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And now time for a quick look at kit that the rest of us can afford rather than hope to aspire to. DJ Tech are carving quite a name for themselves in the budget end of the market - not only for their somewhat unique approach to video marketing, but more importantly for bringing out what I feel is some really nice tackle. And aside from spending a bit of time with a handful of useful gear, my car was loaded with more review units that most shops actually have in stock.

Let's look at the U2 Station first. Adopting a regular 2 decks and a mixer metaphor, this all in one unit has all the usual features needed to rock a crowd. And like a large amount of DJ Tech gear, ignores actual media and puts its trust in USB devices - and just one USB device if you want as well, as music can be shared between the decks. I was especially impressed by the speed at which the USB media was ready for action - instantaneous. If only other more expensive devices could manage such a feat.

But more impressive was that DJ Tech have found a DJ who is very happy to put his name to the U2 Station and play out live with it. DJ Steppa is an award winning DnB DJ who positively gushed at the benefits of using such a small device and using USB only. DnB is a scene where vinyl still dominates and dubplates relieve DJs of a fair wedge of their hard earned fees. But now Steppa puts his music on a USB, carries his U2 into the gig and plugs into the house system. This also allows him to do a few appearances a night as well. So when looking at this type of gear, it's important to not just look at the features but also the benefits to your DJ life.

The U2 Station is available now for $499.

Also on display was the Hybrid 202 system. Made up of a pair of the KONTROL ONE units and a DJM-202 2 channel effects mixer, this is an unusual take on DJing. MIDI controllers are usually all in one units, but these are like regular decks, controlling the deck elements of your MIDI software. But you also use one on its own for controlling the MIDI elements of say SSL, maybe as a library navigator and track loader.

I didn't spend much time with them as I brought the complete setup back with me from the show. A review will follow soon.

The uSolo is a miniscule media player that covers all the bases of basic DJing. Basically it's the deck element of the U2 station, and has the same instant loading USB element as well as effects and a better than average jogwheel. It's also incredibly light, but at the same time feels strong enough to stand up to some regular DJ punishment.

The uSolo Pro however takes the uSolo a few steps further, and offers a number of hot cues, samplers, increased effects - all in a regular sized box. Didn't play with this one, but I have one right here for future review.

Finally, and almost missed because of its tiny size was Mix Free - the incredibly compact wireless MIDI controller. Alession from DJ Tech seemed to have no problems mixing while being stood some distance away from the laptop. Clearly, it's not going to give A&H any sleepless nights, but even as a compact controller, Mix Free has applications beyond just mixing tracks. It's certainly small enough to squeeze into almost anyone's DJ setup to take control of sample triggering and track loading too.

Again, I have one here and a review will follow.