DIGITAL DJ

Okay, this may be the coolest thing I have seen in a long time. Last week Yatzer did a feature on Gregory 'Gerg' Kaufman's Senior Project (he recently got his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute): a digital DJ table. As Yatzer puts it:

"As a DJ himself, he saw an opportunity to make a change that would drastically influence DJing by not only thinking about the tool but also the logistics of owning and transporting the equipment. He found the process of DJing cumbersome and inefficient as DJs must go through an arduous process of preparing and transporting the equipment. Heavy, bulky, expensive and tedious are the tasks of set up and tear down. There is also the risk of dropping and damaging the equipment as you move back and forth between venues. Gerg saw an opportunity to consolidate these obstacles by developing and designing a digital DJ turntable.

He studied not only the logistics of purchasing and transporting, but also the facets of tactile behaviors that come with DJing. Gerg worked arduously considering the physical and emotional connection the DJ must have with equipment and audience. He developed a digital interface on a flat screen that will allow DJs to have more control and a more fluid process with their passion. Understanding the difficulty of not having the dimensional and tactile qualities of the turntables, Gerg designed a series of gestural interactions to compensate for not having dimensional parts. This clever solution allows the DJ to maintain his/her current integration with the music and the audience."

Enough said, right? Watch the video to see this beauty in action. Seriously, watch the video. It's really really cool. All of the sudden I have this urge to hit the clubs and spin some (digital) vinyl! It doesn't hurt that Gerg's design is both practical and stunningly beautiful . . .

Check out his other (equally awesome) work in his portfolio here, and see the original article on Yatzer (complete with Gerg's super cool planning sketches) here.

(All images courtesy of Gerg, via Yatzer)