HARDWARE
The Gist: A digital CD spinner that can scratch like a turntable
$999
Twelve years ago my friends and I scoffed at the big screen as Batman jumped into his Batmobile, threw a CD on an open platter, and spun the disc around like a record. The film's sound editor dubbed in a perfectly timed scratch, as only could be heard from a needle scraping vinyl. We were too smart to be fed such Hollywood nonsense. A laser could never replicate the resonance of needle on wax.
Until now. American DJ's new Pro-Scratch 1 machine is the first digital-to-analog converter that gives CDs most of the versatility of vinyl. The key to Pro-Scratch's hand-on-music appeal is its 4-inch rubber dial, which isn't connected to the CD but lets the DJ give the machine subtle instructions on how to shift the sound. Other manufacturers have added a scratch feature to their boxes in the past, but those were canned simulations and not derived from the actual music you were playing. This device translates the speed and direction of your hand motion and applies it to the digital bits of the song.
When I took the 4½-pound box out for a test spin at a local club, I found that the best integration with my traditional gear was the ability to use the CD-sized wheel to "grab" the beat without hearing the grating stutter of a disc placed on pause. Within minutes, I was comfortable using the Pro-Scratch alongside my turntables - and the dancing crowd couldn't tell the difference.
Other DJ tricks, such as seamless looping, sample recall, and dynamic-effects processing (echo, flange, fade, pan), make this machine much more than just a toy. The looping option uses digital signal processing to create real-time seamless extensions of a currently playing track. The additional audio effects allow the user to make rudimentary remixes of tunes on the fly, and even intermix two tracks from the same disc using the Flash Start buttons (previously impossible without duplicate discs). The machine's instant recall eliminates most of a DJ's busywork: You can store up to 384 user-set parameters, more than enough to categorize hundreds of hours of music or an entire evening's program. Novices, too, will appreciate the nondestructive effects of their wannabe hip hop antics - no broken needles or irreparably damaged vinyl to contend with during the learning stage. Or, more precisely, you won't have to cruise the stacks for hours to replace that rare copy of Gang Starr's "Step in the Arena."
Pro-Scratch has taken the vinyl jock's standard Technics 1200 and turned it into a real-time digital remix machine.
American DJ: (800) 322 6337, www.americandj.com.
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