UPDATE 2: Rane sold to inMusic — added press releases
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UPDATE 2: Rane sold to inMusic — added press releases

UPDATE 2: Rane sold to inMusic — added press releases

My inbox started twitching on Friday with some “have you heard?” and “what do you know?” messages from my solid sources. So I reached out to the necessary people, which largely met with a brick wall. But now the word is slowly leaking out, and an official press release has arrived from Rane. So as much as it pains me to write this, it seems that the iconic and genuinely amazing Seattle-based Rane has been sold to inMusic.

UPDATE: NOW WITH INMUSIC PR

INMUSIC SET TO ACQUIRE RENOWNED AUDIO MANUFACTURER RANE CORPORATION 

Highly-regarded maker of innovative audio products and solutions for the DJ and the professional sound markets to join inMusic’s award-winning lineup of companies

Cumberland, RI USA (July 6, 2015)—inMusic, Inc. (inMusic), the corporate owner of 13 premiere companies that deliver groundbreaking hardware and software solutions to the music, professional sound and consumer electronics industries, today announced that co-founders Linda Arink and Dennis Bohn have agreed to sell Rane Corporation to inMusic LLC. The transaction is set to be completed this summer. After the sale, Ms. Arink and Mr. Bohn plan to step down and retire.

Rane Corporation is well-known for its cutting-edge audio products for the DJ and professional sound markets. Founded and incorporated in 1981, Rane quickly established itself as a valuable supplier to the professional sound market, with products that introduced new and innovative features, with an emphasis on performance, value and reliability. Today, Rane’s reputation for engineering excellence extends to a wide range of products, including DJ mixers, amplifiers, equalizers, networking products and crossovers.

The inMusic roster of companies spans the range from keyboards, electronic percussion, recording hardware and software, loudspeakers/headphones, amplifiers/media players/signal distribution, lighting and consumer electronics. Rane’s product offerings fit perfectly within this marketing approach, significantly strengthening and broadening inMusic’s reach into several key market segments.

“Rane Corporation is a great addition to inMusic,” said Jack O’Donnell, CEO of inMusic. “Rane is a dynamic, esteemed audio brand focused on enhancing DJ performance and professional sound.”

“I am proud Rane is going to become a member of the inMusic family,” said Linda Arink, Finance Director for Rane. “This is the perfect new home for our company, one that will embrace the legacy of our products and grow our business to its maximum potential.”

The transaction is expected to take place in summer 2016.

###

About inMusic

InMusic (inMusic) is a family of premier brands that includes AIR Music Technology, Akai Professional, Alesis, Alto Professional, Denon DJ, Denon Professional, ION Audio, Marantz Professional, Marq Lighting, M-Audio, MixMeister and Numark. Committed to pushing the boundaries and challenging the status quo, each of inMusic’s brands is a leader in its field, providing cutting-edge products that incorporate and build upon the latest in engineering, design, and technology.

About Rane Corporation

Rane Corporation is an established innovator in problem-solving audio tools, professionally engineered with a focus on science, price/performance, and not frills and hype. Designed and manufactured exclusively in the United States, Rane’s product distribution is worldwide. Marketplaces are DJ (performance, club, mobile & recording), Live Sound (FOH and monitoring) and Commercial (music & paging, networked systems) featuring innovative analog and digital audio products for each category. For more information, visit www.rane.com

Details are slim, but here is what Rane has to say:

Rane Corporation is pleased to announce that cofounders Linda Arink and Dennis Bohn have agreed to sell Rane Corporation to InMusic LLC.

The transaction is set to be completed this summer. After the sale Ms. Arink and Mr. Bohn plan to step down and retire.

Rane is one of the most admired companies within the DJ and commercial sound industry. “Rane will continue some operations out of the Mukilteo, Washington headquarters,” says Ms. Arink.

Ms. Arink feels that with the added resources, engineering talent, and additional IP, InMusic is an ideal buyer for Rane Corporation and will help it grow now and in the future.

So there you have it. And of course we’ve dug a little deeper and this is what we have gleaned from sources so far:

  • The owners of Rane were looking for a buyer, and inMusic clearly made the most attractive offer.
  • The majority of the 60+ workforce will be “permanently displaced” at the end of July.
  • Some engineers will remain (from the HAL/install side) in Seattle.
  • The DJ side of Rane will be absorbed into the Numark/Denon team at inMusic HQ.
  • Manufacturing will be moved to inMusic’s contractors in the far east.

