Last year Arturia surprised us with the announcement and release of the MiniBrute, an analogue hardware synth. Arturia is mainly known for their software products, however they are not complete strangers to hardware gear as they released the Origin synth in 2009. Recently we got a MiniBrute to play with and one of the first things you'll notice is that this synth isn't light weighted, even though it looks mini, with just a 25-keys keyboard. 

The Mackie MR5 MKII has been available for a while now. So we took a closer look at these active studio monitors in our tech lab. These monitors are affordable studio (and DJ) two-way reference monitors. The MR5 has a 1 inch tweeter, 5.25 inch woofer and 55 watts in the low end and 30 watts in the high end, with a bass port at the back. When unpacking these babies I immediately realised, these compact monitors are quite heavy, weighing about six kilos (per monitor).

Now and then we are getting very lucky here at Gearjunkies. Because in our techlab we have got the brand spanking new Waldorf Rocket, an analogue desktop synthesizer for just under 250 Euro! First thought would be: “that can't be any good!” But, … is it?

With that many typical Nord red keyboards you see on live stages and in studio setups you may wonder how much they can improve on a 4th version of a keyboard player oriented board for playing organs, piano's, EP's and whatnot. Short version is that they made it better. Long version will take some explaining but first the most important bit, the sound.

Last year gave us a lot of new gear from Native Instruments, who have been introducing new controllers as well as releasing a major new version of their Traktor DJ software. Think Maschine Mk2, Kontrol F1 and Traktor 2.6, that introduced Flux Modus. The release of the latest Traktor software was combined with the introduction of Native Instruments’ DJ mixer, the Kontrol Z2. After absorbing the specs and the rumors, we were pretty curious about the Z2. After we received the Z2 in our lab we took it through some extensive testing. We wanted to find out, is the Kontrol Z2 more than just a 2-channel mixer?

The 4TrackTrigger, in the user manual introduced as "Hardware for Sophisticated DJs". Only by looking at the controller you know that's a true statement. During the unpacking and unboxing you immediately feel the solid german quality of Faderfox and you see the complete control we are used to know from the Swiss Glanzmann Digital DJ Solutions (4MidiLoop). Just hear me out: 150 push buttons (of which 78 super-responsive), 17 endless rotaries, 17 potentiometers, 6 dispalys and 188 LEDs. In addition, there are two options to use a footpedal, so you can 'trigger by foot' too. All of this hand built and far from mass production. So there is this 'reasonable' “big” price tag of 1500 Euros (excl. VAT). However, for 'gearjunkies' like us a great device to play with and a pleasure to do a review with. And that's what I did!

Behringer announced the X32 last year as 'The Game Changer'. This is quite the bold statement to be honest, ... and is this statement correct? Well, let us be the judge of that. The behringer X32 is a digital mixing console and midi controller. This studio and live mixing console has full digital control with some stunning specifications. Just to name a few: 32 analog inputs, 16 mix busses, 8 DCA groups, 32 IN and 32 audio OUT USB/FireWire audio interface, color display, Mackie HUI Midi controller, LCD and LED VU meters (per channel), virtual effect racks with 8 stereo slots, and on and on!

When Pioneer introduced the CDJ-2000nexus last month there was a lot of fuss in the DJ World. Namely the Sync feature stirred up a lot of heated discussions. But there was more, the fact that the new Industry Standard had the ability to connect wirelessly with devices containing RekordBox gave room for discussion. But when the Pioneer XDJ-AERO was announced a couple of months before, everybody thought that this unit had such great possibilities. Everone was excited about the way of wireless connectivity with IOS and ANDROID devices and the sync feature. So, isn't that what the Nexus brings us too? At the introduction of the XDJ-Aero we got excited about its features and wanted to test the AERO ourselves. So read all about our findings in the review: XDJ-AERO, the perfect home solution: yes or no?

If you see the Zomo MC-1000 for the first time you'll notice it wants to look different then your usual average controller on the market. By its compact shape and limited amount of buttons, it's clear (to me) that this isn't intended to be a stand-alone controller. This device has been developed to be used together with a DJ mixer. It has the width of a 12" club mixer, like for example a Pioneer DJM-850/900. Furthermore it is clear that the Zomo 'borrowed' some design features of Pioneer mixers.

A few weeks ago the guys from Reloop dropped off a Terminal Mix 4 DJ Midi Controller for us to have a go at. We thought this to be the perfect project for our newest (part-time) team member Dave van Gorp. An enthusiastic gear lover (aren't we all?) with over 15 years of experience with all types of DJ gear and DJing. Read what he has to say about the Reloop Terminal Mix 4.

Just like speakers, headphones are quite hard to pick because there are so many brands and models to choose from. With the Danish design of the AIAIAI TMA-1 Studio there is yet another model to choose from. Having dealt with various headsets during the years, to me the two most important aspects are sound and durability. 

M/S is a stereo technique which is used in almost all of Brainworx (BX) audio plug-ins. The BX saturator is a M/S 2-band saturation tool (4 bands in total). Every band has its own parameters for amount of distortion (called XL), distortion drive, pre/post options as well as saturation compensation settings. In addition you have at a global level a master XL parameter as well a master drive parameter. For both the M and S channels you have two separate crossover selections as well as separate gains. For convenience there is an added mono-maker with a frequency control parameter.

It is not quite the secret that Native Instruments stands at the top of the 'digital dj'ing world' with their Traktor DJ software. Especially here in Europe they have a firm grip on the market and are the most used DJ software available. However, Serato comes in a strong second and is growing as we speak. Many DJs love the no-nonesens approach of Serato and also the collaboration with Ableton with The Bridge brought a lot of attention to the brand. I have been able to work with this Kontrol F1 for some time now and will give you my findings about this controller. I'll try to keep it short and concise. However this is more difficult said then done as the Kontrol F1 is such a comprehensive controller / software combination.

iZotope is one of those developers of software that keeps innovating and doesn't release your 'middle of the road' software. Where many developers keep releasing adaptions on a theme, iZotope often comes up with something new, ... really new! Their latest product, Iris is just that!

Izotope Ozone 5 Advanced mastering software is on the market for a few months, so we draged this new version into our Gearjunkies TechLab for a closer look. 

Anyone into music production will be familiar with the production software tools from Native Instruments. Their sampler software Kontakt is one of the best outthere. That's just a fact. Native Instruments provides very high quality instrumenst for Kontakt. From drums, basses, synths, brass instruments, strings, etc. Plus there are many third-party instruments that run on the Kontakt sampler software. There are almost too many to mention. However, sometimes something comes across your desk that immediately triggers your interest. Personally, for me that was the Sasha Soundlab by AudioRaiders. Maybe I should mention that I am a big Sasha fan. His Airdrawndagger, Involver and Involv2er artist albums are instant classics and part of my all-time favorits.

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.