BPM 2011 DJ EXHIBITION @ BIRMINGHAM NEC (SUNDAY 2ND OCT 2011)

I checked out the BPM DJ Exhibition at the NEC Birmingham on the weekend and I just felt like a little kid in a candy store. There was so much DJ tech everywhere it was actually quite difficult to take it all in. Before I start I would like to give props to the random taxi driver who offered (out of the blue) to drive us from the car park to the NEC (which is quite a hike). Now, where to start? It’s funny, after seeing all the new controllers and touch screen tech at various stands, all in all, nothing visually compared to World Champion  DJ Switch (going hard on the 1210's) at Serato’s humble abode.  Using time coded vinyl with a Rane 68, to me that was the perfect marriage of skill and technology (even though you could buy a second hand car or put a deposit on a 1 bedroom apartment with the cost of that mixer). I think the best thing about this type of exhibition is that you can have a go on everything, and you can make concise decisions about stuff that you were previously unsure of buying. A lot of the time, I go to a DJ store and what I specifically want to try out, is never on display hence BPM. To be expected all the usual big boys had something new to bring to the table for this BPM. The main products that caught my attention were; Vestax VCI400 (4 channel pro controller), Numark N4 (entry level 4 channel controller), Serato DJ Intro (essentially Scratch Live LE for controllers) and Pioneer DDJ ERGO (entry level 4 channel controller). Pioneer’s stand was in the forefront (right by the entrance) and the young and old were, as we say ‘hogging the decks’ lol. After getting up close and personal, I still don’t like the DDJ-ERGO but there seemed to be a buzz around Pioneer’s stand nevertheless. On another note I didn’t really like the touch-screen experience from ‘Emulator UK’ and it did seem like a bit of a novelty but you know some bar owner somewhere, is going to be impressed and get the install done. In conclusion, I definitely had a good day out, ok the car park was expensive, the food was overpriced and I didn’t win thousands of pounds of equipment in the draw, but I would still recommend BPM to a friend. Damm I sound like an old man....Sheeeeeet.