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jeljms

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jeljms last won the day on September 28 2023

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  1. I’ve been without a mixer for about 6 months and finally purchased one the other week. My scratching skills are abject but I enjoy it anyway so looking forward to having another go now I have something to scratch on.
  2. Thanks for this - I picked some new precision screwdrivers up today and they did the trick. Opened it up and was surprised to find a P&G in the crossfader slot. Paid £60 for the mixer so that was a nice bonus.
  3. I just bought a Vestax PMC 06 Pro A. Line faders are quite stiff so want to open it up and clean the faders but damn, those faceplate screws are tight (my guess is it hasn’t been opened up at all in 20+ years). Anyone got any recommendations for decent mini screwdrivers to loosen up those faceplate screws?
  4. I just bought a white Vestax PMC 08. Should be arriving by post tomorrow. Used to have a black 08 which I sold a long time ago but always regretted it. If everything works as it should, it’s going to be sweet.
  5. What are Disk’s innovations in turntablism (apart from putting his mixer at a slightly jaunty angle)?
  6. The old battle mixers from the early to mid 2000s are the best you can potentially get for that money. I’ve owned 3 - the Vestax PMC 08 (would definitely be outside that price range though), the Rane TTM56i (would be around the £200-300 mark) and the Allen and Heath Xone 02 (anywhere between £100-300, depending on condition). All three have send and return for an external fx unit. I loved the 08 for the sound but I had a couple of them both with problems (the left channel volume was wrong, then replaced it and the crossfader burned out in days). The Rane TTM56 is the old warhorse of battle mixers but apart from the faders, I never really loved it. Plenty of people swear by it, though. Both of those have good external fx options. The 08 is more sophisticated with two different fx loops but the TTM56 has a very good single loop. But I really loved the Xone 02. Decent faders and upgradable too and just felt really nice - utterly solid and dependable. Very basic fx loop (no wet/dry control onboard) but absolutely fine. I had to get rid of mine but am still on the hunt for one and you could get a bargain. In fact, there’s one on eBay at the moment for $129. You can’t go wrong… Haven’t tried the 707 but they tend to go around the £100-200 mark, I believe. I’d go for something like those over a cheap newer mixer.
  7. This is a great update and if they keep rolling out the support for more and more hardware, I think it’s a persuasive argument for switching software (assuming people are using Serato and not djay already).
  8. Good topic. I'm not going to talk about my own scratching (in)ability but there was something interesting that I heard about, which is a willingness for hard work itself being a talent. It was something Alex Ferguson used to try and drum in to his players and that he would also look for in his players - that willingness to go the extra mile and practise more. Sorry for using a football example, but look at Cristiano Ronaldo. He is obviously phenomenally talented but I'd doubt he's among the 100 most talented footballers that ever lived so if talent was the only measure of greatness, he'd still likely be a very good player and a fine talent. But his drive and determination to improve is arguably as great as any footballer and that is why he'd be in most people's top 10 of the greatest footballers that has ever lived. His will/talent for improvement is what has made him extraordinary. For me - natural ability/talent + application/drive to improve is what likely equals greatnesw but I don't know that first hand because I have neither!
  9. I'm probably the wrong person to answer this question but I'm going to anyway... Looking at new 2 channel DVS mixers like the Pioneer DJM S11 or the Rane 72 mk2, I find it really hard to think that there are more features that DJs would really need or use for mixing two records together. From that point of view, 90% of the features on those mixers are overkill. So, purely for DJing, I can't see it. But then, if your intention is to have a mix or a scratch, then the non-DVS mixers from 15-20 years ago would still work perfectly well. I don't think mixers like the S11 or 72 are aimed at those people, even when they are referred to as turntablist mixers (the last dedicated pure turntablist mixer may have been the Scratchbox in 2006). I think these DVS mixers are designed for people who are trying to straddle DJing and production, to try and make live, "on-the-fly" musical compositions with their mixer, not just mix or scratch records. I'm dubious about this area as most of what I see or hear, even from highly skilled turntablists, leaves me cold. One or two manage to make something memorable but a lot of it sounds worse or at least no better than the record they are re-working. But maybe that's just me.
  10. Apparently the "any other inmoral purpose" part was removed from the Mann Act about 35 years ago on account of it being ambiguous. This was the same law that allowed Jack Johnson to be arrested in the early 1900s and was said to have been enacted in part because of Johnson and his behaviour (marrying and sleeping with white women). The application of the law towards R Kelly seems to be actually in line with the modern purpose of the Mann Act. So hopefully he doesn't start claiming that he is a victim of racism like Jack Johnson actually was. Not that anyone would be listening to him if he did say anything.
  11. I don't think there's much doubt that Bambaataa did this stuff. The only surprise is it took so long to come out as it was going on in the early to mid-80s and only eventually became common knowledge a few years ago. That's a 30 year conspiracy of silence. He's no longer in the Zulu Nation as far as I'm aware and the Zulu Nation came out with an apology to his victims after initially refuting the accusations. As I say, at least from what I've read, this goes back years and there have been at least two people who have publicly announced they were abused by Bam. One other person who I believe was abused (again, from what I've read) was Sipho from London Posse during one of the mid-80s Zulu Nation tours in the UK.
  12. I'm definitely more interested in plug n play systems. I know I'm not going to start faffing around with set ups as I don't have the time or inclination in the same way I don't with midi mapping. It's also why I'm wondering if the mega sd (amazing as it looks) might even be overkill for my needs - because I'd probably just stick with the default settings, in which case why not just get an original megadrive?
  13. Great info mate - I'll have a look at some of those. Re the games, here's the thing... I had about 50 or so plus an original mk1 Megadrive but I got rid of them all a few years ago when I moved house and when my kids were really little. They're a bit older now and my son is getting into video games (obviously he doesn't give a shit about retro gaming but he's happy to play on my Xbox360, which is currently what I'm playing Megadrive games on via the Megadrive classics release which had about 40 games from the back catalogue and attempts to do some smoothing of the graphics on modern TVs but that looks a bit like a wax layer has been applied) so I would effectively be starting again from scratch. So it's possibly cheapest for me to pick up a CRT for 50-100 quid and then a cheap megadrive, which is still possible by the looks of it... but I've noticed the games on all systems have definitely gone up in price over the past few years. I did think about just getting a mini megadrive for reasons of space but there are some games that aren't on there that I would still love to play. I'm a massive procrastinator when it comes to this sort of thing. Anyway, thanks for all the really useful info - I'll check out the other options you mention as well and then attempt to make a decision!
  14. You know, this had passed me by completely! Thanks man! It would be Megadrive games mostly so this would fit the bill perfectly. I've just watched some reviews of it and it gets a lot of love. I like that it is basically the original hardware reconstructed and modernised rather than emulation. The only problems are the price, stock (they don't seem to have any) and location. I'm UK based but it looks like they are US based. They do a European model but I'd be a bit worried about import taxes on top of the hardware costs. Hmmm.... looks like a great option, though and I wouldn't need a CRT with this. Decisions, decisions...
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