Trust us. It sounds better than it looks. This overgrown Game Boy (in fetching grey and pink) is a remarkably accomplished music making device - despite some dubious styling and a slightly creaky plastic build.

The sound is all digital, samples and dual oscillator virtual analogue and FM, but it's powerful, and a wise choice of dubstep and techno themed soundbanks and demos is keeping the crowds fixated, if a little baffled.

Programming the KDJ-1 is unlike anything else; a mix of prodding the remarkably responsive, clear and bright 5-inch touchscreen and jockeying the gamepad-style controls and small, backlit hexagonal buttons.

Essentially it's a beat-based composer with the layering, combining and arranging of patterns forming songs. There are six tracks per pattern and four patterns can be layered, giving a total of 24 tracks at any one time. Alongside that is 64-note polyphony.

There are multiple, bright, colourful screens for mixing, beat programming and adjusting synth parameters. The red dial in the middle of the unit is a continuous rotary that enables you to physically turn things up and down.

It soon makes sense to highlight notes on the screen with a finger prod, then tap them up and down and around with the Dpad. This is unlike any DAW you've ever used, but the ability to have the KDJ appear as a plug-in in your tried and tested full-scale studio means that getting your KDJ tunes out of the unit and taking them to the next level won't be a headache.

And despite its 80s retro corners and casing, it sits well in the hand and the built-in rechargeable battery pack will run for four hours.

Price? Yours for a slightly eye-watering $800/€800, though that's TBC.