UPDATE 2: The Rane DJ engineers have received written job offers from inMusic to stay in Seattle. So should they not be snapped up by other companies, there’s hope that at least some of what makes up Rane’s DNA will still be present even if manufactured outside of Seattle.

Obviously, this is breaking as we speak, and is a little light on details. I’ll fill in these gaps as and when more information arrives.

I’ve contacted inMusic looking for some official comment, and have been told that official inMusic details will be released “shortly”. Seeing as that’s an indeterminate length of time, I’ll leave you with the official Rane word along with the info we’ve received, and will have more when it’s available. But its past midnight here and this old man is off to bed.

UPDATE: inMusic press release added above

Rest assured that we’ll have a lot of comment and opinion to add, as I’m sure will you.

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Mark Settle
The Old Owner
I was the editor around these parts for the first two decades of the DJWORX journey. I’m on a creative journey at The Worxlab, and drop in occasionally here. Expect the odd article from me every now and again.
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181 Comments

  2. Pioneer doesn’t even have to make anything new now. People will just flop to them as people fill up their dumpsters.

    Rip rane and denon. The end of an era is at hand.

    1. I know you’ve had a bad experience, and that does suck, but all companies slight someone at some point.

      More importantly, I think that Denon’s new products have been a MASSIVE leap over their most recent releases under D&M Holdings. Denon DJ seems to have taken a huge step forward under the guidance of inMusic, without forsaking quality.

        1. Agreed but lets be honest. Denon and Numarks efforts combined on their best day equate up to about half of what we have come to expect from Rane. This includes product support and everything in between.

  5. The amazing tech support and service is something I’ve always appreciated about Rane, and it will be terrible to have that go away. Very sad to read “The majority of the 60+ workforce will be “permanently displaced” at the end of July”. They don’t deserve this.

  6. The amazing tech support and service is something I’ve always appreciated about Rane, and it will be terrible to have that go away. Very sad to read “The majority of the 60+ workforce will be “permanently displaced” at the end of July”. They don’t deserve this.

  7. Depending on how things play out afterwards, this could either be a good breath of fresh air, or a massive avalanche of destruction…. Hearing that they’re being sold and manufacturing is moving to what sounds very much so like China is….. The words heart breaking comes to mind, doubly so with 60+ people losing their jobs due to the sale.

    Rane is always what I wanted to get for hardware, especially the 2016 MP/XP series… Wound up going with the Z2 as it was all I could afford but still had something resembling the legendary quality.

    1. Rane makes hardware, Serato produces software. One by no means owns the other. As we have seen so far, Akai and Denon have both produced Serato certified audio interface.

  10. RIP Rane… expect Rane’s awesome magnetic fader tech to be destroyed by a million cheaper knockoff designs from China as soon as manufacturing gets moved over there.

  11. The workers being displaced is more concerning than manufacturing moving too me. I’ve had nothing but bad luck with the Denon gear of recent times including the MCX8000. Hopefully the people taking over hold Rane gear to higher standard before releasing new products.

    1. You do realize the same people responsible for the Denon gear you’re having bad luck with are the ones who just bought Rane, yes?

      I’m expecting Rane’s quality and support to follow a similar trajectory as when Mackie jumped the shark around the turn of the century. Some people may not remember when Mackie also used to make great products with great support.

      This is to me a very sad development, since Rane until now has been the one mainstream company around making truly pro-grade products and offering pro-grade support. Maybe someone else will take up that mission now, but I’m not feeling particularly hopeful about it in today’s “it’s all about toys for tots” DJ climate.

    2. Nice name! Agreed the loss of expertise in a such fell swoop is a huge mistake on their part. They would be better off siphoning off that expertise and then “mass manufacturing” that, than letting it all just vanish.

      Riddim Dojo

  12. Lets be honest, at $1500 and up, youre not going to sell a lot of mixers.
    Numark mixers have had tragically unappealing style, and the name doesnt help, so now they can sell some finally. might as well buy serato too.

    1. Back when clubs and bars commonly “installed” a mixer, turntables, and later CD players in DJ booths (an era that’s not *that* far in the past), a $1500+ price tag wasn’t a big deal if it came with assurance of long-term trouble-free operation (and outstanding/fast support for the times something did go wrong). I guess the writing was on the wall for Rane in its present form when much of that “installation business” dried up.

      1. Rane was never really considered elite among the high-end sound installation business, even for their mixers. The new digital rotary was something of a big deal, but real rotary heads tend to prefer either refurbed vintage stuff or now the Alphas.

  13. Sad to see most of the staff will be paid off … I’ve received amazing help from the support team over the last 10years.

    Rane survived from the US built/quality and customer service , both of which will be going now..

