Saturn Never Sleeps, the band and label, released a new free compilation late last night to send love and thanks to DJ Kool Herc, the pioneering Jamaican-born DJ who gave birth to the hip-hop age in the West Bronx, New York City. I’m honored to have been part of the compilation along with a broad range of artists:

DaM-Funk, Damon Bennett, Dego, King Britt Presents Sylk 130, Ursula Rucker, Lushlife, ZIN, Hezekiah, Soul Litchfield, Illvibe Collective, Rucyl, Shigeto, Galapagoose (recently seen here on CDM sporting the monome software he co-created), Ras_G, Chuck Treece, Suzi Analogue, and Stef Eye

King Britt, the man at the helm of SNS, talks about his experience with Kool Herc aka Clive Campbell as he announces the release:
We Love DJ Kool Herc Compilation [Saturn Never Sleeps blog]

Whether any of this music resonates with you or not (and I do count on commenters to tell us precisely what they really think), the sheer diversity of music here is a tiny indication of just how profound DJ Kool Herc’s impact has been on music. This is just musicians doing what they do; with branches far from the original roots, it nonetheless shows the meaning of those roots to people making music of all kinds.

The impetus for this compilation – and many others in the music community – is an awareness of that tremendous debt, as well as the sobering reality of living in the US without health insurance. A lack of health insurance meant that Herc was recently unable to get needed health care when he faced illness, mounting bills, and surgery needed for kidney stones. I’m told he’s out of the woods for now, thanks to support he’s received (including assistance from Russell Simmons, though Saturn Never Sleeps is still welcoming donations via the site for the artist, his family, and the cause:
http://www.djkoolherc.com/

The issue with health insurance is larger than any one person. As his family writes on that site:

We also know that many of hip-hop’s pioneers and artists, like many Americans, have faced and will continue to face similar circumstances. So we call on the hip-hop community to come together to figure out positive solutions around health care and to advocate on behalf of the artists who made this culture and movement the global force for change that it is.

It’s an appropriate topic. In the impact of hip-hop on DJing, electronic music, and music culture, the political and musical have always gone hand in hand. At 1520 Sedgwick, where Kool Herc held his parties and developed techniques used globally by DJs today, hip-hop music culture was a form of resistance to a community ripped apart by NYC “master builder” Robert Moses’ Cross-Bronx Expressway.

From the local and personal grew musical forms that were expressive and universal.

Although the rhyming narration is a bit funky, it’s worth checking out this excerpt of a documentary on the early days of hip-hop, explaining just how DJ Kool Herc became known as its “father.”

The major technical innovation – the one that would go on to influence the likes of Grandmaster Flash – was what Herc first called the “merry-go-round,” the combination of breakbeats on top of one another to create a seamless mix. Saying that all DJing today owes some of its legacy to that breakthrough almost isn’t far-reaching enough; the resulting music transformed the way we hear rhythm, the emergence of remix musical culture, and aided the evolution of recorded music out of its EP- and LP-sized containers. (It certainly wasn’t the only breakthrough, but it began a parade of changes that form today’s mashable, digital musical culture.)

Saying that isn’t as useful as showing that, though. Here’s Kool Herc demonstrating the technique. It’s so commonplace now, it may be hard to imagine it ever having been unconventional.

Here’s a great interview from 1989 by Davey D, where – in musical time – the span of a handful of years had already made 1520 Sedgwick seem like ancient history. But the place of that landmark on the historical timeline of modern music has at least been recognized by the State of New York, the birthplace of hip-hop.

Interview w/ DJ Kool Herc: 1989 New Music Seminar by Davey D

That music has now become global, not just the product of its West Bronx origins. But as a New Yorker and an American and a musician, I hope we take that musical legacy and build for better times – build a city that is more caring to its residents, and a nation and planet that cares for its peoples’ health, across the board. I think there’s a reason the music and the parties sound optimistic: it’s optimism that those struggles aren’t in vain. Music can’t solve the nuanced problems of health care policy, and too often it fails to pay our bills. But it can give voice to that optimism.

