NOCS NS900 Headphone – Gearjunkies Review
There are a lot of DJ headphones out there, a new brand from Sweden, NOCS is entering this market as well. Let’s testdrive there latesed headphone: the NS-900.
REVIEWS
Audiorealism ReDominator – Gearjunkies review
Today we are going back into time to the beginning of the 90s. One sound changed a whole part of the dance music scene. It’s patch title was: What the F.., for those in the know immediately know what i’m talking about. One of the very first records i heard it’s sound on was Mentasm by Joey Beltram. But that one sound got very famous with the release of Human Resource’s Dominator. This sound was later dubbed a Hoover since it sounded a little like a vacuumcleaner. This massive sound came from a small synth called the Roland Alpha Juno 2. Audiorealism took on the big task of recreating this old love of many of us into ReDominator.
Kush Audio Clariphonic DSP – Gearjunkies Review
Kush Audio’s Clariphonic DSP is a parallel high shelving eq, which in itself it’s a quite unique proces. The DSP code behind this plugin is made by Studio Devil. It’s an emulation of the hardware Clariphonic made by Kush Audio themselves.
Next Audio Labs Rekord Buddy – Gearjunkies review
Two of the larger players in DJ land are Native Instruments and Pioneer. Their DJ software programs Traktor and Rekordbox are widely used by pro’s as well as the amateurs. They have a lot of similar functionalities, although Rekordbox is only used for preparing dj sets and not for playing them. There are a lot of djs (like myself) who use Traktor as well as Rekordbox. For me it is Pioneer CDJ’s on the road and a nice timecode setup at home. Maintaining the same collection within Rekordbox AND Traktor is tedious work, with a lot of duplicate actions and wasting time.The logical question at that moment is: Can’t I just sync those libraries!?
DJTechtools MIDIFighter – Gearjunkies review
Working with electronic music can be a very static experience, whether you are a dj or a producer. During performances it can be very difficult for the spectator how tracks are created and what the performer is actually doing. With the Midi Fighter 3D a live performance dimension is possible, comparable of that of a guitar. Next to the live aspect, the MidiFighter 3D is also a valuable midi controller within your studio.
Monkey Banana Turbo 5 Red Active Digital Monitor Speakers – Gearjunkies Review
The amount of near field monitors is vastly overwhelming for anyone who’s looking for a set of monitors. Especially in the price range of these Turbo 5 there are various different brands and models out there. Lately there seems to be an up rise of the models that are esthetically pleasing to the eye. To that regard the Turbo 5 stands out by its not typical square shape and availability to have them in yellow, red or black colors. Somehow these red ones remind me of not standing out on the set of the Barbarella movie with their 70-ies look. The logo that lights up when powered on does look a bit odd though.
Novation Launchcontrol and Launchpad Mini – Gearjunkies Review
Last year, Novation released the Launch Series. In order to further expand their popular controller line they have now included a compact controller line. It consists out of two nifty small controllers which are aimed at the travelling artists or that home studio where space is not available in abundance. The controllers are called Launchcontrol and Launchpad Mini. Both are full functional controllers in a small package. How serious can we take these compact units? Read it here in our review:
SSL Duende X-Valvecomp, X-Saturator & X-Phase – Gearjunkies review
Solid State Logic (SSL) recently came out with 3 new plugins in their Duende Series: the X-Valvecomp, X-saturator & X-Phase.Time for a test drive!
Synchro Arts Revoice Pro 2.5 – Gearjunkies review
Synchro Arts Revoice Pro ia a audio processing program designed to work with voice and or monophonic signals. There are 2 main functions in the program, APT (Audio Performance Transfer) and Doubler.
Abeem Rack Performer software – Gearjunkies Review
There have been a number of rack application that passed through time and it seems that it is a niche for who is interested in this type of applications. Never less the sheer possibilities of such an application has a wide reach of appliances and the people from Abeem aim to cater to this. The vast possibilities also require a certain technical level where you or someone helping you are comfortable setting up an environment to your own specific wishes. So lets put Abeem Rack proformer to the test!
Arturia Keylab – Gearjunkies Review
Arturia is known for both their controller and software range. Lately they released two iPad apps. And they just released a new keyboard controller line, the Keylab series. The keylab controller series are accompanied with their well know Analog Lab software. Today we’ll take a look at the Keylab 49 keyboard.
Warm Audio TB12 Tone Beast – Gearjunkies Review
The Tone Beast is the flagship tone shaping discrete pre-amp model of Warm Audio. To me its orange color implies that it would be a guitar effect unit but it’s actually a pre-amp with benefits. The front does have a pre-amp section with a mic and a 1/4″ input. Including phantom power, hi-z, pad, phase and hpf (@80Hz) options. The Tone control section has a discrete amp selector, impedance switch, transistor bypass switch and a transistor selector. The output section has pots for gain and saturation. The backside has balanced TRS and 1/4″ ins/outs as well as receive/send 1/4″ ins/out to use it as an insert effect.
Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 – Gearjunkies Review
In the world of abundance of USB2 sound interfaces it can be rather challenging to find the unit that fits your needs. With that in mind we took a look at the newly introduced Scarlett 18i8 up close. The interface is another addition to the rather successful Scarlett series. The previous Scarlett series were more like the starter series of USB interfaces. Focusrite now is extending this with new models that have more ins and outs. The 18i8 in that regard seems to be aimed at the mid-range.
Pioneer XDJ-R1 DJ Controller – Gearjunkies Review
Only about a month ago, ‘out of the blue’, Pioneer came with a sibbling to their XDJ-Aero controller. They introduced us to the new XDJ-R1. One of the very first interesting features we noticed were the physical CD drives! Another feature that caught our eye is the combination of ‘controller and iPad‘, as the controller has a built-on stand for it. Together with the iPad running the remotebox app. This gave us the first idea that Pioneer didn’t just released yet another controller.
Native Instruments Traktor Kontrol Z2 – Gearjunkies Review
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?