    But would be good to see a Rane mixer with akai pads installed

    Looks like pioneer will monopolies the skratch mixer arena now like they do with the 4channel club mixers as their main competitor has just gone.

  14. It will be interesting to see what happens with the high end mp2015 – 15 mixers. Cutting corners with manufacturing will definitely show at the high end level.

  16. This is what happens when you lose your monopoly. What a bummer. I have been a Rane user since 2000. Def the end of an era. I knew this shit was going to happen when the whole Serato DJ thing happened and Rane would ultimately lose its stronghold on the 2 channel market. :(

    1. Your US-made SL4 box, which supports Scratch Live, may be considered a coveted item before too long. At least among people who value using DJ software that actually works reliably.

      1. Except it doesn’t anymore due to lack of reliable driver on El Capitan. (well, ok, an update has been released – but in 2 months from now there’ll be another system update that may break it, this time for good)

        1. Have to agree with this. inMusic won’t pump cash into support unless it can make money from it. And supporting old hardware doesn’t make money, especially when talking about long discontinued software.

  18. RIP Rane.
    DENON, M-Audio, AKAI Pro and more have gone the same path and ended with products which looks like million dollar and feels like crap.
    Can someone remind of something good that came out of InMusic ?

    1. Catastrophe!!!! Terror!!! Horror!!! I remember when a friend of mine, then sales manager for M-Audio told me in 2012 they were on point of stopping Torq and selling the Air plug-ins with the brand M-Audio. Then, i switched to Serato and bought the Rane SL3. See all the brands we appreciated became shit : Akai, Numark, Alesis, Denon and now, the only brand remaining reliable seem to “pass away” technically due to a “stupid” decision!!!

      What brands will remain ? Pioneer, Native Instruments, Novation, Stanton, Allen & Heath. Wow!!! Future Of DJing or Collapsing of DJing ???!!!!

      I want my SL3 to keep being supported by Serato and i don’t want any newer toyish dj products by shit R&D from InMusic!! The market is over-saturated by trash stuff that nobody is interested in. How can we be respected with products like these ?

      We should protest and boycott products released by all these brands during the “InMusic era”.

      2. What brands will remain? Pioneer DJ is now 85% owned by KKR, Novation is owned by Focusrite, Allen and Heath was bought up by The Electra Partnership and Gibson has acquired Stanton.

          1. Oh, yeah. I realized M-Audio Torq wasn’t supporting v2 as much before the sale and Numark totally halted it, but I wasn’t sure what you meant by that phrase. Also, Numark could have continued support and development for it. That used to be decent software, other than the DSP coding for its audio processing, which became kinda screwed up. Mapping, interface, features, and functions were all nice. The impulse response was 180 degrees out of phase, stunted, and the sound had become in v2 like some dark, processed low-bit junk. Could have been fixed, though. They, and especially Deckadance, always had a better thought out and expandable DSP & routing code core than the other DJ softwares out there. Shame.

    2. NS7III is a legit solid controller. I use one for backyard parties, and the occasional wedding, and have never had any issues with it. And, its built like a tank. Feels well built to touch, and not plasticky like Pioneer controllers, of which i do own the SZ controller.

    3. Denon and Akai Pro have products that feel like crap? Which ones? Here is your requested reminding: Denon DJ MCX8000, DS1, Akai Pro MPC Touch, MPC Studio, MPC Renaissance, MPC2500, Advance Keyboards, MPK2 Keyboards, LPD8/LPK25, MPD2 series, APC series. Numark NS7 series. V7. NV. NS6.

      Should I continue?

      1. Don’t forget the Rhythm Wolf, Timber Wolf, and Tom Cat, all of which are relatively inexpensive and can sound fairly decent for a variety of genres with just a bit of processing. There’s also the MAX49 which wasn’t too bad, although the CV and sequencing sections could have used some significant improvements.

      2. Mate, the MCX8000 is no good, not even close to the build quality i know from DENON fro so many years, looks and feels like a Denon replica.

        APC – have you tried the mk2 ???
        it feels like been bought at Toys Are Us – especially compare to the first “feels like a tank” version.
        LPD/LPK – yup, cheap, and feels like that.
        As for numark, Denon were leaders – not some mid price products wannabe…
        They also managed to make M-Audio disappear.
        Should I continue ?!

        1. Completely disagree about MCX8000. I’m not sure what you’re unhappy with – it’s all metal and very well built. Love mine.

          APC, yep, I’ve tried the Mk.II. LPD/LPK are cheap, they actually are cheap – so you need to be fair. You asked for something “good” that has come out of inMusic, not something that is built like a tank and priced accordingly.