I’ve begun to dread the appearance of iPad jams in my inbox; you may feel the same way. When affordable digital synths were new in the 80s, there were various embarrassing videos as vendors like Casio showed off the new capabilities. Listen! Who needs a real trumpet when you can use a keyboard that sounds like a trumpet? Sort of! Not really! But – it sure is amazing for what it is! Kind of! It sounds awful, but it is cheap and fake! It took years for people to appreciate those instruments for what they actually were, and then on entirely different grounds. (I nabbed the first Casiotone I owned on eBay. Appreciate it as a uniquely digital instrument, and it sounds completely different. I think I like it more now than I did then.)

I could draw an analogy here, but we’re seeing the iPad fad repeat that exploitation of novelty verbatim.

All of this misses the beauty of digital technology. Tech is at its best as the presence of the device falls away, leaving musical instincts and expression. And at that point, it really doesn’t matter what you use. The iPad will be successful not when it’s front and center, but when it’s invisible.

So, I was pleasantly surprised as UK hip hop celebrity Tinchy Stryder and crew take over ten iPads at The Carphone Warehouse in London. After parades of dorky demos, this gang of young people owns those gadgets. Yes, they could probably have done the same with ten drum machines – that’s the point. Even the iPad’s somewhat primitive touch input sounds great, because this group of people plays together.

The video comes from Jon Morter, a musical personality who has of late become a kind of viral master, launching campaigns to send Rage Against the Machine to Christmas number 1, and to save BBC’s superb 6Music station when it was threatened by cuts.

In contrast to awkward string quartets and painful Christmas melodies, Tinchy Strider and friends bring the iPad what it’s sorely been needing – some chops.

The rest of us better get practicing. And while it flies in the face of viral engineering and videos, maybe the aim isn’t to be first. Maybe the aim should be to make the novelty wear off, and get back to music.

Thanks, Jon, for sending this our way.

Record giant Universal Music Group is cutting prices on the CD, as analysts clamor for still-lower prices. But as for actual records – the kind made of vinyl – odder and odder innovations flourish. If the CD is dying, the vinyl record is an undead, sexually-alluring vampire.

Two recent releases not only treat the record as “delivery mechanism,” but also tools for playing the record.

The late hip hop great J Dilla (aka Jay Dee) gets a well-deserved tribute from his label Stones Throw, complete with some fantastic, unreleased instrumentals (“Safety Dance”, “Sycamore”, “Bars & Twists,” and remastered cuts for Mos Def, Q-Tip and Busta Rhymes). But, working in collaboration with Serato, this release also takes note of the people actually buying records these days: DJs. There are beautiful, donut-themed slipmats. (As far as I’m concerned, anything featuring donuts earns automatic bonus points. Mmmmm… donuts.) The records themselves, meanwhile, are dual-sided. When you want to hear the record, play it face up. When you want to use DJ software, flip it for Serato control tone. (Officially, that works with Serato Scratch Live DJ, but it’ll also work with the open-source Mixxx and Deckadance apps, too.)

It’s a fascinating idea: make the record itself friendly to vinyl and digital turntablists. Of course, if you’re a digital DJ, I imagine you already have the control records you need, but — you still get those tasty donut slipmats. And it is a reminder (as if you needed one) that DJs are keeping the record format alive. Massive CD sales may have been the domain of the mass market, but vinyl demonstrates how powerful niches and the long tail can be.

J DILLA DONUT SHOP (SERATO/STONES THROW) 2 DISCS, 2 SLIPMATS & DILLA BEATS

What’s that? No space for turntables? (Believe me, I feel you.) How about a record whose sleeve becomes a DIY turntable, spun with a pencil?

That’s the idea of a direct mail piece created by sound design studio Griffiths, Gibson, and Ramsay Productions (GGRP). Originally intended just as an attention-getter for creative directors, the concept has caught the imagination of bloggers, and those who got them wanted extras for their kids. (It takes me back to all the strange, cheap, disposable records we were handed as kids during what was supposed to be the last days of vinyl.)

The basic apparatus works just like a conventional record player: spin the record (using a pencil in this case instead of a rotating turntable), and a needle transduces the sound (here, amplified by the cardboard housing). I really like the cover on the record, too.

Links:
GREY SPINS VINYL HITS FOR GGRP [Marketing Mag Canada, via GGRP's own excellent Making Noise blog]

And from one of my favorite design blogs, the eco-centered Inhabit:
Album Sleeve Transforms Into a Cardboard Record Player!

