Before Jared kicks of his piece, please watch the brand new video. It gives a much better idea of The One than any photo can do. And on a personal level: Sulevi – not more press reports until The One is finished. You need a incentive to draw a line under it and get it the hell out there!
The One Update
Just like those modular Behringer controllers, we’ve all been waiting (im)patiently to see the updates to EKS’ entry into the software market, The One. I’ve been very excited about this software as a modular solution allowing me to customize my own DJing experience. While I’ve been waiting on pins and needles, EKS has been hard at work perfecting their release.
What we saw wasn’t completely ready, but is going to be pushed to anyone lucky enough to have access to the open beta soon. You can still draw in as many decks as you want, and each of those decks can also run as many clips as you want, and all of those clips can be set to a greater timeline for you to work in. Each clip can also have FX automation drawn in, akin to the Ableton experience. Moving things around the screen is smooth and didn’t seem to change the experience at all.
EKS told us that the release date is looking like the end of March for the PC version. They are working on the Mac version as well, and we saw a working beta, but it probably won’t be ready right away. They will be testing it out in an open beta soon to iron out all of the kinks, and will need you dedicated nerds to help kick it all into gear.
Being I am the nerd I am, I asked about the MIDI implementation, and it seemed to mirror the Torq experience much more than what is currently on the market. You will be able to select any command they have available and map it just by touching the control you want, and without going anywhere you can tweak the controls to fit your needs. Although it wasn’t working yet, you will be able to open up a menu to see all of your commands filtered by object (FX, Deck, Master, etc.) to dial in the exact controls you want.
The audio path is as modular as the GUI. You can built your own audio chains, linking decks into FX into the Master channel, and then, if you need, you can run the Master Channel into its own FX rack. Each deck can run into separate FX channels, dedicated to that deck, and the FX channels can have their own audio path into other FX. There was talk of adding VST FX, but we weren’t able to see it.
While The One is still in progress, what we saw today was far more robust than what we saw last year, or at Messe (or even BPM – Ed). EKS has focused their objectives to make this software the best it can be, and from what we’re seeing that has the potential to be truly great.
About Jared Helfer
