The Dream Setup - CavemanBeats

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The Dream Setup

In today's digital world, the options for DJ's are immense. From CD Decks, to Turntables the last ten years have brought many technological advances. The main advance was the fact that digital music could be transferred to turntables. Where in the past the vinyl or cd contained the track being played, today it is possible to "spin records" by using a vinyl with time code, that controls the digital content on an additional piece of hardware. This IO Box serves as the connection between the turntables, and a laptop where the digital content is being played from.

Final Scratch was the first one of these devices and DJ's such as Ritchie Hawtin owe part of their fame to technology like this. It wasn't until Rane's Serato Scratch came along that the whole concept caught on more. Serato was the first hardware solution that offered a visual respresention of the wave peaks of the playing track. What this allows the DJ to do is to get a visual idea of how off the two records are in terms of syncing them up. If you look at the screenshot, you can see that are two dials - one left and one right and two vertical columns in the middle that the wav signal of each track.

Where both Final Scratch and Serato Scratch Live are great products and offer many possibilities, they do require 3 main items:

Mixer
2x Turntables with good needles, good contacts.
A rack/table to hold all the gear

If you've been to a music store recently you will know that mixers can range greatly in price and you can spend anywhere between $200 and $1,500 just on that one device. When it comes to turntables, there's only one manufacturer that comes into question and that is Technics with their infamous SL1200 MK. The price for one turntable ranges from $450-$550 and since you of course need two, that totals somewhere close to $1,000. Lastly you're going to need some type of setup that can hold all this gear and unless you have furniture at home already that you can modify to hold your setup, you're probably giong to have to buy something. DJ Stands, depending on the options can also range from $200 - $1000 and I'm sure you can tell very easily that this setup is rather costly.

Although the cost is substantial, many DJ's prefer the mix of analog and digital technology however I'm not one of them. I have never owned a set of turntables, and I've also never owned anything else you would need to DJ which means that for me the Dream Setup is having a laptop, serato itch and a nicely sized external harddrive to store all my mp3 crates. The new Serato Itch offers a new set of flexibility and mainly mobility for the Dj. Instead of being bound to the conventional very spaceous setup, now with just two pieces of hardware needed, you could hook this up to the aux plug of a car, pull up somewhere by the beach and start layin' down a set.

A few weeks ago my girlfriend and I attended the "Afterburn 2008 Festival" in Lakeland, Fla and I was lucky enough to have gotten this in the mail just a few days prior to the event.