I hate stories like these, but it seems incumbent on me to report bad news on an all to regular basis. This week comes the shocking death of Guru from Gangstarr. He's been ill for some time after suffering a heart attack and being in a coma. But the inference from his friend and manager Solar was that he was getting better - hence the shock statement.

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Another week another competition. This time, DBM Labs are offering up more booty from their range of DJ oriented clobber. And all you have to do is take the shortest ever survey - just one answer is needed, so even the most hardened of lazy readers can surely be bothered to drop a line to them in return for some freebies. You can can't you?

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Just before I popped off for a week, I announced the next massive headphone group test. I also did a little but of last minute rallying via Twitter and got some extra pairs in the test, as well as word of those that won't quite make it this time around, but will appear at a later date.

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I'm back. A week off doing the traditional UK bank holiday pastime of decorating has seen the skratchlab descend into chaos, a key influence on who I am die, and DIY yielding a slightly cleaner looking kitchen but left me with a sofa lifting induced back injury. Indulge me for a second as I take off the holiday hat and put on my writing one. I'm quite sure than not one of you cares a jot for my freshly painted walls or architectural lighting, so I won't bore you with that at all. But I will briefly talk about Malcolm Mclaren.

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Some time ago, I worked out that at the current rate, Scratch Live would reach v2 in expansive time of 5 years. Clearly this scared the living crap out of Serato, thus decided to ramp up development and reduce this down to 9 months. Weeeellll… perhaps it was nothing to do with anything I said at all, but v2 is all out of beta and very much ready for you to use. Set yourself aside a quiet moment and read the extensive list of new stuff as well as changes. And it's all for free too.

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As technology marches forward, some choose to stick to their chosen DJ weapon of choice, while others reach the top of their tree but feel the need to be challenged again. One such soul is Woody aka Woody Madera. Having established himself as a key player and many times world champion in the turntablist market, he's now returning to his graphics roots and putting those skills to good use with in conjunction with Serato's Video-SL plugin for his "Turntables in Technicolor" project. And you can win suitably splendid t-shirts celebrating the launch, as well a being the official act for the upcoming UK DMC heats.

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After the Easter break (taking next week off), I'll be starting the well overdue overhaul to the original headphone group test. It was going to be a lot smaller, but as I started to plan it out, I realised that if I was going to do this, I should do it to the standard expected by you dear readers. So that's exactly what's happening, and if any manufacturer wants their headphones in this group test, they have 1 week to get a pair to me.

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I like to think that the people who visit here are intelligent readers wanting to offer polite and enlightened comment to news stories. But I'm not alone in noting that recent comments have taken a very negative turn. People randomly feeling the need to unload hate on a particular product - dissing DJs in videos and other posters - all of which is really unnecessary and doesn't add to the skratchworx experience.

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Finally - the server recovered from whatever breakdown it was suffering and I'm now in full possession of the multi-angled American DJ VMS4 demo by Berlin's very own DJ Freshfluke. It starts with some mellow hip hop mixing and kicks into demo mode at around 3.30.

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Native Instruments are a big company, with some big brands too. Arguably the biggest (at least in our scene) is Traktor, and brand loyalty is strong within the community. Given that at any one time, Traktor is neck and neck sales wise with SSL in Europe (according to my info), you'd understand that the heaving masses of Traktor users might want some branded merch to show off. There has been a small amount of control vinyl released, but a bag has been requested for a looong time. And finally it's here - the Traktor Bag by UDG.

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Musikmesse is a very big place. I know NAMM prides itself on the vastness of the show, but it would fit quite happily inside the Messe Halle. So you can imagine my annoyance at the focus of my attention being at one end of Musikmesse, but American DJ being at the polar opposite end. With a round trip of something like a mile, being a regular passer by from hall 5 (the DJ area) wasn't exactly easy. But I made it there briefly and trusty camera wielding sidekick Sean aka DJ Pegasus made it back to film a VMS4 demo. But we've had a problem…

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The ability to use just your computer alone to rock a crowd is nothing new at all. But the level of control offered was a tad limited, so a return to physical controllers was inevitable. But Inklen - makers of MIxEmergency - have thought a little differently and realised that there is another way to control your DJ software and have come up with an all new technology. Only a company with vision could come up with a control solution based on… ummm.. vision. Behold the wonder that is eyeCanDJ.

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While Mixvibes didn't have an actual stand at Musikmesse this year (the prices were truly astronomical), they did have a suite in a nearby hotel. And this is where I finally got to see their video rocking VFX package in action - and highly impressed I was as well.

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Video-SL always seems to be an underplayed card to me. I know there's some really cool stuff being done but it just doesn't get the coverage it deserves (Woody Madera post coming). So it was really good to see DJ Eskei83 using the Rane Sixty Eight with Video-SL on 3 decks - all 18 minutes of it.

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Just last week, Pioneer brought out the DJM-2000, and with it dragged the laptop back into the booth. So now the new species of CDJs are quite happy to play nice with rekordbox created USB devices as well as talking directly to your laptop of choice. But there is a third way, and one that will welcome DVS users into the Pioneer dominate booth too - HID. And the DJ software that owns all others - Traktor - is now all HID'd up and also playing nice with the CDJs too. Say hi to v1.2.5 of Traktor.

