Today at a much-busier-than-yesterday BPM we’ve been spending more time talking to manufacturers and software people about what’s just around the corner, and the next year looks like it’s going to be a very interesting one for new DJ products, both hardware and software.
It certainly now appears the days of identikit DJ controllers are drawing to a close, to start with. Yesterday we reported on the interest being shown by consumers in smaller, lighter, flashier DJ gear such as the bright and brash Pioneer DJ-ERGO-V.
With DJ controller functions and features pretty much set in stone nowadays, and having spoken today to manufacturers about how they’re planning to differentiate their products in the next round of development, expect more style (think how Apple do things) and more consumer-led features.
While sworn to secrecy on much of what we’ve heard, expect big innovations in some of the basic DJ software you’ve got used to – and in one case, very soon, too. We’re not talking about the widely reported modular The One DJ software from EKS, either – it’s something bigger than that…
(On a general note, don’t be surprised if DJ software/hardware starts taking full advantage of streaming music services such as Spotify, much in the way Virtual DJ already does with GrooveShark.)
Two very unofficial sneak previews…
OK, on to more specifics. We’ve got a deliciously unofficial snap of a Denon DJ controller that nobody’s announced yet and that was captured being whipped out of view!
It is clearly a two-channel version of the DN-MC6000, so let’s guess it may be called the DN-MC4000 or the DN-MC2000? It follows the trend of releasing smaller versions of existing larger gear (Traktor S2 follow S4) or bigger versions of existing smaller gear (Numark N4 following Mixtrack Pro), as manufacturers flesh out their ranges to appeal to a wider variety of DJs.
Meanwhile, for those of you who were waiting for a sample deck controller for Serato ITCH, the ever-industrious Gizmo over at Skratchworx snuck in early the day before the show opened, and was rewarded by finding Numark displaying just that: a sample deck controller called the NSP6, for the NS6.
As soon as the show opened, it had promptly disappeared. Good work, Gizmo! 🙂
The sample player follows the Serato pattern: New features get released in the software and hardware companies offer add-ons to take advantage of them (it happened with the Numark NS7 and the Vestax VCI-300 Mk II and their add-on effects, too).
Finally…
Finally, yesterday we promised you booth babes, and we’re not going to let you down on that one, so here’s one more. 🙂
If you’re not a regular at this kind of function, both organisers and exhibitors tend to employ “promotion girls” whose job it is to totter around in high heels and mini-shorts brightening the place up. They certainly make for a spectacle!
You’ve got to feel sorry for rave dancers forced to perform for a gawping queue of exhibition-goers at 11am on a Sunday morning as they’re waiting for the show to open, though. I hope they’re being paid well.
• Our final day’s coverage, published on Tuesday, will have our traditional sweep of the furthest reaches of the show, rounding up the weird and wonderful products and services that luke on the fringes…
Were you lucky enough to be at BPM too? What did you see that grabbed your attention (we’re talking gear, here). what do you think of the products above? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Phil Morse
