bpm2012 | Digital DJ Tips

October 18th, 2012 News & Opinion

BPM 2012: New Decksavers For This Year’s Gear

by Phil Morse

One of the latest batch of DJ gear covers from Decksaver, this one for the Pioneer XDJ-AERO.

Decksaver knows that for many DJs, dropping hundreds on a piece of gear and then not buying a cover for it is sacrilege. And they also know that having a smart acrylic cover for gear is hardwired in to many DJs’ DNA, probably thanks to the iconic Technics lids that have protected delicate turntable parts for decades.

So Decksaver has made a bit of a niche for itself selling these covers, which of course opens the company up to an often-repeated question from DJs: “When is a cover coming out for…” (insert new DJ controller here). Well, at BPM 2012, a whole load of bang-up-to-date covers were announced. Here’s the full list:

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October 12th, 2012 News & Opinion

BPM 2012: 6 Things We Learned At The Show

by Phil Morse

One of the best bits about going to DJ shows, such as the BPM Show 2012 that’s just ended, is gauging the mood of the public and the exhibitors, spotting what’s busy and what isn’t, and trying to get a feel for both the current state of play in DJing, and what might be just around the corner.

In-between product demos, meetings and seminars, we made it our mission to be visible and available to as many of our readers “on the floor” as possible. As always, we feel staying close to you guys is the most important thing we can do, and a show is the perfect time to do just that. What you said, alongside discussions with industry peeps had in the bars, cafes and car parks (well, the smokers have got to smoke somewhere…), has informed this list of trends from BPM 2012.

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October 8th, 2012 News & Opinion

BPM 2012: Best Of The Rest

by Phil Morse

The main arena in BPM 2012, where many of the big performances happen. Pic: Chauvet Lighting

It’s been a steady BPM but lacking in surprises, with most of the new stuff already known to us and reported on.

But it’s been busy (the organisers said they had the busiest first day ever, for instance), and there was a good range of people, from wide-eyed kids towing their parents behind them, to seasoned industry veterans, still eager and excited to see what’s new.

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October 7th, 2012 News & Opinion

BPM 2012: Record Your Sets With The Reloop Tape

by Phil Morse

The Reloop Tape: A loveable solution to recording your DJ sets on the go.

It’s cute, it’s chunky, it looks like a cassette tape. It’s the Reloop Tape, a funky little answer to that DJ problem: “How do I record my sets?”

Roughly the size of a cassette tape, this £80 / €90 device comes complete with a set of retro cassette stickers to personalise it. It is designed to let you record your DJ performance when you’re playing at a party, on someone else’s gear, or even when you’re using LE software that doesn’t let you record directly.

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October 6th, 2012 News & Opinion

BPM 2012: Virtual DJ 8 Will Be Multi-Platform & Multi-Touch

by Phil Morse

Virtual DJ 8 has a cleaner, fresher look, but the bigger news is that it’s going to work on any platform your hardware is compatible with, including both Windows 8 and iOS touchscreen. (Click to enlarge.)

Maybe it’s because we’ve covered it all already, but whatever the reason, there’s scant little to report on the hardware side from the BPM Show this year. (Just look at our News & Opinion stream for the past few weeks; everything new we’ve covered is here at BPM.)

That’s not to say there’s nothing interesting going on – far from it. Just that we’re looking for trends, not big surprise announcements. One of those trends is a move away from the laptop, and is perfectly illustrated by the news that Virtual DJ 8 will be the first multi-platform, multi-touch DJ app. That means that from the off, it will run on Windows, Mac and iOS (Android is out in the cold when it comes to DJing, for many reasons).

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October 5th, 2012 News & Opinion

BPM 2012: Vestax Spin2 DJ Controller For Mac & iOS

by Phil Morse

DJ in full stereo with headphones cueing on iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch with Algoriddim’s djay and vjay software on the new Vestax Spin2

It’s the BPM Show 2012 in the UK this weekend, and the first product we’re bringing you is the new Vestax Spin2 DJ Controller for Algoriddim’s popular djay and vjay software. It’s the first DJ controller ever to allow users to spin both music and video files, on their choice of Mac, iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.

Fully certified by Apple, it is also the first controller to offer true dual stereo outputs for iOS6 devices, meaning proper stereo headphones cueing and stereo master outputs no matter what device you choose to DJ from.

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October 5th, 2012 News & Opinion

BPM 2012 Is Here: What Can We Do For You?

by Phil Morse

Last year’s BPM show. This year’s looks to be even bigger. So what can we find out for you?

So the biggest European DJ show is here: BPM 2012 starts tomorrow. Digital DJ Tips has a whole team there, and we of course have our own agenda to discover and report on all that’s new in digital DJing.

But not everyone can make shows, so today I’d like to ask you what you want us to do for you. Anything in particular you’d like us to find our, report on, photograph? What areas of DJing would you like us to focus on? Anything special you’d like us to find out?

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