Welcome to DJville
BPM 2012, described by organisers as "the world's largest DJ and electronic music production event," took place at Birmingham's NEC last weekend.
Compared to our visit to BPM 2011, there seemed to be noticeably less new DJ and production gear on show this year. A reflection of ongoing tough economic times, perhaps? Nonetheless, MusicRadar took to the show floor to scope out the products, highlights and oddities of BPM 2012.
Pioneer XDJ-AERO
Pioneer had a couple of new controllers to show off at this year's event, the first being the all-in-one digital DJ system XDJ-AERO, which can wirelessly sync tracks from a mobile device running the app version of rekordbox.
No more beer ruined laptops or turning up to clubs weighed down by pockets full of memory sticks for us.
Pioneer DDJ-WeGO
Pioneer was also demoing its new entry-level controller, the DDJ-WeGO, which comes in a variety of bright, rave-friendly colours.
Emulator KS-1974
We got our first look at Smithson Martin's Emulator at BPM last year, but we managed to get up-close and personal with the KS-1974 multi-touch, customisable control surface this time around.
We were very impressed - creating custom controller layouts for any software you like is now much easier, apparently - but unfortunately we still can't afford one.
LED pun...
Yes yes. Very good.
Native Instruments Traktor Kontrol Z2
We got our hands on NI's new Traktor Z2 control mixer when company representatives popped into our office last week, but this was our first chance to see it working its magic as part of a full timecode setup, alongside turntables and additional controllers.
M-Audio 'stand'
Read into it what you will, be we swear that the M-Audio stand at these events used to be bigger than a single shelf.
Light-up LED dancefloor
We're having one installed in the MusicRadar office next week.
World's Smallest Nightclub
Closed? On a Monday lunchtime? What's the world coming to? Broken Britain, etc. etc.
Light-up domes
Home to BPM's workshops and seminars, apparently. Or do they hide something more sinister (SPOILER: they don't).
Vestax Spin 2
Vestax's new 2-channel DJ controller Spin 2 - which the company unveiled at this year's show - connects natively to iOS devices for full stereo DJing using Algoriddim djay.
Apologies for the blurry photo, our camera didn't like the frantic lighting on the Vestax stand!