I'm always surprised at how reactionary people get when the subject of
replacing turntables with a superior (yet not so sentimental) alternative
comes up. You'd think someone had suggested to the pope that the earth
isn't the center of the universe!
surprisingly enough, the technics sl-1200mk2 is not the center of the
universe either.
Think about it - have we stuck with vinyl thus far because it's the best
possible solution? No. We've stuck with it because it's been the only
possible solution. Sure, there's some nostalgic value in the image of
Grandmaster Flash on the decks in the early 80s. But things have moved on
since then.
There are 3 things happening right now that suggest that we will have a
viable non-vinyl mixing format in the near future:
1) Digital music technology is just starting to develop. Witness all the
incredible things that've come out in the last year - Audio programs like
Reaktor and Reason, Mixers with effects built in, optical crossfaders,
cheap cd burning technology, and let's not forget the thing that started
this whole discussion: napster. All of these things have a potential to
change what a DJ does.
2) There's money in the DJ Equipment business. There never used to
be. Take a look at a PSSL catalog from a year ago, and compare it to a
current one. If there's one positive aspect to the push for mainstreaming
of electonic music in america, this is it. Everyone wants to be a DJ,
Except me !!
and
this allows vestax or whoever to actually put money into newer and better
products. Laser crossfaders, EQ kills, dj-oriented effects units, these
things are just the beginning.
3) people are aleady working on it. I forget the url right now, but
there's already a product that interfaces between a turntable and a
computer, allowing you to play mp3s the same way you'd play a
record. This is an actual product, available now. The reason you don't
hear more about it already is because it's being made by a couple kids in
belgium out of their garage, and it only runs on BeOS. Don't be too
surprised when some major equipment manufacturer picks it up, develops a
version for windows, and starts mass-marketing it. We're really not that
far away.
John Acquaviva demonstrated this software to me in Boston @ the start
of the Plus 8 tour. It was the first time he or Rich had taken a
test drive with this software out of the lab and in a gigging
situation. John was mixing from vinyl to MP3 and back to vinyl
and I could definitely hear a graininess to the MP3's as well as a
lot less Ooomph in the low end and more low end distortion. John
thought that it all depends on how the MP3 is encoded. It did work
impressively though. At soundcheck he did some radical pitch
changing with the turntable and the MP3 hung right in there.
Turntable was the MASTER and the MP3 was the SLAVE. For a DJ like
John, who loves to travel with too many records anyway, he'll now be
able to encode his whole library and still only take 2 record boxes.
Blessing or Curse? We'll eventually find out.
Telepathic regards,
The Kooky Scientist
The only possible reason i can see for sticking by vinyl as better
alternatives come to market is sentimentality. There's a place for
nostalgia, but getting so caught up in it that you are blind to everything
else is just dumb.
anyway that's my long, inarticulate rant. I like vinyl just as much as
the rest of you. But it's not the end-all, be-all medium for mixing
music.
chris
--
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