Sony Turns PlayStation 2 Into DJbox

An anonymous reader writes "Sony Japan has put some more info about its PlayStation 2 DJ mixing software DJbox onto the official site. Check out the three 'Movie' links at the bottom of the page for video of the software in action - there are a few screenshots on other Japanese sites. The software, which allows you to mix and scratch music on your PS2, is released on July 29th as both a standalone PS2 title, as well as a special Premium Kit version including the PlayStation 2 'BB Unit' (hard drive), which is required to save DJbox creations." There's no word on a Western release yet, but this looks like a neat piece of software.

Competition?

[scumbucket]

Will this give Garage Band some competition in the 'home music making/mixing' software department?

Re:Competition?

[suyashs]

Unlikely, since they arn't really in the same genre. Garageband is more of a loop based software while this is a true mixer, garageband doesn't even accept CD audio natively and really isn't designed for this stuff...

Long Way From Displacing vinyl

[szyzyg]

The PS2 controller is a fantastic interface for controlling video games, the Turntable and mixer is the parfect interface for DJ'ing - this is nothing more than a novelty.

But then again, novelty can make for interesting events. Someone always finds a way to make things more than what they were intended to be.

Yeah

[Pluvius]

This will probably be as awesome as Kris Kross Make My Video.

Rob

Re:Yeah

[sH4RD]

What are you kidding? Nothing can beat that game...hehe.

Doesn't exactly require the "BB Unit"

[Anonymous Coward]

DJ Box doesn't require the BB Unit aka the PS2 hard drive to play the game. It does require it to save the works that you make. Of course, if you have this game you probably want to save what you mix.

Re:Doesn't exactly require the "BB Unit"

[simoniker]

Thanks, article amended to clarify that.

Too bad

[piznut]

It's a shame this wasn't designed as anything more than a toy. The features, from what I gather in the software seem to be pretty powerful. It appears to display the beat count graphically where each notch is a beat, and the distance between each notch is a nice heads up indicator of the tempo of the song. Pretty neat concept. It's not the first time it has been done, but it is definately a great way to "See" what you are hearing.

If they could incorporate some sort of Final Scratch [finalscratch.com] type interface, or even a custom controller (think mixer and 2 turntables) I could seriously consider buying it for use as rig for mixing mp3s. Pop the PS2, the nonexistant custom controller and a small LCD into a mobile rack and you could have a kick ass platform for mobile mixing of digital audio files.

DJing for noobs

[ALeavitt]

Maybe I'm an elitist, but I don't see this as that great a thing. Scratching with vinyl is hard and someone who is good at it is really impressive, especially live. I view turntables as an instrument, and DJs as musicians. I hope that I never have the misfortune of seeing a "DJ" use one of these live - to me, it would be akin to an orchestra sitting on stage and playing a CD (or, to use a less extreme example, a popular singer lip-synching... wait, that happens all the time.) Anyway, my point is that this may be an excellent game or toy, but it isn't the real thing, and won't turn the masses into DJs.

Re:DJing for noobs

[bugbread]

Yes, you are indeed an elitist.

DJing blindfolded with DAT tapes is incredibly hard, and someone who is good at it is really impressive. So what?

DJs don't DJ because it's hard. They DJ because they like music, they like mixing, they like creating flow, etc. They've been stuck with crappy tools, that make their jobs hard. That is not a merit, it is an unfortunate condition, and any rectification of it will result in DJs who are more concerned with quality results than just technical proficiency, and DJs

Re:DJing for noobs

[bugbread]

That said...

As a Traktor user, I find it implausible/impossible that this DJing product will provide very good results, based on the fact that the standard PS2 controller doesn't have nearly enough inputs.

With Traktor, the frequently used controls (not an exhaustive list) include (for left deck alone):

Deck A start
Deck A BPM synch
Crossfader
Deck cut left (switch crossfader immediately to left)
Deck A monitor
Deck A gain
Loop in
Loop out
Skip forward X beats
Kill high
Kill middle
Kill low
Pitch up
Pitch down

Plus a s

Re:DJing for noobs

[Sinistar2k]

It's interesting that you would see this as some sort of threat to the art of the DJ.

I see it as no more than a PS2 sample mixer with a few more bells and whistles than old titles like NewBeat Trancemission and Mixman Studio. Both had an emphasis on live play, since their initial releases didn't do much for the ability to save and edit creations. But both were toys.

And so is DJBox.

To me, it looks like a fun distraction for a while. I've always been envious of DJs, but I don't have the time or the mone

I wonder...

[sbszine]

I wouldn't be surprised if this thing does some sneaky quantising behind the scenes to make mixing easier for the average punter.

The accepted wisdom is that it takes about nine months to learn the basics of mixing vinyl, and I would imagine even longer for CDs or mp3s as you don't have the record grooves to give you cues as to track structure.

Learning to beatmix can be frustrating, and doesn't sit well with the pick-up-and-play ethos of console gaming. So my guess is that the Sony thingo does some spectrum analysis on the two sound files and nudges the beats into synch to make it easier. (Some CD players already do this, and some can even mix the tracks themselves in a rudimentary fashion... have a look at the Pioneer CMX-5000 [pioneerprodj.com]).