The funkiest CD player ever made?
Hey look, I managed to get a video finished - and I think it turned out fine. Yes I’m as surprised as you are - although there’s a strong chance this is all just a dream.
On the off chance it’s not, the subject of this video is a unique and eye-catching CD player from Technics that I suspect passed many of us by. Hopefully this should bring everyone up to speed.
As always, being a Patron means you see this early, so if after watching the video you’re tempted to buy one from eBay, now might be an opportune time. Triple check those ebay listings though, it's a gamble.
Oh and as usual the video is ad-free until I set it live on YouTube.
Enjoy what remains of your week and I hope to put this video out at the weekend.
Take care.
UPDATE: Re-uploaded (Snipped a fraction of a second to correct a verbal typo…a verbo?).
Comments (82)
I'd never seen one of these, not sure my dj friends would have been interested, but I would have one just because I like it. Interesting, fun... an very blingy!!
i’ve been djing for 20 years. had misfortune to play on these things a few times. they suck as a dj cd player. i haven’t seen more legit and solid CD players than Pioneer. Their gear is amazing, but their software is a horror show.
Yes - the video was about using old, unwanted, rubbish, out of date, substandard, poor, low performance, mediocre, unfashionable, passé, outdated, superseded, DJ equipment as a *home CD player*. A task it performs with outstanding aplomb.
Afterward, all I could think about it how MANY professional and consumer gadgets you own that turn audio into colorful light shows, and how much I wanted to see you spinning discs on the Technics with all of them running behind you. TECHMOAN RAVE (Optional: buying a neon monster-fur hooded parka for the full DJ effect. But wear those silly headphones with the built-in VU meters and you'd be halfway there.)
Do it!
Fab video...the day-to-day CD player in my living room stereo is a Pioneer CDJ-100S, which was sort of an entry-level DJ CD transport. It's dominated by a buttery-smooth jog wheel and it ingests and ejects discs as if the engineers imagined that this is something that the user would be doing frequently.
Having run a "Mobile Disco" in the late 60s early 70s - all vinyl of course - I found this fascinating, Mat. I knew such things existed of course but no idea what they actually did. It was a different kind of DJ-ing in my day anyway. Thanks for this! S.
Excellent video Mat. I really appreciate your work and you're always a salve when I'm having a hard go of life.
There's a lot of fun samples in this video. I always love running across a song that I recognize as a sample from older hip hop.
Matt!!!! I'm so happy that you did a video on this. Having DJ'ed on SL1200s, these were the next step. My brother bought a pair of these when they first came out and we couldn't wait to get them. After using them for a while, we found that they would distort when playing a burned CD and they would do this randomly. The reliability was questionable so he sold them and got a pair of CDJ-1000MK2s which are still going strong. Like you, I love to see movement when listening to music. CD players are boring to look at and I always loved the spinning platter on the SLDZ-1200. I decided to get one again (my brother laughed at me) and after a couple of years of searching, I finally got one last year. I absolutely love this player! It's of very good quality (made in Japan) and I like how it sounds. It has a digital out so a DAC may make it sound even better. Per a YouTube video, Panasonic did address the issues users were having with a software update. They go for pretty cheap (I got mine for $200 Canadian) so I think it's worth picking one up. I agree with you that one should take their time to get one. It doesn't have the feel of a SL-1200 but well built nonetheless. Another great video sir!
You're no DJ and I'm no rapper (classic Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince reference there)
> verbal typo…a verbo Slip of the tongue ;)
Excellent video as always. I do have to wonder if this one wasn't at least a little more fun for you in that 'childhood fulfillment' sort of way, especially with the pitch manipulating stuff into classic hip hop samples :V
Ooo the voiceover around 2.20 seems a bit low in contrast to the live to camera shot before it.
It does - but if I turn it up it distorts.
It's almost a shame that this isn't belt driven, just for the irony of having to replace a belt on a machine that doesn't use one for playback. A very interesting machine, I was prepared for the horrible digital distortion when you slowed the track down though.
