While walking back from the bathrooms (which just happened to be air conditioned) I was stopped by a man named Brandon Carroll. He introduced himself and said that I looked familiar but couldn’t figure it out. He claimed that he had met me before, but he didn’t look familiar to me.
Regardless, he introduced him to his buddy who works for a company called Novation. They were here promoting one of their latest products called Dicer. This is a cue point and looping control for digital DJs. He said that they were at a recent DJ conference giving these away to some of the DJs there and that they would be giving some away this weekend as well. They handed me a promo sheet and asked if I would take a look at it.
While I have zero skills when it comes to playing an instrument or spinning a record, I do have the ability to write. I told him that I would be more than happy to research it a bit and chat about it here on the blog. And based on what I can find, this looks to be a pretty legit unit.
This unit can be connected to a turntable, a CDJ, or even a laptop. As time goes by, and the more DJs I meet and interact with, the more Apple MacBooks I see on the DJ booth. Even the image that shows the Dicer has it hooked to a brand new MacBook Pro. It’s no coincidence that Apple makes products with the DJ in mind.
The dicer is designed with Serato to integrate into a DJs Scratch Live Digital Vinyl System. But, don’t fear, as this unit also works with tools like the Native Instruments Traktor Scratch Pro and any other software that uses standard MIDI messages.
Dicer has five “dice” pads (hence the name) that can be used to trigger hot cues, auto loops, and even loop roll functions. To make it easy on the DJ, it has multicolored LED buttons. These buttons control all of the DJ’s moves and put everything literally at his or her fingertips.
Some of the features for the Dicer include:
- Performance buttons with LED feedback – 5 backlit “dice” provide LED feedback from Serato Scratch Live, lighting up red, green, or amber to show you what mode you are in
- USB Bus-Powered – both Dicers get all the power they need from a single USB cable. A mini jack cable transmits power and data to the second dicer.
- Fully integrated with Serato scratch live – Dicer is fully integrated with the key cue point and looping featured of Seranto scratch live, including hot cues, auto loops, and loop roll.
- Built to fit – the dicer mount in adapter is easily removed with a small coin or screwdriver. This allows it to fit snugly into the 45-adapter hole of the technics 1200 or to be securely fastened to any flat surface using the Novation DJ Putty provided.
Compatibility
Fully integrated operation with Serato Scratch Live requires version 2.1 of higher. Outside of Serato Scratch Live, Dicer operates as a standard MIDI device. For some DJ software, set-up files will be required and are available for download at www.novationmusic.com.
So while I might not have any skills to get on the turn tables, this Dicer unit might be just what you are looking for to take your beats to the next level. Have you used the Dicer unit before? What are your thoughts on the unit and would you recommend this for a beginning, intermediate, or advanced DJ?
