Uhm, high quality, full color LCD screen with USB plugin capability … who has that … ah yes CDJ2000Nexus!
But on a serious note. It’s Traktor, which means I am already done with it (because a) Traktor so not fits my workflow and b) they have a rather odd way of looking at licencing issues = nasty and “we don’t care” response). Apart from that, the only reason I can see stuff like this take off is if it’s an all in one with a large (think iPad mini at the least) center screen for your parallel waveforms and easy browsing, as well as touch screen for operating FX. The players can then have their own smaller displays for all the relevant track info (a small full track waveform showing cues, loops and such would be enough imho, no need to replicate the waveform already in the parallel bit), such a title, artist, bpm, key, pitch and all the other goodies that you might need. Obviously it would no longer need to have a laptop attached, so self-contained.
A way to connect a (mini) keyboard or a mouse could be helpful to some. Be it cabled or wireless. With more DJ software integrating streaming audio services, wifi could be good to have (although I personally would not want to depend on streaming audio for any kind of paid gig, but that is just me).
Also a way to easily swap storage devices would be very handy, think swappable SSDs. This way you could easily increase storage, make backups and work on your collection away from your controller. Hang your SSD in a dock on your PC/Mac and do all that prep-work without having the entire controller on your lap. Or even take your SSD when such a unit is already out there somewhere you are playing (like a big USB stick).
Oh well. I think everyone is in agreeance that we have reached a point where new controllers are mostly more of the same. Snappier looks, mulit-colored pads and perhaps even small built-in lcd screens (Numark), but no real revolution. Be interesting to see what comes next. Also the question is, what is driving innovation? Is it the desire of companies to find solutions for issues users have or to provide users with new creative tools that weren’t available before? Or is it the desire to get people to toss their old stuff and get something new (so, just for the money essentially).
After all, even if a device I described would exist, what extra’s do you get in a creative manner that you can’t already get with a current laptop/controller setup? Sure, it would be handy, perhaps make for a slightly easier workflow, remove the worries about drivers, laptop performance, etx. But at the end of the day you’d still browse and load a track, play it, manipulate it, mix it into the next track and that is it.
Perhaps, somewhere in the dark caves of DJ company R&D somebody is brooding on something really innovative that will push music creation (if not DJ-ing) into a new phase. Not just a “how can we enhance on what we already have”-approach, but a true “what new way to create and mix music can we come up with”-view.
I, for one, am curious to see where this all takes us in the next say 10-15 years. Almost as much as I wonder what kind of music will be the next big wave that we can tell our kids “isn’t real music” 😀 .
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