A fairly small and quiet stand for Numark (apart from Rockid cutting up a storm on the CDX's and the 3 channel DXM09). But the 5000fx mixer finally made a showing - proving it's not just myth and legend. And we got a TTX update plus a tantalising glimpse at an iPod mixer prototype.
To be honest, the 5000 is probably of little interest to the majority of turntablists but it seems to have been around on the fringes of reality for ever. Now looking like a real product, it looks like it could offer a whole load of creative options for the more mix and musically minded amongst you. The press release is
here. We didn't get a real chance to play with it as the DJ's were right in front of it. Frankly, I get confused if I see more than 2 channels anyway!
Now to set to rest the long standing rumours regarding the
TTX and it's motor. It was pointed out a short time ago that the new Numark brochure listed variable torque for the TTX. I had a good look at the images but could see any new controls to allow this torque selection. Well it seems that the torque will be adjustable from 1.5 to 4.7kg via one of the existing buttons - I figure that the software in the TTX is being tweaked as well. Expect them in the shops in 8 weeks.
Finally, if you were eagle eyed enough, you could spot a tantalising glimpse of a future product - a double iPod dock with line and crossfaders. It's small but an ideal portable setup for the Dj on the move. We weren't allowed to take any pictures but as a product, it'll set the DJ world alight. More to come when we can tell you.
looks like the iPod is going to be the hot new DJ accessory!
@ipod mix dockshit
Wedding djs are so stoked about that one
-bring spy shirt button cams next time
Mike - we could have taken full on shots we felt like pissing off our friends at Numark. But that would be internet suicide for us - I'll let other sites do that kind of thing. It's all about building solid relationships with manufacturers so
can bring you real info - not unsubstantiated rumours.
^^^word... but please link me to these other nonscrupulous sites.
that mixer looks like a pioneer 900, looks nice to me. The iPod link sounds good for the mobile dj...but looks really bad for the blokes collecting artists royalties.
Numark - build a solid, hard-nosed skratch mixer with no bullshit attached
i'm a sucker for a great big mixer sometimes, and the 5000fx looks pretty cool.
". The mixer’s internal digital processor enables the user to grab this buffered audio and scratch using the scratch wheel. "
This is interesting! i was actually thinking as i read the first paragraph that it would be cool if you could manipulate the samples a bit better with a mixer-based sampler, and there it was. i'm not expecting it to be great from a purist scratch point of view but i'm loving the possibilities in a set.
Vogmuget- you mean a Pioneer DJM-600? with so many high quality options nowdays, the 600's time is running out. Check out the Numark DXM-PRO too if you want to see a no-bullshit scratch mixer
Soba - the Urei 1601s has a 2 bank sampler that is out of this world. I'm just processing a movie that will show just how good it really is. I dodn't really do it justice in my first day post - it's awesome. More on that later.
that mixer looks killer ... it actually looks like a professional piece of gear ... no blue or green neon shit. I heard the snr ratio is 96 at line ... which is pretty high scompared to other mixers on the market. So clean looking too
wait, they have a mixer that lets you pitch control an ipod?
SDG - Not exactly. it was a non-functioning concept piece to give an idea of the diection in which they're thinking. The impression we were given was that this was still in very early stages of development as a product and not likely to appear on the market in the near future.
Before they imagineer ahead too far, why 2 iPods?? !! - surely the track will be dowloaded, decompressed, resampled on the host (mixer), so what is the second iPod for?
so the numark ttx update shows up in 8 weeks is that all it has ?
Loop - it was explained to me this way by someone who is clearly well versed in such things: to download the entire track from the iPod makes a full digital copy, thus breaking copyright laws. Stupid I know but sadly true.
cross+fade - variable torque and upgraded motor. But what more would you want anyway? It's already streets ahead of almost every deck out there. Don't tell me - you want adjustable lag on the pitch fader?
picture of the prototype
To get those pictures, they must have let you take them. Now you were there on the first day, before the European boss of Numark/Alesis arrived. He wouldn't let me take the pics on Friday otherwise I'd have got multi-angles! So I fugure it's OK to leave this up seeing as you must have got permission!
What do people think of it?
Looks an intresting idea but i think it is something that needs to built into a traditional type of mixer and would be for the beat mix DJ's out there rather then scratching. Needs to be worked on but the idea is good.
Why not just have a unit with built in hard drives like we have all been wanting/asking for the last 3 years! Sweet jesus!
Really what other benefits apart from ease of connectivity does that bring? Especially if they want people to have 2....
I know it's a prototype/concept but 1 big hard drive and a very small TFT screen would be dopeness, and probably cheaper than 2 ipods.
Sorry I am being an idiot - obviously there are nice big transport controls on the unit!
