Comments on: Touch it or grab it? Another Dj Touch controller.

By: elektroyte

elektroyte — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 11:35:24 +0000

Hi, I just received the DaScratch for christmas, and I think this is a really cool device! Only touching a section to absolutely set it's value directly (what touchpads are about and stuff) is really handy. The different possibilities with the big section in the middle (You can divide it into knobs for juggling) and the way you can set and change them are well-engineered and easy to use. Also I think touchsliders are for some things a much more usable way to control stuff, for example pitching, setting volume ; for the main things you use sliders normally.

Yes, I want to say that touchsliders are generally easier to use than old mechanical sliders, especially when we think of cutting something with a slider. But for sure thats my subjective experience.

All in all I wanted to say that I think this article is unfair to this new (in my eyes -cool-) device. I for sure do not want that every new "special" midi controller coming out is getting praised immediately here in an article, but in the case of the DaScratch, I think this was not the right way to welcome it.

By: Ean Golden

Ean Golden — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 23:10:33 +0000

[quote comment=""]If multitouch qualifies as a "surface that you can put more than one finger on" than it is multitouch. %-)

Look at the demo video, the DJ [enter name here] changes all three EQ band at once, with three fingers.[/quote]

if its true multi touch- I.e tracking multiple points within the same field then they would run into patent issues- monome, apple.

this however has multiple zones which you can touch at the same time. Not exactly multi touch as far as I can tell.

By: DJ ToS

DJ ToS — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:21:23 +0000

If multitouch qualifies as a "surface that you can put more than one finger on" than it is multitouch. %-)

Look at the demo video, the DJ [enter name here] changes all three EQ band at once, with three fingers.

By: Ean Golden

Ean Golden — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:20:13 +0000

[quote comment=""]Seriously considering getting my hands on one of these devices, need more information though ! One of my biggest questions – is it multitouch?[/quote]

Great question- Stanton?

[quote comment="14255"]

stanton is known for ripping off customers. just check the long final scratch history. i am sure nem0nic will be able to acknowledge this.[/quote]

I think Stanton should get the chance to show us a new side but I am a little perplexed by the timing of this new controller. As far as I know the SC3 system is not even on the market yet, but now this one is getting rushed onto shelves first?

By: BentoSan

BentoSan — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:27:26 +0000

Seriously considering getting my hands on one of these devices, need more information though ! One of my biggest questions – is it multitouch?

By: none

none — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 09:31:46 +0000

[quote]My point is that Stanton has a history of stepping up and trying new things and people don’t appreciate that.[/quote]

*cough*

stanton is known for ripping off customers. just check the long final scratch history. i am sure nem0nic will be able to acknowledge this.

By: BentoSan

BentoSan — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:35:21 +0000

About friggen time someone started packing bomes midi translator in with hardware + 1 000 000 to Stanton for this one!!! *does a little dance* thats totally awesome news !

By: tobamai

tobamai — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 01:58:52 +0000

@DJ Tos: I strongly agree with the idea of having dedicated knobs for controls. Having a knob, button, fader, or jogwheel for everything you want to control makes it available to control as fast as you can move your hand there. You don't have to think about what mode the controller is in or set a mode before you use a control. I think that's the biggest reason I could never use a pacemaker — you absolutely have to press a mode button to get to every bit of functionality on the thing.

The only place in my rig where the controls aren't dedicated is in the fx. I use a rotary encoder to click through different FX and then have a touchpad control them in different ways.

It's a statement of how you interact. You interact with each effect in a unique way and most of us only use one effect on a channel at a time. So instead of having lots of dedicated controls for every effect you might use, just have one set of versatile controls that can be reconfigured to control every effect.

I think the 'dascratch' compares very closely to the interface of an EFX. You can use circle mode to control effects that demand smooth changes in a parameter, like the EFX's jet, and then use button mode to control beatmatched fx like echo or transform (trance gate) where the parameter should be rounded to even values.

@Anonymous: That does sound pricey, but the recommended price always does. The street price will probably be lower once its been on the market for a while. For example, guitar center lists trigger fingers at $149 while the recommended price is $249. The same for an MPC500 on zzounds, list at $599 with a recommended price of $1,349. You could probably get a better price than that for both of those items, but I used two major distributors as an example. I have no idea why this is pretty much standard practice in the industry, does this make sense to anyone else?