I was away from the scene for a loooong time and some things passed me by - including the legend that is DJ Disk. Having watched his set at the Viper Room gig recently, I'm very happy to say that Disk is coming back strong. A new site and a promise of a new album by the end of the year. Nothing to do with gear, but worth giving the man some coverage.

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Brace yourselves people - open your mind and prepare to try and take in this concept. Can you imagine mixing and scratching without actually touching the deck? Well HP have come up with a device to let you do just that.

The nearest I can equate it to is a DJ joystick. If you're not one for new DJ technology, turn away now...

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In these times of ultra-tiny crossfader lag times and cut-ins, the pressure is on for manufacturers to bring out crossfaders with similarly tiny adjustments. It's fair to say that Vestax crossfaders don't offer this level of adjustment so to combat this, they've made the CLS1 - fader cut lag spacers. So now you can get your credit cards out but stop cutting them up.

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2005 looks like the year that Gemini come back strong. We've already seen the new decks, CDT-05 hybrid and prototype single deck, now Gemini are releasing the PS series of 3 channel mixers.

Probably of most interest will be the PS-03 and PS-04 mixers, all with full fader curves, EQ kills and each having it's own flavour of extras.

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Today, I want to discuss the most important piece of hardware in the whole DJ setup - the DJ.

For a very long time, I've silently seethed while watching music shows over the way the DJ is treated. Often times, the latest here today gone tomorrow generic urban star won't be seen on stage without a DJ stood behind them. What really bothers me is when the "DJ" clearly doesn't know one end of a deck from a mixer and worst still, the gear isn't even turned on.

So is the DJ seen as simple a must have accessory with no artistic merit, or should we be stood at the front like Slash or The Edge? Are these urban stars actually doing DJ's a favour by including us at all even when it's clear that there's been no DJ input into a track? Should we rise up and be counted? Shouldn't Jazzy Jeff have DJ'd at the Olympics? Why are scratch DJ's the poor relation in the DJ scene?

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As we stand in front of our expensive decks and mixer with our many years of hard earned skills, busting 7 click reverse double summersault with a pike ultra flares, please spare a thought for Billy Noskills. The good people at Pedestrian clearly do and have come up with a new tool for newbie scratchers - called The Tutoritool. Click the banner for more info.

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Continuing our series of thoughtful intelligent discussion points (next week Technics vs Vestax - not), Weaksauce has suggested we touch on the subject of our first setups. We all had to start somewhere and It'll make for interesting reading to find out where us oldies and the newbies have entered the scratching arena.

So did you start on a GLi mixer with OG 1200's or was your gear a little less substantial? Indeed, do you feel it's necessary to have the newest and most expensive gear on the planet earth to start your turntablist adventures or would a set of belt drives do to get you going?

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After the success of their 4 channel wonder mixer the NUO5 (see Deft's review here), Ecler have clearly decided it's time for a mixer range revamp. It's fair to say that their SMAC range hasn't set the scratch world on fire so it comes as little surprise to hear that they're scrapped them and going with the NUO moniker on 3 new NUO mixers - the Nuo2, 3 and 4.

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Want a scary bedtime story? Check this news out and then go wipe your hard disk clean before it's too late....

ROME (Reuters):"An Italian DJ has been fined a record €1.4 million ($1.8 million) for using thousands of pirate music files in a nightclub near Rome, police said on Wednesday.

Police in the town of Rieti, near Rome, said they raided a popular nightclub earlier this week as part of a crackdown on piracy and seized 500 illegally copied music videos and more than 2,000 MP3 music files."

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After a short break from the scene, purveyor of the fine slipmats that are SewerSlimes - DJ Gutter is back - and bringing his SewerSlimes back with him.

Check DJ Gutter's site for more info and the man and his mats. Join his forum and chat to the man directly.

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In a bid to try and clear up some of the confusion surrounding the future of Pioneer's very lovely DJM-707 mixer, Pioneer Europe have asked me to post an official statement:

"The DJM-707 will remain an important part of the Pioneer mixer range Europe for the forseeable future. However we cannot quote a recommended retail price as legislation in certain European countries, most notably the UK, prevents us from doing so. Anyone wishing to obtain a price should contact their preferred Pioneer Pro SV dealer."

Hope that clarifies the situation on this side of the pond at least!

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In what will hopefully become a weekly discussion event, I've decided to turn my attention to turntables.

