CD player with MIDI

Alex Reynolds · Post by **Alex Reynolds** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 2:22 am

Sorry for the non-Live content: Is there a CD player for DJs that scratches and can be controlled via MIDI?

Thanks,
Alex

fsk · Post by **fsk** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 3:13 am

can such a thing exsist? sounds a lil bit mental

all i expect from u alex!

Alex Reynolds · Post by **Alex Reynolds** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 3:34 am

Well, I was reading:

-- http://www.prodjcdplayers.com/sl-dz1200.html

and I now have a jones for one, if I can automate its scratching somehow. I guess I could use Traktor but I'm after a piece of hardware...

fsk · Post by **fsk** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 4:12 am

wow, now thats sexy.

i dont have a clue tho

sooo :<<<< wotcha mean automate the scratching??

special ed · Post by **special ed** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 4:15 am

i just picked up the new incubus cd and it has a dvd with it where they show the turntablist playing with the Technics SL-DZ1200 DJ CD player. this is the first that ive seen or heard of it but i got to say im impressed by it. whether it has midi controll or not i do not know but either way i would like to have one for the studio. if there is no midi yet then its just a matter of time i suppose before there is a midi version.

Alex Reynolds · Post by **Alex Reynolds** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 4:29 am

fsk wrote:wow, now thats sexy.

i dont have a clue tho sooo :<<<< wotcha mean automate the scratching??

Well, I'd want to record any scratch actions and also play scratch actions from a sequencer, slow them down, speed them up, lay those actions on top of different CD tracks.

Thinking about it, it sure would be nice to see some kind of radiaL-like BPM automation in Live. That would give the same result...

-Alex

fsk · Post by **fsk** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 1:57 pm

ye that would be really good, u can do it in traktor, but im sure ableton can do it better

Im also wanting to find a way of doing scratching aswell, tho i just thought about actually buying a record player and recording the scracthes in then with soundforge, cutting em up and put em into live.

The Hulk · Post by **The Hulk** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 2:11 pm

I'm dying for a strict portable Midi File player that can send Midi Clock. Maybe it's a bit off topic, but loosely related. If there was a cd player that could also play cds with strict Midi files on it as well as Audio and send and receive Midi Clock i'd be in heaven. Right now I use this program for my Palm Pilot and Tsunamidi called IttyMidi (http://www.ittymidi.com) which strictly plays midi files and controls my synthesizers (this is purely for linear type of work). It is pretty advanced, even able to send program changes, but the one thing it's missing — Clock! So it can't really be used in the studio, only for live or practice work.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 2:34 pm

to quote : "Final comments... vinyl DJs! wether we like it or not, it's time to seriously pay attention to the exciting digital DJ world! "

I'm certain this is true - i can't see how vinyl will survive much longer as a medium - Djing has kept it alive so far, but more and more labels are closing their doors and going online digial downloads - pretty soon there just wont be a market for big heavy chunks of plastic that get lost or stolen by airport baggage handlers. If live and a laptop (and other equivolents) doesn't kill off vinyl, decks like this one will.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 2:56 pm

you must not know too many vinyl-based djs--the wax will never die. As long as there are millions of old records out there, vinyl based djs will spin it. Think about it--all the really good, experienced djs have rooms full of records, the vast majority of which have never made it to the digital domain--there is a huge catalog of old music that is on vinyl only. This is the material that really good djs dig through--they want to find that obscure sample on some record no one's ever heard of. I just saw the movie Scratch (check it out!), and it has inspired me to listen through all my vinyl for breaks, and to start using samples from albums. Even if the performance gear crosses over to cd decks and laptops, the samples the good djs use will still come from vinyl. I just saw RJD2 the other night, and he uses 4 turntables and 2 mixers, and it seems like almost all his sounds originate from old vinyl, and he even seemed to have some of his own show vinyl made for performance. I don't think vinyl is going away at all, it is as strong now as it has been since they stopped making for regular releases.

Ryan

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 3:40 pm

Anonymous wrote:you must not know too many vinyl-based djs--the wax will never die. As long as there are millions of old records out there, vinyl based djs will spin it. Think about it--all the really good, experienced djs have rooms full of records, the vast majority of which have never made it to the digital domain--there is a huge catalog of old music that is on vinyl only. This is the material that really good djs dig through--they want to find that obscure sample on some record no one's ever heard of. I just saw the movie Scratch (check it out!), and it has inspired me to listen through all my vinyl for breaks, and to start using samples from albums. Even if the performance gear crosses over to cd decks and laptops, the samples the good djs use will still come from vinyl. I just saw RJD2 the other night, and he uses 4 turntables and 2 mixers, and it seems like almost all his sounds originate from old vinyl, and he even seemed to have some of his own show vinyl made for performance. I don't think vinyl is going away at all, it is as strong now as it has been since they stopped making for regular releases.

Ryan

yeah I agree on that front - I was talking about from a production point of view - the cost of producing the records is going to outweigh the profits more and more - I don't mean old vinyl will die - not at all, I'm just saying new vinyl will stop being produced as it's not financially viable and it simply wont be possible for labels to make any money that way - not when you can sell digital downloads online for no production costs at all - leaves more money for promotion etc - if you think about it from that point of view. Vinyl is expensive to produce and mail out, (and lose on flights) and the demand - even though there still are many Vinyl DJs out there, more and more people are buying online and will do more than ever as broadband becomes the norm. Pretty soon all major public places will have wireless access points so you can have broadband access on your laptop wherever the hell you are.

I had a record that got quite a good response and sold 1600 copies last year and after the costs of production etc and repaying my advance meant I came away in the negative pretty much to the amount of my advance - I came out owing them!!!

Even the mighty Norman Cook and Darren Emerson are in the process of starting a label based on online downloads because, in their own words they are sick of losing record boxes to opportunistic baggage handlers (think about it - if you were working as a baggage handler checking in Fatboy Slims record box to a flight, you'd probably be tempted, right??

) and if they were online they could download it to their laptop and cut a cd or play it straight from the PC it would solve that.
more and more DJs are using CDs and other digital formats, so it's a simple case of market forces driving supply and demand.

Vinyl DJs may never die, but Vinyl itself will. but then even as we speak my mate is in the process of getting his record collection onto his PC so he doesn't have to lug records about.....

special ed · Post by **special ed** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 9:50 pm

vinyl is definently not dying in fact i belive its coming back to life in more ways. ten years ago new releases were not coming out on vinyl with the exception of house and trance. today however you can walk into a major retailer like virgin megastore and find that bands like white stripes, kiss, and radiohead have their most recent releases on vinyl. dark side of the moon was just re-released on vinyl as well. also its easier for the record labels to cut down on file swapping with a medium thats not digital at all and they know that. there are just to many variables to say that vinyl will die.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Feb 05, 2004 2:10 pm

totally. watch that movie scratch--as labels or whoever are stopping vinyl production, DJ's are buying there record pressing equipment and doing it themselves. 10 years ago vinyl was certainly much more dead than it is now. Yes, there is a trend towards digitalization for marketing and performance, but for as many people who cross-over, another vinyl DJ pops up.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Feb 05, 2004 4:05 pm

Anonymous wrote:totally. watch that movie scratch--as labels or whoever are stopping vinyl production, DJ's are buying there record pressing equipment and doing it themselves. 10 years ago vinyl was certainly much more dead than it is now. Yes, there is a trend towards digitalization for marketing and performance, but for as many people who cross-over, another vinyl DJ pops up.

do you know where you can get the cheaper vinyl lathes and how much???

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Feb 05, 2004 5:00 pm

no clue, seems like ebay has everything these days, or google it, dunno...