Ted Pallas sends along this terrific video of a hacked hardware crossfader, created by John Beez, that slides up and down on rails. Slide the crossfader itself vertically, and you change the pitch. It’s always fascinating to see this kind of solution — a bit like the keyboards that added pitch bend by letting you move the keys in latitudinal motion.

And, for a little extra something, he adds a talkbox, too. The only problem with the talkbox: a tube in your mouth is not the world’s most flattering physical interface.

From the description:

This is the first public view of the Fretless Fader system I designed for use with the Controller One (posted February 22, 2009). With this you can cut and change notes through 2 octaves without taking your hands away from the vinyl and fader. Big thanks to Gizmo at skratchworx.com for the feature! Stay tuned for an in depth look in the next vid.

Check out my band – Blount Harvey
http://www.myspace.com/blountharvey

Seen other attempts to do similar things? Let us know.

We first took a look at the Pacemaker DJ when it was announced in May. The idea is interesting: it’s a mobile 120GB hard drive with touch controls for internal mixing/cross-fading, effects, a separate cueing output, and pitch control, along with rich format support (even OGG, FLAC, AAC). That’s all well and good, but the device will apparently cost US$700.

Barb Dybwad at Engadget optimistically offers that “it’s a relatively low-cost convenient practice setup for DJs on the road or an attractive option for aspiring amateurs.” Hmmm … I normally agree with Barb, but in this case, let’s make that:

• relatively high-cost
• DJs would normally practice with real decks or software, not this
• aspiring amateurs have much more attractive options. (A laptop and Deckadance, for one. Assuming you’ve got the laptop, that’ll set you back US$99 – 179. And you could pick up a basic M-Audio controller for about US$100, and it’ll be easier to control than this.)

Not that you need me to tell you any of that. I’d still like to get my mitts on one to see what they’ve done; I just can’t imagine who this is for. If you know, write in.

Beatportal goes way over the top and asks if this is “a revolution for DJ and youth culture.” Let me answer that question: no. Youth culture? Dude, I grew up in a generation for which Garbage Pail Kids and slap bracelets revolutionized youth culture. Kids don’t really need that much for entertainment. The ones who really define culture tend not to blow a grand on mobile gadgets. And as far as something that is “set to revolutionize the way we think about DJing and mixing,” didn’t laptops do that already?

Still, since I was one of the people arguing for a “pro-level” iPod way back in 2001, I have to admire the idea. It just seems to lack some meat, like recording capabilities, or the ability to really integrate into a DJ setup. Of course, in 2001 I was much more innocent and immature. I’ve been working out, and now I can lift big boy hardware.

Speaking of things you probably don’t want: Dr. Dre-branded headphones manufactured by Monster Cable. I don’t know, maybe they’re great.

We’re just counting the hours until next week, when the NAMM show hits and we get really cool music stuff. Those gadget bloggers in Vegas at CES don’t know what they’re missing.

We’ve seen DJ parties with iPods and now handheld remote controls for DJ software. But what about building mixing features into the portable player itself? That’s the idea of the Pacemaker, a new portable player promised for Fall.

Pacemaker site (Warning: auto-plays music)
Tonium, the mysterious manufacturers’ site

DJ features and mixing are internal to the player, and there’s rich playback support in general. You can cross-fade on the unit itself, and add effects, with dedicated headphone and line out jacks and cueing features. There’s a multi-function touch control for all these features. As a player, it looks great on paper, with a 120 GB hard drive and support for OGG, FLAC, and AAC in addition to the usual MP3, WMA, and WAV. (Apparently no line recording, which would really make this a must-have, but some of the specs are still unclear.) If they don’t botch the design somehow, I can see this appealing to electronic musicians as much as DJs.

1. Line out and headphones crossfaders
2. Pitch bend, cue, loop
3. EQ, sound effects
4. Dedicated headphones and line out jacks
5. USB 2.0
6. 120 GB hard drive
7. Sound to noise ratio of > 100 dB
8. MP3 with Variable Bit Rate, AAC, WMA, WMA lossless, OGG, FLAG, WAV
9. 13 ms input latency
10. 18-hour battery life; 5 hours in DJ mode
11. Mac and PC compatible (assuming they just make it a USB Mass Storage device)
12. Save mixes

We haven’t seen the first product yet, but they’re promising more — “a pallet of innovative products and digital services … Everyone can be the DJ!” Not everyone can be product designers and manufacturers, though, so a lot (build quality, effects quality, usability, actually shipping) depends on the shipping product.

This isn’t the first time manufacturers have talked about creating an “iPod killer for DJs.” A research team at HP had the unusual idea of building a player around a ring, with motion sensors scratching tracks and streaming to other devices for collaboration. Those ideas don’t sound so far-fetched any more, with the Wii popularizing motion control and the Zune popular– uh, implementing wireless sharing. Wearing a music player as a ring still sounds silly, though, and like many research projects, nothing came of HP’s DJammer.

Thanks to Oscar and Louis and Jaan for sending this in!