          I don’t consider Denon to be “mid priced… wannabe”. It’s still super-early days for inMusic with Denon, but the MCX8000 and DS1, two of the new products, are market-segment leaders.

          As for M-Audio, I think you’ll find they disappeared well before inMusic – that’s probably why Digi sold them.

    4. TTX USB (and the version right before it), the X2 (needs a comeback), and they were the first to do true 24bit digital DJ mixers without an analog gain stage between DA/AD conversion like Tascam did. I still have two of each PPD01 and PPD9000 mixers.

  20. I mean just a long shot here… I can see a companies attempt to go after the juggernaut that is Pioneer Dj. I remember when Pioneer electronics spun off Pioneer Dj, I thought the same thing about the equipment. And they’ve seemed to have responded pretty well since then. Numark has always been an entry-level Dj brand. Denon was an attempt at a high-end brand, but never quite had the driving force as Rane did. Maybe iNmusic needs a label to bring out a range of equipment to try to topple Pioneer Dj in the global market they hold. Chinese manufacturing has improved with Dj equipment. Dj Tech, and I’m pretty sure Pioneer Dj, are made there. But then again, this is a long shot.

    1. Al, Denon was making High End DJ gear long before Pioneer even thought about it. I will admit that much of their new stuff is crap but back in the day, it was Denon and Numark who ran the show. Rane did mostly rack gear and Pioneer was doing audiophile stuff. Let me break it to you. I’ve had Pioneer Mixers and I’ve had Denon Mixers. They’re the same quality if not Denon having the edge in sound quality. You also made a mention about “Chinese manufacturing” as if they just got good at it. Who do you think’s been making 2/3rds of the world’s electronics (i.e. apple)? This ain’t the 80’s anymore. Hell, I remember when Samsung was “low quality” now they’re the ish. BTW, I heard the new Pioneer S9 has some build quality “issues”.

      2. I guess what I meant by “attempt” was a solid electronics company trying to break into the Dj gear game. Denon was always an audiophile company in terms of non-Dj equipment. And they had a few solid pieces of Dj gear. I also remember they were the brand to get when cd’s were introduced to the scene. Best rack mount CD players out there. But they never had the product line that dedicated Dj brands had, like Numark & Gemini did. (I forgot about Gemini) There main market was selling audiophile equipment at Circuit City. Same reason Pioneer sold off 85% of Pioneer Dj. They wanted to focus on their core business. I’m not knocking Denon. I still check out their new stuff, seeing what’s out there, because those were the first cd mixers I owned. Nostalgia, I guess. But I think we’re on the same page regarding Chinese manufacturing. Maybe it’s me, but I like that my Rane Sixty Two was made in the USA. Mainly because it’s a US brand that most people actually respect, made here. But like you said, I’ve never had a problem with an iPhone other than software upgrades. Quality is always top notch.

        And I’ve also heard that about the S9. I’m starting to see them everywhere as well, so maybe we’ll hear more reviews from people who use them.

          1. Now this is all assuming they don’t trash the brand. What are the pros of such a merger? Obviously, resources would be one. I don’t know about you, but I play on a MacBook Pro and had to wait six months before Rane upgraded the audio drivers to run on OSX El Capitan. I do a lot of 3-D modeling and graphic design, so I’m used to this type of upgrade cycle for the latest and greatest Mac OSes. But usually when a smaller software company gets absorbed by one of the big boys, the product in my case has been pretty good so far. What would be really interesting to see is if sometime in the next couple of months Serato gets picked up by one of the big boys.

            1. I too have macbook pro and have suffered through the whole update hell. I don’t own a Rane, but I have played on gigs using one in a coffin I sometimes rent. I too think that it could be a good thing if the larger party has a clear game plan and understanding of the customers needs.

              As for the iPad integration, that would be great to see, but it all depends on if it can handle it and if Rane’s new bosses do the math and it makes sense.

  22. NAMM 2017 PR blubbering from inMusic:

    Cumberland, RI USA (January 22, 2017)—Numark (numark.com), the world’s leading innovator of DJ solutions, announces NS7 IV, a dramatically enhanced and updated version of the industry’s most advanced and best-selling motorized DJ controller, NS7 III, the premier four-deck controller for Serato DJ. Featuring three high-resolution color screens from the MCX8000 of industry leader Denon with a stackable waveform display and an interactive control surface, 16 backlit RGB velocity-sensitive MPC® pads from Akai Professional, classic joystick controls toggle slip, instant doubles, internal mode, censor, and transform from world acclaimed mixer leaders Rane. Also features long-life magnetic crossfader and channel faders that have reverse and contour controls from the Rane brand. the NS7 IV empowers a kinetic connection between the crowd and the music.

