Latest News on the DMC World Champion Finals

Here it is: The Golden Years, DJ Shiftee's time-traveling journey through DMC history. This video is a tribute to all the incredible DJ Champions from DMC's glorious past. DJ Shiftee has spent countless hours over the years studying masters like Roc Raida, Q-bert, Craze, and A-Trak. His goal: to one day stand in their shoes. Literally...


DMC, the preeminent showcase for DJ talent around the world, are pleased to announce that Serato and Rane have come on board as major sponsors of the DMC World DJ Championships, a collaboration which DMC believes will take DJ creativity to an entirely new level with the ability to use Serato's Scratch Live.

In order to balance traditional mixing and the popularity of digital vinyl playback, DMC have confirmed that from 2011 the 26 year old event will, like the DMC DJ TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP, permit the use of the software based system Serato Scratch Live in addition to traditional vinyl.

THE BATTLE FOR WORLD SUPREMACY will continue to support pure turntablism, two decks, vinyl and individual flair and creativity. DMC also plan an ON-LINE WORLD DJ CHAMPIONSHIP which will embrace visual mixing, the potential for which was seen at this year's WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS with performances by DJs Woody and Shiftee. 

DMCWORLDTV has established itself as the premier portal for DJ performances and now DMC has plans to launch DMC RADIO, a revolutionary channel featuring DJs covering every genre of dance & hip-hop music transmitting from a variety of servers around the world.

Follow this link for the complete story and details http://dmcdjchamps.com/

And remember, as always..... "Stay In The Mix"

Allen & Heath Xone: DX USB Midi Controller w/Serato Itch

http://images.guitarcenter.com/products/optionLarge/AllenHeath/651861.jpg Happy Halloween to all the DJs, Fans, and followers out there. This Halloween, the only thing scary about the product I'm showing you is the price! But as usual, when I present a product that's not priced low it's because I find it to be well worth the money and this is certainly well worth it's price. The Xone:DX is a performance audio controller for electronic DJs and is the result of close design collaboration between Allen & Heath and Serato. The Xone:DX with Serato ITCH DJ software offers 4 Virtual Decks and Serato DJ FX.

Allen & Heath are the fourth major manufacturing partner to co-engineer on the Serato ITCH platform. Using their 40 years of experience creating world-class mixers and specialty controllers, Allen & Heath has created another excellent medium for electronic music performance. The Xone:DX with ITCH provides the electronic performer with precise control and manipulation of more audio.

The 4 Virtual Decks of the Allen & Heath XONE:DX mixer exist in a clean uncluttered environment on the ITCH software interface. Using the DX library navigation control, you can quickly make selections from your crates. You can then accurately mix 4 audio tracks on the virtual decks along with other external sources. Each of the XONE:DX's virtual decks can be assigned multiple Serato DJ FX that are hosted in ITCH software

OK so you're looking at dropping about thirteen or fourteen hundred for a piece of technology like this but hey I spent twelve hundred on the B-52 prodigy and it didn't even have Serato built in. By the time I puchased Serato separately I had spent over seventeen hundred dollars. So in comparison, this is actually a bargain even at fifteen hundred! No wonder this was such a big hit at this years BPM affair.

Well that's it for now trick-or-treaters but as always, "Stay In The Mix"

BPM 2010 (Just A Peep)

Finally, last year's UK DMC supremacy champion DJ Rasp has been doing sterling work demoing Numark's extensive range of digital goodies to the masses, and I managed to grab a couple of sets of him taming the ITCH based V7 decks and X5 mixer. Purists might be unhappy with a turntablist going for it on digital decks, but the demos do prove that like it or not, quality turntablism can be done on digital decks. I've got a 3 minute set:

I'm still waiting for some footage of this years winner of the Ortfon Serato BPM turntable battle. (I hear it was a young brotha from Chicago that stole the show) but I'll keep on looking for the videos that I know are coming soon! So until next time "Stay In The Mix"

The Ortofon Serato DJ Battle in the UK

Unless you've been in a coma or shunned the civilised world by living in a cave, you'll understand that the BPM Show is the hottest DJ focussed show in Europe. You get a chance to try what is hot, and what is not over 3 days of gearlust madness. But do you want a chance to really test out the gear and your skills? Well Henley (UK Ortofon distributors) are giving you a chance to do just that live and direct in the Ortofon Serato S-120 Battle.

