please don't suck....Sooooo...... NAMM, which is some kind of music industry trade show/dick sucking contest just happened and this little tidbit crossed my path.  Allen & Heath is by far one of the most hallowed names in the lexicon of DJ gear.  Their mixers are downright expensive, biut every DJ I know (myself included) that has ever played on one lusts after it in his sleep.  So the've finally thrown down the gauntlet and entered the controller market. Ugh....

See, Allen & Heath already has one of these called the Xone:4D.  Its been out for years.  It costs a couple of grand.  It is a fully featured 4 channel DJ controller with these 2 MIDI doohickeys stuck on the side.  Its perfectly capable as a MIDI controller and as a DJ mixer. SO why on Earth would Allen & Heath do this to themselves? The fucking money.  That's why....

See you can't penetrate a market if your products costs like $4000 which is what the Xone:4D cost when it came out.  It wasn't tied to some hokey Dj software package.  You want the drool inducing sound of of Allen & Heath and a MIDI controller?  Pay up.  ANd you know what?   I am WAY ok with that.  It wasn't junk.  The value was obviously there.  I knew what I was buying because if the reputation and other products available.  I mean, I didn't buy one.  But you get the picture.

So here we are.  Controllers are all the rage and the VAST majority of them are like $300 alone or up to $900 with a software pack. (I'm looking at you VCI-300).  So why not sweeten the pot.  Lets drop the DJ mixer part and just make it a soundcard.  While we're at it, lets keep the cost WAY up!  Fuck it, we're Allen & Heath.  Well, my dear readers.  I kinda want to see this thing.

The problem with DJ Controllers is they're shitty.  I have a Numark Total Control just gathering dust upstairs right now.  Its tiny, its flimsy, and it just wasn't right for me.  Lazer & Blazer however CRUSH gigs all month long with theirs.  Its all about personal preference.  Me?  I want a full sized mixer.  I want all kinds of buttons, faders, and encoders to map.  I want it to have a good A/D Converter.  And most of all I want it made of metal and real shit.  I may have found the holy grail of digital DJing for me.

 If Allen & Heath were to send me one tomorrow, would I sell my CDJs & 1200s and tell you all to do the same.  Probably not.  But if this thing have REAL faders, a metal case, is a bit heavy, and carries with it the quality I expect from Allen & Heath.... I'd better update my eBay account.  Immma 'bout to need $1300.