Gemini FF-1 Flashformer Used by Grandmaster Flash

Grandmaster Flash created a new form of electronic scratching with the invention of the Flashformer, a device that makes it easy to cut in and out of a record. Scratching is a technique in which the DJ plays a record while rotating it back and forth on the turntable, thereby creating a scratching sound.  The DJ would have previously done this by quickly moving a slider on the mixer from on to off. The buttons marked left and right on the Flashformer allowed the DJ to cut in and out of the sound while scratching, which created a percussive effect.  The defeat/transform switch engaged and disengaged the device. Grandmaster Flash is the first hip-hop artist to develop his own DJ equipment.  Gemini manufactured the Flashformer on which Grandmaster Flash’s signature appears.  Because many mixers are now equipped with a transform switch, transform devices are no longer used by most DJs.

Grandmaster Flash is one of the founding fathers of hip-hop and known as the originator of scratching and mixing. Born in Bridgetown, Barbados and growing up in the Bronx, New York, Grandmaster Flash has been experimenting with vinyl’s since he was a toddler and grew a serious passion for music and engineering. His knowledge of audio equipment and experimentation led him to revolutionize the way DJs played records where he started using his turntable as an instrument. Grandmaster Flash perfected manipulating vinyl records where he would put his hands on the vinyl and manipulate it in a backward, forward or counterclockwise motion. Through this process, Grandmaster Flash perfected beat looping, and discovered many of the most iconic beats still commonly sampled today. Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (2007) and the Grammy Hall of Fame (2012), Grandmaster Flash is acknowledged for pioneering a relationship between DJ and rappers and his innovative techniques of the turntable and mixing equipment.