Vestax
is a brand that reaches all corners of the scratch DJ world
and indeed the wider DJ scene as well. The PDX range of turntables
has been a contender for the Technics crown for some time
now (and in my book easily wins but I digress) but the mixer
that is iconic to most scratch heads is the PMC-07 in it's
various guises. While the Rane is generally classed as the
new king, nobody would ever call you crazy for buying an
07.
So a couple of years ago, Vestax thought it might be a good
idea to have a look at the market and bring out a potential
successor to the 07 in the shape of the 007. Sadly however,
Vestax seemed to have sadly misjudged what the market wanted
and ended up with a bit of a lame duck that sat between DJ
genres and satisfied none of them. Hurting from these wounds
(especially our review), The drawing board was dusted off and
a clean slate was put in place. It was time to bring the classic
07 bang up to date incorporating all the things that made it
great as well as adding new bells and whistles - and fixing
the things that could have been done better. The result of
this hard work is the new PMC-08 Professional Mixing Controller
- or 08 as it will henceforth be known in this review.
Embracing the constant rampage of technological progress, Vestax
have given the 08 a digital heart with an Apogee 24 bit 96k
DSP. This digital technology gives Vestax a lot more scope
with some of the mixer functions - the new crossfader is controlled
digitally and the EQ has been expanded to allow you to get
extremely flexible with the sound.
First Impressions
They say you never get a second chance to make
a first impression, but with this new 08 you get 2 chances
right from the start. Gone is the 2 tone split faceplate
appearance and in comes Piano Black and a somewhat risky
White/Orange colour scheme - very reminiscent of the new Sony
colour scheme. The black is ultra-cool and will no doubt
be the one people go for. But when people saw the white one
at the recent DJs For Life event, everyone loved it. I guess
I'm on my own then in this respect.
When
you first walk up to the 08, despite the new styling, it's quite
obviously a Vestax mixer. Care has clearly been taken to make sure
everything is laid out logically, aesthetically and familiar -
as the most likely purchaser for this mixer is a former 07 owner.
From a build point of view, everything lives up to the professional
name tag. It's in the details as well like the knob protection
bars at the front down to the industrial power supply connection.
This unit feels like it'll be just as happy out on the road as
it would in the bedroom.
it's a bit of a challenge
to the scratch brain. Usually, mixers are pretty formulaic with
most knobs and buttons being where you'd expect them to be. But
the 08 feels like it was designed for Michael Knight - this is
the mixer equivalent of Knightrider's KITT car. It's left to right
knobs, switch, buttons and lights. Sure the familiarity is retained
with the 07 features but it's all the new stuff on top and round
the back that really takes some getting used to. Before approaching
this mixer, I recommend a cup of coffee and an hour with the manual
to figure out what everything does. Expect a Dummies Guide™ to
the 08 to come out soon.
Let's break this down into it's constituent bits and bobs.
Faders
Right
now there's a revolution going on in the fader market. People
just aren't happy with stock faders anymore and will find
ways to either mod the fader or stick an outright replacement
in there. Vestax have obviously seen the amount of credit
card and scrape mods happening on their VCAs and have a whole
new digitally controlled crossfader in place.
Some of you may have seen the new CF-CC faders coming out from
Vestax with the 2 lag adjustment wheels on top of the fader
- seems this is almost the same fader as that but the adjustment
is done on the front face of the mixer with little dials -
just like the Ecler HAK 360 before it. The adjustment works
for both sides so you can tailor the lag to suit your own style.
It's also infinite so that you can adjust the lag to tiny amounts.
That said the smallest I can get from it is just a tad under
1mm which should be small enough for anyone.
The line faders
are based on this 04VCA tagged crossfader - called the 03,
they seem to be almost identical to the 04 but with a slightly
different circuit board. These do however still have the familiar
4mm lag that will need modding to get the best out of them.
Thankfully Vestax have returned to form in the reverses and
curves department. The crossfader at it's sharpest has no discernable
curve at all - it's a real on/off thing. If you don't like
such harsh curves, the adjustment to soften it is perfect -
you really can get the curve just how you want it. Thankfully,
Vestax have listened to people and reinstated the reverses
that were missing in the 007. The curve is nice as well - like
the crossfader, it's pin sharp at it's tightest and can adjust
to a 75% silent/25% linear curve at the other end.
On a related note is the transformer switch. Usually, this
would be a line/phono switch but now it's become a proper functional
switch in it's own right. And as well as being rotatable under
the faceplate, it's also pop-free - something that often plagues
other mixers.
EQ
Sound
quality is something that Vestax have taken very seriously
with the 08. Pitching the company at the professional audio
end of the DJ market means that they have to deliver in this
area big time. Moving the manufacture back to
Japan means greater care is taken with every aspect and this
is clearly evident in the 08.
Their last venture into the digital mixer arena was with the
ill-fated Samurai series. This new fader allowed digital on/offs
on the fader, but found little favour with the scratch fraternity.
