Well, we’ve nearly made it through 2020. That was… not great. We can only hope that 2021 will be a better year for everyone!
But I’m back here for our periodic examination of what is going on in the world of DJ tech – so let’s dive right in and see what’s new!
Air DJing?!
I was casually scrolling through my feed when I stumbled across this DJ Yoda video, and my mind was BLOWN.
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There’s a lot to take on board here. First of all – how? Well, it seems that the iPad takes a 3D view of your hand, maps that to the software, and hey presto, you are virtually scratching the virtual decks, with no contact. If you look to the top-middle on the iPad, there appears to be shadowy “hands” in a control panel, to show you what the iPad is receiving. Pretty clever stuff.
The CEO of Algoriddim, Karim Morsy, said “The ability to mix music using djay Pro AI’s intelligent, built-in hand tracking technology represents a fundamental change in how DJs are able to orchestrate mixes and adds a new visual dimension to live DJ sets. Gesture Control is a new paradigm with implications beyond DJing and music creation. It is a major step forward with how people interact with mobile technology.”
This is one of those moments where you get a sense you are glimpsing a whole new corner of technology, which could have amazing stage performance possibilities. I am a Serato user, and dabble in Rekordbox – but it is fascinating to see how the smaller DJ apps are coming up with so many incredible ideas (such as this one that we covered earlier in the year), some of which Serato have expressly said they will not be adopting. Could someone like Algoriddim come in and steal a big chunk of market share? I’m sure they will hope so!
Reloop Buddy
At the risk of this seeming like an advert for Algoriddim’s djay, Reloop have announced this fun little controller for using with their software, due for release at the end of December (£199 / $279 / €219). Its only a tiny thing, with a docking station for iPads, but looks to have all the features you would need to get going – decent sized jog wheels, 16 pads (8 per channel), controlling all manner of useful functions. And the unit has controls to easily access their incredible “Neural Mix” feature – essentially allowing you to instantly isolate drums, instruments or vocals on tracks. At the price, it looks a very handy piece of kit for people who don’t just want to be touching iPad screens the whole time.
Serato Scratch Banks
The new Pioneer S11 scratch mixers included a brilliant new feature – scratch banks. A recent update to Serato means that you now have access to Serato’s scratch banks across the Rane Seventy, Seventy Two and Seventy Two Mk2 mixers. This is covered in more detail over here.
Pioneer DDJ-FLX6
This was announce earlier this winter, and the DDJ-FLX6 got a strangely hostile reception in the places I looked at, seemingly because it has a somewhat different visual aesthetic to the other Pioneer controllers. Designed for use with both Rekordbox and Serato, and has 4 channels. It has some pretty interesting sounding features – merge FX look fun, and then it has a series of scratch patterns to apply, cutting the sound in and out – all you have to do is move the platter back and forth! This is exactly the sort of thing that annoys purists, like sync on steroids basically! C’est la vie – this is how technology moves forward! To me, this looks like a really competitive unit – in the UK it is priced at £539. I’m looking forward to having a play on one to see how it compares to the DDJ1000srt and XDJ-XZ.
Ableton 11
Its now really more a studio tool than a performance tool, but its still a very popular app for the DJ community, and Ableton Live is about to hit v11. Its due for release in early 2021, and includes some improvements aimed squarely at live performance. Check out this video for more info
For me, though, the ultimate piece of DJ technology is probably the cheapest you’re going to find this Christmas – its this vinyl-style pizza cutter – I’ve always been a big fan of cutting up 12″s as often as possible!
This will be the last blog post before Christmas, so everybody – have a very merry Christmas! And, as always, head over to the Heavy Hits Pool for the best new music!