If James Bond had a DJ controller, it might look like this.
Faderfox, known primarily for ultra-small-form factor controllers, this time has something that looks more like a full-featured, two-deck (or four-deck), two-channel DJ controller. And that’s good news for people wanting a general-purpose, all-in-one DJ control surface with the Faderfox feel and features. The new “Solid Control” DJ44 sports the the usual selling points Faderfox has championed – high-end controls, an aluminum body, and unique hardware/software mapping integration features – but now in a single unit you can tote that does more or less everything.
That’s all well and good. But it’s the fact that all of this fits into an aluminum briefcase that might really set it apart from other options.
While other people struggle in the luggage section of their local store to find something that fits their gear, the DJ44 integrates its own case for easy use on the go. The case and faceplate are spacious and all-aluminum. Click open the top of the briefcase-style form factor, and you get an ample array of controls for looping, mixing, and effects.
Faderfox helped pioneer custom DJ control integration in Ableton Live and Traktor, and that experience shows. In Traktor Pro, you get easy access to multiple effects modules (with reset controls and assignments), dedicated cue and tempo triggers, and loop points, plus the expected mixing controls (here, with kill switches). Hold down the bright red Shift key at bottom, and you get still more. That looks like it might take some getting used to, but this is about as much control as you’ll see packed into this amount of space; it’s a staggering amount of completeness. (See the PDF.)
You can control up to four decks with this layout, with quick switching between them.
Ableton DJs aren’t left out, either. Live is pre-mapped for reverb and delay controls (with assignment switches), while the buttons at the bottom navigate and launch clips. (See the PDF overview.) I do wonder if we’ll see a dedicated Ableton-style controller in this line, but in the meantime, people using Ableton primarily for DJ purposes ought to be reasonably pleased. (For everyone else, there’s the existing Faderfox line.)
There are some subtle details to do with how, for instance, filtering is handled. On Traktor, there’s a center-scaled filter pot. On Live, you get a double-command filter pot so you can simultaneously control Ableton’s bipolar filter.
But combining the Faderfox feel with this form factor is likely to be the differentiation point. The DJ44 is 290x220x55 mm (11.4 x 8.7 x 2.2″), weight 1.6 kg (3.5 lbs), in its own case.
Full specs and more details on the mappings and functions at Faderfox’s site:
http://www.faderfox.de/dj44.html
