The Invader mixes an old school turntable with a embedded record
(Photo from Thud Rumble)
Hoping to do something similar to this with a Raspberry Pi, but in the meantime....
The art of DJing has been around since the late 70s. Over time the art form has evolved and adapted to new technology. Some find the use of computers in DJing an innovation; others see it as lazy and prefer the old school way. But both methods offer something different the other doesn't have. Isn't there a way to bring the best of both worlds together? A group of DJs may have answered the call with their latest turntable, The Invader, which features a mixer and an embedded computer.
The project is created by DJs Qbert, Yogafrog (Ritche Desuasido), Rich Johnson (DJ Hard Rich), and Killa-Jewel (Julie Fainer). They had the idea four years ago when their company, Thud Rumble, was having an open house and Rich Johnson expressed his desire to make a mixing machine for them. The dream is now a reality. Showing off prototypes at Intel's IDF keynote, The Invader looks like an old school mixer with a touchscreen display running Windows 10. The turntables run on the company's own Traktor mixing software, but any DJ app that runs on Microsoft's OS will work.
The prototypes are pretty tall, but the company wants to make it no taller than two centimeters so it'll easily slip inside a backpack. The turntable has standard features found on most mixing board, like faders in the middle of the board and volume controls for each deck above. There are also eight buttons along the side a DJ can set up to play different cuts in a song. The board runs on Intel i5 and i7 processors, if you couldn't guess, and comes with additional HDMI for video mixing. Currently, there's no soundcard, but the company are working with Native Instruments for a future audio interface.
The Invader is still in the early phase of development and the creators are looking to add more features. The printed circuit board needs to be finalized along with the standard audio ports. These ports allow you to switch to phono so you can scratch actual vinyl. The Invader also gives you some customization choices from laser-etching options to choice of rubber or old school arcade buttons for video game enthusiasts. So what is the price for this new turntable? It'll be priced at $1,699. It sounds like a lot, but compared it to the Pioneer DJ DJM-S9 mixer for Serato, which costs the same without the built-in computer. The Invader will ship at the end of the year.
This turntable is an innovative way to mix the old school with the new. And best of all, it lets you have the best of both world without having to lug around a laptop. Macbooks may be light, but why risk bringing all that data around with you? The Invader gives you everything you need in this all-in-one turntable. But this doesn't mean it could pose some problems. For one, most DJs use mixers provided by venues. Some may not have an issue with bringing their own mixer, but others may not want to do so. Also, with a laptop you have instant access to your songs and mixes. With this turntable you may have to move your songs to the embedded computer. Hopefully, the songs will be easily accessible. Either way, it's a new way to think about an artform as old as Djing.