I don’t see it. The push from Pioneer is more or less trying to be the universal setup for DJ booths. The notion you don’t haul in a laptop with “box”, timecode, and cables…or laptop with midi controller, hoping there’s space. Instead, they want DJs to show up with headphones and flash drives, which for many clubs sounds like a winning proposition as opposed to DJs constantly toying with the in-house setup.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If back in 1992 there was this laptop/midi technology, I would have never bought turntables or touched a vinyl beyond converting it to MP3. I just love the convenience I get in digital, and in my last days of active gigging on that Torq Xponent, I liked that I was guaranteed solid working gear…as opposed to walking in to a broken mixer or decks.
I think if there is a “backlash”, it’s DJs trying to be free of bringing a laptop or what not to the club. I can’t blame them, as I’ve heard of many times when laptops failed in hot, steamy environments, or that idiot who spilled a beer on a Macbook, etc. Still, even Pioneer’s setup needs he computer just so you can set up your tunes and such.
I honestly don’t see a day when analog media will come back and overtake digital.
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