We'll forgive the extremely nice folk behind the PDJ when they claim to have the first fully self-contained portable DJ set-up. But that's not to say that there is nothing new here -- in fact there's plenty. The PDJ is a rectangular slab of refreshing creative optimism. On each end is a touchscreen display that shows a virtual turntable, and in the middle is a small mixing and FX section. So, already the PDJ will be familiar in set-up to any DJ who picks it up (something the Pacemaker couldn't claim with its proprietary interface). The mixer section has rotaries for volume, FX and additional functions (more on this later). The most important thing, however, is the onboard audio interface which crucially means you can monitor in headphones before unleashing your mix onto the world. This sets it apart from pretty much every other mobile app out there that, at best, requires you to use an audio splitter (to the detriment of your sound). Of course, you're going to need some music to play, and there's 2GB of internal storage to let you do just that. If that's not enough, or you want to load up your latest jams right away, there's an SD card slot to let you do just that (up to 32GB). Beyond headphones, there's a line out for connecting it to a sound system, and a line in and microphone jack for adding external sound to the set. The brochure claims it offers 12 hours of battery life too -- rechargeable by mini USB. On the software side, the two virtual turntables respond to touch, and button controls (for cue / play / pause). In addition to the virtual turntable, there are also sample player and one-shot screens. We got out paws on the PDJ here at NAMM, so fade past the break for our impressions.
SOURCE: ENGADGET
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