DJ here! I can confirm there’s lots of us, especially those who started when vinyl was the only option, who swear they’ll only ever use vinyl instead of digital for their music sources. And while some of them are analog sound purists, or gatekeepers who don’t believe you’re a “real DJ” unless you’re carrying around crates of records, or beatmatching without a BPM indicator… I can imagine that if this unit was anyone’s first experience with digital DJing, the poor display and sloppy controls might turn them off to the idea forever. It’s a bit like playing an old Nintendo game on a bad emulator with a cheap controller… after dealing with the frustration of input lag and hand cramping, you’re just gonna assume all emulation socks and go back to the original hardware.
ETA of course, just like how there are good video game emulators with quality controllers, there are lots of digital turntables that emulate the vinyl experience flawlessly. But first impressions are everything, especially with a professional or enthusiast who’s mastered a craft using a certain tool. It’s easy to swear off an entire range of equipment based on the woes of one model. After all, I don’t suppose there’s any man on the planet who actually enjoys going through tech device after tech device, thoroughly reviewing them to separate the gold from the rubbish. That bloke can’t possibly exist, can he? 😉
DJ Mat in the (dog) house. I often wondered how these machines worked, so nice to see one explained. Not something I need or want, but I do find myself drawn to EBay…..
Another great video. I thought you did a great job of demonstrating the features. Watch out Dre!
Forget about Dre.
Great video Mat. I have to say it is a toss up between your karaoke skills and your DJing skills as to which is worse. Superb!
So you’re really saying it would be great if I could combine them as a ‘Karaoke DJ’
Love this! So tempted to buy one just for the coolness factor but it would also mean having to get all my CDs out of storage! 🤦♂️
Loved the video! :) but yeah the display is absolutely unreadable, at least when watching the video on my iPhone
That thing looks like a helluva lotta fun. I thought you did a great job of demonstrating it. Loved the video. Very tight.
Thanks - I’m glad you thought so, the timing was tricky in places.
If you haven’t yet heard of it, SONY made an equally odd MiniDisc DJ turntable - the MDS-DRE1. Figured that would be right up you alley too!
Yes - I did wonder if the model name was a complete coincidence.
That is so cool... I wish I had a need for it!
My friend and I use to DJ for parties back in the early 1980s. We used a Numark Mixer and two 1200s. I wrote a program on my Commodore 64 that calculated the BPM for each single by tapping the space bar, so I guess we were cheating back then. Thanks for this video Mat, great job explaining this beautiful machine.
I love the aesthetics of this machine. The strobe light is the cherry on top. The display, however, is surprisingly shoddy, which seems odd given that the typical locations these machines are intended for usually have difficult lighting conditions. That a company actually offered to make what appears to be a non-trivial modification speaks volumes.
Yeah the LCD looks pretty awful. I guess it must be difficult or impossible to make a round VFD of some sorts, which would have had much better contrast and viewing angles.
Looks like it works pretty well for what it is. There continues to be a lot of neat weird DJ gear out there. Rane, a well established DJ equipment company, sells a controller they call a Twelve that is the contemporary version of pretty much the same idea. Works incredibly well from all reports. https://www.rane.com/twelve-mkii The thing is these neat little boxes called Phase. You stick them to a real record on a real turntable and they wirelessly send control data to your DJ software. Also reported to work great. https://www.phasedj.com/
This video and this item are so entertaining; excellent job. I always wondered how these things worked - where did the CD go? Even though it's ancient for DJs, I agree that it looks incredibly cool (and it's so pretty). Technics have always appealed to me, more than some other brands. Oh, and that tiny version is so adorable. • You'd be surprised how many people would turn up if you announced a public demo of this 😄 (not a serious suggestion) - but it would be fun nonetheless. • I hear some 'Microphone Fiend' in there in that demo, I like it - I wore out the cassette of that album (that I pilfered from my brother) back in the day. • This video reminds me of this video: https://youtu.be/0b2RYRggV8I Have a nice evening and upcoming weekend. 🤍
well remembered, the Califone Cardmaster is similar! (Yes, that Technics was fascinating. I'm imagining the CD was kind of orbiting the centre of the turntable!).