For their part, Inhabit notes the value of cardboard as construction material and the green-minded reuse of packaging.

It’s an idea that would be great fun to build upon. The only thing that’s missing, that I can see, is an easy DIY way of producing the records. (Lasercutter trick, maybe?) Adding a piezo element to amplify the signal could be a thought, too.

Another how-to on a handmade paper+needle configuration (suggested only for playing records you really don’t want to save), in a video on WonderHowTo (also via Inhabit):

And some more pics of the two designs mentioned here:

Beat Kangz, the upstart drum machine maker out of Nashville, has been cooking up a new device for some time. That creation, the Beat Thang, is finally nearing production. It may not have a nameplate like Akai or Roland, but I can testify that this independently-designed gadget may nonetheless be one to watch. The hardware feels fantastic, appears to have the right pieces falling into place, and promises release soon. The founding team behind it blends backgrounds in areas ranging from hip-hop to computer science, and even production legend Bob Ezrin (that’ll be the Pink Floyd: The Wall Bob Ezrin). I got a look at the hardware in a private meeting at a hotel in Anaheim last week.

But even those aren’t the reasons you should check out the Beat Kangz. Why was this a highlight of my NAMM trip, even when it wasn’t actually at NAMM?

• It’s made out of ionized zinc.
• It has buttons for “freak,” “bang,” and “blang.”
• No ports get left off.
• It lights up like something Tron would install in your car if he were hosting “Pimp My Ride.” (Look out, ENCOM.)

Sure, we’ll have more substantive, practical matters to consider once this thing actually ships, but at least it’s something interesting in music tech news.

More information, plus details on the virtual/software version that’s available now. (Not in the video, but also mentioned: they’ve got a simple iPhone app now, which should eventually allow you to play back loops you’ve created in the software.)
http://www.beatkangz.com/

Rockwilder, a producer who’s worked with everyone from Aguilera to Xzibit, just happened to be hanging out in the hotel room banging away on the virtual edition on his Macbook Pro. He also shares his thoughts. The gentlemen of Beat Kangz say Rockwilder will be using their creation on an upcoming Method Man production.

Best of all, before I left, we got some trash talking going. It’s on, Akai and Roland. (Incidentally, it really is true that drum machines were noticeably invisible on the floor.) Correction: I am told Roland did have their MV8800 in their arena. At the risk of starting a war, I’ve included that full footage at the end of the Rockwilder video.

Note to manufacturers: this is how I’d like you all to start talking. Roland, you think your drum triggers can kick Yamaha’s sorry a**? Let’s hear it. I mean, diplomacy is good and all, but we do risk putting people to sleep.

Product tour at top, Rockwilder and a slap at the competition at bottom.

Say you’re an up-and-coming crew with a turntable and some mics. You’ve got a gig this Friday at the middle school gym (the janitor has been bribed appropriately) and the boys on the corner have been passing out your flyers to all the lovely ladies. Everything’s set, except you heard that Kool Herc is coming to battle. Herc and his mighty sound system schooled you last go-round, so you know you need something fresh to rock the bodies proper. Your DIY solution? The 55-gallon drum sound system.

Step 1: Get yourself two steel 55-gallon barrels and two 15-inch subwoofer cones.

(Kool Herc shown for scale)

Step 2: Have one of your buddies who works at the auto shop around the corner cut a hole in the bottom of each barrel. Drill some holes to mount the speaker facing out from the bottom of the barrel.

Step 3: Face the can towards the floor and have your buddy weld some 6-inch pieces of pipe on to boost it up a bit. Hook up your dad’s hi-fi stereo amp, plug in your mixer, and turn it up as loud as it will go (10 block radius). Get those bodies movin’.

Big thanks to DJ Mister P-Body and the book Yes Yes Y’All: The Experience Music Project Oral History of Hip-Hop’s First Decade. This idea comes from a story told by Tony Tone and DJ Baron about their early experiences as an MC/DJ duo.

