Have you ever eyed up those guys behind the decks, looking so cool with one headphone tucked against their shoulder? Ok well I have. Stop laughing.
Thing is, I have no vinyl. I think the last record I bought was Queen: Live at Wembley. The one with the big fold-out cover shot of the band in front of a gigantic crowd. I used to imagine being part of the crowd when Freddie did his doo-wop scat thing and the crowd repeated it back to him, until he just went crazy and they all laughed.
Where was I? DJs. And vinyl. Spinning tracks and scratching and all that. With MP3s. I’m not in the scene, but I’m lead to believe that this is fairly standard issue these days. Digital DJs have the choice of anything from the Pioneer CDJ decks with USB ports for MP3 libraries, through to the super-pro Serato gear, with its time-coded vinyl (which, incidentally is designed by a bunch of Kiwis!).
The Vestax Spin sits at the very entry level of this type of technology. The deck and software is only NZ$499, and operates as a basic USB controller using your iTunes music library. The included software is Mac-only, but if you hunt around you’ll notice the Spin is compatible with some alternative Windows software.
The whole thing is amazingly intuitive and responsive. Drag an MP3 file onto one of the on-screen turntables, and it starts playing. From there, you can use the physical decks and mixers to stop, spin, mix and loop the tracks. Each deck has independent controls for tempo, equalizer, gain, and a few other tricks.
A microphone is included in the box, so all you need is a Mac, and some serious looking DJ headphones that you can tuck under your ear. Then you just need to practise that one-handed wave dancing thing that DJs do.
Please don’t take the video below as any more than an example of how easy the device is to use. I’m sure you could do a lot more with it than mix Akon and Willie Nelson like we did:
In summary: bloody good fun, $499 from Mix Foundation.
Hi,
Great review, really keen to buy one of these.
Got a party on Saturday that I’d like to use it at, and I don’t think it’d be here by then if I order it tomorrow morning.
Are there any local retail stores in Dunedin that would sell it? A quick Google didn’t reveal much.
Cheers.
Posted by Mak | May 26, 2010, 7:00 pmTalk to the guys at Mix Foundation, they can probably sort you out with overnight shipping.
Posted by Ben | May 26, 2010, 7:10 pmHello Ben,
I got hooked by this device when I saw you show it on Breakfast.
Can you tell me how I can one of these that is compatible with Windows 7?
Thanks
Posted by Ritchie | June 3, 2010, 10:14 pmHey Ritchie.
I’m not sure it’s officially compatible, but here’s a video of someone using it with Traktor on Windows 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNQkYvkdtZ0
Posted by Ben | June 4, 2010, 8:21 amhey ben,
really keen to buy one of these,
Could you please let me know if it is compatible with a Macbook 1.42GHz 1gb ram, 60gb harddrive?
thanks Browny
Posted by browny | June 8, 2010, 7:33 pmHey Browny
On the DJay software site, they say “Mac OS X v10.4 or later, 1.8GHz or faster Intel processor,
1GB of RAM”, so it sounds like the old Macbook isn’t grunty enough.
You could always pop in to Mix Foundation in Auckland and see if they have any advice. They might even let you install the trial software to see if it works?
Ben.
Posted by Ben | June 12, 2010, 9:55 amhi ben,
just seeing if u had a reply on my question above???
thanks Browny
Posted by browny | June 12, 2010, 8:34 amNice video lol! Did you try holding the Shift button on the Spin while scratching for some auto crab scratch? Saw it in a video on the djay website: http://www.djay-software.com/features
Posted by Jan | June 20, 2010, 3:50 pmwould love to forever get updated great weblog ! .
Posted by Genny Dopson | February 12, 2011, 2:25 am