One of the overriding sentiments upon setting eyes on the first images of the new Rane SEVENTY TWO was one of simply copying Pioneer DJ and lazily sticking an updated 909 screen into an S9. And you would be forgiven for thinking that too, because it does have those two features dominating the first impression. Indeed, a great many comments echoed this sentiment, with accusations of plagiarism and ripping off being levelled. “I expected more of Rane” said one disillusioned commenter.
So I feel it’s important at this point to take a look at the SEVENTY TWO’s feature heritage to see exactly where this has come from, if only to demonstrate that there’s very little that’s original these days, and simply improvements on existing features.
THE ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES
Firstly, strictly from a mixer perspective, it’s important to give Vestax the due it so richly deserves in this timeline. The 2009 (yes it’s eight years old now) prototype PMC-05PRO IV was the father of this particular trend of putting MIDI controls into mixers. It showed two banks of just three buttons each, but the final release in 2010 had two banks of 2×3 buttons, plus big toggles and track loading controls too.
The Rane Sixty One and Sixty Two followed around 18 months later, and the DJM-S9 landing in August 2015, with the now familiar 2×4 button banks that people are focussing on. And I did see some very S9alike designs before Pioneer DJ unleashed the S9 too, but that’s a story for my memoirs.
But if you really want to know where this now standard 2×4 pad format really comes from, let’s go all the way back to 2011, and Novation’s only foray into full DJ units. The Novation Twitch is the true progenitor of the 2×4 pads idea in DJ gear, something that has made its way into every controller and now seemingly battle mixer worth a damn. That unit was so far ahead of its time that people just didn’t know what to make of it, and largely still don’t.
The reality is that this format of pads can be traced further back to the introduction of the original Akai Pro MPC60. This appeared in 1988 and featured the first showing of the now legendary MPC pads, a 4×4 layout that has been used many times over in all manner of different products. So it’s with no sense of irony that the pads in the SEVENTY TWO are also MPC pads provided by its sister company Akai Pro. So technically speaking, inMusic is simply reusing its own 31 year old technology.
THE SCREEN
Screens in mixers are nothing new. But the obvious influence of the DJM-909 is clear. It is however important to remember that the 909’s screen was little more than a monochrome push button simulator that gave access to the inner workings of the mixer. The screen on the SEVENTY TWO is more akin to a mobile phone screen displaying a small window into Serato DJ.
This isn’t new territory for Pioneer though. The DJM-2000 Nexus and SVM-1000 both have large and lovely touch screens. But apart from the location of the 909 screen, comparing it to the one in the SEVENTY TWO is apples and oranges. Pioneer DJ has just waited too long to put one in a scratch mixer, and will now obviously be accused of copying if they do. I won’t be writing a rehash of this piece though.
HOW IT REALLY WORKS
One thing that is important to remember is Serato’s role in the partnership. It is assumed that the hardware manufacturers just go off and design what they want and expect Serato to fit in with whatever crazy whims they may have come up with in hardware form. But the whole point of a partnership is working together to make a coherent end product, and Serato definitely has a leading hand in making sure that their brand is properly represented in hardware form.
Serato has a set number of features inside Serato DJ, and makes these available to partners for a price. Sometimes the feature could be new and exclusive, with usage eventually falling into everyone’s lap. But Serato is an active partner, often leading hardware design decisions and saying what can and can’t happen. After all, they have to juggle a number of partners (although fewer these days due to industry consolidation) and each has their own needs which must in turn fit in with Serato’s plans.
But to be quite clear — Serato does not sit back and wait for finished hardware so it can map it at the last minute. They are active from day one, has tight control, and may well be the instigators of some of the products or at least features that we have come to know and love.
SO WHO’S THE DADDY?
Apparently Rane and inMusic had independently come up with their own designs for the next generation of battle mixer before they got into bed together, and that those designs were incredibly aligned. They will have had influences from the past and brought those into the equation too, but you can clearly pick out the look, feel, and features of Rane, especially the Sixty Two, and their new stablemates from across inMusic’s brand portfolio.
It’s technically possible to look at anything made in the past five years or so and point to older products that clearly influenced the design, because more or less everything has been done before. Indeed I could argue that almost nothing is original these days. The SEVENTY TWO’s DNA is a mixture of Rane, Numark, Akai Pro, Pioneer DJ, Novation, Vestax, and Serato. And most DJ gear has been based in part or whole on previous products too.
These days however, these ideas are improved upon from the original and made more suitable and relevant for the needs of today’s DJs. It all comes down to execution, and this is what separates the brands and their products.
But where do you draw the line? According to Rane’s own research, the first mixer with a crossfader was the Citronic SMP101 in 1977 — should we therefore accuse the whole DJ industry of ripping off that mixer? Should we call out every DJ company for adding channel EQs after Formula Sound did it in 1980? Of course not — there comes a point where each new feature becomes a standard feature, and in the process gets improved upon.
SUMMING UP
It’s my contention that while there are two key similarities with the 909 (just the screen location) and the S9 (just the pads), these features are a long way from new and are now standards, and in the case of the SEVENTY TWO advanced upon with the Rane engineering stamp on it, most probably overseen by the watchful eye of Serato.
But regardless of any influences drawn upon in the design process, the SEVENTY TWO is undeniably a Rane mixer, and a bloody marvellous one too. That’s what you should be focussing on, and once you get to play with it, you really won’t give a crap where the inspirations have come from.
“Pioneer
DJ has just waited too long to put one in a scratch mixer, and will now
obviously be accused of copying if they do. I won’t be writing a rehash
of this piece though.”
I think you wanted to write “Rane has just waited too long…”, no ?
