1965 |
First stereophonic disco system debuts at the 1964-1965 World’s Fair in New York, with the Canada-A-Go-Go and Carnival-A-Go-Go sound systems designed by audio engineer Alex Rosner (a Holocaust survivor by virtue of being on Schindler’s List). |  |
1970 |
David Mancuso starts throwing after-hours parties in the loft where he lived in New York City that became known as “The Loft.” Considered the pioneer of modern clubbing he soon met Alex Rosner and together they applied the Broadway concept of separate tweeter and bass reinforcement to the Loft’s sound system by adding separate tweeter arrays and subwoofers, thus setting a new standard for clubs everywhere. |  |
1971 |
First DJ mixer is designed for the Haven Club by Alex Rosner, and nicknamed “Rosie” for its inventor and red color. A one-off stereo design for in-house use by their resident DJ, Francis Grasso, recognized as the Godfather of the modern performing DJ. |  |
| First commercially available DJ mixer, the Bozak CMA-10-2DL rotary club mixer, designed by Rudy Bozak with input from Alex Rosner & Richard Long. [Note: Allen-Bradley rotary controls were used since they were sealed and could pass Rosner’s spilled Coca Cola reliability test.] |  |
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1974 |
Grandmaster Flash develops his “Quick Mix Theory” for cutting and mixing records. |  |
1975 |
Grand Wizzard Theodore invents “scratching.” | |
1976 |
First 12-inch single pressed, titled “So Much for Love” by Moment of Truth, mixed by Tom Moulton; intended for private use it was never sold commercially. “Ten Percent” by Double Exposure is generally considered the first commercial 12-inch single. |  |
1977 |
Citronic SMP101 mixer. First British mixer with a horizontal crossfader. | |
| Paradise Garage opens in New York City featuring Larry Levan as DJ (who some consider the greatest DJ ever) using Richard Long’s first big sound system through his new company: Richard Long & Associates (RLA). |  |
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| GLI PMX 7000 Mixer. First U.S. mixer to incorporate a horizontal crossfader labeled “Transition Control,” and first affordable DJ mixer (became known as the poor man’s Bozak). |  |
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| Studio 54 opens in New York City with RLA’s famous sound system based on the Paradise Garage design, which quickly became known as the best in New York City. |  |
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| Saturday Night Fever movie debuts December 16. | ||
1978 |
Technics SL-1200 Mark2, or SL-1200MK2, turntable (beefed up version of the original SL-1200 home hi-fi model released in 1972). |  |
1979 |
Alex Rosner’s paper, “Overview of Disco Sound Systems,” published in Jour. Audio Eng. Soc., vol. 27, no. 7/8, July/Aug 1979, pp. 576-584. |  |
1980 |
Richard Long and Alan Fierstein’s AES paper, “State-of-the-Art Discotheque Sound Systems – Systems Design and Acoustical Measurement,” presented at the AES 67th Convention, NY, October, 1980. Preprint 1694. | |
1981 |
Kraftwerk “Computer World,” Human League “Dare” and Depeche Mode “Speak & Spell“ are released. Processor-controlled sequencers and drum machines create perfect 4/4 timing for beatmixing. Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love” is the year‘s best-selling single. |  |
| “The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel.” Grandmaster Flash mixed samples from various groups using three decks. Uses: Chic “Good Times,” Blondie “Rapture,” Queen “Another One Bites the Dust,” Sugar Hill Gang “8th Wonder,” Furious Five “Birthday Party,” Spoonie Gee “Monster Jam.” |
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1982 |
UREI 1620 Music Mixer, the first Bozak mixer clone. |  |
| Roland TB-303 Bass Synthesizer / Sequencer released that found later fame in acid house, featured first in Phuture’s “Acid Trax” in 1986. |  |
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| The first MIDI keyboards appear, such as the Sequential Circuits Prophet 600 and Roland Jupiter 6. |  |
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1984 |
Richard Long contacts Rane to OEM the X3000A, Q5000 & M3000. He redesigns his disco systems to use Rane AC 22 and AC 23 crossovers to replace his original X2000, X4000, X5000 and X6000 crossovers. |  |
| Rane AC 22 and AC 23 Active Crossovers. First commercially available Linkwitz-Riley crossovers. Available today as the AC 22S and AC 23S. |  |
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1985 |
Rane ships 1st RLA X3000A (January) and Q5000 (June). |  |
1986 |
Rane MP 24 Club Mixer:
See the MP 24 DJ Mixer Evolution for more details. |
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1990 |
Rane develops and receives patent (1991) on Accelerated Slope™ EQ. (Versions later used in Rane’s TTM 54, TTM 56, TTM 57SL, XP 2016, MP 44 & Empath DJ Mixers.) |  |