Ed.: Now I can add this to my regrets about school, along with not taking shop to hone my welding skills — seriously, that should be mandatory. (Yeah, like I needed that extra AP. Dumb.) But I’m curious: have any of our readers tried this? Any tips to share? Perhaps we need a DIY speaker summit to try as many amplification and transduction options as possible — complete with welding lessons, natch. -PK

It’s easy enough to dismiss mobile music devices as toys, and I’d add, there’s really nothing wrong with toys. But the test – a personal one – is whether or not you can develop your musical ideas with them. Some of the deepest, most consistently satisfying tools for mobile devices are the ones that shrink down real production capabilities to a handheld size. Look closely at these apps, and you’ll see software that could easily have passed for “advanced” sequencers on computers fifteen years ago. (Indeed, I think arguably we’ve lost some usability with the complexity we’ve added since.)

While the iPhone phenomenon continues to grow, don’t write off Windows Mobile for music. Tony Stone sends a video showing off the piano roll-style sequencer in an app called AudioBox. It goes beautifully with the stylus – precision input that isn’t possible with your finger on the iPhone.

AudioBox Micro Composer is available at various online software stores. Here’s where Tony says he picked it up:

AudioBox Micro Composer @ ClickApps

AudioBox Product Page @ 4pockets [developer]

AudioBox has come up many times on Palm Sounds; see the interview with the developer

US$44.95, but for that you get the sequencer, an analog synth, a string pad synth, a samples, a drum machine, 16 channels of mixing, effects, editing capabilities, and “device automation” (not sure what that last one means). Part of the reason this is all possible is that developing for Windows Mobile is very much like developing for Windows – and unlike Google’s Android, you can write the apps in C/C++. If you’re not a developer, what that means it that you’re basically getting desktop-like apps.

Tony is worth checking out, too. He’s a Christian hip-hop artist, beatmaker and producer, and youth minister, and he’s promised some very interesting DIY projects coming soon. See his blog and MySpace page. We actually have a whole lot of readers making music in communities of faith, demonstrating that there’s a lot more diversity of musicians working with technology. It’s not at all limited to the view people have of the club or DJ scenes.

Side note: Microsoft should never have gotten rid of the Pocket PC moniker.

What do you say when it’s all been said? We felt it was time for a fresh perspective on the MPC phenomenon — one a normal review couldn’t provide. So we got the opinion of our friend, samplist/producer and Segue member Dave Dri. And the verdict: there’s still something about an MPC — even if it suggests why there’s also something about software, too. But it involves dust. Here’s his op-ed:

Recently I had the task of reviewing an MPC5000 for a local street press magazine. The MPC part of it was fine — the word limit was trickier. Over the last decade I have reviewed the MPC2000XL and the MPC1000, with a lot of time and gigs passing between them. From early days in a live breaks act to my current progressive house act, an MPC has been right under hand. In the week that I reluctantly handed the 5000 back to Musiclab, the drummer that guested in my band at the Big Day Out festival asked me to play keys and samples in his band at a local festival. [Ed.: Our own Jaymis filmed the Big Day Out gig if you want to check it out.] I found myself in a chance conversation with a friend from the live breaks act Bitrok and the very next day, somehow, I’m on stage with his MPC2500 — a unit which I have since bought. So why did reviewing an MPC5000 lead to me buying an MPC2500 after years of happy service from an invincible MPC2000XL?

If you’re reading this, you probably know what an MPC is, and you can readily review any number of link-bait Google results for the product mentioned in the title of this post. [Ed. Hmmmm, link-baiting MPC's, huh? "10 Ways an MPC is Like a Cupcake"? "15 of the Best MPC YouTube Videos Featuring Hot Women MPCers?" perhaps? -PK]

What you probably want to know is what it’s really like. So I will tell you.

Changes, Rants, and Internet Haters

It’s big. Really big. In fact, it’s so large that it couldn’t fit on the Jerker desk that forms the core of my studio rig, and spent its review loan period on a keyboard stand. In a particularly amusing moment I happened to glance at a nearby MacBook with an Akai MPD-16 controller plugged in to it and formed an unfounded suspicion that the sheer size was simply a ploy by Akai to appeal to some demographic that might use the MPC5000 as the core, if not entirety, of their studio. Would Akai deliberately oversize their hardware to appeal to bling-savvy producers?

It’s got a new screen. Getting past the size, the next comment is usually on the screen. Long-time MPC users with older models are delighted with the display being adjustable in both position and contrast. As one might imagine, navigation and editing benefits immediately, and the old Shift+Number menu system is replaced with context-sensitive Mode and Window buttons. By this point things are getting off to a great start. All the basics work as they should, and getting around the unit is old hat to anyone who has touched an MPC.

