MMM not using a crate of vinyl

[Laver1969]

Last night at MMM's show in Chicago he had his tables hooked up to a laptop. He didn't have a crate of vinyl. Instead of turning to pull a record out...he would turn and click on the laptop...then somehow the music would appear on the "vinyl" that spinning.

Anyone know about how this technology works? It's kinda interesting but I miss seeing him digging in the crates.

[Taco Zip]

He probably used Finalscratch (http://www.stantondj.com/v2/fs/whatisfs.asp)

A special record lies on the turntable which is hooked up to a laptop.
The Finalscratch software on the laptop recognizes the movements on the record and plays wavs or mp3's along with that movement.

Interesting that MMM uses that.

[brooklyndust]

that kinda sucks, i am going to see him on thursday and was looking forward to seeing him use the different vinyl, that part of the fun watching him, the past two times i have seen him you can try and guess what some of the records are

what kind of set did he play?

[laurie_hammy]

Last night at MMM's show in Chicago he had his tables hooked up to a laptop. He didn't have a crate of vinyl. Instead of turning to pull a record out...he would turn and click on the laptop...then somehow the music would appear on the "vinyl" that spinning.

Anyone know about how this technology works? It's kinda interesting but I miss seeing him digging in the crates.

Thats weird ?

[Laver1969]

that kinda sucks, i am going to see him on thursday and was looking forward to seeing him use the different vinyl, that part of the fun watching him, the past two times i have seen him you can try and guess what some of the records are

what kind of set did he play?

Check out my little review in the Beastie Live forum...he played some good shit.

Is the gig next Thursday part of the ski party thing too? I'm planning on making the Detroit show too.

[Kid Presentable]

He used that in Perth too. I'd venture he may have used it during the B-Boys sets at BDO, at least on the intro where he's using different 'Vinyl' at a rapid rate.

[brooklyndust]

yeah at the detroit show they are going to be doing the whole ski movie thing, doors open at 7 i think

i hope it dosent go to mid night

[gaselite]

I'm all in favour of progress, especially if it sounds as good as MMM does ;)

[mikizee]

yes i know what this is, i used to sell this very product where i used to work :)

ours was called pcdj, which is a massive mp3 based dj system, truly amazing in its features and possibilites. you could spend days playing with this system and only scratch the surface. ha. i made a pun. anyway, the special record is just timecode signal, so just say u put the needle on the record, its sending an analog signal saying 'im at 1min 33sec 12ms" so the computer plays the song at 1 min 33. get it? its a system that works really really well, its got the best of both worlds! im a fan anyway. :D

[jackrock]

yes i know what this is, i used to sell this very product where i used to work :)

ours was called pcdj, which is a massive mp3 based dj system, truly amazing in its features and possibilites. you could spend days playing with this system and only scratch the surface. ha. i made a pun. anyway, the special record is just timecode signal, so just say u put the needle on the record, its sending an analog signal saying 'im at 1min 33sec 12ms" so the computer plays the song at 1 min 33. get it? its a system that works really really well, its got the best of both worlds! im a fan anyway. :D
that's pretty intense! (y)

p.s. nice pun (y) :D

[steve-onpoint]

Last night at MMM's show in Chicago he had his tables hooked up to a laptop. He didn't have a crate of vinyl. Instead of turning to pull a record out...he would turn and click on the laptop...then somehow the music would appear on the "vinyl" that spinning.

Anyone know about how this technology works? It's kinda interesting but I miss seeing him digging in the crates.

yeah, my buddies C and Soopa Dave were using this technology last weekend at our halloween show at the khyber. pretty bonkers.

[gaselite]

yes i know what this is, i used to sell this very product where i used to work :)

ours was called pcdj, which is a massive mp3 based dj system, truly amazing in its features and possibilites. you could spend days playing with this system and only scratch the surface. ha. i made a pun. anyway, the special record is just timecode signal, so just say u put the needle on the record, its sending an analog signal saying 'im at 1min 33sec 12ms" so the computer plays the song at 1 min 33. get it? its a system that works really really well, its got the best of both worlds! im a fan anyway. :D


Eyyy, I notice you live in Adelaide (like me :) ), just wondering where you used to work, coz I'm interested in picking up some turntables this summer either for christmas or my birthday, and I'm a total novice and I thought this system looked like a pretty good starting point, but I need to do a bit of research. Do you just use traditional turnables and hook em up to a pc soundcard or something?

[mikizee]

Eyyy, I notice you live in Adelaide (like me :) ), just wondering where you used to work, coz I'm interested in picking up some turntables this summer either for christmas or my birthday, and I'm a total novice and I thought this system looked like a pretty good starting point, but I need to do a bit of research. Do you just use traditional turnables and hook em up to a pc soundcard or something?

yeah any old turntable will do, if u want the best prices on turntables, goto derringers hi tech audio shop at leader st forrestville, ask for gary smith, tell him little mike from quantum efex sent you, (dont deal with a guy called L8's.... he screwed my missus a couple years ago and is a jerk), and for the pcdj stuff, its fairly expensive, but goto PM sound at regent st melrose park, ask for mick manov, and explain your needs :)

[Laver1969]

Here's a pic of the tables hooked up to the laptop. I wish I could have seen what was comp. screen.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c34/Laver1969/MMM1.jpg

[mikizee]

check this out. (http://www.pcdj.com/Products/scratch.asp)

one of the coolest features is mute forward or mute reverse, which means if u just wanna hear the scratch or alternatively the forward sample, instead of having to flick the crossfader a billion times a second when your really scratching fast, it mutes the part u dont want automatically! no more worn crossfaders!! we are the lazy generation arent we.

