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For the most part, controllers are supplied in a format and layout and making of the vision of the manufacturer. DJ Techtools have had considerable success with the MIDI Fighter range, and while the Spectra offered colour customisation, bar some options on layout with the MIDI Fighter pros, buyers were left with preset layouts. But now people can design their own small format and highly quality controller of their dreams Say hello to umidi custom controller.

As ever, the official words in the voice of midi:

umidi – THE WORLD’S FIRST CUSTOM & VISUAL DJ CONTROLLER.

September 26th 2013

umidi is the world’s first custom & visual DJ controller. It gives DJ’s a way to build their perfect midi controller by offering unparalleled choice in both hardware and software.

Using umidi’s website, design your own DJ controller however you want. Your design is then built and shipped it to you anywhere in the world. Customisation includes different components, many colors choices, lighting shapes and even laser etching a custom image onto the face plate.

The umidi also introduces a new visual element to DJ controllers. At the heart of umidi lie 288 RGB LED’s that can be controlled to do whatever you want. This allows for music driven lighting, button effects, visualizing mixing, millions of colors and more. You can even create your own lighting effects. This is easily done using the umidi editor.

The umidi can have the up to 36 components, which include:

• Knobs
• Faders
• Encoders
• Jog Wheels
• Aluminum Push Buttons
• Drum Pads
• Silicon Buttons
• & more coming soon

Each component comes in nine different colors varieties. Select from green, blue, red, yellow, orange, pink, purple, white & black.

Using umidi’s website umidi.co, you can use the design interface to drag and drop what components you want, select colors and upload your own image to build your perfect controller. This means you will have a one of kind controller, specifically designed to your needs.

umidi’s enclosure is milled from a single piece of high grade aluminium, is only 1 inch (2.5cms) thick and weighs less than 3lbs pounds (1.4kgs). You can chose the anodized color of either black, white, blue, yellow, pink, purple, red, orange and green.

umidi works with all midi DJ software including Traktor, Live, Scratch Live, Virtual DJ and more. It’s compatible with Mac OS X, Windows & Linux (plug & play, no drivers necessary). It uses a 32bit ARM 120Mhz for low latency optimization.

umidi will be available on kickstarter.com in December of this year starting at an introductory price of $1050 including shipping and handling to anywhere in the world.

What is umidi?

The basic idea is that within the confines of a 6×6 fixed grid and a handful of familiar controls, you can create your own dream controller. This  can also be cosmetically tweaked to your atheistic dreams or nightmares, with a broad selection of colours. Speaking of colours, this also extends to LEDs as well, as these controllers come complete with RGB feedback LEDs as well. Why not have a go yourself right now.

This isn’t a new idea — you may recall that boutique controller house 60Works spun off a new model called Zayik, that aimed to do much the same as UMIDI. umidi is different in that is offers RGB lights and more in the way of personalisation and variety of controls.

There is of course a price to pay, and it’s not at all cheap. With an average umidi custom controller coming in at $1050 through the planned Kickstarter campaign, you’ve got to really want a very specific and tailored controller. Let’s not have any comments about how it’s too expensive. This isn’t a mass-produced single product pumped out of a far eastern factory that keeps the cost down through the economies of scale — each one is completely individual and hand made to a very high specification and quality. It’s your controller rather just another controller that you’ve bought.

As mentioned, there’s a Kickstarter campaign happening in December, at which point you’ll be able to get the umidi custom controller of your dreams.

Post your creation – win a DJWORX t-shirt

Time for some fun. While you can’t get a umidi controller just yet, you can mess around with the designer and save out your own creations. Just for fun, design your own and post the result in the comments. We’ll send a DJWORX t-shirt as a prize for the ones we like. Off you go then.

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