Unbias Review

Top international hardcore DJ - NovaNova1, was asked to review the prototype of the device. He said "Its such a revolutionary piece of kit so I'm honoured to be the first to use it"
The initial prototype has SYNC24 capability only, but the inventor assured me that MIDI performance would be identical. I was also loaned a vintage Roland TR-606 drum machine for the review.

The DJ Device and 606 were connected together using a SYNC24 cable and I wired the 606 into a spare channel on my DJ mixer.

Kraftwerk + TR-606 + DJ Device = the perfect match
The first mix I pulled was to jam over Kraftwerk's "Pocket Calculator"...

...and it turned out that the theory was good. The tempo control on the device was a little sloppy (probably due to the 555 timer circuit and cheap components), compared to a Technics, but thanks to the careful design there was easily enough control to maintain a stable mix.

The 606 sounded really good over the minimal Kraftwerk beats and added extra dimensions to the song. In fact it was insanely cool. I imagine an old non-acid house track could be totally remixed live in an acid style by using a 909/303 combo and the DJ device.

To test the invention up and down the possible range of tempos I tried a fast-ish hiphop tune (The Message - Grandmaster Flash), at 100bpm. The beats were just as easy to get in time as before, and stablity could be maintained with no trouble.

I decided to go for gold with a slow gabba tune (King Stacy EP - Ovuca), again with no real issues, so it seemed as if the full range of tempos were useable. In fact the tunes on the EP could be jammed across (just about) even with a +8% pitch adjustment on the decks.

Obviously 97->214 bpm won't be enough for some DJs. In fact some of my gabba selection was /just/ out of reach, and 300bpm Dutch-style tunes would certainly be out. Likewise the slowest chilled out hip-hop tunes I own, at 80 odd bpm, were definately too slow for the device. However creative drum machine usage can accomadate these styles, and in reality the tempo range should be enough for most DJs. I'm assured its possible to simply modify the device for a different tempo range.

Overall then the DJ device is pretty good as it stands, with SYNC24 only. But when MIDI is added an infinite range of sounds will be available and anyone will be able to enhance (ruin ;-> ) their records and DJ sets.

Big love
DJ NovaNova1
xxx


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