us in the shape of the Omega. And bringing the epic Ortofest to a close, Yorick cast his highly critical eye over the runt of the litter more affordable end of the Ortofon range.

REVIEW: Ortofon MF6 and MF7 Carts

Mon, 18 May 2009 13:18:19 PDT

Yorick's ongoing series of Ortofon reviews continues with a look at some that you may not have even seen before - the MF6 and MF7s. Indeed, they don't even appear on the official Ortofon website (which actually needs an update whoever is reading this). But they do apparently stand up incredibly well to the established Shure standards in the scene. Has Yorick gone off his rocker? Is this heresy?

COMPETITION: Win FLUD watches

Mon, 18 May 2009 07:49:16 PDT

Yeah - I know what time it is. And so can you courtesy of our friends at Flud Watches. Starting this month and continuing for the next 6, I'll be giving away one like clockwork... hahahaha... look it's Monday OK? Witty repartee take a few days to get going. UPDATE: The big red closed letters across the main image just that. No more entries thanks.

Korg and NI sitting in a tree...

Thu, 14 May 2009 14:55:04 PDT

My love of the Korg Zero4 is well documented and is largely based upon the creative possibilities and flexibility offered when used in its Traktor Scratch certified mode, and only having a Firewire cable instead of a birds nest or RCAs attached to a magic sound box of tricks. Well Korg and NI would love for you to indulge in the love parade and have got a special offer for potential Zero mixer owners.

REVIEW: Ortofon SH-4 Headshells

Thu, 14 May 2009 09:23:27 PDT

Yorick's marathon Ortofest continues with another review - this time the rather more orthodox SH-4 headshell. No fancy art nouveau stylings here, but just plain and simple aluminium stamping, but in a variety of colours to suit your aesthetic needs.

REVIEW: Ortofon Evolution Headshell

Thu, 14 May 2009 05:19:29 PDT

It's fair to say that while most people care passionately about which carts they use, they will almost certainly just use the stock headshells that come with their decks of choice. But you do have choice, and Ortofon recently brought some style to the usually utilitarian industrial design with the Evolution headshell. Worthy investment or snake oil pandering to image led DJs? Yorick finds out.

REVIEW: Traktor Scratch Pro

Wed, 13 May 2009 05:32:50 PDT

There's something I've discovered about reviewing in the digital age. Back in the good old days before software and firmware updates, a product did exactly what it said on the tin. It was sent, played with and reviewed - end of story. Now however, v1.0 rapidly becomes v1.1, which becomes v1.2 etc etc. Such was the way with the skratchworx Traktor review. The skratchworx review of v3.4 was written way back in August, which then became Traktor Scratch Pro, so Deft held off and wrote that review instead. But wait... v1.0 is becoming v1.1 with cool new stuff so just wait a little while. We did, but we're waiting no more.

RELEASED: Serato Video-SL v1.1

Tue, 12 May 2009 05:06:27 PDT

Back in January, Serato announced an all new version 1.1 of their video mangling Video-SL package. The key feature was being able to use the SL-1 interface rather than only being available to Rane TTM-57SL users. Strictly beta up until today and now you can download the full version and use it for 30 days for free.

VFX-1 - Real? Yeah but no but...

Tue, 12 May 2009 03:16:13 PDT

Not wishing to appear last out of the box on this thing, but I pride myself on giving you the official info, rather than heresay and rumours. So when the alleged new Serato ITCH based effects unit for the Vestax VCI-300 hit tha netz, I decided to neither confirm nor deny the existence of said unit. But Serato have broken the silence at last and posted an official semi-confirmation/denial on their own forum. And it seems that Vestax have backed it up with a comment on Ean Golden's djtechtools as well.

The 4 R's - Reason, Recycle, ReFill and now Record

Mon, 11 May 2009 06:24:43 PDT

Having teased the world with the omgwoot trailer, Propellerhead Software have released Record - an all new self contained solution, that allows music makers to dispense with recording engineers and do the whole recording process from the comfort of their own laptop, or digital audio workstation as it were. Looks like Propellerheads have approached the recording angle from the musicians end rather than that of the engineer. Still looks incredibly complex to me, but hopefully once I've worked my way through the beta, I'll have a clue about how to use it.

Here's Johnny!

Sun, 10 May 2009 08:05:26 PDT

While I didn't win the �110m lottery rollover on Friday night (I did get �30.80 though), it seems that we did have a win in the skratchworx family, namely our very own reviewer Johnny 1 Move. Up against some stiff competition (including former UK champion Asian Hawk), J1M romped home to take the DMC UK northern heat for a clear win on home turf.

