From: metlay@PHYAST.PITT.EDU (metlay)
Newsgroups: rec.music.synth
Subject: Re: Roland DJ70 sampler workstation
Date: 8 Sep 92 16:12:24 GMT


Gosh, this is fun. If they don't fix Pnews soon I think I'm going to bust
a gut. Anyway, I go away for a weekend and when I get back there's a whole
thread I get to jump in on. First a guy who calls himself "Mars" says:
>
> Has anyone out there tried out Rolands DJ70??
> How much is (2Mb RAM) it?? How much is it to expand to the full
> 4Mb??
> 
> Also how does it compare with Akai MPC60 for cutup sample oriented
> production???  Also what's up with that ridiculous 'scratch'
> platter?? That's gotta sound like crap, right!?!?!?

To which Nick Rothwell replies:
> The DJ70 is the only synth/sampling product on the market that can bring
> smiles to the faces of the entire assembled membership of Team Metlay,
> and reduce a major Pittsburgh music store to a state of near-anarchy.
> 
> Don't knock it.

...followed by a guy with a left bracket in his name (I assume it looks better
on machines with Swedish font selection?):
> From: d88-jwa@dront.nada.kth.se (Jon W{tte)

> Uh, might I differ?
> 
> Well, it's sorta nifty, and better than the "flipping" wheel of
> a typical DJ CD player. But an SL-P 1200 mkII it ain't.

At this point, I choose to interject a few facts as well as opinions, since
this is an awfully fun thread but is a bit lacking in real data:

The machine's incredible effect was due at least in part to complete
surprise. Think about it: we pride ourselves on knowing what's coming
out in the MI industry weeks or months before the fact. When was the
last time something got by ALL of us? Yet we walked into this store
to help Nick shop for stuff he couldn't get in the UK, and there was
thsi brand-new Roland keyboard sitting there innocently on the rack....

We went absolutely bananas with it. Every single one of us, as Nick
reports, was grinning like an idiot as we took turns experimenting
with assigning sounds to the various keyboard parts, the onboard pads
for hits, and the scratch wheel. It was FUN, which one doesn't tend
to get much of in today's market, nicht wahr?

The DJ70 *is* "dead brill," as Nick would put it (others would say "way
cool," and still others "groovadelic;" my preferred term is "better than
being castrated with a length of rusty baling wire"), but there are some
areas in which it could be improved. To wit:

The base machine, to answer "Mars's" query, goes for a hair over $2000
here in Pittsburgh, but I have no doubt that it could be had elsewhere
for somewhat less than that, perhaps $1800 or so. Memory expansions are
proprietary, hence quite expensive: I believe the figure I was quoted was
around $100 per Meg. That's not as bad as Yamaha's SY upgrades, but it
ain't buying SIMMs, neither. IMO, both the machine and its upgrade are 
too pricey for what you get. It's compact and transportable, true, and
ideal for live use in a rave or other DJ situation (combined with, not
replacing, a drum machine and a pair of 1200s), but it's a bit out of
range for any but the most dedicated DJ.

It supports only Roland sample format disks in its onboard drive. This
is not the widest variety of sounds that one might hope for, folx. Sorry.

The scratch wheel is WAY cool, but it doesn't send/receive MIDI. This makes
it impossible to record your scratches. Bummer. Actually, this launched a
spirited discussion in the middle of the store, one which scared away a lot
of customers: namely, how would one record the wheel's movement in MIDI form?

We came up with two contenders, position and velocity. The wheel, for those 
of you who haven't seen a DJ70 yet, is a plastic disc to the right of the
keyboard, that lets you play a selected sample (Only one at a time, alas) 
forwards and backwards by scratching. The sample loops when you turn the 
wheel in one direction for a long distance, like a skipping record, and goes
faster and slower in both directions depending on platter speed. The wheel
has no stop position or detent, and spins freely in either direction, making
position-based MIDI transmission an iffy prospect. We decided that recording
velocity at some fast sampling time would be the way to go, maybe with one
Control Change for Forward and another for Backward to give more resolution
--but it's all moot anyway, since the DJ70 won't do it. However, along with
a MIDI joystick that transmits CC 16 for X and 17 for Y (a portable version
of the VS/WS jyostick), a scratch wheel of this type as a standalone MIDI
controller is now on my personal "to be built" list.

And to paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen, I have worked with the DJ70 and I have 
worked with the 1200 (I'm too old to have worked with a MkII), and the 
DJ70 is NOT a 1200 by any means. But then again, I don't think it was
ever meant to be: you can't transform on it, and there's no way to mix
two ongoing programs at once (vinyl is cheaper than memory). It also was
not meant to do the sort of cutup production the MPC-60 was designed for;
the two machines have very different operating philosophies, and I think
the Akai is far more advanced in its editing and pasting capabilities than
the DJ70. The two units together would make a killer compact rave system, 
but for that kind of money you could buy a lot of other stuff of more
general use.

My take on it: it's cute, but aimed at a limited niche. Either build one
that costs a lot less for what you get, or give me a K2000 with a scratch
wheel. (The two machines sell for the same price, base configuration.)

(BTW, Jon also wrote:
> Help eradicate FIDO-Net <-> Usenet gateways in our time!
I could say something here that would get me flamed from here to 
Lower Liptwitch, but I won't. I'll just say "It has its merits.")

Anyway, an ironic postscript comes from the same guy who started all of
this, who now posts:
> Anyone know of any good places to go in LA for a DJ70??  I heard of
> Nadine's, is that a good store and what is their phone number??
> What store in LA has a good Roland sample library?

He appears to have gone from thinking the DJ70 was "ridiculous" to 
wanting to own one, in a very short time. Why does this no longer
surprise me, on this newsgroup?

-- 
dr. michael metlay          \ TEAM-METLAYISM OF THE WEEK (from N. Rothwell):
atomic city                  \ "Neeed." As in, "I know I have a huge rig of
                              \ twenty synths and a computer I don't know how
metlay@minerva.phyast.pitt.edu \ to use yet! But I Neeed a K2000, too!"