  23. Just so you know, I took the Rane shot when I visited in January. I had planned a long piece about the company that would be published in the next month, along with a bunch of reviews and articles, but it would feel like an obituary right now.

    1. Mark,

      You should publish it still, of course with a PS or addendum. It may the last viewpoint on the Rane of old before it is changed forever. A fitting tribute to the old ownership. Such is the price of progress. I hope that they (the owners) can get some well deserved rest and time with their families – and kick back and enjoy life a little!

      RD

  24. As a Rane employee I will miss you all dearly! If you have ever called into Rane it is me you spoke with. If you have ever had your unit service under warranty or not I am the one who shipped your unit back to you. If you love our faders my hands are the ones that been assembling them for the past 5 years. We have the best customers in the world and that’s why it has been so easy to provide you all with the best customer service. Peace out you guys!

    1. Hey Samantha! Did we meet when I was there? Super Bowl fever had gripped the building at the time. Much love to our friends at Rane from the DJWORX community. We will genuinely miss all of you — such a great company with great people making great products.

      If nothing else comes of it, I’m now a Seahawks fan and will wear my t-shirt gift with pride and honour. :)

    3. Bravo for making a killer product that surpassed anything that came after it. As a small company, your customer service is something the big boys need to pay attention to. Rane will be missed. This is truly an end of an era.

    4. From a person who is working in a company (IBM) where most of our jobs are being shipped off to India because Indians will work for $200/month, I feel your pain. I’ve seen the quality of all the work go sh!t since the off shoring started my own workplace. I don’t think Rane will ever be the same.

      Not saying the following is the case for Rane but, it really is not right people up high can sell out local workers to buy a 2nd or 3rd home or get a bigger bonus at the expense of the people who help build up the company.

      Rane to me and many others was the most reliable, durable audio gear anyone could ever buy. We always knew it was well supported and that any problem with a Rane unit went to a repair person with intimate knowledge of the product and often was sent back to the user in record time often working better than it did prior to it breaking.

    5. Start your own company, make your first product a faderbox with a rechargeable battery. With the intention of building towards integrating an interface into the box. Call it “rare”, sell tons, get sued by inmusic, win suit, start bigger company.

      Seriously though, you should’ve learned enough to do a portable fader right??

    7. I wanna thank you for your passion, your dedication to your work. It’s rare having employees from such companies, who assembled parts of the gear we purchase, talking here. I wish you the very best and hope that we will have very good news from you soon!!! Take care

    8. Sam i remember you sent me some 7″ control vinyl. I still have it. Thank you for all you’ve done and good luck in your future endeavors.

    10. Thanks for shipping me those free knobs for my 56 when you didn’t have to Samantha. You guys did it the right way and if InMusic is smart, they will adopt your approach to customer service as well as the quality of the gear you made.

    12. Always had good experience with Rane Support so I wish all the Rane employees the best of luck and only hope InMusic see this post and noticed this and hopefully they’ll reconsider keeping you all onboard!!!

      1. Very true. But at this rate, Pioneer will consume the entire industry if nobody can stand up to them. As much as I agree with you, InMusic may be the only company to do so.

  26. Removing all Rane employees makes sense when/if they buy Serato.
    Moving production to China (or Taiwan or Malaysia or wherever) is no issue if done right. There are plenty of AMAZING manufacturers that produce better quality professional mixers than Rane that cost WAY more.
    The following risks are present:
    1. They apply cost cutting measures to recoup the cost of purchase and this diminishes quality.
    2. They use the same engineers and product managers they’ve been using for Numark/Denon and in turn make more similar product to those ranges.
    3. I always feel like this hurts the retailers. Smaller retailers get forced to buy into the machine that is InMusic rather than buying from whomever they please.
    4. Can be a pro but i think they buy Serato within a year and let Serato handle Rane’s product design.

    I also wonder about Rane’s install business. I know it used to be big but who knows. They’re using Denon Pro as mid range installation business. Maybe they use Rane’s pro install side as a high end install company.

    Bottom line, there are many synergies and they will profit off this by firing everyone and making a ton of profit on Rane products.

  28. Let’s put it in perspective…
    I was never a huge fan of Numark. (As I understood it, The classic PPD mixers were built by a different company named Numark that folded and a new company bought the rights to the name.) although I always found Numark to be innovative, I thought their consistency from product to product and build quality was lacking.

