#reloop controller

If you want to easily market and promote your new DJ equipment, the best thing a manufacturer can do is to say nothing at all.  Put your videos where your mouth is, and show us what can be done with your gear.  Good demo videos by well known (or unknown) artists really show how the gear can be used to create music.  Sometimes a demo video will be much too basic or too general to have any good effect.  I’ve once seen a demo video where the music that was playing was overdubbed, and none of the DJ’s movements were even real.  It was pretty bad. [embed width="656"]http://youtu.be/7Zc-BGKBWlI[/embed] Other times, the video will consist of a demo man showing what each button on the controller does.  This is a bad approach as well, because even though it shows off each specific function on the deck, it doesn’t show how it can be used creatively.  When an experienced DJ get’s behind a new piece of gear, they learn to tweak it and use it in ways that go beyond the basic instruction in the manual.  This is what potential buyers need to see and hear, they don’t want a digital version of the instruction booklet. http://djworx.com/reloop-jockey-3-this-is-the-remix/

Headphone designers are getting closer and closer to creating the perfect set of head cans – but they are not there quite yet.  First, there is the issue of trying to please everyone who puts them on.  It isn’t going to happen.  If only we are all born with the same size ears and the same shape head, but we aren’t.  So there is no one-size fits all solution – but we are getting pretty close.  The other end of the deal is the price, and this is the real deal breaker.  We know that we can find the perfect set of headphones that has everything we would possibly need, as long as we pay top dollar for it.  This is the platform that Pioneer has setup for themselves – but there are other avenues to explore. Reloop has made a name for itself by expanding horizontally within the industry.  Not only do they have their own set of headphones, they also make a DVS and a mixer to boot.  Their headphones, however, probably deserve the most attention due to their design.  They’ve managed to keep the sleek modern look while making sure that they won’t break when you sit on them.  And now they come in black as well.  http://djworx.com/reloop-goes-dark-the-rhp-20-knight-edition/

There was a time when Numark was the ruler of the mid to bottom end devices – but manufacturers are beginning to see just how profitable products in this zone can be.  Creating an expensive work of art, such as the Rane 64 can be a hassle for the companies.  They cannot afford to make too many of them at a time, and they aren’t put together as easily.  When they finally go for sale on shelves, the asking price is top tier, and only a percentage of DJs would be willing to buy one.  Scaling production up to create many cheaper units almost always pays off. A DJ who buys a $200 controller is more likely to sell that off in search of something new, while the DJ who bought a mixer for two thousand dollars knows that they won’t get back what they paid for it.  Numark is no longer the only player in this game.  Reloop has come up with some very surprising units, which (on the surface), seem much more attractive looking than many of the Numark models.  Their newest beatpad controller is no longer than two iPads placed side by side, and is designed to work with them as well. http://www.digitaldjtips.com/2013/09/reloop-beatpad-dj-controller-for-ipad-announced/

The Ableton Push is probably something that we, as producers, would like to have.  What can you say about it except that is designed for Ableton, by Ableton.  I have the experience of actually getting to touch and feel one of these machines, and they are quite beastly.  I would dare say that they are better built than the Maschine by NI – and this is of course reflected in the pricing of the unit.  It is bigger and heavier; it can do more as well.  Much like the CDJ-1000’s of the DJ world, this is something that not all of us can afford to play with. Cheaper options range from toyish to expensive but as time goes on, makers have found ways to get the most out of their gear while keeping it at an acceptable price range.  Novation is a name that comes to mind, which has a reputation of creating quality gear above the lower end units that have become so common these days.  However, Reloop is hot on their tail with units that look surprisingly similar.  Relooop’s Keyfadr looks something like a cross between an Akai LPD-8 and LPK, except that it also adds three rotaries near the top of the unit. http://www.digitaldjtips.com/2013/10/reloop-keypad-keyfadr-reviews/

While AKAI may no longer dominate the field of production pads and instruments, they have certainly given the rest of the industry a clue as to what works and what doesn’t work.  Sixteen pads on a square base will never go out of style, but it can be expanded to be much more useful – especially if you are limited in how much gear you can stack in once place.  Keyboard style controllers have a usefulness that many take for granted.  The black and white key layout is easy to recognize and it doesn’t take much thought to assign functions to them. There is also the idea that you are getting many keys out of only a small area – yet these keys do not require nearly as much force as a pad to activate.  One can also choose how much force is required by simply pressing the key on a specific spot.  When you take this idea and add a few necessary features, like a rotary pot or an assign key – you have just created something very useful in only a small amount of space.  Reloop’s Keyfadr hopes to break into this market for all of the Ableton producers who need a compact solution. http://www.djtechtools.com/2014/07/01/reviewed-reloop-keyfadr-mini-keyboard-for-ableton-live/

I can’t say that everything Reloop makes is actually tasteful.  For one, their headphones seem to lack any sort of originality.  They have taken what is known and tried to create something that is like it.  You won’t see many high end headphones offered by them for that very reason.  If you look at their mixers and even their turntable decks, it leaves something to be desired.  But people aren’t flocking to Reloop because there are innovation kings – they buy their gear because it is the right price in the right category.  With all of that, Reloop seems to have something nice right around the corner. Without knowing exactly what it is, the pictures of it do the speaking for you.  It is a 4 pad controller, but much more love was put into it than your old standby Akai LPD8.  The pads themselves were designed to be very sensitive and surrounding those pads are other methods of controlling Serato.  Now that Serato has updated their layout with new features and effects, it seems time for Serato to pick up where Traktor has left off.  It is definitely striking in terms of look and design – who knows if it will do what it is supposed to do. http://djworx.com/the-reloop-neon-serato-dj-controller/

Reloop’s newest pad controller has got many people talking – and hopefully many of them are not just complaints either.  On first glance of the Neon controller, I have to say that the dimensions of it are pretty stunning.  Unlike the X1 or F1 from Traktor, this controller was not designed to be mounted between your mixer and your turntables or decks.  It was designed to be placed underneath or above your decks for a horizontal layout instead.  The pads are actually pretty large, and the controller is much more than an overpowered LPD8 controller.  They have 8 pads and knobs in the corners for what I guess will allow some sort of on screen menu control. While there are demos of these being used in action, I hate to say that I liked the idea of it better than actually seeing it being used.  For me, they are simply too large to be placed horizontally – and they seem like a much better job to be had sitting by themselves or perhaps with their own laptop stand.  Either way, Reloop did a great job of taking and idea and improving upon it.  Neither Pioneer nor Numark has something with the same dimension.  http://djworx.com/bpm-2014-reloop-neon-controller-demo/