All change for Numark's range of MIDI controllers - the hardware remains the same, but Cue LE is gone, being replaced by the hugely popular (industry standard is such a transitory term these days) Traktor LE. It's a wise move - Traktor LE is a lot better and I imagine the upgrade path to the full Traktor is a real attraction as well.

UPDATE: More info added

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Is this the ultimate in irony? When you buy the vinyl emulating NS7, real vinyl takes one step near the abyss of oblivion. But now Numark are redressing that balance a little by offerring replacement coloured vinyl for the more image conscious DJ.

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Computers are part and parcel of a DJs setup. But there's still aren't a huge amount of DJ specific laptop stands, especially when it's a market that is much easier to enter than making decks or faders. So Numark have added one to their range - LAPTOP STAND (first person, all caps) is one such DJ specific ummm... laptop stand.

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Plug and play is a nice idea but isn't always practical, especially when faced with the opposing worlds of RCAs and USB. I'm pretty sure that carefully hammering your Technics RCAs into a spare USB port on your laptop is on the whole going to yeild quite disappointing results. But Numark have the answer - STEREO|iO can take output from your RCA endowed audio device and convert to USB output to your computer.

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It's Summer NAMM and the mighty corporate behemouth of Numark, Akai and Alesis have a few things they'd like you to know about via the medium of skratchworx. So prepare yourself for posts full of spangly new stuff. First up - some new affordable table top CD decks. The NDX200 and NDX400 are full of everything you would want from such devices plus a few extras, but at a price that doesn't make you wince.

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Even if Summer appears to have bypassed my garden, Summer NAMM is upon us. And one or 2 bits of new gear have leaked out of the Akai PR department - most notably for DJs are the LPD8 and LPK25. Arriving just in time to divert attention away from the oh so recently posted Korg Nano controllers reviews, the LPD8 in particular looks like a winner for DVS users.

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Back in the olden days, before computers were even thought of for music, we old timers had to record mixes in one go. You had to make tough decisions on the fly about whether your screwups were OK to leave in the mix or if you had to start all over again. These days however, all you bloody so called DJs are spoonfed with every possible luxury to make your life easier. One such luxury is MixMeister - a tool that is absolutely perfect for mistape creation. Yorick reluctantly agreed to take it on, and ended up falling in love.

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The problem with using computers for DJing is the whole using of the computer part. It's intrustive, awkward and none too pretty to watch as a punter. Thus assorted companies already clued up in such things are bringing out various bits and bobs to make the experience better for everyone. Korg clearly took my advice (you know you did) and made some pocket sized controllers to suit a number of needs. Flexinoodle got sent a NanoPad, NanoKey and NanoKontrol and applied his considerable MIDI expertise to give them all a good workout.

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You may remember a piece about Serato trumpeting the brilliance of vinyl and setting up a project called Serato Pressings specifically designed to give you very limited edition releases in actual real vinyl. Previous releases have been from different artists, but the new Shibuya Breaks release is all about servicing DJs wanting familiar scratch sounds at hand as well as the Scratch Live control tone on one piece of vinyl.

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Coming away from MusikMesse, I was shown something that excited me greatly. Not just because of what it was, but also because of the implications on other products on the market. But I couldn't say a word. Now voted the world's worst but unconfirmed secret, Vestax's VFX-1 ITCH effects controller is now confirmed and officially official.

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Just a little something to make you smile. I saw this ad on TV the other day and found it on Youtube this morning. Just some mindless snack based scratch fun to lighten an otherwise dull Friday.

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You may recall my piece on the future of trade shows, specifically sparked by the absence of 2 major German companies from MusikMesse, both with releases at that time. Well it seems that my 6th sense was bang on the money, because Native Instruments has made the bold decision to not bother with the time and money sucking black holes that are trade shows henceforth.

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I received an email this weekend from an unhappy reader, who decided it was OK to have a go at me for using the familiar and dare I say it industry standard scratch sounds. It's an argument that has raged inside the scratch scene for years now but I'm interested in what the rest of you scratchers and non-scratchers think about this subject. Is it OK to scratch ahhhh and fresh anymore?

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This Thursday sees me heading off to the bright lights of London, to see the 2009 UK DMC finals at the Islington Academy. The flyer above tells you who's on, but of most interest to me (and the major reason I'm spending money I haven't got to go to a city I don't like) is to cheer on skratchworx's own Johnny 1 Move, who does stand a good chance of taking the title.

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Just when you think you've seen it all, something turns up that puts a fresh spin (hahahahaha) on DJing and music making. Essentially a fun project from Microsoft surface developers VectorForm, Surface DJ brings something more creative than the other surface apps seen before, and allows you to drag instruments onto the surface turntable to make all new tracks. And a mini version is available for iPhone too.

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It seems that while I was away from the internet, absolutely nothing happened. Yes people - the industry is in recession and the normally active R&D labs and PR departments are playing Solitaire on their computers or retweaking their Myfacespacebook profiles. But thankfully in this tumbleweed central news free scenario, some people are still pushing envelopes, crossing lines and thinking outside boxes. Say hi to OTTO - an all new box of tricks for jamming with loops.

