The Lowdown
If you DJ in a place where the DJ set-up surface is just a bit too low for your controller, this is the best choice of all the stands we’ve reviewed so far, because it is super-sturdy, very light and child’s play to set up and put away. But if you’re looking for a stand you can tuck behind other equipment that’ll perch your laptop high in the air, angled sharply towards you and held securely, this isn’t it – it’s a “low riser” style and can’t be put at more than a slight incline on any of its settings.
Video Review
First Impressions / Setting up
The stand comes in a box which contains a canvas-style branded nylon zip bag and the stand itself. It’s really light, weighing only 800g, and is made of quite thin painted metal (our review model was red but you can get black too). There are four rubber feet, one on each of the corners of the metalwork, and the legs are riveted to each other and to the top plate. The top plate has two pairs of four steps underneath it so you can adjust the stand to four heights of between 3.9 and 9.8″ (10 and 25cm), and the topside of the plate has all exposed metal covered in adhesive-backed foam pads to protect the underside of your gear.
Assembly just involves pulling the legs apart and slotting the top bar of the “loose” leg into the height adjusters of your choice. As soon as that clips into place and you put the stand on a surface, it all becomes instantly rigid – more so than typical DJ stands, due to the fact that this is the most stable type of stand by design.
There is nothing to hold what you put on the stand into place, apart from the foam; the angle is slight and the height low enough for this to be generally unnecessary. However, I felt that my MacBook Air was more “perched” than “placed” on the stand when it was in a higher setting, and preferred to use a lower setting for that reason.
It’s actually with heavier gear that the stand comes into its own. Not only does it become even more stable (weight simply spreads out through the structure making it über-solid), but unlike with other designs of stand, this one truly is rigid – there’s no sideways or up/down give at all. For a controller where you might be manhandling the jogwheels and hitting the pads with a bit more force than is strictly necessary at the height of a performance, that extra stability is a good thing to have.
The stand is as easy to fold up and put away as it is to assemble, and once it is in its bag, it’s the lightest and smallest of al the stands we’ve reviewed so far on Digital DJ Tips.
Conclusion
If you DJ in a place where the DJ set-up surface is just a bit too low for your controller, this is the best choice of all the stands we’ve reviewed so far, because it is super-sturdy, very light and child’s play to set up and put away. Likewise, if bending down your laptop keyboard at your gigs is giving your back grief, here’s a solution for you. As a bonus, it’s pretty cheap. But if you’re looking for a stand you can tuck behind other equipment that’ll perch your laptop high in the air, angled sharply towards you and held securely, this isn’t it – it’s a “low riser” style and can’t be put at more than a slight incline on any of its settings. It also has no lip at the front to physically hold your gear on it.
It’s best thought of as a mini-table, which is what ultimately marks it out from most laptop/controller stands. If this type of thing is what you’ve been looking for, the Magma Riser Laptop Stand is a good example of it, and we can recommend it.