Do you really want inbuilt harddrives Deft? thats not much fun in a club situation...what you want is something you can plug a standard external HD into, maybe even a laptop (purely to get files off). Then you have limitless storage upgradability relatively cheaply, and you can jump on with your tunes in a matter of seconds. Thinking about it, even if you were only using one harddrive for both 'decks', you'd still need the ability to run two so you could mix out of the last DJs set seamlessly, or maybe a buffer that kept the whole current track in RAM so one DJ could remove their HD with their last track still playing and the next could slot in and mix out of it.
btw, i had a great idea to overcome the needledropping problem on digital decks, let me think about it for a few days but i think its a dope solution that would be easy enough for manufacturers to implement.
The iPod has has a full random access filesystem, so as long as the track was not DRM'd, it would be fully possible and legal to buffer local sections of a track for resampling with ease. With an iTunes track that is DRM locked, then the situation is more murky. I suspect the only legal way to operate would be to transcode the audio from the analogue domain: the main drawback is that you could never play music faster than it was recorded, and probably never play music from anything but the start of the track. For all the good intentions, my belief is that this is not the silver bullet you're looking for. Admitedly, this is only a guess based on the picture and the discussion, but if it is true, then the product is less useful than plugging the iPod into you're existing mixer. I'd love to be proved wrong.
Yeah I suppose the iPod is a convenient enough way to cart audio about, but it will be a cold day in hell before I'll buy anything that ONLY supports the iPod!
External firewire drives with .wav or .flac is what we want, with PC and Mac software that allows correct formatting of the drive/structure so you can plug and play with other interfaces.
Still, I suppose you have most of this with a laptop.
I think 'clubland' will go the Ableton/Traktor route with good controllers / audio interfaces like the Xone:3D or Nuo-4.
It's all slowly coming together though....
I would guess that these ipod products are just going to bring more attention to dj's using downloaded mp3's there for bringing trouble to the dj world.
I can understand its use but i think its encouraging people away from buying records and encouraging law suits possibly instead
That DOES look like a cool idea...dont get me wrong....but HOW do you adjust the pitch of the tracks? Or am I missing someting?
If there is no way to adjust the pitch..then I see no use for that thing....its almost the same as plugging in two iPods into a regular 2-channel mixer via their headphone jacks.
I bet they use the start up speed dial for the torque adjustment on the TTX. Seems like the only realistic option.
Maybe, but start-up speed and constant torque are two very different things.
I LOL @ the iPod thing - considering they have no pitch adjustment, pitch bending, cueing ... it's not much use to most DJs - even mobile (with the lack of cueing).
There was a software hack for adjusting the pitch, but it was in 10% increments.
What about an upgrade for current TTX owners? I know its not that big a deal, but they will be offering it right? And if so, how much?
I waited and waited and waited on the new TTX, emailing them tons of times, asking them when the newer TTX was comin out, and they kept telling me it was getting pushed back a couple of weeks, then another couple of weeks, then another, and finally told me it would be out in Oct. of last year. Then Oct. comes and I email them again, and they said it would be another couple of weeks. So I got sick of waiting and just got one. Now im pissed they kept yankin my chain mang! They should upgrade mine for free!!!
It doesn't sound like the kind of thing that would be easily upgradable.
Antwan:
You adjust the torque on the new TTX by depressing the pitch and the quartzlock button at the same time. There are three different modes, L,M,H(Low,medium,high of course) The L setting really feels like working with a 1200/1200 so i guess they did a good job on that one....
Spensoar:
An upgrade you can do is to install the brand new target light(fits both TTX and TT500, 0.9V LED, the rest of the Numark range is regular bulbs with 4.5V)
This new light is brighter,lasts longer and is taller so it actually hits the vinyl now(and not just the platter as before)
Regarding the iPod mixer, i was told that a consumer version much like the protoype will come out in about 2 months. Retailing from between $250-350. Later on, they will expand with a pro DJ model with pitch,loop and other cool stuff you might want. But, as they told me, it's just a prototype for now....The interesting part,if you ask me, is that Numark now is co-operating with Apple,which might result in some pretty nice products in the future....
Did I hear Logic DJ control anyone??
k_one, im talking about a motor upgrade.
Is it do-able?
Spensoar:
I don't know yet. I'll have to ask Numark about it.
But I guess you would have to change the motor control card and possibly the dsp as well(to make the display show what you are doing with the torque setting)
But if you are a mod'er anything can be done.
BUT, i think it actually would be better and cheaper if you sold your current TTX and bought a new one when it comes out...
By the way, you have to use the Key Lock and the Quartz button(not the pitch as i wrote earlier...
DAMN IT - I emailed Apple Directly about that a long time ago.
