Richie Hawtin has been called the “godfather” of Techno. With a good chance of being viewed as a blasphemous rogue if you are unfamiliar with his work in the electronic field, his fans and fellow artists are probably one of the top revolutionaries of music for tomorrow. With years of musical success and governmental difficulty behind him (Hawtin was considered an illegal alien from Ontario while he was busy reinventing and revitalizing the electronic origins in Detroit a few years back), he has brought forth to the field a product that will change DJing forever.
          Final Scratch is a new form of DJ equipment that consists of three parts. Traditionally, there are two vinyl 12-inches, but instead of musical information cut into the grooves, it is more of an operator for the music. The music, however, is not coming from endless, heavy crates of records, but mp3’s stored in a laptop which accompanies the system. On the computer is a software program which allows DJs to categorize their music in many different ways. Final Scratch allows you to scan the image of a record cover into its database, or you can sort by genre, date, label, bpm, or title. It allows you to find music more easily, so you can mix it up faster, and incorporate more music into your sound. Saving the money and patience of waiting for acetate pressings, Final Scratch also allows you to produce in the studio, and debut it that same night. The greatest advantage of it, however, is the absence of multiple crates filled with heavy vinyls. DJs will never have to carry their music on their backs anymore, but now on their laptops. The nonmusical vinyls that Final Scratch features will have to be replaced every once in a while, but since they are simply controlling a digital file, the music itself is forever preserved within the laptop in MP3 form. The third element of the program is a small interface box, which connects the turntables and the computer; from the interface box runs the wire to the mixer.
The aesthetic setup of it all looks no different from a regular DJ setup, except the multiple crates full of albums is replaced by Hawtin’s Sony Vaio laptop. The program is set to hit the market early next year, ranging at around $500. There will also be a deluxe model (laptop included) with a price expected to be around $3000.
          Hawtin recently appeared in New York City at the CMJ festival on October 10, and at Other Music on the following night, doing a fifty-five minute in-store set. Touring with and testing out Final Scratch, it appears that there is a whole new level of adaptation needed. Deeply involved in selecting, timing, and mixing, the DJ is less distracted. However, like any prototype, the product may need some improvement. The software appears to be complex, and it may have been the reason for a major screw-up, or “trainwreck,” about forty minutes into the night. Hawtin appeared to be having a small problem with one of the vinyls in the beginning, flipping it off with a grin on his face. Later on, he was concerned with the laptop’s functioning while in a thirty-second standstill with a flat beat in the latter part of the set. His pale complexion was crimson for the first and only time in those fifty-five minutes, but was able to pull it all back together.
          Final Scratch will certainly revolutionize electronic music, but this is the very beginning of it all. Taking its first steps into the public realm, it is going to take some time for DJs to modify their methods. After that learning curve is passed, however, the possibilities will officially be endless.

Mute Liberation Technologies