What could you do with Numark's prototype iPod mixer, if it were actually built? (photo nabbed by German site WebBeatz) Here are some ideas:
- Charge and load: With dock connectors, you could power your iPod through the night
- Sample, scratch: Numark's use of short-length samplers (as on the shipping 5000FX) will demand new chops for digital DJs: try digitally scratching
your sounds with a scratch wheel, reverse, loop, chop up, and otherwise
flip around your digital beats. (See, you can't just let a few lousy
MP3s play all night after all — not if you want to impress!) - Play and cue: Those tiny iPod buttons aren't much fun in a
club; the Numark prototype has giant buttons you can't miss. And with a
memory buffer, it might be possible to cue tracks by slightly delaying the output . . . not sure if they can pull that off, but it's theoretically possible. - Pitch-bend: Real onboard iPod pitch-bend would be great, but until then an iPod mixer could get the same result via digital effects
- Not just for iPods: You can bet a company like Numark (or
whoever can ship a real iPod mixer) won't just include iPod inputs. How
about one iPod + one turntable, or an iPod + a laptop. - Even digital musicians should take notice: I know I'd like
to be able to quickly cross-fade to an iPod mix before and after a set,
or to fire up an iPod track while I load a new computer-based Ableton Live set while performing (or if, God forbid, my fancy Max/MSP patch crashes)
Of course, this is all idle speculation until this becomes an actual
product, but if Numark was showing it, they clearly want to gauge
interest. Judging by CDM's hit counters, interest is, ahem,
unbelievably high. And if Numark doesn't ship this soon, someone else
will.
Ironically, with vinyl hot as ever, the only endangered DJ species seems to be the CD.