Algoriddim aren't resting on their laurels at all. After taking the Mac world by storm with v3 of djay, and hooking up with Vestax to make Spin - the (for now anyway) Mac only djay specific controller - djay has been updated. Clearly taking my review seriously, djay has undergone a bugfixing fest as well as honing some of the key features to perfection.

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The term "DJ equipment" has an increasingly vague definition these days. There was a time when turntables and a mixer were the only lumps of technology that properly sat in this group. But now almost anything can be dragged kicking and screaming into this category - including keyboards. So it makes sense to have a peek at Akai's entry level MPK25. Resident pad basher Chris Cartledge takes a look and shares his feelings.

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It's always a pain when a manufacturer makes something that is almost great, but doesn't quite hit your desired nail quite on the head. But with MIDI controllers, anyone skilled with a soldering iron and a little knowledge has been able to knock up some sort of personalised device. But Livid have now taken this to the next level with their Builder kit. Now, your dream controller is just a few components and board snaps away with Livid's Builder kit.

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Looks like I need to dust off the to-do list and get on top of the workload again, as reviews seem to be slipping through the cracks in my bulging in-tray. One such review is Tonium's Pacemaker. While I was contacted to break the mini marvel to the world, actually getting hold of one proved harder than tracking down Jimmy Hoffa and Lord Lucan. But get one we did, and Andrew Unsworth dusted off the skratchworx microscope and got all up close and personal with the Pacemaker.

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Having shelled out significant amounts of green on Pioneer's new über decks, it makes a great deal of sense to treat them with a degree of tender loving care. You could hire an armed guard to keep people away, store them in a carefully controlled air conditioned environment… or get some Decksavers instead.

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When I started writing this VFX-1 piece, the phrase "Hobson's Choice" was firmly stuck in my head. Being a happy juggler of English verbiage, I decided to look up exactly what it was that I was trying to convey, and indeed found myself on the rocky rollercoaster of old English sayings. Bear with me for a review follows.

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I'm often amazed at the left field thinking that comes out of the addled minds of DJs. And while manufacturers often cater to the lowest common denominator in a bid to make money, the cleverest ideas often remain in the realm of ultra niche. Here's the latest video for JohnBeez's fretless fader - the device that lets you play notes via MIDI with your fader - and cut at the same time.

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NAMM was pretty much about what Serato had up their sleeves - and they certainly had pretty big sleeves. But the one thing that had been kinda sorta promised was the big ole version counter slowly winding its way all the way round to 2.0.0. Well after a short period of almost private beta, v2 is deemed to be fit for sustained public beta hammering from the rest of you mere mortals.

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While the news is a tad thin on the ground post NAMM, we're beavering away in the background bringing fresh reviews together. One such piece is the Vestax VFX-1 review. While wrapping up the photography this morning, I discovered what I guess is the photography equivalent of a blooper reel.

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Post-NAMM, the DJ scene goes into a brief but needed sleep before starting all over again for MusikMesse. But this particular news story is like an airhorn in your lughole to wake you up from your slumber. 4MidiLoop is a deeply attractive looking MIDI controller specifically for Traktor Pro.

UPDATE: Some words from the creator added.

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Having laid out the future of the Innofader, there were a few holes - like photos of the Innojuster in all its external fader adjusting glory. After that, all that is left is to show it in the hands of gifted DJs to prove that it does work inside the previously 3rd party fader hostile Pioneer DJM-909 and DJM-400.

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We've already shown you the demo by numbers from Korg. And despite the new Kaossilator Pro looking just like the old KP3 really it's worth showing some pictures anyway for completeness. Phillip is beginning to get to grips with his no at all point and shoot Canon EOS 40D. Some nice shots in there sir.

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So far, there's not much to be said about these new Ortofon Serato S-120 carts. Apparently they fit on the end of popular tonearms, and when placed in the groove of a record will reproduce sound for the listener. Or something. Despite turning down a trip to Ortofon HQ (I'm just too busy), I'll be posting a story soon enough that hopefully explains what the hell "asymmetric suspension technology" is. Can't wait.

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We've already seen the range of DJ Tech modular MIDI controllers, which received the expected mixed reaction, especially given the sideways USB ports. This final set simply covers what was left on the stand. Nothing spectacular, but posted simply because I have the pictures.

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The surprise guest at NAMM was Denon's DN-X1600. I'd figured that they'd have enough on their plates without working on another mixer to slot in between their mortal level and God mode mixers. We did want to film a demo, but never got a callback from the stand. Sorry Denon - my guy's time is short.