FYI - The TTX torque adjustment is done by pressing and holding the QUARTZ and KEY LOCK buttons at the same time.
Oops, Ijust realized that the previous post was redundant... But the TTX will also be shipping with a brighter target light.
Isn't better the mixer Denon DN-X1500 than Numark?
HEY GIZMO <,,,, i have 2 questions ,,,,,, do you know if previous ttx owners will able to get their current ttx tables modified and updated by numark at all ? ... and i also wanted to know from when you went to NAMM if you ever found out what the most likely retail price for the new Stanton C.304 cd turntable ( the cdj1000 like ) will be ? because im def going to pick them up if they are cheaper than the cdx tables....
New Stanton CD deck?
Brad:
I'm not trying to gloat or anything, but if you read my second post a bit better you would realize that you second post was actually redundant as well
...hehe...
The price for the Stanton CD decks are as follows (the prices are not set in stone just yet but should be very close to the price they will be)
c.303 = £300
c.304 = £450
So they will be appearing under the CDJ800 price and are set to compete with the Denon DNS1000 and Vestax CDX05, it should be an interesting battle. I cant wait to get my hands on the c.304 and see just how good it is but the pictures do look good and Stanton are bringing out some very good pieces of equipment.
I guess if you are Bartending, catering and walking the bride, the Numark doohickey is TIGHT !!!! I mean, you're obviously too busy to press more than ONE button, right ? DJ THUMPA
I think the iPod deal could have some use, if only because most of the musicians I know already have them and understand them. Having one device to review your new drums and take them to the club would be stylin' -- or ridiculous, depending on how you look at it.
Since you can use them as external drives, it's no different from any other digital setup. You'd just decode the compressed file and cue it like any other waveform, giving you all the flexibility you want. Apple would love it, since they're heavily pimping their systems as being the easiest for music production.
However, this screenshot is obviously a mockup...when the ipod is connected to a machine it goes into "sync mode," which turns off the display and the controls.
actually the ipod does not always go into sync mode, that is only when it is hooked up to a computer, when it is hooked up to lets say a JBL speaker dock then the controlls and screen are still usefull. So it may or may not be possible for this unit to do that as well. Plus i bet apple would deffenantly allow this to go foward and endorse it because all it means for apple is that they sell more ipods. They would be playing to their base. which is createive professionals and for them to get even more exposure and to dig thier claws into more industries and become an industry standard would work out fantasticly i think...
Numark showed a Prototype of their Numark HDCD1, which was a dual CD deck with a 40GB HDD that was upgradable, last August 2004. Again it was still in prototype form. It had several delays, from Sept, then oct, then Jan 2005, then it supposedly is available now.
www.gizmodo.com
credits SW with the Numark pix (a little way down)
Cool!
The Axledental DJ:
The HDCD1 is actually shipping with a 80GB now & a keyboard.
It uses regular IDE harddrive so can basically replace it yourself whenever you need.
Still about 5-6 weeks lead time on the delivery though...
if apple let hp make and brank their own ipod versions, then they would surely go for this. makes far more sense
*brand
doesn't look tht gd but i think it'll prob work great
I just picked up the NUmark 5000fx. I thought that after two years of hype there was no way it could live up to it. Well, I must admit it does not. It is much better! I have played on the DJM 600 and the new Denon and the 5000fx kills the Pioneer and is on par with the Denon. The 5000fx may even edge out the Denon because it is more intuitive. Cudos to Numark.
Just ordered the 5000FX. Arrives tomorrow. Will report on it soon.... (I currently have a DJM-500 that it will be replacing
)
numark 5000fx iz one of da best mixas iv eva used! fukin rude man! big up da
kru
I use numark products, they rule, but why not just slap your ipod into another channel on the mixer. I use my turntables in two, laptop in another channel and a cd player in the other.. no need to get two ipods and a special mixer really...
I am in the process of making a dock with an external pitch control slider and a volume control slider. If you would like more info on project "iDJ" please email me at Veilside920@aol.com. I am hoping this will be an interesting little machine.
Numark and Apple are on crack.
Hey ASSHOLES!
Get the fuck out of my back yard! Play vinyl or DIE.
Scum sucking traitors.
now this is what im talkink about
and is a cool idea!!!!!!!! ^_^
:blink:
all what i got to say is that im a dj but this the first time i ever seen something amazing like this!!!maybe i could try thiis new thing
^_^
A fairly small and quiet stand for Numark (apart from Rockid cutting up a storm on the CDX's and the 3 channel DXM09). But the 5000fx mixer finally made a showing - proving it's not just myth and legend. And we got a TTX update plus a tantalising glimpse at an iPod mixer prototype. 
On 10-04-2005 02:32, DannyO commented...
62 comments to this story