Afaik the signal path for club cuts in 1996 at Europadisk's studio was something like:
16bit DAT ->
Neve Digital Transfer Console (with onboard snapshot automateable digital attenuators, eqs, filters, compressors & limiters) ->
Studer 16bit digital delay ->
Neumann SP-79 analog transfer console
w/ OE-DUO eq's, U473 comp/limiters, HT75 HPF/LPF's, Elliptical EQs, VAB-84 vertical amplitude limiter ->
Neumann BTT-84 acceleration limiters ->
Neumann SAL84 cutting amps ->
SX84 cutter head in VMS-82 DMM lathe
I can't remember the exact year that the TC M2000 replaced the Studer delay and the TC Finalizer Plus for additional processing was added - but I'm pretty sure that it came a year or two after 1996.
From your description I'm almost 100% positive that Don Grossinger cut these sides. Jim Shelton was fairly conservative with levels and generally a little heavy handed with the LPF's/HPF's/EE's usually going for "clean" over level - while for club cuts Don Grossinger was all about pushing the envelope as far as he could - going for +6dBVU levels (occasionally even above!) and sometimes a little bit of an "edge" on the tracks. Don definitely knew how to get the most out of that system and he ended up doing tons of house cuts for Strictly Rhythm and lots of other labels - although I think he probably is most proud of his work doing more high fidelity sounding stuff, such as the Rolling Stone limited edition vinyl remasters or the vinyl masters for Brian Wilson's "Smile".
As far as the scribe - I think Don started adding the "DG" in the scribe in response to never getting credit for vinyl mastering on the packaging or label - and due to even more frustration with this later in say around 2000 he started writing his full name in the dead wax. If you post a pic of the scribe I can tell Jim's and Don's handwriting pretty easily so I could tell you who cut it.
As far as DMM - what you get with it is less pre-echo, a tiny bit less inner diameter tracing distortion, better high frequency definition, subtly sharper transients, and with the VSM-8x lathes one of the best pitch/depth computers ever made - so you could generally get higher levels when dealing with longer sides. What is sacrificed is a bit of the ability to handle uncorrelated bass frequencies as well - but with dance cuts you generally are dealing with kick right up the middle as the main element anyway (although admittedly a good number of the cuts done at Europadisk had the EE set at 300Hz and the VAB84 in the signal path as well). I've seen some lacquer cuts done at The Exchange or Heathmans that were hitting +7dBVU that admittedly it would be hard to get to the exact same level with DMM (then again - I rarely see other mastering houses issuing cuts these hot but still relatively clean and trackable) - but otherwise I think a DMM lathe is perfectly suitable for cutting any type of material and is more than capable of cutting a great sounding dance side.
Anyway - I know of only a few producers who were able to do a/b's of the same sides cut on lacquer and DMM - and while I did hear from a couple of them that did this that told me they preferred the lacquer versions as "warmer" - I think DMM got a bad rep from a few dance producers simply out of hearsay and rumor rather than actual experience in real world comparisons.
In my own collection I have tons of DMM cuts many of which I think show particular excellence in sound.
I really miss getting to use that lathe!!
Best regards,
Steve Berson