When the Pacemaker first hit these pages nearly 2 years ago, it was hard to know what to make of it. The rest of the DJ and wider gadget press (except us despite numerous attempts) got their hands on it and generally liked what they saw. But with something so new and so small, it was hard to please everyone. So having taken a lot of user comment onboard from their Pacemaker community, they've toiled hard to make a new improved version 2.

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When companies set out to design a range of mixers, what you get is a 2 channel scratch mixer and a 4 channel club mixer that service the needs of each particular market sector and share just a few features between them. When Ecler approached the idea of the NUOs, they looked at the core features that a range of DJs need and made mixers that in essence are the same, but just 1 channel more than the last. And they also plugged the 3 channel gap as well with this rather marvellous NUO3.0.

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2008 has been an eventful year if only for one thing - the dawning realisation that the global credit crunch is very real and just beginning to snap at the heels of manufacturers, dealers and consumers, each of which is feeling the effects in their own way. But before we get immersed in the inevitable doom and gloom, let's see how the year panned out.

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Want some free MixVibes stuff? Well there's some DJ Troubl breaks up for grabs, but if you use them creatively, you could get a nice Mixvibes bundle, including a Korg PadKontrol plus the full MixVibes producer pack as well as some runners up prizes too. All you need to do is download the Sampler contest pack (includes the Producer demo) and use the sounds creatively to be in with a chance of grabbing the booty.

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Just about 12 months ago, M-Audio did a demo at Winter NAMM 2008 of the supposed imminent release of the next generation of Torq - v1.5. It looked seriously promising, but despite many promises and more than a handful of furrowed brows within the M-Audio mothership, it just didn't quite make it into the wild - until now. So one year later, here it is - the long awaited upgrade is out and ready for download. And for those of you who registered Torq within the last 12ish months, you get a free upgrade as well.

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As is traditional at this time of year, we here at would like to wish each and every one of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year. Or whatever you do in the holiday season in your neck of the global woods - do it well, enjoy yourselves and be safe!

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While simply being a matter of taste, I generally despise animated Santa decorations of any sort. And although this is pretty much an utterly cheesy lump of Christmas tat, I can't help but want one soooo badly yet cannot bring myself to part with the £16 to get it home delivered (if hey had it anywhere near me instore, I'd be there in a heartbeat though). You however may be able to bury your pride and self respect deep enough to grab one of these dancing beauties though.

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When deciding to grab a slice of the DJ software pie, it's easier and safer to mimic Industry leading software and hope that the little bit difference injected is sufficiently good enough to get some sales. You could however always shit on the DJ software rulebook, embrace all that is great in the Mac OS and make something rather more like the physical experience of DJing. That's exactly what algoriddim did, and v2.2 of their djay Mac only app is out now.

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The MIDI controller market seems to have generally settled on a particular format i.e. condensing a mixer and decks into an A3 sized of metal and/or plastic that on the whole closely mimics a Vestax VCI-100. But even within this format, there seems to be a splintering of styles i.e. with or without sound card. Hercules' original RMX unit came out in all it's brushed shiny steel retina burning glory - complete with sound card. Now Hercules have realised that with the world of sound cards of all shapes and sizes, perhaps people would like to use their own and thus, DJ Control Steel is born. And you don't need sunglasses anymore.

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Having already been dismayed at the nerve of US security being able to seize your electrical gear, dissect it and do just whatever they please with your data on your way into the US, it seems you now need permission to set foot on US soil to go through the above process. MI Pro posted this very timely warning for people wishing to travel to NAMM (I'm not going) so heed their words and get your application in before setting off.

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Here's something I didn't think I'd see happening - Inlen's MixEmergency making it out in the big wide world with a full point release and still able to use ScratchLive as a controller. But here it is, out of beta as a fully fledged version 1 and ready to rock.

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Forgive me, but confusion reigns with this old hack. After Numark peeps categorically stating that the Pro SMX was strictly for the French market, it's now up for grabs - albeit possibly temporarily - from the Numark site for $599. But before you get out your exchange rate calculator, they only ship within the USA.

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It's well established that I'm a bag whore. So when news of new luggage comes my way, I'm all over it like a rash. And Magma happen to be one of my particular favourites, so I'm deliriously happy to announce some new stuff and a chance to win it. Magma's new digi-trolley is just perfect for DVS rocking DJs who want to take the best part of their digital life with them wherever they go and keep it neat and anally tidy.

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I hold my hands up when I say that the reviews schedule has slipped a tad in recent times. I'm busier than ever but also hampered by the sad demise of the original skratchmac as well as the somewhat temperamental character of Dexter the new skratchmac. But in a way Dexter has allowed me to finally review a product that I've had in for ages - the Magma Switchbox.

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It is a cold hard FACT that the digital scene is killing the vinyl wielding DJ quite literally to death. Well perhaps not that true exactly, but if it were, Serato would be one of the 4 Horsemen of the Digital Apocalyse. Every time Serato move product off the shelf, a record shop closes and a puppy dies - or at least that's what purists would have you believe. But it turns out that Serato are actually head over heels in love with the past and want to keep the old ways alive. So in a somewhat unexpected move, Serato have started knocking regular vinyl out in a venture called Serato Pressings.

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Up until now, the only mixers to gain Traktor Scratch certification have been Firewire equipped models, as generally this has been the interface of choice for mixers with built-in sound cards. But it seems that Allen&Heath's USB2 sound card laden xone:4D behemoth may well be heading down that route as well.

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From time to time, disturbing imagery comes my way. "Such is the way of the internets Giz" you may shout, but not when used to promote products. Le Jad's vinyl covers depicting damaged dolls always disturbs the hell out of my daughter, but this image from EKS's OTUS web site material is just a total mindfuck. I love it.

