Most major manufacturers today are struggling with every controller they release to ignite the market behind their Great New Idea. Unfortunately, most of their ideas are just copies of the other Great New Idea released six months earlier. Smaller, more boutique companies are able to push the envelope of design and functionality which the bigger guys can’t really risk.
I have generally complained about the lack of deep utility controllers available on the market and have expressed excitement at options like the Behringer DV-1 and the X1MK2. It turns out that I’m far from alone. Yesterday’s DJ TechTools announcement for the MIDI Fighter Twister (a name which I really hope they change) is the end result of a very successful design competition through their robust and creative community. DJTT has seen a lot of success over the years with their intuitive and elegantly designed MIDI Fighter and its various incarnations and have followed it up with a very deep utility controller in a similar design scheme.
The team at DJTechTools, unsurprisingly, needed to take it a step further. After the announcement last year that the MIDI Fighter 3D would be (somewhat controversially) integrated directly Traktor’s Remix decks, it is understandable that the Twister will be outfitted with some really interesting firmware to work alongside it. I could spend a few paragraphs explaining it but the video they put up does it pretty succinctly, so here’s what the guys from DJTT have to say.
[youtube id=”bvgVgrtc1oc”]
What this all means
Tomash Ghz, a member of the DJ TechTools community, put up a post a few months ago explaining how to build a step sequencer directly into Traktor using MIDI clock syncing. The Master Clock, though, is notoriously untenable due to its own internal instability within Traktor. To get around this, the guys at DJTT have developed some firmware to tie everything directly into Traktor using what looks like simple MIDI signals within the individual decks. While up until now all the features they are using were already integrated into Traktor using the controller manager, they were rather difficult to take advantage of due to, well, the controller manager.
Sidenote: Tomash Ghz has spun this original project off into his own hardware at digitalwarrior.co
This whole idea raises an interesting question in my mind, though: will it be used? I think the remix decks have proven themselves to be a good idea without much adoption, but a lot of that is due to their frustrating limitations and the lack of improvisation which makes Traktor such a powerful DJ tool. The MIDI Fighter Twister’s firmware, however, looks to provide a method to perform interesting and exciting improvisational rhythmic sequences.
It’s hard to make a judgment regarding the power of the firmware or the access it will give the user to take advantage of the features of Traktor, which has historically been a pain in the ass to access. The initial layer looks pretty self-explanatory, but it is the features buried under that initial layer that are most compelling. My initial guess, after watching the video, is that the Twister is going to be a very compelling controller in and of itself (16 endless push encoders with LED rings and different colors? Definitely awesome). While DJTT will offer a variety of mappings for many different applications, the real excitement will rest with this added functionality in Traktor. As cool as it could be, though, I’m really curious to see if anyone will take advantage of it. Are Remix Decks being used this way by others? Would you be more likely to use Remix Decks with this functionality?
Why don’t you just buy maschine? this is a very complicated make shift drum machine! I dont get why anyone would want to buy this over a dedicated drum machine/sequencer?
I think the Twister is better if youre a DJ with Traktor, who hasnt exactly gotten into production. Yes, a dedicated drum machine or groove box might give you more features, but for Traktor users, a one box/one USB solution for 200 bucks is a pretty elegant solution to put a remix deck to use (and beyond with the sequencer) in my opinion. (given these people dont already have an F1 of course) ;]
Ideally this will be more reliable than trying to run two programs separately and syncing them. Some DJs have such issues with syncing and stablity that they the software across two computers- like Chris Liebing:
http://www.djtechtools.com/2012/08/09/chris-liebing-how-i-play-video-interview/
Hmmmm, as an Ableton controller it could be the Akai APC40 encoders as a solo unit so could be very appealing…. As for the demonstration shown in the video, interesting but i can’t see many people getting into it….. Now where do i buy a Beamz from???
That’s kind of my thought. Who would use this? I mean, if less than 15% of the market uses anything beyond plug and play, this is probably for the literal 1% of DJs, but even how many of them will take advantage of these tools in a DJ sense? In a production sense it is much more exciting.
Agreed, however in Traktor i can’t see it catching on… And I’m being serious here… Thin it to a flat form factor, add an Akai badge and it’d sell by the bucketload… As it is i can only see it gathering some dust… I’d rather invest in an Ohm to start hacking, there’d be a wider marketplace i think… Of course i’ll happily be proved wrong with Sales figures….
