red bull iscratch 40 djs Pioneer DJ DJM-S9

Red Bull’s iScratch Tokyo: 40 DJs with 40 DJM-S9s

Pioneer DJ’s ever so lovely DJM-S9 has just hit the scene, with many of you uncontrollably drooling at the thought, and for the few who went to BPM 2015, the actual look and feel too. Already in the short time since its release, the DJM-S9 is already making social media inroads into Rane’s safe territory as Pioneer DJ dishes out units to scratch VIPs around the world, ensuring total media saturation in the quickest time.

And this iScratch Tokyo gathering at the Red Bull Thre3Style finals underlines Pioneer’s desire to make the DJM-S9 the scratch mixer that your heart desires. Imagine putting 40 of the world’s most respected turntablists alongside the current cream of the crop champions, giving them all a DJM-S9, splitting them up into teams, and asking them to make a set. That’s what the above video is.

red bull iscratch 40 djs Pioneer DJ DJM-S9

This is nuts — so many world class DJs in on room, and pulling off a clean 8 minute set. Given the sponsor, I had hoped for Red Bull fuelled 140bpm full-on electro scratching. And they should have made it 6 minutes and then enter that for next year’s DMC online teams battle just for a laugh. Imagine the bill DMC would have to foot to fly them all in for the finals.

It’s just a shame that despite 40 mixers, 6 desks, and miles of cabling that nobody thought to record the master audio, or at least minimise the room in the final mix down. But I’m just being picky. It’s a stellar feat to make this happen. Well done to all involved.

The Old Owner
  1. Cool experiment and why not? They’re all in one place at the right time. I like how they divided into teams…I can imagine this probably happened really quickly with little rehearsal.

  2. Awesome stuff! Great showoff of their skill, I like this kind of stuff so much better than pimped out and routines edited up to the point where you can hardly tell what’s actually going on. Love it, thanks for posting the video, would have probably missed it otherwise!

      1. Are you talking about Qbert? Jazzy Jeff? Z-Trip? Or maybe one of the Redbull finalists..? I don’t remember seeing you in any of the regional heats/finals. It certainly isn’t as slick as a Scratch Piklz routine but that’s not the point. I’m guessing that this video was put together with minimal rehearsal (ie you three start, then you three, etc). I’ve been watching and practicing turntablism for 20years and have never seen that many DJs cutting together. Or are you just trolling…?

        1. DJ Grazzhoppa’s DJ Bigband is the closest thing that comes to this but that was a more rehearsed formation and of course not as many as 40, prob 10.

          Z-Trip is one of my least fav DJs when it comes to scratching but he is more of a festival/club DJ than a turntablist. I think Scratch Bastid is nice on the cut though.

          I’ll prob never get my hands on a S9 but nice to see Pioneer did something for the turntable community after so many years since the DJM707/909

        2. Keep your cool, if you’re indeed a turntablist, you should be able to distinguish between controllerists and actual turntablists. And yes, among the people featured in this video, there are quite a few who have no clue about scratching and turntablism. They might be amazing DJs with sick controllerism routines too, no doubt on that. But turntablism? nope.

          That’s what I meant from the beginning. And my statement was a direct response to the question placed above, not a overall judgement on the featured video. Now spare me the “I don’t see you in any of the heats”card. Welcome to the internet, anybody can say whatever.

        3. Keep your cool, if you’re indeed a turntablist, you should be able to distinguish between controllerists and actual turntablists. And yes, among the people featured in this video, there are quite a few who have no clue about scratching and turntablism. They might be amazing DJs with sick controllerism routines too, no doubt on that. But turntablism? nope.

          That’s what I meant from the beginning. And my statement was a direct response to the question placed above, not a overall judgement on the featured video. Now spare me the “I don’t see you in any of the heats”card. Welcome to the internet, anybody can say whatever.

          1. So is your argument based on your dislike of ‘controllerists’ or your idea of turntablists? Almost every scratch DJ nowadays that I watch (as a DMC fan since 1988) use midi controllers (including pads built into mixers) as part of their routine. Are you also against control vinyl..? My real problem with your original comment was the TONE. Do you really think that Redbull and Pioneer would allow DJs who had ‘learned to scratch a couple of hours ago’ to feature in a video like this? DJ Worx is a collective of people who love things connected to the artform and generally make constructive comments about what they see. May I suggest that your ‘inciteful’ comment might get more of a response on YouTube where the other trolls live.

            1. I’m not gonna argue with you any further on this. If you’re actually a turntablist, as you claim to be, and yet insist that everyone in this video was a top notch turntablist, then let it be.

              As for the troll thing, I really like DJWORX and strongly believe that it is the best DJ blog on the web. However, there is a plague spreading fast on the comments section. Whoever speaks against the choices of companies for DJs featured in their videos, he is immediately labelled as a troll. I still remember all the flames on that Atomix scratch demo. And yet, here you are, now almost sure that I also hate control vinyl too. Guess what, I have nothing against technology. But I do have against wackness. All that wackness that people like you glorify, just because it is endorsed by corporates and featured on videos.

              1. I never claimed everyone on the video was a ‘top notch turntablist’, only that it was a great line-up, which was also backed up by Mark on his previous message. As for the influence of DJ manufacturers, yes they do pay djs to say nice things about their kit and probably use it for their sets and as such, we should be wary of the advice/reviews given. I don’t even use any Pioneer stuff at the moment (Rane, Numark ‘tables and dicers) so your comment there is incorrect. I agree that we’ve exhausted this point but I stand by my original criticism that your

                1. ..comment about some of them not knowing how to scratch is simply wrong. It is always easier to outright criticise than to disagree and give sensible feedback.

                  1. It’s also a matter of time. I could go case by case and make a review on who’s doing what on that video, but it would take me a couple of hours to write it down. The point though would still be the same: a lot of these people sound like they learned to scratch a couple of hours ago. Take as an example the team of D Styles.

                    But nevertheless, my point was a response to the guy who wondered if this is the greatest turntablism performance. I would never go out this blant against this video. Hell, I even shared the video on FB and praised the concept! It’s still a wickedly difficult thing to pull off, but nowhere close to Scratchcon or Tableturns. No hard feelings BTW.

                    1. None taken. Maybe I got a little carried away with the idea of buying the S9 (need the DJ Worx review first though…) and the hype around the product. New, shiny things have strange effects on the minds of DJs…:)

                    2. I love it when the DJWORX community sorts itself out without having to step in. We’re all passionate about our craft and sometimes our fingers and brains don’t always work well together. Thanks for working it out fellas. :)

      2. I agree that it’s not the greatest — Tableturns or Skratchcon probably had the most established legendary talent per square foot. But the list is full of legends and DMC champions. And I don’t think any of them “learned to scratch a couple of hours ago”.

  3. am i the only one who wishes you could select hot cues on one side and loop roll on the other? seems that you are forced to select one mode for both decks at the same time…

    that said, the line up is fkn epic tho, mad respect