NAMM ESSENTIAL ROUND UP

SENNHEISER HD7 DJ AND HD8 DJ HEADPHONES
Sennheiser have led the pack in terms of headphones with the HD25s being a staple piece of DJ equipment the world over, however the 25s were not originally intended for the DJ market unlike the two new DJ headphones that Sennheiser had on display. The HD7 and HD8 phones look the part and are very well made and on initial use sound good, might Sennheiser have another hit on their hands? We’ll just have to wait and see.

GEMINI SLATE CONTROLLERS
Gemini continue with their march on the consumer side of the DJ market showing off two new controllers the Slate 4 and the Slate 2, both coming in at the sub £200 price range these pair of DJ delights look nice for the price but they are going up against Pioneers DDJ-SB

M-AUDIO TRIGGER FINGER PRO
The new updated version of M-Audio’s Trigger Finger groove box was receiving a lot of attention at the M-Audio booth. This new version now includes an aluminium faceplate and a removable metal stand that can be positioned in three ways to suit how you would want to set up the Trigger Finger Pro. The Trigger Finger Pro is happy in the studio as a production tool or can be used on the road as a controller for your digital set up.

UDG - DJ ACCESSORIES
UDG continue to dominate the DJ accessory market with an ever-expanding collection of DJ Luggage and Utility packs. The new Urbanite range is aimed at the entrée level DJ offering great kit protection at a reasonable price. The bags in the Urbanite range come in various sizes to suit any variation a DJ would need. The new Creator Digi Hardcase is ideal for your harddrives and smaller essentials but the ace in the pack is the included seven port powered USB hub with included international plug adaptors, making for a truly international product.

iTRACK DOCK
Focusrite were showing off their rather cool add on for iPad users the iTrack Dock. As the name suggest the iTrack Dock is a docking station for the iPad turning it into a fully functional recording and production station, featuring dual Focusrite microphone preamps plus two line inputs and an instrument DI, independent stereo monitor and headphone outputs, everything needed to turn your iPad into a full blown recording studio. Users can even add MIDI instruments and controllers to the dock via the USB connector.

CASIO XW-J1
Casio were showing off their new DJ Controller the XW-J1 which looks very similar to an existing Vestax product, and the reason for that is Casio have teamed up with Vestax to help them step into the digital DJ market? The XW-J1 is built to play nicely with Algoriddim’s DJAY2 software and aimed more at the consumer market than the Pro end of the scale. Whilst it looked okay and worked well with the software just can’t understand why these two companies have ended up in bed together.

MOOG SUB 37
Moog stand once again had the usual array of synth fetishist’s hovering around in salvation with their new Moog SUB 37 synth. As per normal the new synth has the now expected Moog big sound and in a first for Moog in its new delivery, the SUB 37 is Duo-Paraphonic machine meaning two notes can be played at the same time. Looks good and sounds amazing can’t get much better than that.

IZOTOPE BEAT TWEAKER
Izotope once again pulled in their favourite studio guru BT to show off his latest coproduced product the Beat Tweaker. The Beat Tweaker is a new virtual instrument that allows producers and or DJs to rip apart and create new rhythms, beats, and drums patterns and create those intricate beat sounds that have become signature in BT’s productions all directly from this single piece of software.

BITWIG STUDIO
These guys have been at NAMM the last few times showing off this intriguing piece of software but it now seems that Bitwig is actually ready to go and the demonstration of what is to come makes this one look mighty exciting as well Ableton Live will be having nightmares...

ABLETON LIMITED EDITION USB STICK
Sticking with Ableton we were gifted with some rather slick Ableton/Kompakt Concrete USB sticks. These 8gig beauties smacked of Berlin cool with only 100 in circulation and a certificate of ownership we were rocking round the hall with uber cool delight.

THE FORCE WAS WITH PIONEER
Okay Luke Skywalker or Han Solo were nowhere to be seen however, Pioneer had this marvellous “Fully Functional” CDJ2000 in Millennium Falcon livery on display, behind a glass box, away from Death Star type destructive fingers. Personally this was my geek out moment at NAMM, Star Wars and DJing has never come together so beautifully than this, and with that, all that there is left to say is... May the Force be with you.

Signing off from NAMM until another year