C
catnap
Major Label Whore
So the other day I drop by my friend's house and he has a DJ setup that someone is letting him borrow for a week. I wasn't expecting much (i mean, who lends out their setup?!) but I was like a kid in a candy store when I saw he had two Technics and a Rane TTM-56 mixer.
here's a quick reference for those who aren't familiar with these two mixers, both of which are made by Rane and are among their top-of-line models. The TTM-56 is their flagship scratch mixer, equipped with 2 channels and special magnetic faders. The Empath is a 3-channel mixer that is aimed both at scratching and mixing, and uses Penny & Giles faders.
Rane TTM-56
Rane Empath
I have a Rane Empath, and I picked it because I have traditionally been a mix DJ more than a scratch DJ, although I scratch enough to make a battle-style mixer my weapon of choice. Recently I've been working hard on my scribble and crab scratches, and the Empath has been perfect. So, I was excited to see how the TTM-56 could possibly improve on that perfection.
First of all, even though there's been a lot of discussion about the Empath's Penny & Giles faders versus the TTM-56's Rane-engineered magnetic fader, I couldn't feel any difference at all. The upfaders and the crossfader handled exactly the same as my Empath, and the cut-in time seemed similar. The weight and smoothness were the same as well.
So where was the improvement? I would say in the flexibility of the 56's upfaders - I set them in reverse with a sharp curve, so that cutting downward brought in the music, instead of the usual way, which is opposite. WOW! I was pulling off crabs immediately! Yes, what they say IS true - if you have some scratch skills already, the TTM-56 will improve you.
Another benefit over the Empath was the phono/line switches. They are big and paddle-shaped, and perfect for transforms. The Empath uses one of these types of switches, but only on the headphone cue select, so it's useless for scratching. The switches on the Empath are much smaller and very stiff - not ideal at all for transforming. My buddy Boombox actually gave himself a nasty blister on his thumb, using those switches to transform.
The EQ's and Flex-FX systems were exactly the same, but another improvement the 56 had over the Empath was that you could cut in between the cue and the master output in your headphones, with just the touch of a button (conveniently located above the cue crossfader.) It was a nice option, although the Empath's system is even simpler - cutting the headphone crossfader left & right toggles between the two. So i guess that isn't really much of an improvement, but it was a nice touch.
I know the 56 has some really funky crossfader settings, but most of the time I just kept it on a super-sharp curve since I didn't understand the differences in the "modes" and the A & B knob adjustments. The Empath has a much simpler crossfader curve adjust that consists of just one knob. The setting I did use on the TTM-56 was excellent, and everything I wanted out of a crossfader. But as I said before, the cut-in time and overall feel was exactly the same as the Empath.
Overall, I found that the TTM-56 was better suited for serious turntablism, thanks to its simplified layout and unique fader modes/adjustments. Like a red-headed stepchild, I couldn't help but beat on it unmercifully, with a big smile on my face. This thing was a badass, no matter what direction you chose to move the faders!
I understand now why turntablists see the Empath as being a bit "crowded" in its layout. I never minded it, but after using the TTM-56, I realized that the simplified layout allows you to get more creative with not only how you scratch, but how you approach mixing in a full-body sense.
Conclusion:
I won't be trading in my Empath for a TTM-56, but if I had a second choice in a mixer, that would be it. The key differences between the two is the simplicity of layout and the multiple fader modes of the 56, versus the extra channel and gig-friendly features of the Empath.
I own the Empath because I spin a lot of different genres, and I use 3 turntables. I think that thanks to the Empath's high quality faders, a turntablist who is familiar with the Empath could pull off just as stunning routines with it as the TTM-56. On the other hand, in terms of "walk right up and scratchability," the TTM-56 takes the cake as the most fun mixer I've ever played with.
peace,
sim*n
here's a quick reference for those who aren't familiar with these two mixers, both of which are made by Rane and are among their top-of-line models. The TTM-56 is their flagship scratch mixer, equipped with 2 channels and special magnetic faders. The Empath is a 3-channel mixer that is aimed both at scratching and mixing, and uses Penny & Giles faders.
Rane TTM-56
Rane Empath
I have a Rane Empath, and I picked it because I have traditionally been a mix DJ more than a scratch DJ, although I scratch enough to make a battle-style mixer my weapon of choice. Recently I've been working hard on my scribble and crab scratches, and the Empath has been perfect. So, I was excited to see how the TTM-56 could possibly improve on that perfection.
First of all, even though there's been a lot of discussion about the Empath's Penny & Giles faders versus the TTM-56's Rane-engineered magnetic fader, I couldn't feel any difference at all. The upfaders and the crossfader handled exactly the same as my Empath, and the cut-in time seemed similar. The weight and smoothness were the same as well.
So where was the improvement? I would say in the flexibility of the 56's upfaders - I set them in reverse with a sharp curve, so that cutting downward brought in the music, instead of the usual way, which is opposite. WOW! I was pulling off crabs immediately! Yes, what they say IS true - if you have some scratch skills already, the TTM-56 will improve you.
Another benefit over the Empath was the phono/line switches. They are big and paddle-shaped, and perfect for transforms. The Empath uses one of these types of switches, but only on the headphone cue select, so it's useless for scratching. The switches on the Empath are much smaller and very stiff - not ideal at all for transforming. My buddy Boombox actually gave himself a nasty blister on his thumb, using those switches to transform.
The EQ's and Flex-FX systems were exactly the same, but another improvement the 56 had over the Empath was that you could cut in between the cue and the master output in your headphones, with just the touch of a button (conveniently located above the cue crossfader.) It was a nice option, although the Empath's system is even simpler - cutting the headphone crossfader left & right toggles between the two. So i guess that isn't really much of an improvement, but it was a nice touch.
I know the 56 has some really funky crossfader settings, but most of the time I just kept it on a super-sharp curve since I didn't understand the differences in the "modes" and the A & B knob adjustments. The Empath has a much simpler crossfader curve adjust that consists of just one knob. The setting I did use on the TTM-56 was excellent, and everything I wanted out of a crossfader. But as I said before, the cut-in time and overall feel was exactly the same as the Empath.
Overall, I found that the TTM-56 was better suited for serious turntablism, thanks to its simplified layout and unique fader modes/adjustments. Like a red-headed stepchild, I couldn't help but beat on it unmercifully, with a big smile on my face. This thing was a badass, no matter what direction you chose to move the faders!
I understand now why turntablists see the Empath as being a bit "crowded" in its layout. I never minded it, but after using the TTM-56, I realized that the simplified layout allows you to get more creative with not only how you scratch, but how you approach mixing in a full-body sense.
Conclusion:
I won't be trading in my Empath for a TTM-56, but if I had a second choice in a mixer, that would be it. The key differences between the two is the simplicity of layout and the multiple fader modes of the 56, versus the extra channel and gig-friendly features of the Empath.
I own the Empath because I spin a lot of different genres, and I use 3 turntables. I think that thanks to the Empath's high quality faders, a turntablist who is familiar with the Empath could pull off just as stunning routines with it as the TTM-56. On the other hand, in terms of "walk right up and scratchability," the TTM-56 takes the cake as the most fun mixer I've ever played with.
peace,
sim*n
