BPM 2011: new DJing and music making gear in pictures

Billed as “the world’s largest event dedicated to DJing, electronic music production and club culture,” BPM 2011 took place at Birmingham’s NEC from 1-3 October.

MusicRadar was prowling the show floor on the look out for the latest (and, indeed, greatest) hardware and software products: here’s a snapshot (or rather, the snapshots) of what we saw.

NEXT: NI Maschine overload

Native Instruments was understandably keen to show off its Maschine Mikro, which has just been released, but we were also rather taken with this wooden-end-panelled version of the original Maschine hardware, which is ‘angled up’ for ease of use.

Don’t go asking NI where you can buy one, though: this is a third-party custom job that comes courtesy of Tempo Records.

Also wowing the crowds at the NI booth was the just-released Traktor Kontrol S2 system, which ships with the full version of Traktor Pro 2.

Vestax’s Spin controller isn’t new, but what you might not know is that, as well as shipping with the Mac version of Alogoriddim’s djay software, it’s also compatible with the iPad edition. Just hook it up via the Camera Connection Kit.

Vestax was also previewing its new VCI-400 controller, which will ship with both Serato DJ Intro and Virtual DJ LE.

Numark’s big launch was the N4: a 4-deck DJ controller/mixed that can be used with or without a computer. It comes with copies of Serato DJ Intro and Virtual DJ LE.

Pioneer’s new DDJ-ERGO-V, an entry-level controller, ships with Virtual DJ LE, though as you can see here, it was also being demoed with Traktor.

Allen & Heath had a sizeable plot at BPM, and the company had two new products to show. The Xone:K2 is a compact controller, while the Xone:DB2 is a stripped back version of the Xone:DB4 mixer.

Say hello to the two- and four-octave versions of Novation’s new Impulse controller keyboard. A 61-note version is available, too.

BPM is, first and foremost, a DJ show, but Propellerhead was among those flying the flag for music production-orientated software with Reason 6, which was released on Friday.

If you tried to buy it over the weekend, though, you might have run into a brick wall.

It’s hard not to be impressed by Smithson Martin’s Emulator: a huge, transparent multi-touch display that you can use to control your DJing software.

If you need to ask how much it costs, though, you probably can’t afford it…

Liked this? Now read: 8 ways to use your 4-deck DJ controller

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