The other side effect of this mixer was the pretty horrible
metallic sound quality. Thankfully however that is a thing
of the past as the sound quality from the 08 is a world away
from the Samurais and frankly many other mixers on the market.
As previously mentioned, the DSP allows Vestax to get
clever with the sound. Thanks to the DSP, the 08 has 2 modes
- EQ and isolator. Isolator on the face of it operates pretty
much like most other mixers, offering a regular amount of headroom
but full kills. (+6db to infinity - pretty standard) but under
the hood Vestax have tried to give the 08 a distict sound.
Now at the flick of a switch, EQ mode offers a wider range
(+12db) at the top end while still taking it pretty low (-24db)
at the bottom end.
And it does it extremely well too. The isolator is
adequate and you won't have any issues with it but when you
switch to normal EQ, the sound really does come alive, making
the isolator sound utterly flat in comparison. I know we all
like to kill the bass to stop rumble from the deck while scratching
but I'm happy to live with the smallest amount if I can get
vibrant sound.
Bucking the trend for knob EQs, Vestax have stuck with the
small faders - another nod towards its heritage. And they have
a nice reassuring click in the middle as well so you know
where you are. And yes - there are pan faders as well.
Send and receive
This
years must have is effects. Any scratch mixer worth it's
salt has at least got an fx loop but increasingly fx are
being built in as witnessed in the older Pioneer 909 and
the brand new Urei 1601E and AudioInnovate's AEM-100.
Continuing
Vestax's 2 for 1 theme, the 08 comes equipped with 2 complete
send and receive loops. Effect loop 1 is like many others
on the market - both outputs are sent to the external effects
unit, the volume level of receive being controlled by the
wet/dry fader - dry is the original sound, wet is the effect
received. You can also decide if channels 1, 2 or both get
sent. This is as basic as it gets and is generally found
on most mixers with such a loop. Thankfully this loop is
post fader, meaning effects such as echo don't get clipped
as you close the fader. And you can also adjust the volume
of the send and receive as well with the faders to -10db
and +10db.
One small black mark in an otherwise unblemished
copybook so far - the wet/dry fader is plastic (the same
as the EQ faders as well). I found myself worrying that while
doing some fancy 1 channel beat juggling with the effects,
smacking the wet/dry fader back and forth might not exactly extend
it's life. Might be an idea to change that in the future.
But
for Vestax, this isn't enough. They had to go one better.
Loop 2 gives you amazing control over both channels. Usually,
as with loop 1, you'd only get to decide if you were going
to send channel 1, 2 or both.
In some mixers you get a faceplate-off
option to flick a switch to determine pre or post fader sending.
This 2nd loop has all bases covered and then some. You can
determine pre, post or off for each channel and control how
much of each channel is sent through the loop. And as if
this wasn't enough, you can also set the receive level as
well as the EQ, albeit on both channels rather than individually
but it's a level of control unheard of on any other scratch
mixer before.
Now while you all say you don't need effects, this will be
the next phase in the development of scratch music. I've
never been a big effects fan as I've never had much desire
to add this next level to my repertoire. But having linked
this to a Pioneer EFX-500 and thrown my usual scratchy noises
through delays, echos (great for making multi-layer loops)
plus all the other effects available, I have to say I'm pretty
converted. The simple act of adding a bit of a delay to a
slowed down dirty beat makes a world of difference. And having
such a heavily spec'd send and receive like this one found
on the 08 gives you all the options you'll ever need. Even
if it had just got this second loop, it would still be a
long way ahead of every other scratch mixer out there. And
I feel like I've only scratched the surface (sorry for that)
of what can be achieved. A whole heap of brownie points for
Vestax for this.
And there's one last cherry on the cake - each of the fx loops
has a switches on the back to adjust the level of the signal
both to and from the effects unit depending the the devices
you've got attached. Not all line level signals are equal so
this compensates accordingly. All sorts of effects pedals are
available and all kinds of prices so you could buy a cheap
and dirty guitar pedal and use it with th 08 that's to the
switachable input impedances.
Monitoring
Continuing
the theme of familiarity with the 07, the crossfader monitor
and level faders remain much the same. But it's in the selector
that we see a real advancement for Vestax.
Normally, you can expect to see a master and cue toggle to
allow you to switch between the 2 but with all these extra
inputs and outputs, Vestax have added a couple of extras
to this switch. You can now monitor what's happening in the
send and receive loops as well as the session input. So now
you check out the effect in the loop before applying it to
the channel.
Volume
Things
are a little different in this department as well. And I
like the layout of this as well - all logically down the
right hand side. Interestingly, these controls are now knobs
rather than faders. I'm a little confused as to why Vestax
didn't use knobs for all the controls on the right hand side.
Anyway, firstly
we have the master volume level and right below it the booth
output level as well - something that the 07 didn't have.
In addition, each of these controls has a mute switch. This
is especially handy for when you've got the levels just right
but need to kill the output for whatever reason.
