There has never been a more exciting time to be involved in the art of DJ performance. However, with so many different technological pathways available, for both veterans and beginners alike, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish which path to journey down. The more experienced generation may never neglect their vinyl bloodlines but, with such luxury in choice and ease of access to many wild and wonderful devices on the market at present, it would be stupid not to at least be just a little curious.

That said, for this review I found myself faced with a device that is somewhat alien to me. If I am being completely honest, at first glance, I felt that I would be scared to use this controller at a prestigious event where a decent fee and my future reputation may be at risk. Call me naïve, but I have never before found myself to be trusting enough of a DJ controller/iPad pairing and feel some products currently available are a touch too ‘toy-like’ to be taken seriously as professional trade tools. Luckily, I have a large appetite, so after I had a bit of a play with Reloop’s new BeatPad 2 eating my words wasn’t too difficult!

The Force Awakens

Reloop is a relatively new company in the world of DJ technology, however the attention to detail in the new BeatPad 2 tells a different tale and at present I would argue that this is the market leading product in its field. Building on the success of the original BeatPad, this new version boasts even more creative potential. The most immediate realisation any new BeatPad 2 owner will have is that it is NOT ‘just a toy’. The weight, feel and solidarity of the unit are second to none. So much so that I would have faith using it as a shield against an angry bride wielding a cake knife if such a circumstance arose!

The sliders for the faders, pitch adjustments and crossfader are perfectly weighted, allowing for precision when mixing and beat-matching. Similarly, the jog wheels are fantastically weighted, ultimately giving the user a real sense of control when scratching, jogging and adjusting parameters on the effects which are bundled in with the recommended DJAY 2 iPad software from Algoriddim. The knobs on the BeatPad 2 are all where they should be, logically thought about to avoid any awkward manoeuvers, and are well proportioned, making the controller comfortable to use.

Attach power to the BeatPad 2 and you are instantly saturated in a world of rich colours and energetic flashing patterns. Initially I thought, here we go, another gimmicky toy that looks like Las Vegas and yet will probably perform like a soggy towel, however I was pleasantly surprised. All the colours actually correspond to different behaviours and settings within the BeatPad 2, especially on the multiple performance pads which can be used in many different ways.

The positives don’t let up. Despite some fiddly settings within the suggested DJAY2 software package, when coupled with Spotify, the BeatPad 2 becomes next level in terms of mobility and usability. There is zero latency in communication with the software, even when doing multiple complicated looping tasks, applying effects and scratching simultaneously, which further surprised me considering the tracks were being loaded directly from a streaming service. While I wouldn’t want to rely fully on a cloud-based music collection at a gig, having access to Spotify’s entire music library in addition to a local music collection will make any request, no matter how obscure, possible!

The navigation through Spotify is excellent using a dedicated search knob and the load/select buttons for each deck. Better still, once a track is loaded, the vast amount of visual aid you have is fantastic. Through the software you get a full waveform display and other information which significantly helps beat matching tracks, similar to what you might find in Serato or Traktor.

Each deck on the BeatPad 2 has its own volume indicator, so matching the amplitude of tracks is made easy. When using Spotify, you also have the advantage of knowing what key each track is in, allowing you to harmonically create the perfect set. With access to a virtually limitless library and the options for ‘sync’, ‘key lock’ and even suggestions of songs that complement the currently playing track, it’s actually difficult to make a mess of your performance!

The BeatPad 2 wasn’t designed to live indoors hidden away from the world. You sense it wants to live on the road and be the life and soul of a party. It has balanced XLR outputs, auxiliary phono inputs for additional playback equipment and a microphone input with its own separate volume control on the actual controller itself rather than hidden away in the software.

Dedicated Filter knobs on each channel allow for quick application and control of LP and HF filtering when you’re ‘in da club’. With eight multifunction Sample/Trigger pads per deck, you also have an abundance of options to be creative, whether you use them to fire off samples, hot cue or create crazy loop patterns for live remixing. It’s all possible, fantastically easy and most importantly fun; particularly the ‘Bounced Loop’ mode, which can fire eight loops off at once at the touch of a button, all in sync.

Even the stand which awaits your iPad is sturdy and the use of a cable rather than a direct iPad docking connection means the BeatPad 2 is not limited to just being an ‘iPad controller’. It is compatible with Android devices and can also be used with PC or Mac laptops and mappings are available for leading DJ software applications across all platforms.