As a small but diverse team, DJWORX covers a range of different styles and genres. I’m dead old and happiest spinning classic dance tunes on vinyl, but at the other end of the scale — perhaps the furthest reaches of that scale — is our Ray aka Arkaei. He’s steadily beavered away pushing every manner of DJ technology to the extremes with little regard to what you might think is cool or real DJing. And his steadfast devotion to his art has paid off, with official videos for a range of industry manufacturers, as well as a few battle titles under his belt too.
https://www.facebook.com/redbull3style/videos/1778608515517204/
But this weekend sees him in his element, pushing a ridiculous amount of technology to the limits, and has landed himself the honour of being the opening act at the Red Bull 3style finals in Krakow this weekend. Yes, that’s the biggest DJ battle in the world, and Ray’s opening the whole finals. Wow.
Now when I say opening act, I’m not talking about a finalist. No, for he’s now in the leagues of being booked to perform, and will be showcasing his extreme DJing style with a plethora of tech that most of us can only dream of. Not Ray though, for when he dreams of possibilities, he sets his sights on turning it into a reality. His reality however is somewhere beyond the arbitrary lines DJs draw in the sand. He sees your lines in the sand, steps over them, and kicks it right back in your face, laughing.
We’re incredibly proud of Ray, and equally honoured that he choses to hang out around these parts. We haven’t heard much from him for the last month, other than the odd bout of stress and OMG moments of geeky wonder in our Slack channel. But rest assured, whatever he’s got lined up will be unlike anything you’ve seen at a DJ battle before.
Want proof? Watch the above video. Bloody well done Ray!
Let me break the comment cherry and say CONGRATS RAY! It’s great to see all your hard work pay off. I think it’s especially exciting to see new kinds of performance being showcased in a DJ framework. I hope this performance inspires people to think about new possibilities in DJ.
Thank you, good sir. It really was an incredibly complex thing to pull off. 2 months of constant learning, finding and fixing tons of bugs… and finally, making a 3-screen mapping basically blindly while setting up on stage. But in the end, it all worked, and I admit I’m a little proud. But there’s also a ton of things I came up with while working on it, and didn’t have time to implement. So… back to the drawing board!
You’re ahead of your time and above of the mass my friend!! Congrats!! You’ve achieved something close to what i have on mind for long!! I’m still workin’ on that but the difference now is that i have to document it (filing, diagrams and so on) cuz there’s a deadline in the end!!
What boundaries??? CONGRATULATIONS RAY!
Thank you!
So you need 60 thousand dollars worth of equipment to become a competitive DJ these days?
I wasn’t competing – and like I’ve said many times: a good DJ will rock a party with a single tape deck, provided they have the right tapes. I simply love tech. Maybe if you find something to get really passionate about yourself, you’ll spend less time spewing hate in comment sections. I was like you once, and changing my ways played a big part in helping me do the above. Think about that, maybe.
Shut up. I’m happy and content. Constructive criticism isn’t hate. Get over yourself.
What you call hate is actually constructive criticism.
where was the criticism? you simply complained about the cost of his setup.
you’ve said nothing hateful; disdain?… maybe, or at least “confused”
pay no attention to the passive aggressive “shout down anyone who dares question them” types, for they know not what the do.
those of us who “simply love MUSIC” will just have to wait until those who love other things, like “tech” find a new hobby to drag into the mire.
That dude arkaei has issues. He’s misplacing his anger.
It ain’t about being competitive but being original.
Truly amazing setup! What can beat a lazer harp! Reminds me of the old Roland d-beams on the groovebox.
World class – congratulations. However, I’m most interested in your custom laptops (perhaps from Scan if PC’s). Could you elaborate Arkaei? Currently Apple’s offerings in the MacBook Pro line only offer Thunderbolt 3 and the necessity of using multiple adapters. [They are due for an update to the 8th generation Intel chips]. The cable chains they require rather takes me back to SCSI chains in the 90’s if people can remember the Mac Quadra period. Conversely Scan currently offer two Audio laptop PC configurations: one featuring FireWire and the other Thunderbolt. I’m currently using a late 2008 MacBook Pro with multiple OSX partitions on a 1TB Samsung SSD. A feature and perhaps a user listing resource of laptop makes and specs people are using successfully for what software; unpicking the minefield of Traktor and other audio / visual programme suitable laptops (some controller software being only available for PC) would be a great contribution to DJWorx. I have specific requirements interfacing with Mytek 8X192 converters and Eventide H8000FW and limited finances to spend on computer hardware which is always an heavily depreciating asset.