cocaine is a helluva drug..

"It started to get on some real white boy shit...nahmean?"

I believe!

I actually think the man speaks the truth. My detective work uncovered the following:

A 2003 article about RZA I found here (http://www.deo2.com/Urban/default.asp?id=2645) makes a passing mention of:
"Wu Electronics (based in Bern, Switzerland) for development and marketing of advanced studio and DJ equipment such as Replicator."
This other page(below) sells business reports for more money than I am willing to spend, but they offer one for Bern-based "Wu Electronics," which specialized in "production and trade of electronic equipment for the music industry," and was in fact in liquidation.
here's a link to the translated page:
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.easymonitoring.ch/handelsregister/be1/aktiengesellschaft/122/auswahl_firmen.aspx&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=5&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522Wu%2BElectronics%2522%2Bswitzerland%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-USfficial%26hs%3DAZL%26sa%3DG
RZA, share your creation with the world!

LOL @ Numark's the best one!

sounds plausable to me. if RZA is so confident about what he's saying, he'll have to show everyone that 'replicator' of his. If it indeed is so awesome, there will be somebody to invest, and i'll be first in line to buy it. no joke.

Isnt the Numark one based on another DVS system (cant think of the name right now...)...which is actually based off Miss Pinky?!

We were discussing this at the Serato boards pretty heavily.

1. Rainbow to Switzerland?
2. I think there's some truth to it, but I don't think all parts are true. Like how he added the usual hip-hop drama with the engineers showcasing it as AES too quickly and "the whiteboy shit."
3. Shouldn't it be the engineer in Switzerland's invention then? The fact that he didn't even give credit and at least say the dudes name in the interview just makes me shake my head. If the idea isn't original and isn't your own, you didn't create it.

Whatever the truth is: if RZA "found" the technology at some guys place in Switzerland, "I invented it" is a false statement. "I invested in it" would be more accurate (just like John Acquaviva invested in FS before Stanton bought it). If he does have those 50 replicators, he can easily set the record straight and show them.

10 years ago i had an idea of using some kind of beep tone on a vinyl to control a music file on the pc.

some years later fs appeared and i made big big jumps that this became reality

p.s.: and i think that many guys around the planet had this kind of idea but only a few of them had the power to realize it.

so you can't talk about a real inventor.

p.s.: i also think that many guys around the planet had this kind of idea but only a few of them had the power to realize it.

so you can't talk about a real inventor.

"We got a patent in over a thousand countries..."

what the hell? a thousand countries?

For Numark, I think he's talking about CDX/HDX not the CUE package. Conceptually, a CDX/HDX is like Serato et al, just in an all-in-one pack (the role of the PC is replaced with the onboard guts of the CDX). I think his point is a good one.

Just for clarity, while he starts off saying he invented it, I think he quite clearly states that his role was an investment one. In the latter part he even says "I invested in it".

He also said, "you've got to patent in a thousand countries" as in: to stop people taking your stuff you need to patent everywhere, and they didn't do that (I assume they had a Swiss patent, but I can't find anything in Google Patent search).

I think Iron Monkey is right, and that he is refering to the numark cdx.

From what I understand, they have just connected something to their turntable to read out the speed directly, rather than through a regular vinyl.

This means that the whole thing is quite different from final scratch, and in particular that it wouldn't allow for 'absolute mode' where you can also set the position as you would do on regular vinyl.
Since the actual working is entirely different from final scratch, it is not very likely that even if they had a patent that there would be enough resemblance to win a case with.

Also the device they made seemed more to be a sampler, so it may not even have had the ability to hold entire songs, which also makes the concept a bit different, and more limited to scratching only.

Finally even his hardware device would probably not have been zero-latency. There has to be at least a one-sample latency after the speed has been read. (agreed, this would only be 0.02 ms, but still...)

rza saying he invented it can be correct. although a 'guy' in switzerland created the initial replicator but then sold the inventor rights (that are specific to the swiss regional jurisdiction), if rza then bought the replicator and further developed it then the creator rights to the swiss guy are null. I mean, are we to assume that what the swiss guy had was a complete market ready version. We can assume the swiss had the idea, but that does not make him the inventor... like I have the idea of a rail gun and i tell lockheed martin about it, then lockheed martin then comes out with a rail gun, that doesn't make me the creator. like a graduate student, the swiss guy had a working 'disertation', rza bought that disertaion and tried to make it market ready. RND (research and development) is a bitch.

I don't exactly believe in what he is saying. His grammar (not saying mine is perfect) is not clear, like what Iron Monkey pointed out. This shows that what he claims is LEANING toward liar land.

I would and several thousands of DJ's, music producers, and people who like music want to see is the actual Replicator in the flesh and actually working.

Until then, I don't really think he is telling the entire truth. But not totally a liar.