Propellerheads geektease us mercilessly

Fri, 08 May 2009 05:52:02 PDT

Propellerheads are up to something. No word as to what it is other than speculation that Reason may or may not be getting audio recording. Either way, Propellerheads have a series of Producers Conferences (I guess the clue is in the name) all kicking off tomorrow where it's expected that all will be revealed. But judging from the reactions in the video, we're all going to want... whatever it is.

REVIEW: Ortofon Arkiv Concorde cart

Fri, 08 May 2009 05:40:59 PDT

Time to break some fresh ground - both manufacturer and reviewer. Ortofon sent me a box of stuff to take a look at, and after being bugged for something to do, I asked new blood Yorick if he was capable of reviewing carts. Back came a list of gear including gauges, thus the box was extradited to Australia for further examination. The first product up for dissection is the Ortofon Arkiv.

Everybody wants to be a DJ... Hero

Fri, 08 May 2009 02:59:02 PDT

N2IT sues the DJ scene, and will probably win

Fri, 08 May 2009 00:50:05 PDT

A name not especially well known in today's DJ scene is N2IT. Headed up by legendary Techno DJ John Acquaviva, N2IT were instrumental in bringing modern DVS systems to the market - something that we should be very thankful for, and equally something that N2IT feel they should be paid for. Not because we should be showing gratitude of course, but because they hold trump cards - patents. A short time ago, Native Instruments reached an agreement, but now N2IT have unleashed the legal dogs upon M-Audio and their Torq software.

I was on the telly!

Tue, 05 May 2009 05:27:01 PDT

You'll recall a few weeks ago that I put out a request for as many of you as possible to get yourselves to Somerset House for a Gadget Show feature experiment about social networking, in this case the effectiveness of Twitter vs Facebook. Well I did what I could and last night's show had Twitter trouncing Facebook. I doubt that it was anything to do with me, but for an oh so brief moment, skratchworx appeared on TV. Here begins global media domination.

COMPETITION: Launch the NS7 in style

Mon, 04 May 2009 10:12:28 PDT

Fancy hobnobbing with some of the higher echelons of the UK DJ trade? Want to lay your hands on the NS7 in a trendy London night club? Well Numark have very kindly passed on 4 x VIP tickets for the UK launch party of the aforementioned and somewhat wonderful NS7. So if you're happy to make it to 24London (round the back of Hamleys) on 18th May for a bit of a bash, read on...UPDATE: Seems that trainers are now acceptable.

OMG - air scratching is real?

Fri, 01 May 2009 01:35:34 PDT

3D Computer Interface from Free Flow on Vimeo.Sometimes, in a quiet moment I close the blinds, pop on my favourite hardcore scratch tracks and partake in a short frenzy of air scratching. It's like private dancing for turntablists in the comfort and security of their own homes. But some smart arse just couldn't let it lie and had to go and take it a step too far. Welcome to the nextlevelness user interface world of Free Flow, where touch is a dirty word and X and Y just aren't enough. They gotta have Z as well.

You spin me right round baby, right round, like an iPod baby...

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:32:05 PDT

Spinning vinyl ipod app from Theodore Watson on Vimeo.So we've seen the AR scratching post below and marvelled at just how much spare time people seem to have to pull off such crazy pointless yet awesome stuff. This apparently Theodore Watson's response to the AR scratching clip and uses the iPod Touch/iPhone as some sort of proxy deck. Here's hoping the next iPhone has a spindle hole.

Scratching in 3D space - kinda

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 06:24:51 PDT

AR scratching from vanderlin on Vimeo.Having emerged from the self imposed hermit like existence to get the NS7 review out, it's time to play catchup. First up is an unusual mashup of motion camera work and augmented reality markers. If you're not down with AR, just check out the plethora of Youtube videos for a better idea. In this case, Todd Vanderlin used an AR marker on the record label and what transpires is a mind melt of label artwork and using the markers to scratch actual audio.

REVIEW: Numark NS7

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:09:36 PDT

Finally, after much prodding, poking, playing, probing, photographing and ummm... philming, the very much anticipated and alarmingly epic Numark NS7 review is ready for human consumption. I'll make no bones about it - I love it with a passion, so much so that I seemed able to gush on at extreme length about it. But it's not just the hardware that puts this on the map, but Serato's groundbreaking ITCH is about to make big noises in the DJ scene too. There must be something in the water in New Zealand.

Disk Jockeys unite!

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:41:07 PDT

If there was ever a stop press moment on skratchworx then this has to be it. This weekend, the UK's National Association Of Disk Jockeys (yes that's mainly the mobile guys) holds their annual general meeting. There will be... well meetings of course, but some big manufacturers are in attendance too, including Pioneer.