[bennyman]

Damn...sounds like he's "cheating" a bit. I bet the software syncs everything up too so the art of beat-matching isn't important anymore? It's getting too easy these days with this technology, CD turntables, etc. I'm dissapointed with MMM...

[Laver1969]

Damn...sounds like he's "cheating" a bit. I bet the software syncs everything up too so the art of beat-matching isn't important anymore? It's getting too easy these days with this technology, CD turntables, etc. I'm dissapointed with MMM...

I thought so too...In fact it took me a few minute to figure out what was going on.

But after watching a bit I was still amazed at his skills. I guess I would consider it the next generation in that art. But I miss the old school vibe of him swapping vinyl, and digging for just the right record.

[Sir SkratchaLot]

Its either "Final Scratch" or "Serrato Scratch".

It allows you to run MP3s, wave files, etc. on your computer, and control them like vinyl using the special, time coded, records that come with it.

The main advantage is that you don't have to lug around crates of vinyl.

The disadvantage is that it does't feel or work as well as the real thing. There are similar problems with the CD turntables put out by various companies. DJ D-Styles once said its like having sex with a rubber on vs. no rubber. Haha.

You can do a lot of crazy stuff with these programs, and novice and intermediate DJs might not be able to tell a difference at all, but once you get to a certain level at scratching you can tell that its just not the same. I'm sure Mike notices the fallbacks of using something like this, but feels that the benefits of not having to bring all his records along outweigh the disadvantages.

There's been a ton of debate about these issues in the scratch communities and the jury is still out. The hardcore scratchers pretty much laugh at them, but a lot of the party rockers like to use stuff like this because they don't have to lug records around.

[Sir SkratchaLot]

Final Scratch
http://www.harmony-central.com/Newp/2002/Final-Scratch-large.jpg

Serato Scratch
http://www.harmony-central.com/Newp/2002/Final-Scratch-large.jpg

[Sir SkratchaLot]

check this out. (http://www.pcdj.com/Products/scratch.asp)

one of the coolest features is mute forward or mute reverse, which means if u just wanna hear the scratch or alternatively the forward sample, instead of having to flick the crossfader a billion times a second when your really scratching fast, it mutes the part u dont want automatically! no more worn crossfaders!! we are the lazy generation arent we.

Haha, that's like putting on a record of someone scratching and standing back in a B-Boy stance.

[Sir SkratchaLot]

Damn...sounds like he's "cheating" a bit. I bet the software syncs everything up too so the art of beat-matching isn't important anymore? It's getting too easy these days with this technology, CD turntables, etc. I'm dissapointed with MMM...

No, you can still adjust pitch and everything with your turntable. He could preadjust all of his files so that he doesn't have to beatmatch but that's probably more trouble for him than its worth. Mike knows how to mix (some might even say he's a master at it).

All it really does is keep him from having to carry around a shit load of records.

[Laver1969]

There's been a ton of debate about these issues in the scratch communities and the jury is still out. The hardcore scratchers pretty much laugh at them, but a lot of the party rockers like to use stuff like this because they don't have to lug records around.

Since MMM is a fairly high-profile dj, what's vibe on him using it? Has he made any statements about it? Is this a "switch" for him...or just playing around with the new technology?

[vanillgorilla]

if im not mistaken he had a cdj1000 at the pagent, but vinal was still his primary weapon of choice, but i did see him crossover a few times...and i think for that video scratch thing was the other pioneer that plays dvds...its tight.
I just recently got into the djing thing and i bought a stanton c.304, so i guess you can say im cheating, but i never had it the other way soooo. anyway it works for me basically because, i really dont have that many records compared to my cd collection...but if i ever get good, i prob. would have to switch to vinal...just seem right....
oh and by the way ive seen allot of djs recently using this tech...one in particular is Kaye West's dj Atrac, he uses this tech...and it seems to work for him, it also seems like it has flaws because at the kanye concert i went to this year Atrac fucked up a beat, so i guess everything cant be perfect. :rolleyes:

[marshall10]

At the Glasgow gig of the pageant, on the b-boys entrance, 2 big screens showed 2 random guys running around with a crate back stage, and from time 2 time u saw the B-Boys running behind them. Me and my m8 thought it would be vinyls. The box got opened and MMM came out of it, and ran to another box on the stage and took out a vinyl and started scratching. Cue Mike D, MCA, and Adrock.

[Sir SkratchaLot]

Since MMM is a fairly high-profile dj, what's vibe on him using it? Has he made any statements about it? Is this a "switch" for him...or just playing around with the new technology?

This is what he said earlier this year

"BC: What do you think about the future of turntablism? We now have products like Final Scratch—do you like that program and where do you think the whole thing is going?

MMM: Not really. I think I'm a crate digger, I like to keep it real, like lugging crates around. And there is something about the whole art of it—like digging in a crate and pulling a record out. That's the whole beauty of it."

So it sounds like he's just testing it out or whatever.

Its funny cause you don't get a lot of DJs trying to be like Mike and find out what his latest thing is. Its like he's graduated from the underground scene. DJs are more likely to be asking what's up with Q-Bert or D-Styles because those guys still seem to be involved with the scene and are considered to be the "best scratchers" (whatever that means). Q and D are both sticking to vinyl. I highly doubt that Mike is giving up on vinyl all together. Dude has a ton of records, and he's not going to spend the next 15 years buring eveything to disc. My guess is he's just testing the stuff out, or has decided he doesn't want to be bothered by carrying around a ton of records.

Personally, I don't really care what people are using as long as they can cut. You can't really cheat with scratching. People who rely on technology to make themselves appear better than they are will always get killed by the people who can really scratch and mix. My person opinion on the Final Scratch and CD turntables are that they can be useful in certain situations, but that they aren't as good as the real thing. I just don't like compromising the feel in order to make things a little more convenient.