It finally arrived last month, the Native Instruments Kontrol S2 Midi Controller. Just before the BPM show in England it was revealed online by Native Instruments. Because of its price and smaller size, it’s being seen as “the smaller brother” by many. In this case Native’s top controller, the Kontrol S4. We quickly started playing...

The Steinberg UR28M is next to the UR824, one of the latest USB audio interfaces by Steinberg. This interface has a very clear overview and is pretty easy to use in your setup. In this review I will focus on the most important features of this interface.

There it is, the Vestax VCI-400 DJ controller, a four deck controller which has been eagerly awaited since the past BPM Show in the UK. A couple of weeks ago we had the pleasure of getting a pre-production model and went to play with it for a while. Questions before we started reviewing it were, will it be a serious player in the high-end four deck controller market? Will it disappoint and keep the Kontrol S4 as the leader of the four deck controller segment? Read on, because there is a lot the say about the VCI-400!

IK Multimedia has established a good reputation when it comes to innovative products for the iPhone and iPad. Just think of the iRig, iKlip and the iRig Mic. This last one, iRig Mic, we have tried out at this year's MusikMesse. To our great satisfaction we might say.

Recently I got my hands on Mixed In Key version 5. I knew the program of course by name and also by fame, but I never had used it before. So I was kinda curious what it was all about. If you have never heart of Mixed In Key, it is an analysis program to detect information like the key and bpm of audio files. With this information DJs can elevate their mixes to higher levels because of 'harmonic mixing'. DJs can match tracks better or select tracks that are (more) compatible with eachother (key wise). If you need more information on harmonic mixing, checkout this page for a detailed description.

Once in a while it takes a bunch of courageous people to come up with something completely different even though it doesn't seem viable. The OP-1 is just such a thing. Looking like a toy and not like an instrument yet if you take a closer look it actually is. At first it reminded me of the Casio synths that were quite popular a century ago. Is the OP-1 the 21st century version of the Casio? Not really, but it takes some time to explain this because the answer is quite elaborate.

Native Instruments is not really a stranger to manufacturing audio interfaces, as they have done for their DJ software Traktor. Now they have released an audio interface for producers too: Komplete Audio 6 Audio Interface.

"Combining the power of analog synthesis, physical modelling and samples, through the intuitive workflow of a hardware drum machine, Spark is a highly creative beat production center." This is how Arturia presents Spark to us. Time for Gearjunkies to take a closer look and see Arturia makes sense....

The Allen & Heath Xone:DB4 can de considered as one of the most elaborate DJ mixers/controllers of the moment. It has tons of functions like a 3 band EQ and a 3 band Filter, an effect processor for each channel, a built-in audio interface, and so much more. To me, personally, it is a mixer of 'the next level'. To mention just a little detail, the Xone:DB4 comes with its own HQ carrier-bag. Little details like this tells you this is more then just a mixer.

A couple of weeks ago I got the opportunity to get a couple of headphones from KRK in, to check them out. So the dutch distributor send us a pair of their latest studio headphones, the KNS-8400. We all know KRK for their excellent studio monitors, so I was curious if they could manage to get the same quality and high standard going for them in the field of (professional, studio) headphones.

Since the very first day the Apple iPad (1) was released we have had one at the office where we try out and play with a lot of music apps released for this tablet. Since its initial release there wasn't any really decent integration for the studio. To be honest ... after a while I got a bit bored with the iPad because of the lack of good usage in the studio.

Even though their name is ... well ... very generic, these guys are from, next to PSP who create top notch plug-ins, another Polish company who release quality products. In this case the Limiter/Compressor called Preceptor model-A which is a bit different to the model-T. Made me wonder why you could have any color as long as it was black. The difference between model-A and model-T is that model-T comes with an extra action option which also may suggest that the model-T is the MkII of the model-A.

More and more guitarists take the stage with their laptops and guitar software like Amplitube from IK Multimedia for example. Keyboard players, producers and studio engineers are used to the use of MIDI gear in their work, but what about the guitarist?

Roland has a long history when it comes to synthesizers, and with that heritage, the task to uphold that 'good' name. Ok, there have been some 'mistakes' in the past but with all their good products we can easily forgive those little mistakes. With the GAIA, released a short while back, Roland has another nice synthesizer in the middle class section available.

