The PDJ portable DJ system is a new take on handheld DJing, combining hardware controls with two touchscreens and on-board storage to be completely self contained.
Our very own DJ Hombre latched on to this a couple of months back, but we got to see it “in the flesh” at the NAMM Show 2013. It’s called the PDJ Portable DJ System, and is a handheld DJ set-up with two touchscreen “decks” either side of a mini mixer.
It’s got 2GB of onboard memory for holding tunes, but you can insert up to a 32GB SD card too, to pack a larger library. As well as all the usual DJ controls, it has a sampler and a built-in sequencer for mashing your own beats into the mix.
Unusually for LA the sun wasn’t out this year, but that didn’t stop the gear shining bright inside…
Now we’re back in our office, we’ve got a chance to bring you all those little things from around the NAMM Show 2013 – things that we didn’t get a chance to cover in more detail earlier, but that we felt were worth a mention.
So from pimped rides to big screens, black boxes to branding exercises, here’s a quick round-up of some of the important bits and pieces we’ve yet to cover from this year’s show…
Users of Allen & Heath’s Xone:DB2 mixer can enjoy a whole new host of effects options by installing the new Xone:DB2 firmware upgrade, which was announced this week at the NAMM Show 2013.
Version 2 of the firmware offers five new effects variants – Eco-MasifQ, Dly-MasifQ, Infrabass, Saturator and Bitbash 2. It is now possible to chain the X and Y effects engines, allowing audio processing by any combination of two different effects.
I couldn’t help but set the camera rolling when, upon arrival at the Gibson/Stanton room here at the NAMM Show 2013, I saw this 10-year old rocking the 1s and 2s.
As we’re about to release our Scratching for Controller DJs course, I’ve been keeping a close eye on the scratch DJs here at the show – but none has made me smile as much as this young prodigy.
The long-touted The One DJ software is now almost ready for release. As the promo video shows, it lets you DJ the usual way with two tunes, but also allows live re-editing, because you can stack, edit and loop multiple waveforms within each “track”, on the fly.
The software is therefore a mix of normal-style DJ programs, Mixmeister, Mixed In Key Mashup, Traktor’s Remix Decks and a touch of Ableton Live – oh, and Virtual DJ 8 too, which has a similar timeline-editing feature.
The QuNeo is an iPad-sized DJ controller with a large array of touch controls on it and class-leading LED feedback. It allows you to control DJ software (it comes with a Traktor mapping, and a Virtual DJ mapping and a djay mapping are due soon) as well as other Midi programs.
Now it’s been unchained from the USB cable with the addition of QuNeo Rogue, an add-on pack that allow QuNeo it to communicate wirelessly with your laptop.
Moldover – the man who first coined the term “controllerism”, and who has been at the forefront of the scene ever since – has never been one to follow trends with the performance gear he concocts.
His latest project, the Robocaster, continues that trend of innovation and while it will surprise many people, it is one of the most fun Midi controllers I’ve seen so far at the NAMM Show 2013, melding guitar and controller to make a brand new instrument.
That means buyers of the Mixtrack Pro II, which is supplied with Serato DJ Intro, can buy the full version of the software from Serato’s website and as of today, it will work with the controller.
In this video, Craig from Behringer talks us through the new Deckadance 2 software, which looks like a massive improvement on the original Deckadance and which has been tied in tightly with Behringer’s CMD modular controllers.
Of particular note are the advanced mappings which make good use of the features on the CMD controllers that the new software is being launched alongside.
The Gemini G4V is being shown at the NAMM Show 2013 in a prototype form, but two things strike you on first look: One, it is very similar to the Pioneer DDJ-SX and the Vestax VCI-400 units, and two, it’s easily Gemini’s nicest controller to date.
Made of solid metal, the unit is heavy and despite being a prototype (the jogwheels, in particular, feel lightwieght, but Gemini assure us they’re to be beefed up for production), looks built to compete with the controllers we just mentioned, but at a much lower price point.
We got a first look at the Gemini GMX Pro controller, which in our opinion is very much aimed at mobile DJs who also have laptops, rather than laptop DJs who occasionally want to play from USB.
It’s a budget-built controller with average-feeling jogwheels and a plastic body, but it nonetheless has a featureset that stand it aside from also-ran DJ controllers.
American Audio is showing prototypes of three new controllers, all aimed at the budget-conscious DJ.
The American Audio VMS DJ is a largish controller with decent sized jogwheels and a built in sound card. Two channels, it has balanced outputs. Meanwhile the ELM-C1 comes in at under US$100, has better jogs than some of its competitors at this price point, but has no sound card. And finally, the VMS Jelly is like the VMS DJ, but changes colour to the music!
Vestax has surprised us at the NAMM Show 2013 by sneaking out the Vestax VCI-400DJ, a limited edition run of the Vestax VCI-400 that comes with Serato DJ software in the box.
As Vestax’s other Serato controllers, the VCI-300 and the VCI-380, are currently only for Serato ITCH, that makes the VCI-400DJ Vestax’s first DJ controller for the new Serato DJ software.
So here’s our video of the Numark Mixtrack Pro II from the floor of the NAMM Show 2013, with the unit explained by one of Numark’s product guys, Eric. We’ve got lots of close-ups so you can get a better feel for the quality and so on. (Update: Read our full Numark Mixtrack Pro 2 review).
We liked it – it’s appreciably better looking, the pads especially feel nice. It’s got an almost Apple-esque feel with the bevelled edges, and it’s certainly a lot more attractive that its predecessor, the rather boxy Mixtrack Pro.
UDG’s case for Pioneer’s RMX-1000 is typical of the new designs, and is carefully moulded to offer secure protection.
UDG makes record bags, right? Well no actually that’s far from all those guys make, even though that’s where they made their name.
In this digital age, the company has expanded into controller bags and trolleys too, but as digital gear gets smaller (some of it, anyway!) so have a section of UDG’s cases. For NAMM this year they’ve released four decidedly compact new models.
Now you can control MixVibes with Pioneer CDJs, and let MixVibes use the CDJs’ sound cards, so you only need show up with two USB cables and a laptop at the club.
Pioneer’s rekordbox software developer MixVibes has dropped a NAMM 2013 bombshell of its own: The new MixVibes Cross 2.3 DJ software gives HID integration with Pioneer’s full current CDJ range, giving tighter, richer control, including the ability to use the CDJs’ sound cards and to scratch video.
Now DJs can roll up to the club and DJ or video DJ with nothing more than laptop and two USB cables.
The Behringer CMD-PL1, one of the seven Behringer controllers announced at last year’s NAMM that are only just shipping now.
Behringer today announced that its long-awaited new CMD range of DJ controllers is “now shipping”.
The company also announced that the controllers will all come with a full version of a new incarnation of Image Line’s Deckadance DJ software, Deckadance 2.
