So the cat is out of the bag! Our friends at Novation this morning announced Novation TWITCH, a brand new Serato ITCH controller with some unique and pretty damn fun functionality.
This is a two deck Serato ITCH controller with two banks of eight Triggerpads, professional cross-fader, per-channel Fader FX and two LED-backlit Touchstrips. For a full overview, watch this video:
This video should give you an idea of the overall functionality. The controller itself is extremely versatile, and comes with mappings to other software, including Ableton! In the office, we've been playing around with it A LOT (obviously, the whole development thing kind of needs us to), and it really changes the way you think about DJing.
The Slicer is all sorts of ridiculous fun, and having the Loop Roll mapped RIGHT THERE on EIGHT PADS is amazing/terrifying. It has definitely re-invigorated the Loop Roll in our office. Novation went and showed Alex Kidd TWITCH, and here's his first look at it:
Personally, as a DJ who is used to a traditional two deck setup, this controller is a crazy kind of different for me, but in a really great way. Being able to lock tracks together and start chopping things up on the fly with The Slicer, cue points, and FX has completely changed the way I play. It's actually made me really want to start producing music, weirdly enough (goodness, let's not get ahead of ourselves, eh.)
It's small enough to fit into a backpack, and you could use it in a hotel/bach/on a plane/etc - it's really powerful and sounds sweet as a kumara.
Create Digital Music have done a great in depth article about Novation TWITCH, including a rundown on the development process from the one and only Dylbot, one of many resident Serato nerds. So if you want to geek out on the details, head over and have a read.
For more information, you can head to the product page or over to Novation's website. TWITCH will being shipping worldwide in early July 2011!