1995 |
Rane develops the MP 22 Mobile/Club mixer. |  |
1996 |
University of Auckland, New Zealand graduate student, James Edward Russell, writes postgraduate paper on concepts of controlling digital audio playback, one of which involved turntables. Steve West (née Hoek) suggests pressing a record with a tone in quadrature, and having the software track the motion of the record by analyzing the electrical signal generated by the unmodified turntable. (Steve West went on to co-found Serato Audio Research). |
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1997 |
Rane releases the MM 8x Mojo Club/Mobile Mixer. |  |
1998 |
Pioneer EFX-500 Effector. First DJ effects box that added echo, flanging and filtering to the performing DJ’s repertoire. |  |
| Vestax PMC-06 ProA. First use of “Hamster” reversal switch on crossfader and 3-position switch selectable crossfader curve control. |  |
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| Rane TTM 52 and TTM 54 Turntablist Mixers:
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1999 |
Rane files patent on 4th-order Accelerated Slope™ EQ first used on the TTM 54 Performance Mixer (Granted 2006). Now used on the TTM 56S, TTM 57SL, XP 2016, MP 44 & Empath Mixers. |  |
| Rane MP 2016 & XP2016 Rotary Mixers using a modernized Bozak design. The current versions are here. |  |
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| Korg KP1 KAOSS Pad Dynamic Effect/Controller. First combo MIDI controller and effects processor featuring an x-y controller pad that lets users play any of its 60 effects in real time. |  |
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2000 |
Rane MP 44 Club Mixer:
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2001 |
Pioneer CDJ-1000 Digital Vinyl Turntable. First CD “turntable” using a touch sensitive platter that accurately emulated a vinyl turntable. |  |
| Rane develops and receives patent (2004) on the magnetic fader used in the TTM 56 and TTM 57SL. See the RaneNote "Evolution of the DJ Mixer Crossfader." |  |
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| Rane TTM 56 Performance Mixer. First appearance of computer-controlled non-contact magnetic faders and the most famous performance mixer to-date. Evolved into the improved TTM 56S. |  |
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| Rane MP 2 Compact DJ Mixer. First single rack space DJ mixer. Available now as the improved MP 2S. |  |
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2002 |
Rane Empath Touring/Club Mixer:
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| EJ MIDI Turntable. Allows standard MIDI messages from turntables. |  |
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| Serato Scratch, Studio Edition. Plug-in for Digidesign‘s Pro Tools to Scratch any digital sample or sound file using regular turntables or a mouse as the controller. |  |
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2004 |
Numark CDX Turntable. First standard 12" motorized platter with vinyl record and slipmat for controlling CD play. |  |
| Rane partners with Serato Audio Research, a New Zealand company, to produce Scratch Live. First digital music file mixing system to work exactly like real vinyl, with none of the limitations of previous attempts. |  |
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| Pioneer DVJ-X1 DVD VJ player. First DVD/CD Turntable. |  |
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2005 |
Rane MP 4 DJ Mixer for both analog and digital music sources. First USB DJ mixer designed for use with PCs for MP3 playback. Includes Serato Scratch Live software. |  |
| Rane Empath Mixer with rotary controls becomes available. |  |
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2006 |
Rane TTM 57SL Performance Mixer is the first mixer to incorporate built-in functions for Serato Scratch Live, as well as downloadable effects. |  |
2008 |
Serato Video-SL software plug-in for Scratch Live adds the ability to playback and mix video files using a laptop and a TTM 57SL mixer, bringing live video mixing to the turntablist, allowing manipulation of video files from vinyl or CD players. |  |
2009 |
Rane SL 3 for Serato Scratch Live is introduced with 3 phono/line inputs, 3 outputs and 24-bit processing. |  |
2010 |
Rane Sixty-Eight Mixer for Serato Scratch Live is introduced with two USB ports, the first mixer allowing two DJs with their own laptops to hand off sets without any disconnect. |  |
2011 |
Rane SL 4 for Serato Scratch Live is introduced with 4 phono/line inputs, 4 outputs, an extra aux input for recording a mixer's output, and an aux output that can be assigned to the SP-6 sampler in Scratch Live. |  |
| Rane SL 2 for Serato Scratch Live replaces the SL 1 with easier hookup and better sounding converters. |  |
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| Return to the Rane DJ page |