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Aside from my deceased but now resurrected broadband line, it seems the last few weeks have seen more than the usual number of losses in the world. But one specifically related to the DJ world is that of DJ Woody. But fear not - it's in name only. DJ Woody is dead - long live Woody Madera. And in a parting gesture, he's got together with The Bodysnatchers and put out one last mixtape under the old DJ Woody moniker.

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But I got a mail a couple of days ago that I felt was worth taking the time to fight with my ADSL line to bring to your attention. I've bemoaned at length the near total lack of customisation for DJs and their gear, largely down to the absence of standards. Wouldn't it be nice if faders, pots and sliders where all easily interchangeable and available off the shelf as 3rd party spares? Well DJs-face! aims to give you a step in the right direction with the ability to order fully customised faceplates AND fader caps AND knobs in a variety of colours and sizes.

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Skratchworx followers on Twitter will know that I've been trapped for close to 4 weeks in a slugish support line spiral of phone line death with o2 and BT to get my landline fixed, thus updates have been thin on the ground. This time of year traditionally sees news dry up to a trickle anyway, but combined with the recession, getting news worthy articles as rare as my connection to the interwebs. But I just wanted to stop by and let you know that the wheels on the skratchworx bus are still going round and round, albeit everso slowly.

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The UK 3 pin plug is a design conundrum. On one hand, its ability to stick to the wall like glue is legendary in comparison to the rest of the world. But the downside is the sheer bulk, not to mention the damage they do to our expensive stuff when wedged into our laptop and DJ bags (and feet when stood on). Well check this out people - pure prototype right now, but I'll happily send them a donation if it helps to clear up the collective clutter that is 3 x 4 and 6 way extensions sat at my feet. This readers, is the best idea I've seen in a very VERY long time. Dragons Den - jump on this now.

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Firstly, well done to Moto from the US who won last month's inaugural Flud Watches competition. This month sees my favourite of the 6 I have up for grabs - the Gun Metal Tableturns. While I wouldn't wear it myself, I really like the Black Chrome stylings. And just like last month, all I need is an email from you.

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Followers of skratchworx will know that I have long desired one particular item of non-DJ nextlevelness. And last Friday, I finally gave in and joined the cool cats of the iPhone fan club. Yes people - behold the geeky trouser trauma joy that is the 32Gb iPhone 3G S.

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Akai's MPC range has long been the accepted face of button bashing, to the point where anything with a set of square pads is almost generically known as an MPC. But there's a new player on the scene that aims to loosen Akai's vice like grip around the neck of the beat making scene in the shape of Native Instruments' Maschine. Essentially a MIDI controller, Maschine's huge benefit is that all the work is done inside your computer on a big screen, thus opening up a world of production capability that's not especially workable inside your average small groove box window. Another fresh reviewer in the shape of Chris Cartledge got intimate with Maschine and wrote words and made a video as well.

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The steady but slow march forward to v2 of Scratch Live hit a milestone last month with the release of the GM version of v1.9. While not radically changing the face of SSL, a handful of key features were added that make it even more attractive to users and buyers, without suffering feature creep. Words come courtesy of new fresh reviewing talent - DJ Bozak casts his seasoned SSL eyes over v1.9.

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It has been firmly established that from a DJ's perspective, PLASA is pants. But in it's place is The BPM Show, which clearly is not. And despite the global crunch, BPM is moving to a bigger venue - The National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham (again UK, not Alabama) which is better served by road, rail and air. This is happening 3rd and 4th October, and if you feel like being an early bird, you can save £4 on the weekend ticket price - that's £8 instead of £12.

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It's nice to know that when I write reviews, a lot of people read them and some actually act upon my unfocussed ramblings. So when I laid my bag-loving hands on the 69ep h bag, I expressed on one hand my love for the minimalist stylings and extreme quality, but constructively and very politely opened both barrels on the lack of shoulder straps. 69ep clearly heeded my words (plus those of others I suspect) and made the necessary changes.

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While skratchworx started its life as a turntablist focussed gear site, that niche expanded almost from day 1 into an all encompassing generic DJ gear news and reviews site - and with this expanded portfolio comes a whole different set of products to look at. One such area of product is digital audio workstations or DAWs for short. New reviewing blood Flexinoodle has been test driving Cockos' Reaper v3 through the beta cycle right up to the final release and pulls no punches in his opinion. And bugger me if we don't have a copy to give away as well. Double whammy!

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DBM Labs are a company with a vision, part of which is "building upon those who turn their passion for music into a lifestyle". So considering that's what I did when I started skratchworx, I guess that means they're supporting me. And in a bit of mutual backslapping, DBM Labs have offered up some of their somewhat delectable t-shirts for you lucky readers.

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Yet another example of "just wait for the next release it's sooo much better" problem with reviewing technology has been the epitome of nextlevelness - EKS's OTUS MIDI controller. I've had it since Christmas, and revisited the review a couple of time with each new firmware upgrade or software release. But with the last release, I drew a line under my writings and have released the review for public consumption.

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Welcome to last week. That's when the world saw the first renderings of Numark's scratch deck controller and learned a little more about the new game from QD3 and Numark called "Scratch - The Ultimate DJ". Having already established that this type of game does nothing for me at all, and that my blessing is hardly going to make or break a game, I was livid to read about Activision's latest marketing for their competitive and still litigious DJ Hero game.

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