Man, I would love to be there for this. I'm sure this event will bring out some impressive styles and skills on the wheels of steel. This two day event will host five contestants on each day (and the first day of the event is my Birthday!) the winner from each day will win their own little grab bag of prizes, but the overall winner will take home some superb products from Ortofon Serato Distributors.  Pics will follow in future post as soon as they become available.

So UK battlers - fancy your chances? If so, download the entry form and email it back to Henley ASAP. The battle takes place at the BPM Show 2010 - 2-3 October 2010 at the NEC, Birmingham and spaces are limited.

Well that's it for now, but as always "Stay In The Mix"

The New Traktor Control S4 (Keeping It Hype)

Traktor controllers are nothing new. Being the de facto standard MIDI DJ application for eons, many lumps of hardware have come out that have been made to work with Traktor. But when the word was out that Native Instruments were making hardware specifically FOR Traktor, we all knew it had to be special. And having seen how focussed the Kontrol X1 was, it was clear to see that NI would have something special for us. And while it's taken years to arrive, the Traktor Kontrol S4 just raised the bar for other controllers considerably.

I think it's a wonderful thing when products come along that can throw a whole new spin on ways to express your skills as a DJ. and as I mentioned in a earlier post, the old ways are quickly becoming obsolete. (No More C.Ds) hummm, I had a feeling this would happen. Time for me to start working on my controller techniques a little harder.

Well with all that being said, I suppose the future is now!!!!
Enjoy it for what it's worth and as always, "Stay In The Mix"

Multi Touch Light Table for Club DJs !(OMG!!!) What's Next?

Multi Touch Light Table: GERGWERK from GERG WERK on Vimeo.

Like it or not, touch screens are set to impact heavily on the DJ scene. Just last week, we saw Emulator and Töken showing us a way forward, but now Greg Werk has taken the touch screen principle a step or two further. Yes, you still have 2 turntables, but the traditional deck and mixer metaphor has been pulled apart and rebuilt for a finger friendly multitouch environment.

I'm absolutely knocked out with this concept. Great thought has clearly gone into converting physical hardware controls and breaking them down into into slick gesture based DJing. Having little in the way of physical constraints means that the touch screen really is a clean slate (great product name there).

I watch in awe. This is clever stuff and clearly made by someone who understands DJing and technology too. I do wonder however if making the familiar DJ interface into a set of easily forgotten and messed up finger prods and swipes is exactly what DJs want or need. Will it make DJing easier or is it just cool for the sake of coolness?

This is however hugely exciting stuff. I'm looking a stage beyond this where DJs can not only take their music on a USB, but also their own interface designed in whatever standard software powers such things, be it abstract like in the video or more conventional layouts emulating Traktor. DJ changeovers will be as simple as loading up a second set of decks in the chosen DJ's style and fading across to the new decks.

Thanks again "Skratchworx" for the info, This is hot!!!
As Always fans..... "Stay In The Mix"

The Emulator + Token (Looks Like Iron Man's Computer)

"emulator" on töken concept from yöyen munchausen on Vimeo.

To date, touch screens have generally been little bigger than a book - more often than not the size of… well an iPhone screen. This of course makes the spacious traditional DJ metaphor a tad cramped to say the least, and frankly really crap to watch if you're a punter. But this video demonstrates the next level of controller technology, and also overcomes the hunched over the iPad non-performance. My iPad just became a placemat.

This is a 2 part thing:

1. The big screen is something called Token, developed by vimeo user yöyen munchausen. It appears to be a large multitouch screen interface aimed at performance. The beauty of it is that you can see both sides, thus the viewer can see exactly what the DJ is doing.

2. The software is called Emulator and created by Pablo Martin. It's a multitouch Windows 7 only program, and designed to work with 1280x800 touch screens. It's actually MIDI control software, and in this first release works with Traktor in internal mode, with compatibility with others coming.

If you thought that last post on iPad DeeJaying was deep, then this is sure to blow your mind. The Token has got to be the most sophisticated touch screen computer to come along so far.
Of cource this is gonna cost you a pretty penny, but the effect is immeasurable!!!

As Always, "Stay In The Mix"