After thinking about it for months, reading review after review and generally not being ready to make the jump away from the trusty technics, I picked up an Xponent yesterday. Guitar Center has a 14-day no questions asked returned policy, so I figured I might as well play with it for bit — if for no other reason than to put the issue to rest and stop reading about it all the goddamned time.

I have resisted CDJs for years out a love for both vinyl itself as well as the smooth tactile feel that a jogwheel simply cannot recreate. Not to mention that I learned on decks years ago and couldn’t image DJing without them… But after using Torq for a while (over a year already now), I began to realize that the turntable had been reduced to a simple timecode-reader. No audio was even getting pulled off the record in this system, and I was using the MIDI-mapped functionality of the Trigger Fingers far more as soon as I got things beatmatched.

So since I was manipulating tracks digitally in ways not possible before alone, perhaps I was ready to try spinning without the comfortable muscle memory of the turntables. Plus, I was ga-ga over this new controller when I first saw it.

Let me stop here for a moment and address the analogue vs. digital debate that I am soooo tired of reading about on the forums. Yes, hitting a sync button (I can’t quite bring myself to really do it) rather than matching beats by ear is easier and requires less skill, particularly if that is all one knows how to do. Yes, there are also magicians like Q-bert and Mixmaster Mike who play the turntable like an instrument.

But DJing is ultimately about playing and mixing music that the crowd can get down to, and beatmatching is a means to that end rather than an end unto itself. The fact that technological developments have made the basics of DJing easier do not take away from the fact that they have also made the nuances more versatile and exciting. I learned how and can do it the hard way, so I don’t feel guilty about taking shortcuts to focus on other elements of the mix. My $0.02 — and rationale to make the investment.

Well, this posted turned into more than just a “hey, look at my shiny new toy” snippet! I got so much resistance from my DJ buddies about the Xponent (my 8 year-old mixer is also crapping out on me, too. What to drop the cash on…) that I wanted to explicate my thinking behind it. To them and myself.

(Based on first impressions) I think this will be a cool, mobile addition to the arsenal, will make for easier digital recording and enable to me to play in far more places than I could while lugging the coffin around. Don’t worry, Mikes: the techs aren’t going anywhere, and I’ll pick up the Rane soon enough.