The turntable has been with us as DJ's since... well forever. The ubiquitous Technics 1200 series has been and continues to be the deck of choice for any aspiring scratch DJ. But time and technology marches on - and there's nothing we can do to stop it. And that march is in the direction of digital technology.

So my question is this - should manufacturers stop pouring cash into analog decks (seeing as they seem to have reached a development plateau) and start investing serious time and money into making the perfect digital scratch deck we all want. And if they did - would you buy one? And what standard features would you expect to see on it? Do you see hybrids as the way forward? Or do you feel there's still life in analog decks? Can manufcaturers come up with new twists for vinyl junkies?

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Once again, American Audio were lucky enough to have DJ Skilz, showing off their single CD deck, the CDI 500. As ever, Skilz puts in a dope performance - especially good when you see the size of the platter he has to play with. This could make a few people change their minds about the viability of CD decks for scratching.

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As a nice treat for ProfessorBX while doing his thing at NAMM, he was lucky enough to be invited along to the Thud Rumble party, held at the famous Viper Rooms in LA. I don't think he was quite expecting to be witness to some of the finest displays of raw scratching know to man. Imagine QBert, Flare, A-Trak and Disk cutting over fast electro... my idea of heaven.

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Winter NAMM is now over - a dim and distant memory as we look forward to the next onslaught of new gear at the next massive trade show. We've seen the hot news break and posted the pictures as we got them - now it's time for the holiday pictures.

Our good friends at Custom Records very kindly offered to make some custom pictures disks for the show. What follows is the adventures of ProfessorBX's personal vinyl, shamelessly inflicting itself on manufacturers and scratch celebs.

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While you all wait for more NAMM movies, pictures and news, I've decided to start an occasional series of discussions - codenamed "Decks and the City". This one is about the validity of very simple mixers such as the pictured Stanton SK5. Allow me to explain...

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Feel like rolling over in the morning and waking up with Biz Markie? Well now you can, in the shape of this rather nifty alarm clock from purveyors of rather trendy urbanwear Ecko.

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Sinbad shows the love for the last day of NAMM...

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Yogafrog, QBert and Johnny Juice welcome you to day 3 at NAMM.

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Like it or not, digital DJ technology is here and it's influence is everywhere. DMC have realised this and want to know what you really think about adopting CD decks into the DMC battles. A special forum has been set up to allow you to voice your opinions and have a small say in the future direction of the competition with regards to CD decks. There's also a survey to take part in to win a pair of Technics headphones.

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Wow, what a day, where to start....

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Yup, it's here.........

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The future of the Pioneer DJM-707 battle mixer has been subject to much speculation recently. In the US, lucky punters have been able to get significant rebates coming up to Christmas and in recent times, it's price has been dropped to a ridiculous $299 - forcing people to assume that it's future was doomed and Pioneer were simply emptying their shelves. Well you're all wrong...

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More hot pre NAMM announcements - this time from Soundcraft. Not only is the classic Urei, 1620 mixer being re-released in a limited edition, the Urei name now also boasts 2 new scratch mixers - the 1601 and 1601s.

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Two days my friends...

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While may be dedicated to all things scratchy, it's fair to say the we have developed a rep for being an all round fave for all styles of DJ. So when Pioneer sent me information of their latest batch of gear, I felt it my duty to cater for our minority visitors. So I present for you the CDJ-200 - the non-scratching baby sibling of the CDJ800 and 1000. Plus the DJM-1000 - the new über mixer with far too many channels for it's own good.

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The Eclectic Breaks roadshow heads stateside, this time taking their new Pro X Fade fader technology to NAMM 2005.

First shown in the UK at PLASA 2004, the Pro X Fade will be on display on the Seltron Components Ltd. stand, Booth # 1784 in Hall E. Also on display will be their new does everything goes anywhere DJ bag. I urge you to go check them out, if only to see if the UK's DJ 2Tall really does live up to his name.

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eBay is a wonderful thing - yet is a vile temptress that manages to empty hard earned cash from our meagre bank balances. So please spare a thought for Deft, for he is such a victim - in the shape of Stanton's newer scratch mixer the SA-5.

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So you've read the review, now buy the box. After reading my CDX-05 review, you'll obviously all be wanting to rush out and grab one - but don't forget to keep it safe in this Swan Flightcases custom made official Vestax case.

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As ever, another review that has been a long time in coming but at last I'm happy to unleash my Vestax CDX-05 and Tascam TT-M1 review.

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