New Gear: Korg MicroKey! (Impressions + Mini Review)

New Gear!

Korg MicroKey: 37 key compact midi controller with pitch/modulation wheel. Those who are not content with only 25 keys - now you can have 37 keys plus the pitch/mod wheels!

Added Extra : Two Extra USB ports for more controllers!

 

And for size comparison, this is how it sits in front of my iMac 21 inch - Yes despite the name these "Micro" Keys arent really that small!

The Not-So-Micro-Key!

Short Review?

Hey these feel pretty good, they are bigger than the Akai LPK25's which is good because some of those really small keys arent very playable at all.

We are all aware of KORG's past epic win/fail situation with the Korg Nano series - the concept was good (Win!) but the built quality was pure SH!T (Fail!) , Akai responded with their Akai LPD8/LPK25 Series and Korg got owned...

So far i am pretty impressed with the price & built quality of the Korg Microkey - feels very solid and not wobbly like the Past nano series - Korg learnt from their mistakes and seems like they improved the quality on these things

Korg is back with a Vengeance! These new small (i have to say again - NOT SO SMALL in the case of the MicroKey) controllers are really nice - Very portable but not so small to the point that they are hard to use - in fact the keys feel really great

if you are something really small then Korg are releasing the new NANO Series 2 soon - these looks good and looks like they really listened and fixed what the first nano series lacked, Akai better step their game up!

Korg Microkey comes with:

• Ableton Live Discount Coupon
• Lounge Lizard Session Electric Piano (Lite? havent installed yet)
• EZDrummer LITE (hey these are pretty good!)
• Korg M1 LE Synth

In Singapore you can buy them at SGD$119 from City Music or Valentine's Music Centre (About USD$99)

Buy From Amazon:



Korg MicroKey 37-Key USB Midi Controller

Beatport app for iPhone: Crate Digging on-the-go!

I didnt know about this app until yesterday but i've been using it and i think its AWESOME!!

From your iPhone, go to the app shop, click search and type in BEATPORT - It's there and its FREE!

What it allows you to do is you can sign in with your beatport account (if you dont have one - make one its free until you make a purchase) and listen to new tunes from your iPhone directly - if you like a song you can add them to your shopping basket and when you get home and log on beatport on your computer - Voila! All the tracks you picked are all there!

This is a must have for people who are constantly on-the-go and still wanna get up-to-date with fresh tunes! I have discovered many awesome new tunes using this and browsing in a Train!

Pioneer DDJ-S1 VS Native Instruments Kontrol S4 - My opinion

As former vinyl junkie (and then converted into cdjs, and then serato and then traktor) - The Pioneer DDJ-S1 seems very tempting to me - I already own a Traktor S4 (click here to see my comments on the S4) and so far everything is fine, but i am currently trying to decide if i should jump the boat back to Serato or stay on with Traktor for their massive new update??

What really got me for the DDJ-S1 is the familiar Pioneer feeling, the great CDJ400 jogwheels (small but pretty damn good!) and the nice, standard cdj sized pitch sliders for us the manual beatmatches, while indeed the S4 is more advanced, sometimes you just wanna jam with two Tunes and have fun, instead of spending many hours prepping the tracks and beatgridding (what i tend to do with Traktor - when i buy a bunch of new tracks i dread the tedious time it takes to beatgrid them all for Traktor)

Plus, from the promotional video for the DDJ-S1, Pioneer seems to have incorporated beatgrid controls on the controller itself, making it much more fun and easier than using the mouse, watch the video above about 8 minutes in and you can sort of see what im talking about here

on the other hand, the new updated traktor update seems promising as well... Damn it!!! Now how can I decide??

Regardless, 2011 seems to be going well, with Traktor releasing their massive new update soon, Serato Releasing a bunch of new products (both scratch live and itch) , the return of TORQ from the grave (and now backed up by AVID, the guys behind protools)  - There are more and more choices for the digital djs!

The Pioneer DDJ-S1 will be out around mid-Feb to March 2011 - I hope the big traktor pro 2.0 update for the S4 comes out soon so i can really decide whether to stay with Traktor or jump the boat back to Serato...

Uniqlo X Monster Hunter T-Shirts!

I used to play this highly addictive game called MONSTER HUNTER (On PSP and Wii), well...  i stopped playing because i stopped being productive and end up just killing monsters and upgrading my weapons!!

A few days ago i bumped into these, in the UNIQLO shop in singapore, Uniqlo is a japanese clothing brand (for those who dont know)

Tigrex!

Some cool new monster

Rathalos paw print!

And they are all only SGD $24.90 each!

hmm...

So many designs!

So for Monster Hunter fans - hunt these down as they are limited editions!

Torq 2.0 : Free 30 day trial - NOW!

TORQ? Wow that name rings a bell!

Once upon a time, i bought a piece of kit called THE EXPONENT - The whole idea was awesome, being one of the first full featured midi controllers with built in sound card, the thing is the software sucked, the hardware was built plasticky, and the software was prone to crashes. I sold my exponent pretty quickly and never looked back. This was a long time ago, and now... they are back!

Torq has now been redone by a new team, the company behind protools, AVID is now the people who owns M-Audio


Give the demo a try, free for 30 days, to see if its any good!

Numark NS6 : 4 Deck Serato Itch Controller

What?? Another controller?

2011 seems like the year of the controller!

In the late 2010 Traktor shocked the world with its uber-awesome Traktor S4 (yesh i got one and its pretty DOPE) now everyone jumps in for their take on the perfect controller - including Pioneer!

Now there are so many options for those who are opting for the controller route - with so many interesting gadgets to choose from! This particular one from numark runs serato itch with 4 decks!

More Info HERE

Traktor Update : Sneaky Preview Video from Native Instruments :)

This just in...

Looks like the new upcoming update will have... COLOURED Waveforms??

Pioneer x Serato : DDJ-S1 serato itch controller , its official!!!

Yep - It's official!

This is the upcoming Serato Itch controller by Pioneer - The DDJ-S1

Not content with dominating the cdj market, pioneer steps into the midi controller ring to CRUSH the competition - will they succeed? Is this a sign that CDJ's are dying and that burning CDs are no longer In?

I love how they design so that the laptop can fit underneath the controller, with the screen easily visible! GREAT IDEA!

There's also the Traktor version, the DDJ-T1, shown below, but since we have the S4 for Traktor, i think more people are gonna be interested in this cool serato itch device

Links:

Serato Official
Serato Official Announcement
Pioneer Official

Pioneer Midi controllers for serato/traktor : Real deal or photoshop fake?

Pioneer’s DDJ-S1 2-Deck Serato ITCH Controller: First Picture

and This one for Traktor

My god! Speaking of the rumored but infamous Pioneer Midi controllers.....

Is it true? OR someone's attempt at photoshopping previous pioneer products?

There are rumors around that Pioneer are releasing two Midi controllers soon - one for serato itch and one is for Traktor - seeing that the two companies are going head to head at the moment in terms of userbase and popularity

This is interesting!

More Link: Here