I'm reminded of this, from the Museum Of Obsolete Media. https://obsoletemedia.org/timecode-vinyl/ Funny you saying it was all digital now, as I'd assumed DJs had just gone back to vinyl!
I don’t get out much so I’m out of the loop on anything to do with public entertainment - however I do remember a few years back a DJ turned up on a ‘sail away party’ on a cruise ship I was on - and I’ll admit to feeling a bit short changed because all he needed to do his job was a small laptop and a mini DJ controller. I’m sure I remember wedding DJs turning up with a transit van full of stuff.
Definitely a fun video.
Back in around 2003 when I first started a bit of DJing at university, it was a bit of a reverse process where our downloaded music from cough, the internet, had to be burnt on to a cd. I had a pair of folders full of the hits of the day. We had a few CDJ-1000's back then but none of these. Most of the units at uni were dual players with a remote control and a lot less features than those shown here. Could bang a pretty good club night out on them regardless though. I have a modern setup now and use it in my spare time to keep in the game a little. It has connectivity to Tidal and a few other online streaming services as well as the ability to load songs from SD and USB. It also has a battery!
Top video again, back on form with this. You don't do my wallet any favours though, bought a minidisc recorder that broke after 5 minutes the other year, recently replaced it and now it seems like a really good idea to get a cd dj deck to play recently bought CDs from charity shops. So so so glad signed up to your patreon and videos like this make it even more worthwhile, will miss watching on a Saturday is only downside, upside though of watching soon after you uploading outweighs it. Hope you are well and vaya con dios Matt
I’m glad you’re here - but remember that I only buy a lot of this stuff because I need to have something to show in a video. I do have fun with it - but it would be madness to buy all these things otherwise.
Love this video Matt, kinda was hoping you would show how fast this thing loads CD’s and how fast it can track skip. Also, if it was able to do things like a regular CD player, such as programming play lists, etc…
It takes a few seconds to load a disc - but as far as programming and CD text etc - nope, it's a no frills general CD player.
Mat, enjoyed this one, and it seemed like you regained some of that energy and spark again, which is nice to see. Hope it persists!! The only shame is that you didn’t recreate some Tricky Tee and Johnny The Fox vibes from the early 80’s electro scene! Showing my age there!
Everything is made all the more difficult due to content match concerns - but I'm a bit after Electro, I just caught the end of it and know a few of the more common names like Egyptian Lover.
Now that's an effective way to advertise your Patreon: "Get videos early, ad free and escape the dreaded """Techmoan Effect""" on your eBay purchases!"
My goodness - you do have some beautiful classic hardware! I've owned some of this stuff but your collection! Wow! My last "classic" acquisition was a Pioneer CT-606DR (I think it was VWESTLIFE who did a video that brought this amazing deck to my attention). That series of Pioneer decks would be a great Techmoan video because they managed to outperform decks that use Dolby NR without needing to use NR ENCODING. That's right - these decks play tapes made without NR better than many decks with it! I see that VWESTLIFE is among us here. My gosh - surrounded by Youtube technical greatness! Pinch me!
I've got a couple of those Pioneer decks - I'll have a look at them at some point. But you're right VWestlife has covered them already, so I'm not too sure what I could bring to it.
Looks like hours of fun for someone like me who knows nothing about DJ'ing...
Exactly. If I was someone who knew what they were doing, I’d be picking holes and finding faults - sometimes it's just more fun to be clueless.
If this is all just a dream am I imagining you or are you imagining me? Either way we both could do better! Great video as always.