I can’t really see it catching on for Traktor, but as a general format utility controller it’s great. I also agree it should be thinner. The MIDIFighter format is cool and all, but I really prefer my thin controllers.
And cheers for hacking. 100% agree.
As for using it when you DJ this does have a place. I have CDJ 1000’s w/ A&H xone 62. Since I have no midi from this I can use this control my fx inside serato. I can have all the fx on its own twist nob for either deck and for $200 its far less expensive than a pio remix station. It has its purpose to spruce up an older setup : )
Very cool….and I didn’t even watch the whole video! Good to see some basic production tools creeping into DJ software.
I think this is a great idea. I hope that NI see this and incorporate new remix decks with more tools for specific production tasks into the software. A piano deck, drum sequencer, loop recorder…just to name a couple.
being an ableton user, I can’t help but find the concept entirely pointless. perhaps a future TSP3 with full maschine integration could be taken seriously, but the current remix decks are so limited in their functionality that hacking them seems like a horrible waste of time. it’s just another way to overwhelm beginners; we’re sure to get even more people stacking noises over another and refer to that as “playing live mashup remix performances”. LOL. hey kids… try creating a vibe by blending two records together (I’m saying “records” but I really mean “tracks” – the medium you use is irrelevant). it’s what DJs do, goddammit. I’m saying this as a devoted button pusher: NO ONE COMES TO THE FRIKKEN CLUB TO WATCH YOU PUSH BUTTONS. don’t get me wrong – I like boxes with knobs, the unit seems cool enough on its own – but the use case is ridiculous IMO.
Duuuuude, I remember playing at MIDIfight Club, Tresor bringing my BCR2000 and MIDIfighter setup.
The crowd loved the tracks and set we played.
(next to that I was the only one bringing a MIDIfighter ;-) )
I do agree it’s a DJ set people enjoy most.
I’m not even bashing. it’s just that remix decks have zero postprocessing and building a controller’s entire functionality (= main selling point) around something so vastly inferior to essentially EVERY other solution available on the market seems… pointless.
its hardly the entire functionality though. this is a single use case, built because that warrior controller was recently announced. this will be incredibly useful for an ableton rig as well.
It’s very important to note that this controller will be aiming for the low-end of the market. Native Instruments (Maschine) and AKAI (MPD series) have lots of dials on their drum machine interfaces which is like fusing a MdiFighter with the Twister plus the added convenience of an LCD interface along with copius sound libraries. There are even some controllers out there which are pretty darn close like the; Behrenger BCR 2000 and AKAI APC 40, both of which have greater functionality at a competitive price.
These are my thoughts, buy whatever items you think works best for you.
id hardly say that either the bcr2000 or the apc 40 have ‘greater functionality’. both have quite different non symetric layouts, which tend to limit their flexibility. additionally, neither are bus powered, which rather reduces their usability, in my mind, at least.
Certainly both of my suggestions have more than 16 ring lighted knobs, the APC 40 has 16 knobs PLUS a split bank of 8 knobs (2×4 on top, 2×4 on the bottom) but it has all those buttons and sliders as well, the BCR 2000 has 4 rows of 8 knobs (plus some functionality buttons), the fact that they aren’t bus powered seems to matter less because power isn’t normally a problem when you bring your own power strip.
Again, buy whatever items you think works best for you, just know that these controller interfaces can be picked up for around $200.
I agree with arkaei. The Remix Decks are nowhere near as powerful as using a Maschine Controller with Maschine Software (especially with the new 2.0 software) and people really do come to clubs and parties for the mystical grooves a DJ can drop on the crowd through music.
Maybe one day (hopefully), the Remix Decks with be fully integrated with (i)Maschine, (a la the Native Instruments version of “the Bridge”) but right now the Remix Decks are… “Maschine Jr..” if that makes any sense to you.
That being said, this box of knobs seems very useful in DJing and (Live) Production.
I dont mind this at all. I prefer my F1 though! I agree that they should change the name. Drop the er and just call it Twist!! hint hint @spacecamp:disqus lol. Rolls of the tongue better and more marketable. – Michael Lawrence a.k.a. Noir Flux
Whatever happened to this??
I made a demo of the MIDI Fighter Twister: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGAhuIcZ5XI