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I saw a DJ using one of those digital encoded records a few weeks ago. Pretty cool concept, although I'm not sure what the actual difference is between that and

I saw a DJ using one of those digital encoded records a few weeks ago. Pretty cool concept, although I'm not sure what the actual difference is between that and using something like Serato which has the smaller wheels you can turn (if I remember correctly), other than being more prone to physical damage. I guess one advantage is that it looks like they're playing the actual records. It had me fooled for a minute.

aidos 10y ago
Haha, to be fair - they are playing actual records :) At the time neither the tech nor acceptance were there for the modern tools. While increasingly there were CDJs around, they didn't feel the same for people who did any scratching. Also, turntables were everywhere you went, so you could take everything you needed in your bag (laptop, 2 x records, little conversion box) and you could just plug into an existing setup, anywhere, without issue. Digital vinyl bridged the gap as people started moving over. Also, at the time the software only worked with records and cds. Now you have a huge selection of controllers to choose from. I'm actually about to sell all my stuff to buy a "controller" (something like https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=reloop+terminal+mix+8&tbm=isch https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=reloop+terminal+mix+8&tbm=...) so that I have something convenient and always ready to go.
exDM69 10y ago
It feels pretty much like playing with vinyl. You can do the same thing with digital rotary controllers but you just don't get the same touch with it. You can also do some scratch tricks with them, which doesn't work that great with digital tools (perhaps it's better now). It's a matter of preference and getting used to. If you've never tried beatmixing vinyl, it's hard to explain... try it if you get a chance, it's super fun! (would be more fun if I didn't suck so bad at it). For a low-budget hacker solution, you can just obtain the time coded vinyls, use any reasonable USB audio interface with a RIAA preamp and use xwax (open source) or Mixxx (a GUI frontend to xwax, etc) that runs fine on Linux.
tomc1985 10y ago
I spin records using exactly this system. You use the digital vinyl because it feels identical to real vinyl. Those dinky little jog wheels on DJ controllers are for the pretenders, they lack the precision and weight to be much use for scratching, and are considerably more finicky for beatmatching; Serato is/was a digital vinyl system first. Those that learned to spin on turntables tend to swear by them; there is a certain tactile aspect that is ahrd to get elsewhere. (Serato has since pivoted to controllers, since CDJs seem to have taken over the club scene)

aidos 10y ago

Haha, to be fair - they are playing actual records :) At the time neither the tech nor acceptance were there for the modern tools. While increasingly there were CDJs around, they didn't feel the same for people who did any scratching. Also, turntables were everywhere you went, so you could take everything you needed in your bag (laptop, 2 x records, little conversion box) and you could just plug into an existing setup, anywhere, without issue. Digital vinyl bridged the gap as people started moving over. Also, at the time the software only worked with records and cds. Now you have a huge selection of controllers to choose from. I'm actually about to sell all my stuff to buy a "controller" (something like https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=reloop+terminal+mix+8&tbm=isch https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=reloop+terminal+mix+8&tbm=...) so that I have something convenient and always ready to go.

exDM69 10y ago

It feels pretty much like playing with vinyl. You can do the same thing with digital rotary controllers but you just don't get the same touch with it. You can also do some scratch tricks with them, which doesn't work that great with digital tools (perhaps it's better now). It's a matter of preference and getting used to. If you've never tried beatmixing vinyl, it's hard to explain... try it if you get a chance, it's super fun! (would be more fun if I didn't suck so bad at it). For a low-budget hacker solution, you can just obtain the time coded vinyls, use any reasonable USB audio interface with a RIAA preamp and use xwax (open source) or Mixxx (a GUI frontend to xwax, etc) that runs fine on Linux.

tomc1985 10y ago

I spin records using exactly this system. You use the digital vinyl because it feels identical to real vinyl. Those dinky little jog wheels on DJ controllers are for the pretenders, they lack the precision and weight to be much use for scratching, and are considerably more finicky for beatmatching; Serato is/was a digital vinyl system first. Those that learned to spin on turntables tend to swear by them; there is a certain tactile aspect that is ahrd to get elsewhere. (Serato has since pivoted to controllers, since CDJs seem to have taken over the club scene)