As you may have seen floating around the web already, Numark is going to release a new mixing board that has two built-in iPod docks. The board will control playback on the iPods, as well as mix the sound coming from the units together while controlling some basic EQ bands and volume.
I hate to be derogatory, but this is kind of ridiculous. As the board gets audio from the line-out pins on the iPods connector, I highly doubt it will have the ability to change the speed of the music being played. This makes beat matching nearly impossible, which makes the whole point of “mixing” two songs just about pointless. I can accomplish a crossfade with two cables and a $4 pot resistor from Radio Shack… which is basically what this board gives you. Unless, of course, I’m missing something and the board actually has on-board memory that will sample the audio from the iPod and then allow you to shift it. Even then, you’re pumping lossy audio files through your (supposedly) powerful PA system, which isn’t a good idea in itself.
Basically, the only type of person who’s going to be laying down the cash for this thing is the same type of person who would feel the need to carry around 2 iPods in the first place. It just goes against the whole idea of DJ’ing. I know I’m saying the obvious, but this is a pretty blatant attempt by Numark to jump on the iPod ‘craze’, but they’ve missed the mark by introducing the iPod into a system where the hardware actually inhibits the function of the product, instead of improving it. And to that, I say… “iShame on you Numark… you should know better.”
Via: Engadget
You are right, it is absolutely ridiculous und useless. I don’t understand what’s going on in the R&D department of Numark. With a pitch control, a small sampler (as in Numark’s 5000FX mixer) etc. and a dock for one iPod it could be a cool DJ tool. The iPod of course wouldn’t be anything else then a nice looking external harddisk.