*sniff* Boo hoo, I’ve decided to become wack and go completely digital… so I’m selling my Technics SL1200 Mk2, my 3/4 finished battle-style coffin (you add carpet, you are done), and heck, I’ll even throw in the scratch master mixer if you want it. — US$400

TIMELAPSE: watch a movie of me building the coffin! http://homepage.mac.com/djcatnip/iMovieTheater25.html

Read more on my craig’s list post: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/msg/184754492.html

I’ve been staring at the iDJ2, and noticed there’s no nudge controls… you know, the thing that lets you simulate a spindle-twist or a finger on the platter to momentarily speed up or slow down a track that you’re beatmatching to another track… these are absolutely critical tools to beat matching… in fact, this is a deal-killer for me. So shocked was I to discover this painfully obvious omission, I emailed numark… here’s the reply I got:

Hi Steve,
I do not believe there will be a nudge feature on these though these are still in the early stages of development. I can put this in as a feature request to the engineers to see if this can be implemented.

Sincerely,
Someone at Numark

Oof. To come within 99% of solving all of the criticisms of the original iDJ, and then fall on your face for the last 1%… that’s a shame. I hope someone there has enough political clout to push for one more version of this deck… without nudge, you can have scratch and pitch control, it’s pointless… ok, maybe not completely pointless, but it’s just not going to be taken seriously by people who do know how to beatmatch, and the extra features will probably go unused by people who don’t know how to beatmatch.

For me it comes down to this: No nudge? No sale.

update 2006-09-21

Rob V says:

As one of the designers of IDJ2 I’d like to point out, as others have mentioned, that the nudge (momentary pitch shift) feature is implemented on the jog wheels. This is the same as many Numark (and other) CD decks and, for my money, is more useful than a button implementation. The wheels can also be switched into search (fast seek through track) and scratch modes (four variants).

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Good to know.

I’m syndicating the Dobox Recordings feed here, because thems some sounds we like

The Rhythmist will be playing with Deadly Venomz and Robbie D in San Francisco. Check it out!

if there’s any questions as to if qbert is perhaps one of the badest ass scratch DJs on the planet, take away his mixer and he’ll still blow you away. Shouldn’t we be doing something to recognize his contributions to american culture? Where’s the hip hop hall of fame? Shit, for that matter, where’s the Jazz hall of fame??

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