Not at all. If Pioneer DJ was to bring out another S9 style mixer with a screen, people would accuse them of copying Rane now.
The fx switches are another reference to the 909, not only the screen. Something the S9 took as well.
I’m talking more about the big paddles though. The 909 did have effects switches, but they were just regular sized. If we want to talk old school paddles, the Intimidation mixers used them for EQ kill.
Oh those killswitch times…
Can those paddles be used as double sided transform switch or are they only FX related? Why have so many newer brand’s abandoned the idea of a phono/line like switch for transforming. Some transformer cuts just can’t be replicated on a crossfader.
Effects only.
Ttm 57 joysticks did it too
And sixty one
Transform could technically be called a “kill” effect……….
Bloody hell — you have had it bad. Good to see that you’ve still got things to say about DJing despite everything, :)
Lol… sorry for this… but the foot switch feature is something available on the 909 as well. So not only the screen, banked effects, and fx switch, you have the footswitch.
NUMARK DM1775 somewhere around 1990, look at the rear panel. Foot switches for DJs have been around forever. The paddle toggles, intimidation around 1998 had big ol toggles, but then again any Numark, Citronic, or other mixer, from the 80’s had toggles for transform effects (aka line switches), Though the Numark X5 (8 years old) also had them in the up/down 3way style.
While it was technically not Midi I think the original ttm 57 deserves a mention
First mixer with built in dvs sound card and software control buttons
Am I right in thinking that the buttons were for effects? It’s a long time ago now. ;)
They were user definable
Six layers
The last one was for dsp effects
I think that mixer is ace. Just need to convince my wife not to kick me out of bed if I buy it. Haven’t seen such a beautiful setup (twelves+seventy two) in a long time.
God I love my Twitch. How I long for a 4 channel Twitch with DVS inputs.
Love the concept but I can’t do without a platter!! LOL. I hate strip search. It’s simply not precise enough for me.
I love it for straight up controllerism stuff, but then I’d like to have a turntable nearby for scratching as well, or open format / playing vinyl.
I like the idea that I could take my mixer out from between my turntables and bring it to a house party and just use it solely.
Ever heard of the Kontrol S8?
That’s a 4ch Twitch on steroids.
It sure is! I gave that a VERY solid look. It ticks so many boxes but at the end of the day it’s Traktor that’s preventing me from going there.
Switching software is a pain in the ass.
I tried to like Serato because there’s plenty of cool hardware exclusively for their ecosystem.
I failed.
Had one too, amazing controller. Very innovative at the time but even still. Akai should take a close look at those touch strips when they’re designing the AFX MKII. They work remarkably well.
And while where at it
The first dvs mixer
https://serato.com/forum/discussion/5637
It’s definitely going to be my next mixer.
Haha the Twitch I have to thank DJ worx again for making me a winner during the Worxmas some years ago. And I still have my Twitch until now even if I mostly use my NS7 II :D :D
Good read. Hopefully put to bed all those boring comments about who copied who. Good hear Vestax getting props as a (dj) life long fan they were key in breaking new ground and bucking trends even if it didn’t always sell or work. The paddles on the vi could have been so much more but just acted as a mute and I still to this day haven’t worked out how to remap them without them still muting the audio.
Just remembered that also the Vestax iv had the shift layers so you had 2x (2×6) pads for mapping without messing about too much with midi messages, which is amazing in my book
Think outside the box. It says ‘footswitch’ but you could just as easily connect a hand operated switch. As long as it has a jack connection you could use all sorts of switches.
That’s what I was thinking .. this mixer is nice but 1st I’m saving for the 12
The pads + touch screen will be the new standard in any new battle mixer going forward.
I can already predict what the S10 would be: pads, touch screen and totally DVS-standalone mixer. No laptop needed.
standalone is the way to go for the future.. still needing a laptop for playing music will be a thing of the past.
the MPC60 is still worth over 1K…as well as the SP1200.. but preferably i would want the MPC Live now as it’s an all in one machine with tons of new features and of course its standalone wich means freedom
The first midi mixers were A&H…
When I bought my first edition of Ecler Nuo 4, branded with Traktor Dj studio. The Brand says it was the first dj mixer with midi controls. It was long time ago, Xone 3d was another option abailable. Honestly I don’t know wich one came first.
Could be but the A&H were the Richie’s choice and had full io not only output as Eclers. Nuo4 was wonderful also ;)
Still the ugliest mixer I’ve ever seen.
Yeah, I hear ya.
I gotta imagine it’ll look better in person.
I’m seeing a lot of Voxoa M70 in there.
same factory??
no postfader on the serato FX – cmon…
Says who
I asked specifically in the Skype call. Post fader hardware effects, but not for Serato effects. I even jokingly walked out of the call because of it. ;)
Great read, those critics were getting super annoying :-)…
In one of the Rane vids they mention all knobs are capacitive touch. Does that include the Fader Knobs? Either way it’s fresh if they aren’t and why is nobody hyped about the pressure sensitive pads? That’s what I was hoping for and they did it…All the doubts have been put to rest imho…..
The previous Rane mixers had minimalist approach and the buttons weren’t all large and in your face, the Pioneer moved the guidelines and added huge pads. I’m sure Djs wanted that but design wise everything looks very much squeezed together. The large pads played a role in Rane going against their previous style of design and added huge pads because of the popularity imho :-)…
On a side note the Cliff Components Contactless Fader was the first to do the adjustable resistance with a magnet back in early 2000s…Andddd…..
The vertical waveform display which plays a big part of the display in this mixer, was from the mind of Focusss …I posted the story on my FB page but in short, during my on the spot creative brainstorm session at NAMM, Friday, I came up with it and overnight AJ and Partners added it, next day it was on display and the rest is history…