Okay, hard-core DJs disappointed by Numark's new iPod DJ
prototype: Numark isn't just about Pod-weilding newbies. They've got
the tricked-out mixer for the die-hard in you, too.

The new 5000FX, also shown at Musikmesse, is an analog-digital hybrid: 5-channel analog mixing meets digital effects and sampling:

  • 35-second sampler
  • Trigger, loop, pitch-bend, crossfade, reverse your sounds
  • Integrated memory buffer grabs even more sound from the mixer so you can scratch it with a scratch wheel or reverse it
  • Integrated, beat-matched DSP effects: chop, echo, delay
  • "Beatkeeper" tracks two separate beat sources with BPM displays and aligns beats of effects, sampler, automatically loop points — wha??? Insane.

So what can you hook up to it? Absolutely everything: three turntable
inputs, two mic inputs (one a top-mounted Neutrik), or 6-9 line inputs
(if you turn off the phono preamps), plus master, zone, booth, record
outs, analog and digital. Let me get this straight: I could
hook up a couple of turntables AND a couple of laptops AND a mic, go
completely nuts with vinyl AND digital scratching AND sampling, looping
and beat-matched effects (to say nothing of what the laptop could do)
and then output to headphones, a main mix, and a digital set?

I have no idea where there's a DJ who could max out these capabilities, but whoever can, I want to meet you. And you thought the art of DJing was dead. Shipping this quarter for US$899 retail.

(via skratchworx — same article that gave us the iPod story. Nice one, guys!)