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You may recall that when I reviewed the Ecler NUO2.0, I was quite let down that despite it's Vestax PMC06 size and rugged style, the crossfader curve wasn't up to the task of fast finger style cuts. Well Ecler listened and made a fix for existing users available as well as making sure that all factory fresh models were up to the task. And that fix is for all NUOX.0 models as well, as witnessed by this hastily thrown together clip filmed between hot sweats, splitting headaches and coughing fits.

UPDATE:Clarification on serial numbers and how it works has been recieved.

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I read on a couple of sites about Numark's über scratch mixer the Pro SMX hitting the streets. Obviously not receiving any PR at all made me stomp around the skratchlab and fire off emails to high ups at Numark Towers. And I've come away with a feeling of total confusion. Allow me to explain.

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A short story from the very earliest history of this little site. Waaay back in the day when skratchworx was but a simple organism, trying to drag itself from the primordial slime up onto dry land, I fired off several speculative love e-letters to assorted industry types, with zero expectation of getting anything back. But something did come back - a full copy of Final Scratch 1.1 and entry into the beta testing program from Laurent Cohen - at the time sitting pretty at the top of the Stanton food chain. So when 5 years later I get another mail from Laurent telling me of his new venture, I'm more than happy to spread the word. Mixware LLC is a new distribution company that has been appointed as sole distributor for MixVibes in the US.

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Like any good hack, part of what I do is to dig deep and find out just what the hell is and will be going on in the DJ scene. But sometimes, digging is completely unnecessary as I literally fall over hot news laying in my digital path. One such hot potato of info is in plain view on Native Instruments' jobs page. Looks like Traktor could be experimenting with video.

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Portable PAs are getting smaller and smaller, but this is about as small as it's ever likely to get. Granted, it'll be a very select party but the Dreams turntable-like speakers apparently kick out quite a racket, especially when you engage the wikiwikitastic scratch mode. I've never needed a facepalm emoticon more than I do right now.

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Being an uncle is a lot of fun. I get to share my DJ toys with Dylan, and sometimes he even lets me play with the new shiny stuff that his gadget freak dad brings across. But imagine my surprise when he brought across a near exact copy of EKS's very imminent OTUS controller. Dylan loves it and just likes to point at himself in the mirror and say "dede". He did comment that the lack of MIDI is an issue, as is the oh so static bright blue platter is tough to scratch on.

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Controllers are designed to manipulate the music on your hard disk. But seeing as the hard disk is just a spinning platter... just like on a controller... you can see where this is heading right? Well not quite - it would be crazy to think that some wacky boffins had cracked open a drive and scratched with directly, but it's a nice left of centre take on the whole controller thing. Using the platter and ultra smooth bearing based mechanism of a regular hard disk, the guys over at Indestructables have come up with undoubtedly the smoothest jog wheel in controllerdom today.

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Now I'm rocking a shiny new MacBook Pro, I'm enjoying the best of both previously disparate worlds - yes, I have OS X and Vista sharing screen real estate and happily running side by side thanks to the joys of VMWare (although I see that Parallels 4 is out today). Anyway, a question I've often pondered is market share in the DJ scene so I've set up this oh so simple totally unscientific poll to give me an idea of just what you guys use in your DJ and music making experiences. Check either the poll above or the right hand column and cast your vote accordingly.

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So the public have spoken (some a little too harshly to be frank) and the winner of the BPM Battle 2008 has been picked. And that winner is DJ Sinical. Commiserations go to Weetamix - a valiant effort but the voting public had Sinical as the winner by some margin. Sinical wins himself a pair of Stanton STR8-150s, an uberstand, carts and a heap of other Stanton related stuff. Huge thanks to Stanton for getting behind the battle in such a big way.

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I hate deck covers. Big ugly plastic lids designed to collect dust, tea rings and generally piss me off no end. But ironically, that is their purpose - to protect your expensive investment in DJ gear from the not so hostile bedroom environment. But what about the rather more warzone like actual real club environment? That's where Decksavers some in. They make fetching clear covers to keep Pioneer CDJ-1000 MKII and IIIs safe and sound, but now they've also got one for mixers, namely the Pio DJM 600/700/800 as well as xone: 62 and 92. And we've got a full set to give away.

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Every year, DJ Mag does a gear awards thing - the Tech Awards. Normally, it's been a public vote and behind closed doors private DJ VIP judging affair, but this year DJ Mag shook things up a little. The public got to vote for their favourite things, but the top voted products got pushed through to the oh so public Tech Awards show at BPM. This basically consisted of a DJ manufacturer equivalent of the Dragons Den, where the various manufacturers' best demo people were put under the spotlight and made to show off their stuff to the gathered DJ VIPs (as well as an ever changing public crowd). And out of this came a few surprises, as well as some very excitable manufacturers who scooped awards right from under the noses of their competitors.

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Stating the bleeding obvious once again, MIDI controllers are the rage with the hep cats these days. And they seem to be getting smaller with each new release as well. The Korg nano range is just hitting the market as we speak, but clearly Korg have seen that white isn't necessarily the new black, and thus have introduced some suitably coloured and more conservative models for the more traditional DJs out there.

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When the idea of running a battle on the AI/Pedestrian stand at BPM 2008 popped into my head, I had no idea just what a time sucking logistical pain in the arse it would be. Thankfully however, it was very much worth the effort and a good time appeared to be had by all who attended and took part. But the battle is over and the daily winners have departed with their generous piles of booty. And now it's your turn to decide who takes away the bumper prize package from Stanton - day 1 winner DJ Sinical or day 2's top dog Weetamix.

UPDATE: The voting is over - Sinical won!

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