Technology Preview: Add-On Touchscreens For Any DJ Controller

Phil Morse | Founder & Tutor
Read time: < 1 min
Last updated 6 November, 2017

Well, a few weeks ago Numark showed a very flash looking prototype (no clues as to whether it was working or not…) of an all-in-one DJ controller with built-in screens – no laptop required. Now, coming from veteran DJ industry developer Luis Serrano is another touchscreen DJ controller concept: An “add on” screen for DJ controllers to give touchscreen capacity to any controller.

Luis created the first ever DJ Midi controller back in 2003, and also helped bring Deckdance DJ software to market. In his latest concept (which the video shows actually working), the screens are in addition to your laptop. The ideas here is you set your laptop up with your DJ controller like normal, then use the screens as add-ons, a bit like Novation’s Dicers are add-ons for a turntable set-up.

The beauty is that you can add ’em to anything; the downside of course is that it’s another layer of complication in your set-up. What is undeniable though is that it looks pretty cool, and having touchscreens for waveforms etc can certainly help you solve the screengazing that can happen when you DJ with a laptop set up right in front of your face. Will be interesting to see what happens next, as it’s my hunch that Traktor gear will be going down these lines too, soon, and Numark are I reckon in the mix too… watch this space…

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Do you like the look of this? Would you buy simple add-on touchscreen for your controller? Or is it solving a problem that doesn’t exist? Let us know your thoughts below.

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