The Tonium Pacemaker is a DJ-oriented portable audio player with professional-grade audio quality, switchable headphone impedance, Mac and PC compatibility, and an inventive mix recording feature ($800). It squeezes the performance and functionality of a full digital DJ rig into a single pocket-size device, creating a new breed of DJ technology.
After loading music onto the Pacemaker’s 120GB internal drive, you can select tracks through an onscreen menu and assign them to one of two virtual decks. Each virtual deck includes an adjustable three-band EQ section, an effects section (filter, echo, reverb, and roll), and controls for gain, pitch, cue point, track scan, and loop points.
Once you’ve assigned tracks to each of the two virtual decks, matching their tempos is a manual operation. Each deck displays the BPM of the current track and offers a pitch adjustment range of +/-100 percent. After matching the tempos of each track, a swipe of the track pad briefly nudges the deck’s tempo up or down to finely tune the sync between tracks. To complete.
You can record and save mixes, connect to a PC, and special Pacemaker software allows you to make adjustments, save the results, play back and share your mixes on the Pacemaker website ($829.95, www.pacemaker.net).
The Tonium Pacemaker, as a pocket-size sketchpad for DJs on the go, is a revolution in DJ technology and a marvel in portability.