It’s a synth – but will it replace other synths? Then we find ourselves exploring the onboard synthesizer emulation that Akai claim “eliminates need for external analog synth modules or buggy software based synthesizers.” We will touch on the concept of buggy software in a minute, but I think we can safely ground the private fantasy jet that Akai seem to be flying around in with the notion that their VA emulation is somehow a replacement for external analog synth modules. As you would expect, the preset patches have a liberal use of the word “Moog” and sound nothing like one. Even worse, it soon becomes clear that you need to load a patch into memory to even preview it. As Just Blaze says on his MPC5000 rant, this is 2008. Having to spend studio time loading a synth patch just to preview to it is ridiculous, and was something that Yamaha seemed to avoid with their RM1X back in the mid to late 1990’s.

As to the marketing claims of “avoiding buggy software”, this is, of course, a point of instant ridicule for anyone who has owned first-generation Akai hardware. If there is any company deserving of an award for consistently disappointing software programming it would be Akai. Optimists like to say that 1.0 OS implementations are likely to have a few issues that soon get fixed, but that kind of logic in the automotive industry would cost lives. In the same sense, broken functionality or crashing operating systems can limit creative output. For a device that costs as staggering an amount as the MPC5000 (MSRP US$3500), it is inexcusable to release such a flagship product without appropriate testing and debugging. It’s not like the world was clamouring for a massive, heavy, expensive hardware sequencer with onboard virtual analog synth emulation. Again I will point to hip-hop producer Just Blaze and his rant at Akai for the state they released the MPC5000. [Ed.: This is not an official CDM comment or my comment on Akai's reliability, because, frankly, I haven't used one. So if anyone wants to add to the rants here or question them -- and perhaps comment on how firmware updates have settled -- I'm all ears; please do so in comments! -PK]

In Australia right now, for the same price as the MPC5000, one is able to purchase a rig such as an Asus laptop, Motu Ultralite audio interface (site | on CDM), Ableton 7 and an MPD drum pad MIDI controller interface. Then again, you couldn’t simply turn it on and start making music out of the box. Despite the need for hardware that simply works, Akai simply cannot afford to rely on Roger Linn’s (on CDM) clever idea from the 1980’s any longer without actually following through on their product promises. Akai commentary aside, this isn’t an outright attack on the MPC5000. Not by any means. The parent company may attract comments on internet forums like “they be smoking crack mangz”, but their products do have a place in the market. This is where anyone left reading can take a deep breath and bask in some hints of genius.

MPC5000′s Brilliant Bits

The MPC5000 does indeed have enough promise to warrant its place on the shelves of your favourite music store or in the database of your choice of online retailer. For a start, the filters and Q-link faders are stunning. Noticing the in-built pre-amp (that Akai have finally copied from their competitors) included in the MPC, I hooked my trusty Vestax turntable and randomly grabbed a record – in this case, one of those James Last records you can’t but trip over in Australian record stores. With it spinning, I pushed record, grabbed a good 20 seconds, mapped the sample to a pad and the pad to a program. Going into sample edit mode, I enjoyed the large screen and multiple faders for adjusting start and end points without the 2000XL style scrolling or shift fader. On a whim, I bumped the resonance on the filter. It took about 5 seconds for me to fall in love with the potential of these filters. Sweeping low, I turned Tijuana trumpets into a resonant sub bass that swept up with my fader movements into the kind of pitched build-up that is still all over progressive house. Sample transformed.

Grabbing other samples from sources less dubious, I began to simply enjoy the hands-on creativity that sampling so effectively enables. Whether you’re a fan of the Sonalksis TBK filter or run your samples through an old Korg MS-20, there is something to be said for the creative aesthetic that comes with a simple sampler, some records and some decent filters. Do I see some heads nodding in agreement over in the French House corner?