Below these is the microphone volume. This is interesting for
me as I often wonder why scratch mixers have really elaborate
mic sections. On the 07, you were pretty much covered for all
things mic with 2 mic levels, eqs and pans. Now all that's
left is a volume control - the rest of the space gas been taken
up for way more useful functions. It's a clear indicator that
the 08 is unashamedly a scratch mixer and nothing else. Lastly
is the session in volume which really needs no explanation.
The one thing that strikes me about the 08 is the sheer amount
of controls over volume, effects and EQ. Not only do you have
EQ on the 2nd effects loop, but using something like the EFX-500
you also get EQ controls on there as well. It strikes me that
there's no possible way that you can't get the sound that you
want with the 08 - everything has been thought of
and addressed. I'm told that Vestax enlisted some of the finest
sound people in Japan to consult on the 08 and it shows.
The Rest
I
think almost everything has been covered so let's just clear
up a couple of loose ends. First up is matrix assign. This
is a nifty addition that I've not seen on any other mixer.
Basically it allows you to route both channel inputs to one
channel. Confused? I was. Here's the breakdown - with the
switch in the middle, everything works as you would expect
it to. Move it to "input 1 only" and channel 1
is routed through both channels, taking on the volume, EQ
and FX routing of that channel. So panning the crossfader
switches between channel 1 only but the audio levels are
as if it was channel 2. Thus you can get some cool tricks
with different EQ's on each channel but crossfading between
the 2.
And there's a program reverse switch as well. This is a complete
switch where everything gets swapped over - EQs, volume and
everything.
Inputs and outputs
As you'd expect from such a highly spec'd mixer, the inputs
and outputs aren't overlooked either. And it's fair to say that
the similarity with the 07 ends here. It's all change in
this department.
Obviously there's phono and line ins for
each channel (switchable on the top) but each line input
also has a toggle to cater for differing line levels between
-10db, 0db and +4db. And I'm led to believe that the ruggedness
of the RCAs has been improved as well. The ground connection
has been changed - you only have one instead of two but it looks
to have been beefed up a little as well.
The session
remains the same but it's the outputs that get a serious overhaul.
In line with the pro audio image, the 08 now has balanced XLR
outputs - no self respecting company serious about their mixers
can do anything else these days. You still get unbalanced master
output but via RCA instead of jacks and as a double bonus you
not only get booth output but also a sub-master as well. This
has the same output as the master but now you have an extra output
to record from.
Just
take a look at this - the power supply has been uprated to
one hell of a block - the same as Vestax's installation mixers.
And the connector has been upgraded equally. This beauty screws
in and stays put no matter what. The power supply needed to
be updated because of the DSP - it needs a a lot of power to
deliver the performance required. The slight downside is that
it's quite a beast to lug around.
And finishing off, you've got the 2 send and receive loops.
All in all, the 08 has packed in a serious amount of ins and
out's into the back of a normal sized mixer and have taken
it into a new realm of professional audio.
One last thing...
Anyone
seen the port on the side of the Pioneer 707 and 909? We all
thought it would be for some super new plug in toy but seemingly
it was for rather boring techy diagnostic stuff. So imagine how
intrigued I was when I saw this panel on the front of the 08.
Of course, being the hard hitting investigative scratch journo
that I am, I took a screwdriver to it. And inside I found...
nothing. But fear not - it's there for a good reason and that
reason is expansion.
On the original 08 drawing that did the rounds, there was an iPod
port built in to the 08 - something at the time that I welcomed
and then though was a bad idea. Well so did Vestax so what they've
done is built in this expansion port for future use - the first
of which will be a USB port for use with an iPod. I guess this
doesn't mean that it'll be exclusively for iPods and perhaps in
the future will be for other expansion ideas will be available.
Having a digital heart does make the future for the 08 quite exciting.
I'll let you guys hypothesise on what could happen with this port.
If it were my mixer, I might be a little braver, whip out a screwdriver
and see what else was hidden inside...
In summary
Coming
up with a worthy successor to the ubiquitous PMC-07 was always
going to be hard. Finding the balance of pleasing existing owners
yet moving the product forward is tough but Vestax have pulled
it off brilliantly. They've clearly looked at the direction of
the scene as well as the current needs of DJs and come up with
a mixer that is amazing now and will be amazing in the future
as well.
The 08 isn't for everyone though. If you're just after a
2 channel scratch mixer, you can get one that'll do the job for
half the price. The 08 however is geared much more toward the experienced
DJ who plays out and tours, and probably works in the studio as
well.
And also on a battle mixer level, I'm sure some pretty neat tricks
can be pulled off with the matrix and EQs as well. Watch out DMC!
After having played with the 08 for around 3 weeks now - every
day often for hours at a time, I now find myself hankering for
one of my own and an effects unit as well (because that's when
it shows it's worth). While it lacks some of the specialised bells
and whistles that other mixers have, what it does do is address
the growing needs of the scratch DJ and executes them with a quality
and style that I've not seen before. Granted it's not cheap or
indeed an easy mixer to get to grips with but once you sit down
and read the manual, the 08 delivers on all levels and is the true
successor to the 07.
Rating - 92%
Huge thanks to Andy at Vestax
UK for the loan
