Digital DJs really are spoilt for choice when it comes to hardware and software solutions for DJing, with a plethora of manufacturers offering a countless number of products in various sizes and formats. The advantage of this is that every DJ can select the particular hardware/software combination that best fits their preferred way of working. The down side is keeping on top of all the different offerings to ensure that you can be confident that you make the right choice when choosing your gear. The latest hardware controller to be aware of is the XP5 from Finnish manufacturer EKS.

Sporting a sleek design, the XP5 features a 110mm touch sensitive jog wheel, large pitch fader and 22 control buttons. Two XP5s can be used together with a DJ mixer to create a familiar ‘two decks and a mixer’ setup or a single XP5 can be used to provide control for both ‘virtual decks’ on your favourite DJ software application. As well as operating as a control interface, the unit also includes a high quality soundcard with Burr-Brown DACs and RCA connectors.



The XP5 is bundled with a copy of EKS Bison DJ software for Windows, which integrates seamlessly with the controller. MIDI/ASIO drivers are also provided to allow the XP5 to be used as a control interface for any MIDI-compliant PC or Mac software and a MIDI Mapper tool is even provided to make configuration a breeze.