Basilisk

Slug, I am enjoying the personal touch to the site in some posts that are coming up... that's what makes it a worthwhile read. Recycled promo info isn't interesting, and dilutes the quality of the blog, but it's easy enough to skip. Keep on with it...

Attention: see the topic on harmonic mixing I started in the general forum for your first problem!! This also relates to your tendancy to mix within the 2bpm range. Secondly, I agree - let the music speak. That's certainly an aspect of my style as well. With full-on there is more x-fader fuckery going on however...

Sure enough, but you're not implying I'm a "prog DJ" are you? I always advocate doing the best you can with whatever music you play with... prog sounds nice with long blends, and I do recognize that with full-on a lot of the time you just want to get out of the way. I think I have the 1002x... something old anyway. Picked it up 6 years ago or whatever, replaced the crossfader once. Good investment of a couple hundred bucks, thats for sure... I'd like something with four channels though, so I can use my turntables at the same time...

I think I gave the low-down in the other thread... they're good for the pitch res, kind of cheap for everything else, something you'd want to keep at home and not bring out to parties. 100s get aggravating if you're trying to perfect your mixing skills as I have been. Considering the time between just learning and realling honing your skills can actually be fairly short if you get people to point out stuff that took me years to figure out on my own, going with decks that have higher pitch resolution to start off with sounds like saving yourself some trouble down the road.

Yeah, I'd actually spend more on the mixer. Personally I have a crappy numark two-channel... it does the trick, it can be brought out easily, but it's nothing fancy. Vestax makes some great mixers imho. Take note of what I wrote about the 'cue knob' earlier in the thread. About only seeing 100s on the streets - well yeah, they just came out all of two months ago or whatever. If it weren't for them being cheaply made plastic, I think we'd see a greater adoption rate. As is I don't see any logical follower to the 100 right now, though I wish more promoters would start bringing 800s or 1000s out. Those are sweet. As for mylo and anyone else claiming the 100s are perfectly fine - sounds like you might not have as precise an ear as I possess, or just don't really care. One minute mixes of full-on stuff? Whatever floats your boat...

DP, I think your problem is that you just like too much music and is that really a problem for you? I cannot get anything out of your reviews any more - though I appreciate the style in which they are written and the thematic quotes you use to introduce things... fact remains - I never have any better idea about a release after going through one of your write-ups this is part of what I was originally addressing... maybe you're giving the reviewing medium an aesthetic of its own that can be appreciated, deviating from the original purpose and intent of reviews in a way... and I certainly don't mean to cause any offense by what I say here. I wonder - am I the pickiest bastard around? I'm actually surprised I don't get any harassment from the sunshine and rainbows squad for routinely dissing up new releases that come out.

I must admit that I am sorta starting to like how brutal this is.

See, this is what I don't get. You're advocating a piece of equipment that is convenient for music of a partciular BPM range. You realize how crazy that sounds? If you want to play with some proggy stuff and try to keep it smooth with the 100s you're going to find you'll be riding the pitch like all the fucking time, and whatever you might say about "work for our money" what it comes down to is that a technological limitation is hampering your abilities. I think it's worth the extra 100USD - the 200s are entry level just as the 100s are - they aren't pro decks or something. And it's not going to take anyone 2-3 years to pick up the beatmatching - that's a process of about a month nowadays. It wouldn't make sense to pick up 100s and then be ready to go beyond them in a handful of months.

You can call that being a nazi, I call it being a high-quality DJ. Even with the extra rez you still need to fine tune things - this isn't analog. It's impossible to get it exact! But it sure will help improve the quality of your mixes - something which you are indicating isn't a priority it seems... Pitch resolution and interface are the only things you're really paying for. The rest of it - effects and other features - is just the icing on the cake. The 100s will be fine for any beginner but if you mix outside of 145bpm or thereabouts you will eventually get quite frustrated with having to "ride the pitch". When you don't have to be constantly babysitting a deck with shitty pitch resolution you can keep your hands free for the smooth coordination of other activities - adjusting volume and EQ for example. It's worth having that freedom imho.