Numark is famous, in the turntablist/scratch scene, for its CD players but also mixers. For Gearjunkies I had the pleasure to take 'a closer look' at the Numark NDX800, media player and midi controller. The NDX800 is a versatile media player as you can use oldskool CDs but also other formats via USB. It can even be used as a MIDI controller for Traktor LE, which comes with the NDX.

Recently I had the opportunity to review the Numark iDJ3. After that I was able to hook up the Numark Mixdeck and have a closer look at this DJ console. It wouldn't be fair to call the Numark mixdeck the iDJ3s 'big brother', because the Mixdeck has much more to offer then just being a big brother. Just take the CD players, the analogue mixer, the connections for mass storage devices together with the touch sensitive jogwheels, the 3 bands EQ, many more INs and OUTs for use in clubs or a drive-in. This whole package makes the Mixdeck much more then just a 'big brother'!

Ok this review should have been published way earlier. But due to circumstances (busy, busy), it got a bit delayed. However, it gave us the opportunity to review this controller with the latest 1.6. operating system. So that's a plus right?

The DDJ-T1 is a MIDI controller/interface from Pioneer. However, ... this is not 'yet another' DJ controller. Working with the Pioneer DDJ-T1 just feels exactly like playing with two CDJs and a DJM mixer, but with the benefits of 'digital dj'ing'.

The Numark iDJ3 is a powerful DJ controller. However, 'the what's so special about this controller' issue you'll see when you look at it for the first time. The controller has a docking station for an iPod/iPhone right in the middle. With your iPod/iPhone you can play music from the device or you can even record music. If we look further you'll see two touch sensitive jogwheels, a 3-band EQ section with kill buttons, four auto-loop buttons and the usual play, cue, sync and stutter buttons. Between the two jogwheels you'll get a mixer section with a crossfader, three line faders, deck A and B buttons and a navigation button for that iPod/iPhone device.

M-Audio, part of the AVID company, is a brand we all know from their MIDI controllers and keyboards and audio interfaces (amongst many more products). So it was a big surprise when M-Audio started teasing us with something that looked like a synthesizer. And, at this years NAMM, there it was, the 12-voice Venom VA synthesizer from M-Audio.Time to get it in the studio and try this baby out.

HG Fortune, being somewhat of an alternative instrument plug-in designer, created something which is hard to describe. It made me think in lines of the Korg Wavestation or NI Absynth but at a more low-level way of usage and programming. Very much suited for drones, pads and soundscapes.

Often we get software offered for reviews and just plain 'checking out'. Last year we got offered Vegas Pro software. Not sure what to expect, and kind of curious, we installed it here at the office. If you are still not sure what Vegas is, it is a software suite for video. And as we (I) am more into the audio side of things, it was not quite clear what to expect from this software. We made Gearjunkies videos before but with simple 'freeware' software. Doing a thorough review would be silly as we don't have the 'video technology know-how'. So I decided to take on a 'project'. Why don't I, a video software user with a 'beginners' level, make a videoclip?

Playing with 'gear' is the average Gearjunkies 'wet dream' (so to speak). As it happened we were able to get four top DJ Midi Controllers in the same room at the same time. As two of the Gearjunkies founders (Marc and Mark) have a strong DJ heritage we'd decided to throw a party to have some good ol' DJ Fun! Plus at the same time, do a good comparison between the controllers that were available.

After releasing the hardware version of the passive equalizer Sound Performance Lab released a software version of this equalizer. And having checked out the hardware version a few times I found myself intrigued to try out the software version of the SPL Passeq.

From time to time there's always a new product that still surprises us. It stands out as NOT following the current 'standard'. The 4MidiLoop stands out of the crowd and is definitely not your standard DJ controller like the S4 Kontrol or the DN-MC6000. We already knew the little Faderfox controllers, and it's save to say the 4MidiLoop is based on this Faderfox technology.

The video below is part of our review we posted recently. As mentioned in the review the drumXchanger comes with 4 drumkits, wich all have got one bassdrum, one snaredrum and 4 tomtoms. 4 drumkits doens't sound like it is much, but with the transient designer and the button 'RIM', you can make allmost every possible drum sound. If this still isn't enough, you can also add sounds in the editor. In the video we'll demonstrate how to create different sounding Bassdrums, Snares and TomToms.