BPM|PRO -New DJ Products launched & Doors close for its final year(First Steemit Post)

What is BPM|PRO?

BPM|PRO as you may or may not know is the U.K's largest DJ, sound and lighting convention, held at the National Exhibition Center in Birmingham, U.K. The event not only covers the new technical advancements being producer by the top industry brands such as Pioneer DJ, Denon DJ, Korg and Gemini but the events also stands host to an array of educational lectures, light shows and live performances from world class DJ's.

My Involvement.

My Involvement this year was as a apart of the 2 brands. 

Firstly Bass Face, which is a Drum & bass event launched this year in the heart of Ibiza, sporting nothing but underground U.K D&B. The event was held in the side room of the super-club Es Paradis. It was also the only night of its kind not only due to its niche music style but in the fact they opened at the doors at 4am. This winter there in an expansion to the U.K planned for the Bass Face team and i was there meeting other potential events companies to collaborate with but also to engage with drum and bass loyalists to further reach our target audience by offering an opportunity for the right people to attain gigs with ourselves 

Secondly, HouseMatesUK, which is essentially a platform to help up and coming DJ's and producers of all ages to further expand their network, understanding of the industry as well as expanding their public reach via means of live streams, tutorials and securing reputable gigs. So at its basic level i was there to help inspire people to move onward and upwards, not only that but provide an opportunity for them to do so as well as to perform.

I love to help people grow, it truly is a passion of mine. I was also there to help myself progress and grow by networking, participating in seminars and playing with all the new tech, which brings me onto my next topic

My Favorite technical advances and quirky products.

By far the most exciting technological advancement i seen at BPM|PRO was the brand new Pioneer DJ DJS-1000.

This is a brand new standalone DJ sampler launched on Sunday and sport may of the same features as the Pioneer TORIAZ SP-16 which is currently used by many DJ when performing live. I managed to get a quick tutorial by one of the representatives over at Pioneer DJ and i have to say simply, WOW. This is one hell of a piece of machinery, it fits right in with your set up, can be easily transported, its very easy and user friendly as i only took a couple of minutes to start to get some momentum going. Thankfully this is not an April fools type joke as was widely speculated within the DJ community and is a real innovative piece on machinery that is here to stay.

Pioneer DJ say " Add the DJS-1000 to your DJ set-up to intuitively create unique sounds and phrases in advance of your set, or on the fly. Use the DJ-friendly interface to sequence and loop your samples as you wish.With a 7-inch full-colour touch screen, 16 multicoloured step input keys, multicoloured Performance Pads, a host of inputs and outputs, Live Sampling and various other performance features, having the DJS-1000 in the booth will propel your sets to the next level. 

DJS-1000's key features.

• STEP SEQUENCER - Easily create a new groove by tapping the 16 large, multicolored step input keys. Thanks to the keys’ changing colours, you can keep an eye on sequence information on each track, at all times.
• TACTILE PERFORMANCE PADS - Load up to 16 samples to the large rubber pads, then finger drum freely to layer sounds on-the-fly. The multicolour LEDs show what samples are in play, while Velocity Mode lets you control the sample volume with the amount of pressure you apply.
• TOUCH STRIP - Simply touch the strip to change the pitch while using the Pitch Bend feature, or play a drum roll by hitting the Note Repeat option. Customize parameters for even more creative possibilities.
• 7-INCH TOUCH SCREEN - Tap the LCD display to instantly access one of three screens. The Home screen for an overview of assigned samples, the Sequence screen to view the currently playing sequence pattern and the Mixer screen to adjust each track’s volume.
• ACCURATE SYNCING - Sync up your DJS-1000 to a CDJ or XDJ set-up using Pro DJ Link. Thanks to the Beat Sync function, a tempo slider and a Nudge button, you’ll adjust tempo and beat position manually, just like you would on a turntable.
• LIVE SAMPLING - Sample input sounds and instantly use them as individual tracks. Your sampled sounds are automatically synchronised with the current sequence. Play them in a loop and drop them straight into a live remix.

This is here to stay and i feel that before long it will be a standard part of the club set up once more and more people start to see the advantages compared to other similar products available.  

Next on the list is the DENON DJ SC5000 which is a part of their new PRIME series.

The DENON DJ SC5000 is a very good deck in terms of its build quality, functionality and ease of use and wouldn't be out of place in a club or as a part of any set-up. The jog wheels feel weighty and smooth, the pads are very reactive and everything works exactly as they said it does but, i don't know if i'm convinced of how well it will do against its competitors Pioneer DJ and its range of DJ players as Pioneers it has become the industry standard in clubs across the globe.

DENON DJ say " The Denon DJ SC5000 Prime represents a real paradigm shift in DJ Technology". Personally i don't know about all that as its essentially an expensive midi controller, sporting the same OLD features that some midi controllers have with the capability of playing 4 decks with essentially 2 and having touch pads to alter the sound live. However the layout and the way the features are represented are innovative as its very easy to use as well as having the added feature of not having to use software to analyse tracks before a gig. Not only that but purchasing 2 of these would be massively cheaper then buying 4 of its competitors decks so it definitely has its pros and cons.

DENON DJ SC5000 Key Features

• 7-inch HD display with multi-touch gestures
• 24-bit/96kHz digital audio outputs
• Dual-layer playback with individual audio outputs
• Plays uncompressed audio formats (FLAC, ALAC, WAV)
• 8 multifunction trigger pads for Cues, Loops, Slices and Rolls
• 8-inch rugged metal jog wheel with HD central display
• Customizable RGB color around the jog wheel
• (3) USB and (1) SD input for music playback
• LAN output to link to up to four players

I hope this helps some of you guys when trying to decide what to think of the new products coming your way from the perspective of a DJ and not someone trying to up sell a product.

Last but not least id like to quickly talk about this year being the last year for BPM|PRO and whats next 

1 Door closes and 4 more open.

This year is going to be the final year that BPM|PRO as you know it exists, which believe it or not is something i am excited about. This is because instead of shutting its doors forever it simply going through some changes. These changes will see BPM|PRO break down the different sectors of which the convention covers into 4 separate events focused on the different areas of the entertainment technology industry.

 GIG – The Professional Entertainer Show – Genting Arena, NEC, Birmingham
An event for DJs, singers, performers, bands and more.
October 21st & 22nd 2018

WORSHIP Technology Show – Manchester
A trade show for specifiers installers and users of sound, lighting and audio visual equipment used in places of worship.
November 6th & 7th 2018

CLUB + BAR Technology Show – London
A trade show for specifiers installers and users of sound and lighting equipment used in clubs and bars.
Spring 2019

LIVE Production Show
A trade show for specifiers installers and users of sound and users of sound and lighting equipment used in stages, tours and festivals.
Launching Spring 2019 

so it is not the end after all and should see some interesting developments form BPM|PRO over the coming years

Thanks for reading 

Jazzy