Pioneer CD decks are standard - don't fuck around with anything else. Get something with a good pitch resolution - anything but the 100 these days (they're being phased out). For a mixer, you can start with a cheapo 2-chan, just make sure there is some EQ to work with (low-mid-high). A cue knob is quite handy to learn as well - and I'm constantly surprised at how many high end mixers do not have them! This isn't even usually a feature that the manufacturer lists, or I just don't know the term. Essentially its where you can listen to two channels in the headphones, but have a knob to control how much of each. Beyond that, with the resources on the web, you can learn the rest very fast. I learned to DJ when it was a matter of passing on tricks in real life, and some things took forever, because they weren't very intuitive. Nowadays I think I could mentor someone into having some solid skills in three to six months, whereas it took me years. I'd know the approach to take. What cannot be rapidly learned is the music itself, and your taste, and how songs go together to build a flow. I think programming and a good ear take the longest to develop, and you can't rush that. You also have to think on your toes if you go out and get some gigs eventually - you can never be sure what the equipment or the sound system will be like, or what sorts of madness you would have to endure as a DJ. Best advice is to stay away from the fucking parties unless you have a high tolerance for other people's bullshit.

Who the hell cares about mp3s anyway? Ignore that feature, I do. Any DJ worth hearing will surely recognize what good a greatly increased pitch resolution is. Need I explain why it is worth the money? The downsides... the CDJ-200 is actually not as well made as the 100. It isn't as sturdy. The pitch control is sticky in spots - a mark of low quality. You can be trying to get 0.72 and always end up at 0.70 or 0.74 until you hold it down and really force it to be in the middle there. That sucks. Everything feels cheap and plastic, especially the jog wheel. It may look pretty with those new blue lights but the 200 isn't the workhorse the 100 is. I've seen a 100 that accidentally caught fire still in use at parties, melted knobs and everything. I don't think the 200 would last five seconds. That being said I did sell my 100s and pick up 200s because I am making mixes at home, and 0.1% pitch resolution totally sucks. It's a trade-off.

^ well-stated. Interesting to hear how people approach their music purchasing anyway.

I think white labels are considered prestigious in other scenes, but here in the land of Goa we've got some smarts and realize that with an actual commercial release you get a nice fancy cover most of the time, and overall the aesthetic is much more geared to a collector... however - I could be wrong. Personally I've tried to get rid of every white label I ever managed to pick up (mostly second hand when the seller didn't bother to inform me) because I think they're shit. Of course for releases for which there is only promos, that's the way to go. Generally I think the obsession with white labels (which I am most familiar with from "regular" trance fans) seems idiotic. Rarrrr!

The starting place is simply... what good are reviews? How do you use them? What is the purpose of them? I'm curious to find out how many of you rely on reviews to affect your purchasing decisions, and how. Will you track down a compilation from a label you've never heard of if the reviews coming in are solid? Or are you more cautious, using reviews to screen new releases that you already figure you would like?

No, it's more valuable than a common Goa album release on vinyl I'd say. Shakta's remix and a few other songs here make it a classic. If you were to get appropriate value for it I'd say - 30 or 40 bucks (canadian) - depending on condition.

Double Dragon? I don't have any of his work for sale... As for Crop Circles - oh yeah. Late addition to the list. I'd peg it at $15 - though it is in high demand, it is just a white label after all.

I know some are pricey... those are usually the ones I hesitate to get rid of, that's all I've gotten over $100 for the gathering in the past so that's where it's at!

V/A - Phase 3 [Etnicanet 2005] CD Just okay!

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Guns n Roses rock ballad remixes surely qualify for that ultra-low crap strata.

How arrogant of you. Perhaps this really is a cheezy bunch of crap. I like the cover though - it's really cute.

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V/A - Lost Souls Depot [Temple Twisters 2005] CD Kerosene Club - Lost Souls Depot Kemic-Al - Smigle Wizard Lizard - Doctor Satan Highko vs Kulu - Noise Poison Double R.E.L. vs Cosmo - Wipped Out Cosmo - Psycho Wars Naked Tourist - As Well as U Dance [bomb the Bay Edit] Toxic - Splitminds Winter Demon - No Rules

Sensient - Pressure Optimal [Zenon 2005] CD *blap* Rewrite in progress.