Next gen MIDI controller or gimmick?

Next gen MIDI controller or gimmick?

13 July, 2008 | 5.40PM

• Written by: Christen Reutens
• Filed under: Videos: maven, midi, midi controller, sasha

Right now, there are teams of monkeys in labs at all the major DJ gear manufacturers frantically working on prototypes for a next generation MIDI controller, and a few concepts are starting to leak out.

This video shows the new Aurora MIDI controller at work, and interestingly it’s a USB-powered multichannel mixer, based on open source software.

The fact that it is open source will win Aurora plenty of fans in the music technology realm, but its design might be questionable.

From the video, the controller looks rather flimsy, and the flashing LED lights beneath it look rather tacky (apparently you can control the ambient lighting, so perhaps you can stop it from looking like a Christmas tree).

When will developers realise digital DJs don’t really care about flashing lights or looking pretty?

Slap bang at no.1 on the MIDI controller wish list is build quality (at least it is for me).

All digital DJs want is a strong, well-built mixer that feels like an analogue DJ mixer, not a plastic-y, easy to break game controller.

Take Sasha, par example.

The British DJ is one of the biggest names on the planet and he could probably get any MIDI controller he wants for free, and yet Sasha decided to spend 15,000 pounds or $30,000 developing and building his own MAVEN.

Beatportal got up close and personal to the MAVEN and the thing that struck us the most was how heavy it was.

It weighed the same as a few bricks and could easily be used to club a man to death.

Most MIDI controllers on the market today would break in half if you smashed it on somebody’s head.

From now on, manufacturers, include a ‘clubbing a man to death’ test when testing new MIDI controllers for the market.

If he’s lying in a pool of blood crying like a little girl at the end of the test, then it is probably worth releasing.

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