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While the Rane Sixty Eight maybe be new to 99.9999% of us mere mortals, the 0.0001% DJ elite clearly know it very well indeed. Check out the above demos - DJ Enferno rocking a complex 3 deck Hip Hop set, and Jeff Milligan's 4 deck blend fest. Compare and contrast.

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In the absence of an official demo from suitably knowledgeable Vestax people, Phillip took his scratch demon buddy Rayted-R along to the Vestax stand to tinker with the unmissable PMC-05ProIV, complete with all new 3 sensor magnetic fader.

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The DJ world held its collective breath waiting for the Jesus Scratch Live mixer to arrive. And we weren't disappointed either. Rane unleashed the Sixty Eight in all its 4 channel dual USB glory. We were there and got Anna from Serato to walk us through just what the hell all the buttons and faders are all about.

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So the wait is over - we finally now know what the long awaited partnership between Ableton and Serato is all about. Well you know now if you have a clue about what Ableton does - which I suspect a lot of you actually don't. As the above clip says, thing of Ableton as "a super deluxe sample player". So see how the 2 products work together and how they could work for you.

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Poor Richard Brace - having starred in the one and only demo video to come out for the Allen & Heath xone:DX at BPM, he's had yet another skratchworx camera shoved into his face, at a time when his body is screaming that he should be in bed. Jetlagged and demo weary, Richard digs deep and tells us about the xone:DX just one more time.

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Korg's KAOSS products walk that fine line between DJing, performance and production. They have a little bit to suit all tastes, so it's small wonder that you'll find them used by a wide range of people and covered in a plethora of scene specific publications. Their features can be applied to a multitude of different uses depending on who's hands you drop them into. And while the above Kaossilator Pro demo covers a number of bases, just watching the features will get your mind ticking over to the possibilities.

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Like the NS7 before, the rather delicious looking X7 4 channel and bells and whistles club mixer is in the Numark incubator at NAMM. No laying out hands on it, but instead we ran the camera over the actual thing instead of looking at photos. Somehow, these things always look better as a moving picture.

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While the V7 wasn't exactly unexpected, its arrival has ruffled a few feathers for sure. Hacking the deck part off an NS7, cramming an NSFX inside, shoving an audio interface into it and allowing it to control 2 decks from 1 unit must have some other manufacturers a little worried right now. Mike Hosker runs through the feature set, even if it is much the same as the NS7.

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DJ Tech continue with their usual never ending onslaught of gear releases. Just before NAMM, I posted about the VTT-101 - a single MIDI deck with just a jog wheel, transport buttons and a crossfader. It has its uses of course, but seemed to sit a little odd with the rest of the market. Until I saw the above video that is, when it became clear that this unit was just part of a bigger picture. DJ Tech now have a range of MIDI separates scaled down into a tiny footprint that lets you have whatever you want in your MIDI arsenal.

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With Elliot Marx stoking the engine of the Innofader express, there seems to be no mixer known to man that the Innofader won't happily play nice with. Well that's certainly Elliot's dream anyway. The Innofader has now become 2 - classic (exactly the same as the current one so stop crying) and the Pro (extra circuitry to make it fit every damned mixer on the planet - old or new. Peter caught up with Elliot at NAMM and found out about fitting the Innofader into DJMs, how the Innojuster works and also took a sneak peak at the Innofader inside (and a little outside) the new American Audio VMS4.

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The updated Vestax PMC-05 is a long time coming, but hopefully this year's appearance at NAMM might well show us the finalised version. It's got more output options, as well as a lot more buttons and an all new crossfader to boot. Pictures are coming, but in the meantime, check out the clip that also shows the VFX-1 in a horizontal orientation.

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So the white sheet has been pulled back, and American Audio's monster MIDI controlling VMS4 has been laid bare. This 4 deck beauty blends analog and digital in one slight oversized box as well as a heap of other goodies too.

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Didn't see this coming... OK I did. There was no way on the planet that Vestax would make their new Mac only djay friendly Spin controller stay as Mac only. What I didn't bank on was that they'd discard the user friendly and undoubtedly popular colour scheme and make it as fugly as possible. This Traktor version in red (Vestax's current obsession) and faux carbon is just wrong.

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As the skratchworx NAMM team drift from stand to stand, dazzled by toy after toy, they do remember to feed back what they can via the medium of utterly crappy hotel wifi. While I personally have no words to go with these pictures, I'm sure the guys will be able to feedback some info for you if you ask nicely.

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5 years ago, Professor BX put Custom Records in Minneapolis to the test and made a couple of skratchworx picture disk battle weapons. They went with him to NAMM 2005 and did the rounds of industry types and DJ celebs at the show that year. With BX being at the show this year, he's given the same disks to Peter and Phil, who will be doing much the same thing - rudely thrusting the vinyl into your hands while saying "throw gang signs".

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