Conclusion: Dusty Fingers

So, after a lengthy rant, I managed to say some nice things about the filters and the aesthetic of the MPC. Unfortunately, all specifications and feature sheets aside, the legacy of the MPC series is and always will be the elusive concept of feel, aesthetic, and groove. Once upon a time, this might have been currency to spend on lengthy, impassioned essays to enraptured audiences. These days, the proponents of the tradition of MPC groove tend to get short thrift amongst their contemporaries, who program the same boom bap beats in Fruity Loops, on Roland Grooveboxes and — lest we forget — Madlib’s infamous Roland SP303. There’s a certain element of buying an MPC that’s just down to being down with the MPC format. Plenty of internet forum arguments are waged over hardware versus software, Akai versus Roland, this versus that, purple versus magenta.

Ignoring the actual conflict, it’s obvious that there is something passionate about the range. For me, the MPC5000 reignited a passion that had fallen behind with the 2000XL’s user experience, compared to my workflow in Ableton and Battery. Despite relying on the old grey box for live shows, I had forgotten the unique outcomes of dusty fingers, hands on vinyl, samples on sampler. And it managed to do that in spite of its size, cost, weight and bugs. Once Akai iron out the last of the issues, there is no doubt that this will be a success amongst those producers who are set on hardware sequencing in the box with all the trimmings. For me, the MPC range has been an extension of DAW workflow more than an alternative. In that light, I am content in the MPC2500 bringing crate digging and sampling enjoyment back into my studio and replacing my trusty 2000XL in the flight case at gigs. If the idea of the MPC5000 appeals to you, then I would urge you to test it out for yourself. If you already have then let us know how you found it in the comments below!

Dave Dri is an MPC-wielding Samplist and Producer from Brisbane, Australia. He has been involved with a variety electronic acts running the gamut from Breaks to Jungle. His current project is Segue.

Current’s Parisa Vahdatinia describes it thusly:

I’d like to share with you a short piece we recently produced here at Current TV all about the MPC–a brief history, how it was created by Roger Linn, and how it’s effected contemporary music, followed with some interviews with Damu The Fudgemunk, P-Fritz, K-Murdock who share their sentiments on how the MPC has shaped their music.

I’m just going to have to imagine how great this piece is as I’m stuck on a train with only phone-as-modem access, so you get to sort of scoop me. As I wait, there are some great comments up there already, haiku-like:

“I mistook them for drum machines….”

“mpc is the hip hop guitar!”

Couldn’t have said it better myself. But it raises the question, given the endless variety of even pre-digital musical instruments, what’s next? That’s a question I know Roger cares about, which is why he helped us judge a design challenge last spring. I’m personally excited by the idea that some designs are already here, and more are likely to come out of someone’s studio, without the major product maker label on it.

Okay, now I’ve seen it. Good to be back off the train and able to download videos. It does come off strangely as an ad for Akai, but there’s another way to look at it — as an executive summary of how MPC users describe their axe. Talk to any MPC user, and you get a case study in why the design of integrated hardware matters to people. I believe those principles are absolutely applicable to the design of software, as well. And the immediacy of the monome is entirely related, as a computer-based instrument, to the MPC as a hardware instrument. It’s easy to get hung up on the philosophy of instruments, but what really matters to people is (surprise) sound and how they manipulate it.

Henny makes beat on iPhone 3G using Beatmaker!!! from Henny on Vimeo.

Thanks to Mr. Get It Poppin, Kapo, and everyone else who pointed us to this. I’ve gone from being jealous of the iPhone to being jealous of the producer’s insanely rapid skills. Nice.

Back on the technical side, Mathieu from Intua writes to say that the software is making rapid progress. PDF documentation is up now. A beta of the file synchronization tool, BeatPack, is available, so you can start transferring files to and from your Mac or PC. The 1.0.1 update is very close, with small feature improvements and bug fixes. And we anticipate MIDI export of patterns not long after that. I don’t normally cover incremental updates, but I know this is big for you as I’ve gotten lots of reader emails. Stay tuned!

Downloads available, including BeatPack for OS X 10.4 and later and XP/Vista:

Intua Shop

BeatMaker page

This November, digital vinyl as we now know it will turn 10 years old. This setup is pretty simple in theory: instead of music, put encoded timecode on a record, then decode that timecode to provide information about where the record is in relationship to the needle. The idea is basic enough that, patent or no patent, it was inevitable that various developers would pursue the technique (and the very difficult work of implementation). Simulate the effect of scratching or needle dropping on a computer, and you’ve got virtual DJing, as found in products from Serato, Stanton, Native Instruments, Ms. Pinky, and others.