Oh and I just want to add that yes, having a latency of zero between the needles, box, connection to the PC is impossible. There needs to be some kind of processing done with the box before receiving and sending the signals. There is also PC lag as well to factor in, even if you have the fastest home computer one Earth.

?? What's DVS ??

Digital Vinyl System.

I know who invented DVS ! IT IS ME


I developped one of the first timecoded vinyl solution in 2002 which has been marketed as the product name MixVibes DVS (still sold today).

Well actually I didn't invented the concept, just the therm "DVS". While searching for a cool name for my new product, I took a look on my DVS skateboard shoes (www.dvsshoes.com) and eureka DVS became Digital Vinyl System! (Im not kiddin


To talk about what RZA said, there is two approch for catching the speed of a turntable:

- the TIMECODED VINYL approch invented by Mark-Jan BASTIAN in 2001 (patent "WO 01/65559". Mark Jan Bastian was a dutch student and founder of FinalScratch. We talked together in 2002 and he told me that he found the idea alone...

- the SPEED SENSOR approch which consists of detecting the speed of the turntable mechanically (such as the Numark CDX). As far as I know, this concept is older than the timecoded vinyl idea (I saw some patents about it) and I guess than RZA is talking about that.
It is possible to get no latency control with such of sensor but it doesnt allow needle drop (absolute position).


The timecoded vinyl approch won the battle because all DVS solutions so far are based on it. Adion (who tries to decode all timecoded vinyls with DJDecks) can testify, all timecoded vinyls are almost the same technically (sinus wave with amplitude modulation). On timecoded vinyl the position is coded in a discrete way (not continious), it means that it won't be impossible to get 0 latency.


To be short, RZA is probably talking about a speed sensor solution which is far from the Digital Vinyl Systems we know nowadays. For me the real inventor of DVS is MarkJan Bastian.

Thats all I know


PS: one of the first DVS video in 2002.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x132qk_dvsdemo_music

I need to see the youtube video of a burned-out Staten Island warehouse with 50 replicators all playing 'BRING THE MOTHERF***ING RUCKUS'. I would put good money (at least 2 mil) on the fact that a 'Replicator' is constructed from the following parts:

1 x Sturdy Ironing Board (european version Limited Edition to use Ikea Jerker)
1 x Amiga Floppy Disc Drive mounted in empty Wallabees box
1 x Aiwa Stack System belt drive turntable
1 x extra-strong rubber band
1 x extra-strong bag of weed
1 x Texas Instruments Speak N Spell (as input device)
1 x Atari VCS2600 (allowing real-time, less than zero latency and special 'ESP' mode)
1 x Realistic Disc Jockey Mixing Console with no crossfader
8 x Roland D-Beams (to create mystical 5% rainbow effect)
6 x EPROM burners
1 x fire extinguisher
1 x tin foil skully
1 x Close Encounters of the Third Kind on betamax
2 x knee pads
1 x Flux Capacitor set to 1997

Wow, just think we would've had Wu-Scratch instead of Final Scratch. "Wu is for the Kids" -ODB

I think it was in he start of 1999 that I first saw a working vinyl emulation live at a party of a big internet provider in the Netherlands (xs4all) in Amsterdam. The company who created the solution sold it before it became popular to Stanton. More information:
http://news.harmony-central.com/Newp/1998/FinalScratch.html

The guys from N2IT, a dutch company invented the DVS systems and not RZA. Maybe he had his thoughts about it but the guys from N2IT realised it. There's an big difference between those 2.

Just another idiot rapper.

I'm sure his next step will be to rap about how the muthafukin white man stole his idea and kept him down.

"A system for the digital processing of audio signals, particularly for disc jockeys and scratch musicians. The speed and direction of reproduction of an audio signal coming from an external source, e.g., from a CD player, can be controlled by acting manually on a rotating element."

Taken from the patent filed by André Rickli of Switzerland in 1997: -

http://www.wipo.int/patentscopedb/en/fetch.jsp?SEARCH_IA=EP1996002637&DBSELECT=PCT&C=10&TOTAL=1&IDB=0&TYPE_FIELD=256&SERVER_TYPE=19&SORT=1207182-KEY&QUERY=%28WO%2F97%2F01168%29+&START=1&ELEMENT_SET=B&RESULT=1&DISP=25&FORM=SEP-0%2FHITNUM%2CB-ENG%2CDP%2CMC%2CAN%2CPA%2CABSUM-ENG&IDOC=164430&IA=EP1996002637&LANG=ENG&DISPLAY=STATUS

Related perhaps?

lol@RZA being "just another idiot rapper".

LMFAO @ Weaksauce - brilliant.

BTW, for him, DVS = Da Vinyl Sh!t.

i believe it. I mean it sounds very reasonable what he is talking about. He seems a little embellishing the story just a tad but i def wouldnt discount the fact that he may have been one of the first investors in a fledging little known technology during the latter part of the 90s. All of the first dvs technologies came from europe,switzerland,denmark area.it seems pretty backed up. i would love to see one of those things though.

