I’ve never been in the situation where I’ve played a gig with another DJ. And even if I had, it was all back in the good old days of vinyl, where changing DJs was as easy as mixing their last vinyl into your first. These days however, the game has changed entirely, and it’s all about just how the hell you switch from one DJ who’s hardwired into the house mixer over to your own particular flavour of DVS system.
For those of you familiar with the potential birds nest that is wiring up a DVS system, you can easily appreciate how throwing a second system into the mix could be a real spanner in the works. The Native Instruments Traktor cables do make things a whole lot easier, but for everyone else, it’s a nightmare of sorting out RCA cables, that apart from being Red or Black all look the same - and there sure are a lot of them to weave.
But what if there was a way to make the whole rewiring process an very simple and hassle-free operation? Enter the Magma Switchbox.
First Impressions
What Magma have done here, courtesy of designer Skullyleo, is made the switch between DVS systems as painless as possible. Essentially the Switchbox acts as a middleman - a negotiator between the DJs and the house system. In detail, your decks plug into the Switchbox which then routes the timecode signal to the DVS system of your choice and all the way back again. It also manages to successfully juggle vinyl and CD - both regular audio and timecode - via the twist of a couple of knobs and the flick of a couple of switches.
The Switchbox itself has a very industrial utilitarian feel to it. Magma have eschewed funky design in favour of a very functional straightforward box. It’s a basic metal case with trillions of RCA ports, plus a couple of knobs and switches. Minimalist black box chic reigns here, and it never hurt Serato did it?
Courtesy of Magma, I did have a couple of somewhat funkier designs rather than the very industrial black box, one of which was given away to a very happy Canadian, the other sitting on a shelf in the skratchlab on display rather than being used. But not any more. Frankly I feel like a bit of a tool for leaving it there for so long.
In Use
The arrival of Dexter, the new skratchmac, has allowed me to run DVS systems at full core duo pelt rather than limping along in G4 induced first gear. So at the time of doing the review, I'm full of cold and frankly not in any state of mind to write, take pictures or film the videos that are a long time outstanding. So I decided that it was time to drag myself kicking and screaming into the modern age and get properly hooked up to DVS systems. And it makes for something a lot more interesting than “so I plugged in all these cables”.
I've had a Magma Switchbox for ages now but never had 2 laptops to run to test it out. Now Mrs Gizmo does have one from work, but I'm not especially happy about installing several DVSs onto it for testing, so I thought that now I have the grunt, I'd try and run Traktor Pro and Serato together from my one Macbook Pro through the Switchbox. The reality is that if this test works, then anything will
Attempt 1
Splitting headache, runny nose, poor manual and a distinct lack of RCA cables... epic fail. Ordered 16 x 1.5m cables from eBay - yes it's a lot but I'm sick of always having to juggle cables. And now there's no confusion about what's mine and what I have to put back in various demo unit boxes.
Attempt 2
The cables arrived next day, as did a new supply of Paracetamol. So the task at hand was to link my decks and mixer up to 2 different DVS systems as if pretending to be 2 different DJs.
The front of the Switchbox is the direct input and output end - where you hook up your analog and digital decks. Yes, you can run both types from the same booth, and each can run regular audio or timecodes. It’s a simple matter of switching between them via the mode switches on each channel. It’s also where you run the audio right back into your mixer, both line and phono so that you can still switch between spinning timecode and real vinyl.
Essentially, the stuff in the front stays permanently plugged in. It’s the back where all the changeover is done.
The top and back of the Switchbox is split into 2, each dedicated to servicing separate DVS systems and pushing the audio back to the mixer. The hefty knobs on top divert the DVS systems as applicable - position A uses DVS A and B uses DVS B, as well as a middle position that just plays through i.e. normal vinyl/CD should you choose to use it. The mode switch simply allows you to select either a line level signal (CD timecode) or phono (vinyl timecode).