And as of Friday, it seems that the ongoing saga of a dispute over digital vinyl, beginning with the 2006 "divorce" of digital DJ titans Stanton Electronics and Native Instruments, may be over. NI released a statement Friday saying they had not only settled a US civil action patent case over their use of digital vinyl in Traktor Scratch, but had agreed to license the technology from N2IT Holdings, the US patent owners for digital DJing.

Apologies for the cat photo cliche, but … this involves patent law. We’d better have something cute and furry around to get through it.

The conclusion — the two have settled, Traktor Scratch is licensed per-use from N2IT, and N2IT’s patents are valid:

Native Instruments acknowledges the validity of patents held by N2IT, and has now fully licensed their usage worldwide for its TRAKTOR SCRATCH digital DJ system and related products.

The patents held by N2IT relate to general principles of digital music playback using time-code records, which are being utilized in TRAKTOR SCRATCH as well as in other manufacturers’ digital DJ systems with time-code control.

Acknowledging the validity of N2IT’s patents is actually pretty sweeping. You can read N2IT’s primary patent on Google Patent Search. The key words here are that N2IT patented the basic idea of using a turntable with encoded timecode on it for DJing. Theoretically, that could open up other digital DJ products to patent liability — keeping in mind that NI is a special case, because it was a development partner on N2IT’s FinalScratch product and was familiar with the technology.

How We Got Here: A FinalScratch History Timeline

I’m neither a patent lawyer nor a historian of digital DJ technology, so I quickly get out of my depth with the twists and turns this plot has taken. But I can offer at least a basic timeline of what’s happened, which puts today’s digital DJing in some context — albeit a somewhat strange context.

It goes something like this:

1. Revolutionizing Digital DJing — on BeOS (Doh!)

November 19, 1998: N2IT announces FinalScratch — for BeOS. [See Harmony Central, 1998] They even show off a working prototype at the COMDEX computer convention in Vegas. The product is developed with input from Richie Hawtin and John Acquaviva, who become its first users. (Incidentally, that’s why NI made a big deal of Hawtin switching to FinalScratch, and why Hawtin claims to have been on the cutting edge of digital DJing. At least in 1998, he certainly was, though you could argue the point now if you like. The choice of Be seems strange, but recall that under two years earlier, an Apple acquisition of Be Inc. had still seemed possible — until Amelio decided to go with Steve Jobs’ NeXT Inc. instead. And BeOS’ unique audio system gives it exceptionally-reliable, low-latency performance that could put today’s Windows and Mac OS X to shame.

Gustavo Lanzas aka Audioelectronic was there in the early days, as he describes on the Ableton forum:

Final Scratch was developed by a small Amsterdam-based 2-person company called N2IT in 1997-1998. The two creators were active in the rave/club scene, and had experience djing.

I was hired in 1998 [think this actually mean 1999 -Ed.] to go to Vegas and demo the very first system seen in the US at a BeOS event at the Treasure Island Ballroom. Here is a link to an archive of the event:

http://www.beatjapan.org/mirror/www.be.com/events/NAB_party.html

The hardware at the time was a hand-soldered prototype in an open aluminum project enclosure. The software it controlled was the BeOS media player. You could open multiple instances, and control whichever one was in front. Very rough, very primitive, but it worked more or less the same as it did now. There were exactly 2 prototypes, and no one had invested 2 million dollars into the company. Smile

Here’s a link to an early press release (I don’t think the product actually existed as such at this date):

http://news.harmony-central.com/Newp/1998/FinalScratch.html

I had worked with Timothy Self, then audio evangelist for BeOS, prior to this at Opcode Systems, makers of Studio Vision & several top-notch midi interfaces.

It looks to me like N2IT actually did show something at the 1998 COMDEX, because the Be folks gave them award and have a photo.

The Version 1.0 release comes out on a modified version of Debian Linux as well as BeOS. (The 1.0 software doesn’t seem to have been released until 2000.) Among early Linux adopters: Josh Wink.

2. N2IT to Stanton

[Date needed]: Stanton Magnetics buys FinalScratch from N2IT. I can’t find a date, which I assume means this wasn’t a publicly-announced acquisition. (And given the fact that the software was primitive and ran on Linux and BeOS, that’s not a huge surprise.) I’m also a bit unclear on the history of N2IT Holdings, though I’m gathering these exist for the purposes of retaining US patent rights.