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There's a hot topic doing the rounds of manufacturers right now and that's how to swap from one digital DJ to another without awkward silences between sets. Last week we saw the Allen & Heath Patchbay make an appearance. This week, Rodec bring out their own solution to this thorny issue - the hilarious yet aptly named Patch Live… geddit?

UPDATE: Added some pictures.

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After the nervous breakdown suffered by the perhaps too new Pioneer CDJ-350 and DJM-350 on the the first day of Musikmesse 2010, the text came in on Thursday - "we have 350 up and running". So off we trotted AV'd to the hilt only to discover the same people looking stressed hunched over the same units. Thankfully everything was working as described and we managed to shoot a full demo courtesy of Martin Dockree from Pioneer UK.

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Star of the show at NAMM was the Scratch Live v2 loving Rane Sixty Eight mixer. And while I didn't get a chance to give it my fullest attention (I'd have been drawn in for hours), we did manage to get a handful of performances from Jeff Milligan and DJ Big Wiz. 3 videos follow...

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One of the key Numark releases at Musikmesse was the X5 mixer. While the X7 drags itself from the R&D dungeon into the realms of production reality, the X5 makes the perfect mixer for those not wanting 4 channels but do want scratch performance from a cosmetically akin family member. DJs Chainsaw and another DJ were on hand to demo the hardware partnership.

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Serato is such an important company and brand in the scene, that anything tagged remotely "limited edition" causes a global drain on the internet as record shops are hammered hard with pre-orders. The Serato Pressings range has seen eBay prices spiral with some stupid money changing hands. But some of it just isn't available to the general public. And I was blessed enough to get some of this booty for my efforts with skratchworx.

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In yet another of my fly-by visits between meetings (a detailed whinge about that another time), I spied something I hadn't seen before. Being accustomed to the darkside of OTUS controllers, this rare Albino version made an appearance at Musikmesse, alongside the still to released RAW version too.

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With an all too alarming regularity, Denon seem to be releasing a never ending stream of 4 channel mixers with a decidedly high end feel. NAMM was no exemption with the DN-X1600 poking it's nose out of the R&D lab. But it was only at Musikmesse that anyone from the team got to capture the glory of it. DJ Pegasus grabbed a heap of pictures and a very short video too.

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My 3 day trip to Messe was disorganised chaos from beginning to end. Having tried and failed to record a CDJ/DJM-350 demo on day 1, we returned the next day and successfully grabbed a 3 camera demo of the 350s. But as we planned how to get the spangly DJM-2000 demo in all its touch screeny DJ link rocking glory, everyone buggered off to the plane - leaving us all camera'd up and nowhere to film. But I did grab a small handful of pics, and the promise of a personal demo in the skratchlab.

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Last year (I think), I spied units that appeared to "pay homage to" Korg's Nano series. Well ICON are back with a seriously extended range of stuff for DJs, including an all new set of mini MIDI controllers that are considerably more original that last years efforts. And they're making sooo Mac Mini inspired interfaces too.

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In today's programme, I'll be showing you how to make a MIDI Controller. Firstly you'll need a very generous helping of Allen & Heath, a sprinkling of X1 and a smidgeon of Kontrol One. Put it all in a big melting pot, allow to slowly bake in the R&D over for a few months and all being well, you'll have the Reloop Contour.

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Seems that a piece of nextlevelness managed to slip through the cracks as I prepped for Musikmesse. I did receive a staggeringly huge image of said nextlevelness which I think I blame for my iPhone data usage pushing me into the red big time (don't switch data roaming on outside of your own country kiddies). But I digress. We've seen Numark's scrummy looking X7 mixer at NAMM. It still has the force field around it at Messe too, but it appears that there's a smaller version that's nearer to release. The perfectly formed X5 is the mixer to sits betwixt a pair of V7s.

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Trade shows are always a calculated risk at times. You have a large audience of actual real people who can touch your latest shiny toys, as well as a global audience of interweb punters gagging for anything to satisfy their gear geek needs. So the temptation is often stronger than maybe it should be for manufacturers to ship the prototypes to the trade shows. What I'm trying to say is that we tried to film a Pioneer CDJ-350 and DJM-350 demo, but failed.

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Taking prime corner position on Vestax's far flung stand was the Vestax PMC-05ProIV. "Yeah whatever Giz.. big deal - we've seen that like a bazillion times already" I hear you cry - but this time it's different. The pictures you thought you'd never see are finally here. Behold the monochromatically beautiful black 05. In this case, less is absolutely and most definitely more.

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I'm still unsure (yes even now) about the ability of the iPhone to totally replace the DJ experience in your hand. But some apps have crept out that go some way towards at least helping. And this particular app - djay remote - doesn't aim to do the grunt, but does in fact take over the controls of djay on your Mac. And for the record, the promo video above was made by me - it's my first promo shoot and I'm really proud of it.

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The run up to this year's Musikmesse has been quieter than normal, making me think that I'm spending a shedload of cash and walking around aimlessly more then ever. But Pioneer unveiled the delightfully nextlevelness laden DJM-2000 last week. But the grapevine round these parts twitched with rumours of something else - that Pioneer carefully tried to hide the scent of from me with a smokescreen of spurious PR. But I knew… and this morning the truth is unveiled - say hi to the CDJ-350 and DJM-350. Messe just looked a lot more interesting.

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