Yeah and Souja Boy is the smartest rapper.

I think I remember doing research in around 98-99 and seeing something about that kid in switzerland....Josh I think I remember seeing your work as well.

This sounds like some "Pirates Of Silicon Valley" Sh!t.

Quote" About Dj - Reind":
Yes it does sound like he, along with other like minded musicians could of been amongst the first to be involved in the revolution.

It also seems he has imbelished the story a little.....$250million for a chip from NASA. Samsung are making more advance chips than them, cheaper.

One thing is for sure, Europe is always creating a backyard version of new stuff OR a piecing together something inivative from current technology.

ie; the Wooden Tape mixer player with pitch controll. Brillient !!

Either or I would like to see the entire Video Rather than the edited version.
The credibility of RZA??

sounds exaggerated, maybe mixed up a bit. Seems like there is some truth to it tho. Kind of like the bible.

The original concept for a DVS system was back in the late 90s. Here's a press release on Harmony Central http://news.harmony-central.com/Newp/1998/FinalScratch.htmlor http://www.harmony-central.com/Events/WNAMM99/N2IT/FinalScratch-10.html

N2IT (www.n2it.net <--down for a LONG time) was a dutch company that started out with the Software Sound Play running on BeOS (do a google search on this if you dont know what this is. BeOS was a designed for media/audio applications operating system that never really took off - which was too bad, becuase at its time of release, it was far better at audio applications than any PC out there running Windows 95/9. It consisted of a never mass produced interface, software, and vinyl letting you map audio files on 2 decks to be controlled by an external device - i.e. turntable. N2IT, finally came out with the first BETA system that was one of their little boxes and the software that ran on BeOs. You HAD to buy it in the Netherlands. They would not mail order it. If I remember correctly it was around $500 at the time (late 90's) which was a bunch considering we all pretty much still played on 1200s then. They soon after released a PC version of that software that was also NOT CHEAP called 'FINAL SCRATCH' - you had to buy a Sony VAIO laptop with the software pre-loaded onto it and the interface (again, this was pretty much a public beta that cost almost $3000 including the laptop and interface (that would later become the Final Scratch (crash) Hockey Puck). Jon Aquiva (sp?) was an early adopter - but even he had 2 laptops running in the booth with him at all times in case one crashed (which it did often apparently). Then Stanton bought them, onto NI making the software, etc, etc, etc.

The guys down in New Zealand claim that they had designed their software/hardware even before the N2IT guys did. They initially came out with Serato Scratch as a Pro Tools Plug in before serato scratch LIVE (hardware/software combo that's out today. After teaming up with Rane to build their hardware, the rest is history and Serato Audio Research and Rane have changed DJing forever.

The original Final Scratch release was called Final Scratch PRO - those were the bundles with the Sony Laptops. When Stanton first launched Final Scratch on the masses, their portal page had 2 links on it - one for Final Scratch users and one for Final Scratch PRO users, which was password protected.

still usin fs1 no crashes- eat a dick all those who dont take care of there harddrives!

big up to weaksauce!!

p.s whats wrong RZA?!? 36 chambers money runnin out?

go make a fuckin landmark album.

I don't think money is problem for the cat with Wu royalties and the fact that he's in one of the best movies of the year (American Gangster).

True comment about NZ
They had that production plug in available for a while.
So as to emulate real time scratching in your production software.
Although, there was that available elseware, they did take it to another level.

Just found this by googling for Andre Rickli...

I can add a few details just for the record:

Andre Rickli from Bern actually "invented" the machine RZA refers to. It is
based on a regular turntable with a precision position sensor mounted on an
arm on the table center and a computer doing the playback. With the arm
mounting any turntable could be used. The position sensor allowed an almost
latency-free reaction, because you only had to interpolate the sample
position from the sensor data. It also allowed a wide range of scratching
speeds, the positioning almost had precision a few dozen samples and was
absolute. As I remember the position sensor was not very cheap, as only some
industrial stuff had the precision/resolution and the high speed capability.

I know all that in detail because I developed the DSP code for Andre's
system which was running on an Atari Falcon. He chose the Falcon because it
had a "real" sound system and a DSP. There were also SPDIF interfaces
available. At that time (AFAIR the project started in late '94 or early '95)
that was quite advanced to the other PC crap.

The system was in "real club usage" AFAIK in late '95/early '96. Andre used
it for "real" DJing himself, he sent me some club photos with him and the
machine and a demo tape with various pieces (funk or so, didn't like it &br.

I know that Andre filed the patent and searched for investors. He found RZA
and that resulted in the "Wu Electronics" company in Switzerland which was
essentially Andre. I remember him calling the thing "Replicator", he also
made some advertising material.

The last time I've met him was at the AES convention '99 in Munich. At that
time he was trying to put the whole system into a standalone embedded
computer.

To summarize it: The machine really existed and worked. But RZA is not the
inventor