Tag Archives: deejay

Legendary DJ Console, the Pioneer CDJ 2000 Gets A LEGO Makeover With Moving Turntable and Tempo Fader

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If you’ve ever walked into a club playing dance music, attended an EDM festival, or just watched some of your favorite deejays perform online, chances are, they’ve used a Pioneer CDJ to play their mixes. Touted as one of the most famous turntables in the world, the CDJ is still preferred by a lot of electronic music artists for its features, its ubiquity, and just how incredibly resilient it is to accidental bumps, pushes, or even beer spills (some of those Boiler Room sets can get a little too wild). Designed as an homage to perhaps the greatest deejaying kit ever created, this LEGO build immortalizes the iconic Pioneer CDJ 2000… but here’s the kicker – it isn’t your average LEGO creation – it’s stunningly functional too, with a surprising amount of moving parts including a spinning disc, a moving tempo fader, an ejecting CD tray, a dynamic screen, and even a removable USB stick for the modern MP3 generation!

Designer: Megragadó Gladiátor Ezredes

Built to an awe-inspiring amount of detail, the LEGO recreation of the Pioneer CDJ 2000 is made from a stunning 2,628 bricks, featuring a true-to-reality aesthetic that includes controls on the top, input/output ports on the back, and even components under the hood. If you ever wanted to pull apart a CDJ without breaking a real one, this might just be the next best way.

Nearly every part of the LEGO CDJ is operable (the GIF above demonstrates the stunningly realistic build), including the obvious spinning disc and moving crossfader. However, the CDJ even has an actual CD tray with an ejector arm, and two types of display units that feature either a playlist view for selecting a track, or a waveform view for seeking the right part of the song. Depending on the display module, you can actually toggle through tracks, or move up and down along a waveform just like you would on an actual CDJ.

While most LEGO builds try to somewhat vaguely recreate an existing object, there are a rare few that go above and beyond by actually being functional (like this LEGO lawnmower from last year). However, a lawnmower is still a somewhat rudimentary gizmo when compared to something as complex as a digital turntable for deejaying.

The Pioneer CDJ 2000 LEGO build is currently just a fan-made concept on the LEGO Ideas forum. With more than 2,400 votes as of writing this piece, the LEGO build is on its way to the coveted 10,000 mark, following which, it heads to LEGO’s official review team for being converted into an actual retail box set. If you’re a fellow audiophile and EDM lover, head to the design’s LEGO Ideas page to cast a vote for it!

The post Legendary DJ Console, the Pioneer CDJ 2000 Gets A LEGO Makeover With Moving Turntable and Tempo Fader first appeared on Yanko Design.

This modular MIDI Controller concept builds on the inventive format of the ROLI Blocks

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The term Modular has a long tryst with music production, from the very concept of modular synthesis to modularity in DAWs, to the more recent modular ROLI blocks system which lets you build an extendable and customizable music setup just by snapping different units together like they were puzzle pieces. Juan Manuel Martinez Prieto’s modular MIDI controller builds on the kind of easy-to-use modular nature of the ROLI blocks. The MIDI controller concept (which remains nameless at the time) relies on multiple parts that come together to create a nifty music-production kit that’s easy to set up, carry, and use.

The overall design of Prieto’s MIDI controller feels like a cross between the styles of ROLI and Teenage Engineering (arguably two of my favorite brands), with a little speckled CMF to just make things more pretty! A parametric equalizer sits on the top, controlled by a set of 5 rotary knobs below. You’ve got two sliders on the side, along with a jogdial that I assume is a Master Volume control, and finally a series of 6 light-up pads that let you play anything from synths to drum-sets. Additionally, the MIDI Controller even comes with its own stand that lets you prop it up, so you can produce music on the fly, or have the kit standing at your deejay table without occupying too much space!

Designer: Juan Manuel Martinez Prieto

The Pokket Mixer lets you bust out DJ sets using two phones and a music app

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The Pokket Mixer lets you do three things that seem pretty valuable during a lockdown. A. It lets you hone a new skill, B. it keeps you entertained, and C. it lets you create some banging DJ sets to help entertain your friends and family. Designed to be as small and as portable as your smartphone, the $99 Pokket Mixer is quite literally a 2-way mixer that lets you connect to two playback devices and mix audio between them. You could plug in practically anything, from record players to smartphones, iPods, iPads, laptops, or even your smart speakers if you’re up for the challenge! The mixer features basic equalizer controls for 2 decks, a crossfader to switch between decks, a master volume knob, 2 aux inputs for your music devices and 2 aux outputs… one for a pair of headphones (so you have more control over your mix), and another for routing to an amplifier so your entire apartment can rave it out, or a laptop/phone so you can stream your mix to a live audience! It’s a simple, bare-basics device that’s great for beginners or even for professionals who want to carry their mixing capabilities in their pocket, and at $99, it’s arguably as cheap as a pro-deejaying app on the App Store!

Designer: Uncommon Goods