So this thing isn't terribly special. It's a pretty basic DJ controller, and it does what DJ controllers do. Numark is certainly no top-shelf brand, but it's a nice little standalone unit for dusting off an old hobby, and only a thumb drive is required, as it has its own operating system (EngineDJ).
A year ago today I made the decision to make the purchase. It was a slightly used item going for a good price, so I felt I couldn't really pass it up. Some friends of mine started tinkering with music again themselves, so it served as a bit of motivation. First time since 2012 I've owned an actual piece of DJ gear aside from making some simple mixes on the PC.
My original intention was just to have a cool hobby to do again at home periodically, and maybe have some friends over and we all play and hang out. And I resolved to upload a new mix every 3 months - on the solstices and equinoxes. Well, all that did happen for the first few months. Then, 6 months in, we're all suddenly finding ourselves on flyers for downtown events we're throwing, and little did we know this area was hungry for it.
For the past decade, most of the EDM events around here have been pretty limited to one line of shows by one promoter at mostly one venue, who not everyone loves, but they bring in big names. Over the years I would see posts on various social media platforms wishing and begging for more options. So after 13 years I and my friends finally decided it was time to show them how it's done, bringing in such names as Kelly Reverb, Donald Glaude, and DJ Dan. I even had the pleasure of designing all the flyers.
On top of all that, we even made a website (The 417 Mix Collection) archiving all the show recordings and DJ demos we've managed to collect over the last 25 years. Over 200 DJs and nearly 700 recordings.
It seems the time was ripe for all of this, too, because the EDM scene we had going 15-20 years ago appears to be coming back from the dead. A lot of our friends who have been out of the game for a number of years themselves are starting to catch the bug and dust off old gear, and we've even managed to pulled in some new faces. I jokingly tell them we're all having synchronized midlife crises. If that's true, so be it. We're getting some killer parties out of it.