Wouldn't you know, Victrola copied the idea (sort of) -- they made a vertical turntable with a CD player hidden under the platter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbO7yq3YH2Y
I really enjoyed this video, and now I kinda want an SL-DZ1200 despite (or maybe because of?) its quirks. As for those FAQs, I get the feeling Technics was a bit salty on account of the Pioneer CDJ1000 being the digital era equivalent to the SL-1200, thus cutting Technics' grass.
So very interesting to see and hear the differences between a normal person and somebody who spend years honing their craft! Amazingly comprehensive device and fitting video to go with it!
You may want to add links to the videos for the 3 devices you showed at the start. I missed one of them and wanted to go back and watch it.
Good idea.
What a cool device! Instead of listening to the music I'd spend all my time pushing buttons. Come to think of it, that's exactly what I did when a was little tyke listening to my 45s.
I’m rather sad that they use 100% digital ones now, somehow. Really brought it home that the digital download formats have won. I had some kids shocked and horrified that I (a) buy my music and (b) it’s on CD.
I expect those same kids then wonder why gig tickets are so expensive.
Awesome & in-depth work as usual. Having been an event DJ, but only in the CD/Digital era, it’s really interesting to see this stepping-stone in the journey. Just one mistake I spotted where you say if the top row of dots is *moving* then it’s 3.5% fast instead of *stationary*.
I’ll have to do a snip before it goes live, thanks.
As (almost) always: something I wouldn't buy myself, but love watching being demonstrated by Mat :-D
Enjoyed this video. Speaking of your hi-fi, have you made any interesting changes to it lately?
No - I’ve added nothing to it since last year when I got the Sl-P1200
When I first read the title I thought it had both a turntable to play vinyl records as well as to control the CD. Now I want something like my first thought. Great video. .... Oh and I want to burn some of my music to disc so I can play it back in reverse. (Loading the files in Audacity would be easier, but hey I like doing things just because I can.)
Technology Connections has reviewed a Fisher CD changer that plays vinyl as well. The build quality was more Amstrad than Technics though.
Superb video. I'd have happily provided a loan of my pioneer ddj 1000 for comparison with the current tech. Serato dj pro on the Mac contains a lot of the features you show and more. Overall though another great video. Thanks Mat
That comparison sounds like a job for someone who knows what they're doing. It'd be like trying to accurately compare two MotoGP racing bikes while barely being able to ride a bicycle.
Enjoyed the video. Looks really cool but the prices for the thing are way out of my league.
To use one of your expressions, this product is "so up my alley we share a post box"
I stumbled across a video for one of these a few months ago and meant to suggest it as it seemed like something you'd be interested in - weird bit of audio tech, hip hop, shiny - but I forgot! Glad to see you already had one. The Missy Elliott track is perfect for demonstrating the reverse mode.
Cool device! I can imagine the content id avoidence game had to be interesting when doing the dj demo part!
We’ll see if I was successful over the next day or two.
It's an interesting device, but I'm sure I would tire of it after a couple of days. So the only use case for this thing for me would be to go straight to eBay after watching this, buy up all the SL-DZ1200s and sell them off at a profit after the video goes live on YouTube when presumably the Techmoan effect kicks in? That's not illegal is it?😉🤦♂️
I'll be a partner in that lol
A DJ I know had all of the complaints you mentioned, last time I saw him perform he was using a dual Pioneer digital turntable setup. He sounded pretty good to my untrained ears with both units!
On behalf of the Recording Industry Ass. of America I ban this video on behalf of ........Everyone, every musician who's ever lived. Only kidding, i'm sure it'll be fine. As for the video I loved it, it's a nice, quirky bit of technology and it was great to see all the features.
I remember seeing videos of that thing back in the day demonstrating its atrocious digital scratching sounds. Always thought it looked amazing though. I'm looking forward to your take on it!
I've been binging a tonne of technoman and I can tell this will be a goodie 👌
Haven't watched yet, CD player looks cool as hell. I add nothing to the conversation. I want to buy this JUST for looks.
That was my reasoning too.