    InMusic let go Silvio Zeppieri, the Denon DJ brand manager and guy who was the driving force behind Denon’s innovation from the beginning of the DJ division. They let go Karl Detken, the guy who put Pioneer DJ on the map and was the driving force behind many innovations, not to mention his time with companies like VModa and Chauvet. I mean think about that… Would could of been with both Silvio and Karl under the same banner? That WAS the Pioneer killer right there. I shutter to think.
    And now Rane with the majority of its 60+ engineers and employees being displaced… The driving force behind Rane build quality and innovation.

    They are buying great companies but I’m fearful for their futures because IMO those brands are now in name only. The Numark crew stays on while the majority of those from the brands they buy are displaced. :( The focus is solely about profitability and not about keeping the quality and legacy of the brands intact. IMHO. That might be good now, but in the long run I think that will be a huge mistake.

      1. Hell I didn’t realize they let Silvio go. He was truly the face of Denon. I’m not liking the moves made by InMusic thus far. This could turn out being a big plus for Pioneer if ImMusic severely screw things up due to lack of direction, leadership and scope.

      2. Yes they did, back around the holidays no less and after he completed his move to Rhode Island.
        Luckily he got picked up by another company, the one that produces the Emulator system (Smithson Martin I think it’s called?) and he works remotely.

    2. Those are 2 great men I highly respect for what they have done for “our” industry.
      InMusic is buying a lot pieces but I still can’t understand what they want to do. Some products are big sellers but most of them are not, so the cash is eaten hince so little real innovation and so many unfinished concept.

  29. This is horrible news. One thing i could count on is a rane mixer being built like a tank. As many broken faders as ive seen on pioneer 800s and denon buttons and selectors failing, numark equipment literally falling apart… I knew my rane would stand up. I still have an orginal 56!

    The support side is also big. No other company took care of their customers like rane. Its a shame…

    I suggest if you have any equipment that requires servicing you send it in by end of week.

      1. yea, but something like this makes those old vestax mixers more valuable, because you have to think that the days of high quality in scratch products is over.

      2. That was the only thing Vestax was good at — scratch mixers and turntables. Their techno mixers weren’t very good. Their CD players weren’t very good, though they did go all out on the analog output stage on their last ones, but they frigg’n wouldn’t even let you pitch bend with the unpressed jog when scratch was on!

    2. Patience my friend, patience, I 100% highly doubt that Vestax is doing a comeback without producing a scratch mixer and a new turntable in addition to the rotary mixers.

  32. I hate this attrition in the DJ market, but keep in mind that this could have been much worse. Say what you will about InMusic, but I think they are at least good stewards for DJ as a whole. And they’re financially invested in trying to make it grow. The Gibson purchase of Stanton is a perfect example of this kind of thing going wrong.

    Imagine if it had been Uli Behringer that bought Rane instead of Jack ODonnell…

    1. “Imagine if it had been Uli Behringer that bought Rane instead of Jack ODonnell…”

      So true. That would have been the worst of all. I don’t even want to think about that scenario!

  33. the only mixer that i ever wanted from them was the 56, but never got it, maybe now is the time to look for a good deal somewhere but i know the power cable plug was a a flaw.

    the 61 and 62 looked hideous, maybe pioneer S9 had something to do with sales down the drain, or the cheap sounding Z2

  34. Really sad, but not surprising. It’s been a good run for the company, but I’m guessing they’re struggling. At Decibel Festival the Rane reps were heavily touting Native Instruments over Serato, with thinly hidden anger and scorn, so the writing was already appearing on the wall. It’ll be sad to see a proud local company pick-up and leave behind its employees. I love using Rane mixers in the clubs. Solid, reliable and oh so well designed. :(

    1. I was thinking the same thing. But of course, N.I is sleeping while important deals are being done that could improve them for the better.

  36. Total speculation here, but a couple of months ago Denon suddenly pulled all the mixers from its catalogue. Maybe we see things settle down into Rane is the mixer brand, Denon, the high end controller/media player brand and Numark the full-line general entry level brand. I could see from a branding and marketing perspective how that might all make sense and sort of fit together – because as it is there seems to be a lot of overlap in product, and I can’t see that continuing forever.

    1. Interesting observation, but Denon only pulled 2 out of 3 mixers, yeah? 1600 and 600, with 500 still remaining. 1700 was discontinued some time earlier – but ALL of these mixers are from the old Denon, of which most products are being phased out.

