#behringer midi

Behringer’s modular line of CMD controllers will likely get a bad reputation before they are even in the hands of DJs or controllerists.  Behringer doesn’t exactly have a good reputation of making original products (specifically mixers), and their price point does tell us that they are created with longevity in mind either – but we could all be wrong.  Any company who has received criticisms in the past will not be around for very long if they do nothing about it.  Because of this, Behringer has actively been getting their heads together for the next generation of DJ products. I will say that they just judging on looks alone, these controllers look superb.  They have an all black layout with orange buttons.  It speaks for its simplicity, and the amount of design variations are actually very exhaustive.  I can think of three or four of these controllers that I could make use of, especially the ones with a sixteen button layout smack dab in the center.  The trouble is that there are few of us that will give them a chance if we’ve been burned in the past.  A company can genuinely producer a better product than before, so perhaps we should give them a chance.  http://www.djbooth.net/index/dj-equipment/entry/styleflip-behringer-cmd-mm-1-controller-design-contest

Everyone’s eyes are peeled on Native Instrument’s next move in the gear industry – but we shouldn’t forget about the other guys who deserve their own come-up.  Any company who is out there trying to create new innovative products really has only two options.  They either take a look what everyone else is doing, and try to make the next logical move, or they take the risk and try something new without following the path of anybody else.  The second path is often the least traveled and many products have been lost in oblivion because of this.  Behringer has a long road ahead of them if they want to gain steam and respect from DJs, but they are on the right track. They are building things that we need; things that are popular – and their prices are perhaps the most aggressive out of all the controller companies out there.  Their CMD lines of controllers are remarkable because of the sheer amount of configurations you can choose from.  It’s not the same case with Native Instruments, who really focuses on developing one or two flagship controllers at a time.  For fewer than two hundred dollars, you can score a two channel all-in-one controller from Behringer.  It looks the part. http://www.digitaldjtips.com/2013/06/behringer-cmd-studio-4a-dj-controller/

A two channel MIDI controller with jogwheels is about as simple as it gets these days.  You can pick one of these bad boys up for close to a thousand dollars, or if you prefer, closer to a few hundred dollars.  Looking at the front of the decks you will notice many things in common.  Each device has some sort of pitch control, they each have wheels that spin, they each have faders and rotaries, and they each have a slew of buttons for song programming or cueing.  Since they share all the same operations, what could be so different from product to product?  The answer is simple, the quality of each part. Not every jogwheel is the same.  Some of them, like those found on the Vestax VCI series; tend to spin freely without much force applied to them.  Others are more connected to the controller and give a bit more resistance.  Some rely on touch sensitivity rather than actual movement on a dial.  So you see right there, the costs in parts can go up or down quickly.  Buttons are another area where they can fail or flourish.  Great pads can take abuse while remaining sensitive to touch; others are not so friendly. http://www.digitaldjtips.com/2013/07/behringer-cmd-studio-4a-dj-controller-review-video/

When a manufacturer decides to introduce a new type of line of controller to their family, they have a few options about how they want to approach a new model.  One option would be to do what Native Instruments does, and create a specific family for each model that they create.  In their case, they have the Z, the X, and the F series of controllers to build – so far they have one model for each family and at least one revision to each of them so far.  We’ve seen the Z2 and then the Z1, while second versions of both the X and even the MASCHINE series have been released and revised. Behringer did not take the same approach to introducing their new products for sale.  Instead of sticking to one main design, they have chosen to work with many designs at a time.  Their basic box form controller is basically reiterated many times over, while keeping the same five sides of their MIDI controller consistent with each other.  Their latest offering is the “Micro” addition to their series.  I must say that for what it is worth, it look alright.  It has everything you would expect on a controller this size and more. http://djworx.com/review-behringer-cmd-micro-dj-controller/