New Kaoss Mixer: Kaoss DJ Controller

[SMK]

This is a great direction for Korg. Every once in a while Korg puts out a Kaoss mixer of some sort. It does not happen often but when it happens we get to see some interesting ideas. The first Kaoss mixer KM2 was a a great introduction. Then the 2 different versions of of kaoss mixers the 400 series sported a odd white and green color scheme to a very weighty mixer that no one would want to lug around.

The new Kaoss DJ Controller does something different: it is a dual use unit; you can use it as a serato controller on your lap top...for which a lot of the on board features are designed for. But if using it as a mixer for your hard ware synths or groove units, this unit becomes a straight up mixer like the KM2 and KM402. The best part of this is that it is much lighter than other units past.


http://www.korg.com/us/products/dj/kaoss_dj/

Manual

http://i.korg.com/uploads/Support/USA_K ... GSCJ_1.pdf

Operations

http://i.korg.com/uploads/Support/USA_K ... _OG_e1.pdf

So everything looks great. But one glaring issue stands out the most: there really needed to be a midi in and out jacks...even with the new dongle system. What was a real missed opportunity is that when you look at the midi implementation part of the Operations guide there are so many CC and Note opportunities that would have opened up the imaginations of hardware synth users.

Ultimately this unit will be great for laptop users; you'er only limited by your imagination. But with many flagship hardware synths and groove boxes Korg is releasing, there are some serious miss opportunities.

[immon]

Had the unit for a few weeks, had a gig with it last night and it performed well.

I've been a traktor unit for a few years so its been a little tricky, but overall fine. The readability in poor lighting is definitely a problem however, as I become more practiced it will be much less of an issue.

You really cannot beat this controller for portability and the Kaoss pad is fantastic.


Note that KORG have updated the firmware to 1.05 as of today.

[immon]

OK so I have been gigging with the unit for a few months now and want to share my further thoughts.


It now works very well with traktor and Korg have produced a tsi for it. Provided you are running the latest versions of OSX, traktor and the Jorge firmware it should run all night glitch free. The only thing I cannot do when using traktor is have the built in meters work for each channel. It works with serato however if that's your thing.

[sam314]

KDJ no working any more.
Screen Message: STB
No lights, just at first message of KAOSS DJ-

FW - 1.0.6 uptodate

Any suggestion?

[klaasklever]

yes, this thread is very old. yes, i have the same problem and hope for help.

[edit]
for anyone else, who lands here with a similar problem:
okay, this problem is solved, as the Stb in the display seems to mean, that there is no connection between the controller and a software. if you start in linux, this is even more problematic, because you don't know, where the problem is - hardware recognition or software compatibilty. shame on korg for the bare documentation of display messages.

updating firmware under windows does not work for me, so i hope, my device is okay, because i can use it with serato intro and mixxx in windows 8.1. the message Stb disappears, when i start the software.
[/edit]

[zerodivide]

the 'Stb" message in the display seems to mean StandBy
indeed it is when there is no connection between controller and software
rebooting computer seems to resolve this