      2. No, 600 and 1700 were pulled about the same time (about a year and a half ago if memory serves), 500 and 1600 remained until a few weeks ago (I bought a new 1600 at Christmas). Both gone now, as is the entire mixer section from the website.

  37. Announcing intent to sell and simultaneously reducing the workforce is an unusual arrangement: What if the deal doesn’t close for some reason? I have to conclude that the company is going through a huge transformation regardless of the sale.

  38. I think the reality of the market for anything electronic these days is that for a company to stay in business, they have to focus on the entire market. A high end product company can only sell so much inventory and cannot keep that large of an design & engineering team. For every one MP2015 you sell, you might sell 50 Mixtrack controllers, but without the sales volume of the lower and mid range stuff, it is very hard to stay in business. Numark has proven they can make some quality product at the high end and then with the additional brands, will be able to maintain some boutique labels. We are still sort of waiting to see if inMusic’s Denon product quality is going up or down, and now we will have to wait for inMusic’s Rane as well, but I don’t think it will necessarily be going down.

    I do have to make an interesting observation that Rane’s reputation for professional audio is not necessarily as high as it is for DJ product. I know there was a time working as tech crew for concerts and conventions that our A1 audio engineer would send back Rane equipment (crossovers, EQs, etc.) to the warehouse because he didn’t trust it. This was 15 years ago, but I think that the old Rane external power supplies with the RJ-11 modular plug were sometimes a source of inducing noise and hum in an audio system. I didn’t personally have that problem, but I think it was an old wives tale that for some reason gained traction amongst audio engineers.

    I kinda feel like Numark has a a similar image problem. People have a long memory and a lot of us old DJs do remember the old-old Numark before the bankruptcy (circa maybe 1995?) making really great mixers and then when the new Numark emerged with some flashy gear that wasn’t neccessarily reliable. But I really do love my Numark V7, that thing is built like a tank.

      1. True. I remember vintage Urei and even Biamp stuff out of Portland being considered more reputable than the Rane stuff for the true pro side. The move to surface mount just further pissed off the pro install crowd, and there is a little migration into the DJ area’s pro installer crowd with its less than stellar reputation… one of the reasons the New York crowd is so into rotaries other than Rane.

  39. So now our Beloved Official Rane DJ #Rane #RaneDJ is sold to InMusic parent to Numark/Denon/Akai/etc!! So my concerns on Quality & Support for our Rane products. Will it be good or far worse now. Time will only tell!!??

  40. The word is about
    There’s something evolving
    Whatever may come
    The world keeps revolving

    They say the next big thing is here
    That the revolution’s near
    But to me, it seems quite clear
    That’s it’s all just a little bit of history repeating

  41. “AIR Music Technology, Akai Professional, Alesis, Alto Professional, Denon DJ, Denon Professional, ION Audio, Marantz Professional, Marq Lighting, M-Audio, MixMeister and Numark”

    Literally every single one of these brands has gone down in quality over the last decade, unfortunately the writing seems to be on the wall for Rane.

    Good things must always come to an end I suppose.

    1. Sorry but I strongly disagree. Denon and Numark’s hardware quality have actually gotten a little better under the InMusic umbrella. It’s the support side that’s been kinda iffy.

      1. No apologies required :)

        Denon DJ was never very good to begin with, so that could be true considering they could only ever really go “up” in my opinion.

        Numark (for the time) used to make some pretty decent stuff, now it’s all entry-level bargain bin type junk…at least the stuff I come across is.

        1. Denon never good ? DNX 1600/1700 wasn’t bad at all compared to DJM of the same era.
          Older DN 2500/2700/9000 was glorious at their time.
          DN-S5000/HS5500 bring interesting things to the table.

          Numark NS7/V7 are still solid pieces of gear, NS6 was nice too when it went out.

          Ok, you don’t like Denon and Numark, that’s it !

        3. I beg to differ. Denon actually always was pretty high end, and feature-wise they were also quite a few steps ahead of Pioneer throughout the early 2000s. the old 2x00s, for me, were basically the most indestructible dual CD players ever. I owned the DN-S 5000 and 3500 which were amazing. let’s also not forget the Numark CDX/HDX – still the only motorized 12″ CD deck. back then I could only afford one, but I loved it.

          What I never liked about Denon is the design. The entire CI, especially the font, just doesn’t look good. But to be fair, a CD player can be pink for all I care, long as it performs – and they always did, in my experience at least.

