The digital versus vinyl DJing debate is set to be reopened after a primitive sketch of a digital DJ controller was discovered in a book of sketches by Italian Renaissance genius Leonard Da Vinci.
Da Vinci, best known for his masterpiece The Mona Lisa, has been credited with sketching a number of devices, including helicopters and water pumps, which were brought to life hundreds of years later thanks to advances in technology.
The sketch book, which was discovered in a safe hidden under the floor of a Milanese delicatessen, has been dated to the period between 1486 and 1508 thanks to a small piece of graffiti on the books cover which reads “Maximilian Uno Eseo Cuntis” which translates as “Maximilian I is a cunt”, referring to Maximilian I a German king and Holy Roman Emperor between those dates.
The controller, pictured above, comes complete with a four channel mixer and four jog wheels, hi, mid and low equaliser controls and a small effects panel. Mike Rosenberg, head of technology at Native Instruments, spoke about the discovery earlier, “It’s really fascinating to see a drawing of such a powerful piece of equipment, that was actually drawn over five hundred years ago. It’s really quite similar to our first Kontrol S4 prototype.”
“It has a lot of the features of a modern DJ controller,” continued Mr. Rosenberg. “The only things it doesn’t have are a sync button and a loop function, but that’s not really surprising as we didn’t see the four four beat developed until the 1970s. I’d also imagine that Da Vinci, being the forward thinking genius that he was, would have totally been against using a sync button.”
“This is really going to shake things up on both sides of the digital – vinyl debate,” suggested Mr. Rosenberg. “I mean when it comes to DJing you can’t really get any more old school than the fifteenth century so it’s sure to give all of those vinyl only purists something to think about.”
A number of international DJs have also commented on Da Vinci’s sketch. Carl Cox said, “Amazing. Da Vinci’s my boy. OH YESS!!” While Steve Aoki added his two cents with, “No sync button? Seems kind of difficult. People from the past are just dumb.”
