#reloop midi

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/

What is your experience using a mini keyboard?  These days, keyboards come in all sizes – from half sized to ultra comical sized.  There is no such thing as too big or too small, and it is likely that the extreme ends of the spectrum will appeal to the most people.  A full sized synthesizer is something you won’t see at gigs very often, but you can expect to find portables at each and every show.  For what it is worth, a piano keyboard of any size can offer you what buttons, pads, and knobs cannot – familiarity.  The drawbacks of using them should be pretty obvious, which include the fact that you do not have a layer of octaves that are easily accessible without switching scenes. [embed width="656"]http://youtu.be/jXhs7_kwjKU[/embed] Many controller companies such as Akai, Korg, and now, Reloop are offering some sort of small laptop sized keyboard and pad configuration.  Each company has their own take on what exactly should be placed from and center – but each has figured out that a little of everything seems to work pretty well.  Pads are just as useful as keys, at least to a DJ, who has to access one shot samples and cues during a live mix. http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/reloop-announces-keypad-and-keyfadr-ableton-live-controllers-584363

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/