January 2002: Bearing the Stanton name, the first complete commercial FinalScratch product comes to market at winter NAMM, for BeOS and Linux.

March 2003: Stanton and N2IT release Linux source code to the ScratchAmp driver — but note this only covers the audio interface, which is relatively meaningless; the real value is the timecode on the vinyl.

3. Digital DJing on the Mac, Windows

May 8, 2003: Version 1.1 of FinalScratch began the collaboration between Stanton and N2IT. It’s more like what we now know: Mac compatibility, and (courtesy Native Instruments) more usable DJ software. NI’s Traktor FinalScratch product even included a Linux version, though, for anyone who thinks NI has never done Linux development.

Native Instruments is really the ingredient that takes FinalScratch mainstream. They later port to Windows as well as Mac OS X.

4. Digital DJ Divorce

Late 2006: Native Instruments and Stanton end their relationship. (For some reason, this is listed as late 2005 on Wikipedia, with no reference; the divorce was not formally announced until October 2006, with an effective date of December 31, 2006.)

One stipulation of this separation is that Stanton releases a legal statement requiring NI to remove compatibility with FinalScratch timecode from its Traktor software line.

5. Traktor Scratch, Legal Disputes

Early 2007: The NI / Stanton divorce turns ugly. First, NI releases a competing product, Traktor Scratch. Stanton now lacks the important software capable of doing anything with timecode input, so they can only position the audio hardware — arguably the least important part of the equation — now called Final Scratch Open. Stanton also attacks NI, blaming them for compatibility problems between NI-developed FinalScratch software and Intel Macs. NI fires back that Stanton didn’t give NI enough time to complete updates to the FinalScratch software, while tying NI’s hands on updating Traktor via legal action.

June 16, 2007: N2IT files a claim against NI to try to get Traktor Scratch off the market, claiming NI’s familiarity with the underlying timecode technology.

This also illustrates why N2IT’s patent dispute with NI might not apply to other digital timecode products. From N2IT Holdings’ US legal representative, Bingham McCutchen:

In anticipation of working with Stanton Magnetics and Native Instruments to develop a new version of their product that would operate on Windows, N2IT claims it provided confidential information about its technology, and trained Native Investment employees on how their product worked. Last month, according to Billboard Magazine, Native Instruments released Traktor Scratch, which N2IT claims is similar to Final Scratch and uses its patented technology.

Now: By settling with N2IT and licensing the technology, NI effectively ends the Final Scratch chapter of history — at least to the extent that the FinalScratch / Stanton / Traktor / Traktor Scratch line appears to have passed (legally, now) to Traktor Scratch. Stanton is out of the business, left only with an audio interface. But, of course, with competing vinyl timecode systems, NI’s Traktor Scratch is also no longer the only game in town. And there’s nothing preventing N2IT from pursuing legal action with the competitive products, particularly now that they have legal precedent with the NI settlement. We’ll see.

How RZA "Invented" Digital DJing: The Legendary of Replicator

Of course, then there’s the bizarre footnote to this story — if it’s anything other than a random interview rant. In late 2007, RZA from Wu Tang Clan claimed in an interview with KotoriMag.com claimed that he had invented the digital vinyl technology used in Final Scratch on an Atari the year before N2IT — using technology from NASA, and millions of his own money. (Oddly, he also claims that music tech in general has come from space tech. I always suspected Cubase was powered by Tang… erm, the NASA-tested powdered beverage, I mean. Unless that’s how Wu Tang Clan got its name…)

There’s only one little problem: there’s no actual evidence of any of this. That, and the timeframe RZA describes is concurrent with, not prior to, N2IT’s development. So I have no idea what he’s talking about.

Here’s the take from illdoctrine.com, via a ProHipHop.com post of late last year:

And the complete interview:

So, is NI settling with RZA next?

I doubt it. But a RZA Edition Traktor Scratch — perhaps with a big Space Shuttle emblem — now that’d be cool.

References:

Final Scratch history [Thread on FinalScratch Forum]

Final Scratch @ Wikipedia

Updating the timeline:

If anyone has details to fill in, please let us know in comments.