        4. Denon cd players in the 90s were rock solid and years ahead of pooineer, they never missed a beat. At the time the other cd players that were in the market were Gemini and American DJ, both of which had a split second delay on the play button. Shit, I only really ever played vinyl back then and even I know their rep

        5. What was wrong with it? Denon replaced out of warranty parts free of charge for me all the time. Their customer service was top notch. Thy were way ahead of their time and pioneer still will not admit that spinning platters were the way to go.

          They implemented features based on user input and didn’t shun anybody away for making their opinion known bad or good unlike pioneer.

          When Inmusic bought denon they cleaned house too and got rid of their most valuable resource.

        7. What happened to Numark was it was pure shit, then it got pretty decent even with (arguably) their mixers, and now it’s a little half-assed but better than they were when they started. Blue Dog, anyone?

  42. Also, is Serato included in this or are they no longer associated with Rane in any way?

    They started out as a part of Rane I believe, correct?

  43. If a company had at least half of a brain, and was buying out a new (to them) company that had a staff with an excellent reputation, wouldn’t that be in their best interest to keep those employees?

    I don’t run a business, but I have long been told that one of the most difficult parts of doing so is finding quality people who can not only do their job, but have the correct vision/mindset.

    WTF is going on here??

    1. Yes, frequently if buying a company that is doing well you let it run as-is for a period of time to see what is working and what isn’t before shaking things up. On the surface, this sounds like they are buying the name and the designs (the intellectual property) but not the actual assets on the ground.

  44. i hope the “permanently displaced” Rane employees form a new company. The people is where the heart of Rane lies. Keep all the local aerospace connections and regroup to give us something great.

    2. ^ THIS!
      Should a Kickstarter or the like pop up, I’d gladly contribute.

      The PEOPLE at Rane constantly go above and beyond. 10+ years ago, they brought a dead, liquor soaked TTM-56 back to life (at no cost to me, it had something like 3 weeks left on its warranty) and I still use it today.

      THANK YOU. You (the PEOPLE behind the company) will be missed. I hope they all land on their feet and end up in a better working arrangement.

      2. Or maybe Rane decided it makes more sense to work with a partner who doesn’t release software with show-stopping bugs that affect their reputation while Serato gives zero fucks ’cause the licence is already paid for?

        1. It’s Serato’s decision to not support the 2014. Don’t think Rane is/was particularly happy with that decision. What show-stopping bugs? Referring to the El Cap driver debacle?

  47. I don’t see anything good coming from this except maybe the brand survives longer than it otherwise would have. Non-U.S. DJs who didn’t deal with the factor may not have the same experience as those in the U.S., but Rane’s customer service through the factory is legendary. They would fix anything short of bullet holes through the faceplate under warranty. The team of people there was just top notch and took real pride in their work. When I bought my TTM-54 16 years ago I called Rane and Chris Duncan walked me through all the specs. I remember being thoroughly dissed on the message boards for buying a Rane over a Vestax 05 pro but as the years went by more and more people figured out Rane made products with unmatched quality! 15 years later when myTTM-54 finally crapped out I called up Chris and he pointed me in the right direction to get it fixed. I recapped the power supply myself and it’s running strong again. My original TTM-56 with the fat knobs is still working great (13 years of daily use). I bought one of the TTM-57mkiis Vekked won through the DMC last year and Rane said it would honor the warranty, no questions asked. You will never get that type of reasonable, person-to-person contact from these big companies. The loss of jobs and the loss of that corporate culture is a real tragedy. There are not that many companies like Rane left in the world. I sincerely hope they don’t lay everyone off and move manufacturing to China but I doubt Gizmo would be reporting that if he didn’t have good sources. The whole thing has me pretty gutted.

  49. The company was about to go bankrupt, “attractive” offer was basically one of a few offers. I used to work at Rane and if anything, jobs were salvaged, esp the brand. Is it me or do I sense a bit of friction with DJWORX?

    2. Friction? None at all. What makes you say that?

      Here’s how journalism works — stories emerge, sources are checked, and certainly for the wider media that would be enough to release a story. But having contacted inMusic, they said a press release would be available “shortly”, and we were going to wait for it before posting. But when the Rane release went live, so did we.

      Having spoken to people at inMusic and confirming with sources, we have now been able to update the story to include the news that the DJ engineers have been made job offers as well as the install engineers. That’s what happens — stories get updated as they develop.

  50. Should we start buying replacement parts if we know we’ll need them soon? Just trying to figure out if I should make it a priority as manufacturing may move overseas and I’d hate to see a drop in quality.

  51. This is extremely stressing bc Rane 61, 62, & 64 discontinued. I was looking to purchase 62 today and no-one has them available. This is upsetting. Good bye Rane. Guess Pioneer DJM S9 here I come.