The Numark-manufactured Scratch Deck
(Credit: Genius Products/Numark)If plastic guitars were 2007 and drums 2008, then the 2009 plastic-peripheral throwdown of choice is definitely the turntable. Whereas Activision showed off their goods in a Twitter leak a few weeks ago, Genius Products waited to spill the reveal of their Numark-designed rig, the Scratch Deck, until the days before E3. It's the centerpiece peripheral for the upcoming Scratch: The Ultimate DJ. First impressions suggest it's more compact than Activision's plasti-turntable, while also bearing greater similarities to the old Konami Beatmania controller.
The Scratch Deck has a spinning, "touch-sensitive" turntable, as well as a crossfader and five Akai Pro MPC drumpads. It's impressive that the equipment carries the label of a legit music industry standard. Price, however, has not been given, leading us to believe that brand-name design might carry a brand-name tag.
Scratch: The Ultimate DJ, a beat-sampling alternative to Activision's upcoming DJ Hero, promises live remixing of tracks and custom sample uploading, both from 60 included battle records or a USB microphone. The Numark pad, as can be seen in the photos, can flip over for left- or right-handed operation. The PS3 version is pictured, but Scratch will be released for both the Xbox 360 and PS3 this fall.
Who will win the DJ Battle? Most likely, it will come down to who has the best samples and tracks. As a consumer, we'd wait this out--at most, a household should only have one video game turntable.
The Akai MPC40 looks like the love child of a DJ mixer and a disco dance floor.
(Credit: Akai)Hot on the heels of CES and Macworld, the 2009 NAMM showcase (National Association of Music Merchants) kicks off Thursday, offering musicians and audio professionals heaps of new gear to drool over.
The first eyebrow-raising announcement comes from Akai, manufacturer of the MPC series of audio samplers and sequencers that have become a cornerstone of hip-hop music. As reported on the Create Digital Music blog, Akai has unveiled its design for the APC40, a stunning live-performance MIDI control surface designed specifically for use with Ableton Live's popular music software.
The APC40 is designed as a plug-and-play device that connects to your computer over USB with no drivers required. Once connected, you can set up the APC40's multiple buttons, knobs, and faders to control whatever virtual buttons, knobs, and faders appear in your software.
While USB MIDI controllers are nothing new, the Akai APC40 differs from most by including an 8x5 grid of buttons (upper left corner) that correspond with Ableton Live's unique grid sequencing software and support multiple on/off states reflected by different colors. In other words, if you or someone you know is way into making music with Ableton Live, but is tired of creating music by pointing and clicking through the software on their laptop, news of the APC40 should elicit squeals of joy.
Unfortunately, Akai's APC40 announcement doesn't include details on pricing or availability. But that won't stop me from dreaming.
For the full specs on the Akai APC40, check out Create Digital Music.
So you love creating hip-hop beats, right? I mean come on, who doesn't? Let's say one day, a particularly awesome beat pops into your head but you're nowhere near home.
Now you're in a race against time to get home before it's lost forever, deep within walls and walls of other memories. According to Akai, you should not have to worry about such things ever again.
(Credit:
Akai)
Akai's XR20 Beat Production Station is a portable beat production station that allows you to create hip-hop and R&B beats wherever you are.
The device contains more than 700 preloaded sounds and covers a range of acoustic and electronic drums, percussion, single (one-shot) hits, bass and synth sounds, and instrument samples. It includes an integrated effects engine that features reverb, EQ and compression, enabling users to make complete backing tracks. While the device does not come with a microphone, it does include a mic input for mixing in vocals.
Key features include:
- More than 700 sounds produced by music company Chronic Music
- Ninety-nine preset patterns and 99 user patterns
- Backlit LCD
- Bright, glowing, backlit pads that follow the beat
- Microphone input and headphone output
- Pattern play mode permits different patterns to be triggered from individual pads
- Drum roll/note repeat feature
- Powered by batteries or AC adapter
XR20 is now available for a suggested retail price of $499.
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