Dj’ing on vinyl is a totally different thing than dj’ing on cdj’s or controllers unless the modern equipment dj is super lazy. You can do wild things with hot cues and looping compared to just using vinyl. Debatable, but its as a much of a paradigm shift as the leap from acoustic guitars to electric guitars. In the same way as guitars the modern digital stuff doesn’t make the vinyl DJ’s irrelevant, it’s just a different set of tools.
I don’t like this guy’s music but James Hype would be a good example of someone doing stuff with cdj’s that just isn’t possible with vinyl.
I’m a bit loathe to continue this tangent that the thread has taken, but just want to say that what a CDJ offers isn’t without precedent. The first mixer I ever used (my mate’s older brother’s Gemini 626) had a more expensive version (676 Pro) that included a super basic built-in sampler for looping and one-shots. Crunchy as fuck, and possibly worth grabbing now for the lo-fi crowd, as these mixers can be had for peanuts. Pretty sure some of the really old Vestax ones had something similar as well. There was also a company that made a ‘sidekick’ sampler to put next to the mixer for the same purpose (were they called Red? Anyone remember?). So the idea has been there for a loooong time, just not widely available/utilised.
Fair enough, I wasn’t really thinking about the technology built into the mixer side. It’s still in the continuum of a leap from analog tech to digital tech though.
That little sampler looks like it’s seen some shit!
This is a personal take, but I always wanted to have a synthesiser, but I thought I couldn’t because they were very expensive
Of course I had other instruments, but because of my disability and chronic illness, it was much harder for me to make music with those so I did it much more seldomly
Last year I discovered that they were synthesisers/groove boxes I could afford and I was happy now I make music much more regularly and it’s way easier for me because I caneven do it in my bed and at night without disturbing my roommate
So yes I think when there are less barriers you have more people making good music of course it depends what you think as high-quality but for me it doesn’t have to be high-quality to be great music
Yes the groovebox is probably the thing that really made creating your own music (meaning whole compositions) cheaply a reality for those of us who count as ‘the masses’
agreed.