January 23, 2004

{     Technics SL-DZ1200     }    

Holy shit yall, I just about did a full-on Jack Tripper 2004 and spit my coffee all over my i-screen when I saw this shit. Just go ahead and click the image to the left, then come back once you've cleaned yourself up. I'll wait.

Okay, good to go? Alright, so what you just saw was the as-yet-unreleased-in-the-US Technics google(SL-DZ1200). From what I understand, some of these monsters are already stomping around Japan, but Technics hasn't yet let them cross any waters. The good news is that I have yet to see a bad word said by anyone that has touched them, which is amazing in itself, given how most vinyl DJ's are incredibly, and understandably, quick to rip on any CD-turntable-DJ-type-thang.

The first thing you notice, and I think what is going to work wonders for this piece before anyone even touchs it, is that it has the same solid, timeless body-style as the classic Tech-12. Solid metal, heavy as shit, and lookin' good from '72 'til forever, the second it hits the shelves all those other CD tables will start to quiver.

The specs of the SL-DZ1200 are impressive as well; running a direct drive platter you get compatibility with regular CD's, CDR's, big fat MP3 CD's, and even SD media, all featuring a manual cue point, brake speed control, pitch lock, cue save, instant reverse/forward, crazy beat delays, vinyl simulation, flanges, reverbs, 50+/-% pitch control, and I'm sure a right ton of various other effects and filters.

You also get on-board sampling and looping, which means real-time recording, which translates into you scratching the hell out of some disc and then using that and several other lines as samples in your mix via 4 trigger pads. The platter will also keep a fine, old-school touch too, seeing as how they've kept it kinda big at 8", a nice middle ground between 5" CDs and 12" vinyl.

If you want more info, I suggest Googling around, as these have been only shown at trade shows thus far and have yet to have any official pages. For some images from said shows, you can try this link to get an eye-full, and even a short video.

All that said, I'll add that I personally don't think you're looking at what is going to be the vinyl killer as by now I think it's pretty obvious that there isn't going to be one. What you are looking at though is the newest benchmark, scratch that, the fucking axe in the table of digital DJ'ing. Coming around May '04 for about $1000 each, you better recognize.