So you can a clear picture building here whereby you can use pretty much any combination of vinyl and CD with 2 separate DVS systems all at the same time. This is great for me in the skratchlab where I need to try out different DVS systems but don’t want to have to rewire all the time. But the real use of this is in a club situation where DJs need to swap over during sets with minimum disruption.
The back of the Switchbox is where all the swapping over will be done. Let’s say Jazzy Jeff is playing a set on ScratchLive - he’ll have his SL1 plugged into the “Interface A” ports. Then along comes Grandmaster Flash rocking his Traktor Scratch Pro Audio8 DJ box. He can simply plug into the “Interface B” ports towards the end of Jazzy Jeff’s set ready for the switchover. How they switch over is entirely up to them - move the knob to the through setting on deck A or B and drop on a regular vinyl, or switch to the B position and start using Traktor Scratch Pro right away. After the switchover is complete, Jazzy Jeff can unplug his SL1 box and be off to his next gig.
But here’s the interesting thing - the Switchbox allows them to mix and match DVS systems so that the DJs can dip in and out as they wish. Imagine seeing Jazzy Jeff and Grandmaster Flash sharing decks but on different DVS systems? That would be a pretty cool thing to watch. This is how I’ve been testing the Switchbox - plugging and unplugging ScratchLive and Traktor Scratch Pro and using both at the same time. Juggling one deck with SSL and the other with TSP is an interesting experience, but it worked perfectly, and I could quite easily switch over to regular vinyl or CD in the mix as well.
More Lines
A nice side effect of the Switchbox is the effective doubling of the line inputs for a 2 channel mixer. You can plug line level devices right into the Interface A and B line level ports and switch between them as necessary. Obviously this kills the DVS switching but does at least give you an extra feature.
Summing up
The Magma Switchbox has done 2 things for me:
- Made my previously streamlined DVS-free zone a complete explosion in an RCA cable factory mess.
- Allowed me to start using multiple DVS systems on Mac and PC and switch between them across vinyl and CD in a completely seamless way.
From a club owner’s point of view, it allows different DJs to turn up and plug in to the house system without interrupting the current DJ’s flow. The Switchbox effectively welds 2 digital DJs together in one big joined at the decks blob but also gives the ability to work together, be it with laptops or old fashioned records. From my own point of view, I now have the equivalent of a hub that lets me plug and unplug all manner of devices without the need to rewire my setup.
Be warned - so many cables can equal so many nightmares in setting up. I would recommend setting aside a few hours to make 100% sure that the routing is perfect and label all the cables accordingly for future installations.
When I first broke the news of the Switchbox, I read many comments about how it could be one as a homebrew project. And in fairness it can. But doing some rough sums, the cost of components isn't as cheap as you might think (unless buying in bulk), and the amount of time needed and the quality of the end result really does make the investment in the Switchbox worthwhile. Have a look at the picture above - wouldn't you rather just buy a Switchbox off the shelf than take on such a homebrew project yourself?
The skratchworx Switchbox is now a permanent fixture in the skratchlab and makes my testing life a whole lot easier. If you find yourself juggling connections a lot,the Switchbox is for you. Once you’ve set it up, you’ll wonder how you did without the Magma Switchbox.
Build Quality
A solid block of metal with all the ins and out you'll ever need.Unless you're greedy.
Sound Quality
Well...irrelevant. The Switch box is passive and simply routes audio.
Features & Implementation
It does exactly what it's designed to do with the minimum of fuss.
Value For Money
I have no doubt that you could make something for yourself, but it won't be as good as this.
I Like...
• The simplicity
• The build
• The awesome skratchworx version that you can't have ;)
But not so keen on...
• The initial setup, but once done it's done
If this is your kind of thing, you might want to check out...
• The Farnells catalogue or Radio Shack to build your own. There's nothing else quite like the Magma Switchbox
The Bottom Line
The Magma Switchbox eases the nightmare of switching DJs in the digital age, and gives a lot more flexibility to everyone else as well. Buy one today.
Want some pretty picture? Click here...
