Rane SIXTY-EIGHT

"Rane and Serato welcome the Rane SIXTY-EIGHT, the ultimate club mixer. Two computers, two USB ports, up to four decks and a range of effects."

Rane and Serato, collective developers of Scratch Live and TTM 57SL, have released details about their latest hardware masterpiece: Rane SIXTY-EIGHT. Although it is still undergoing beta testing, the Rane SIXTY-EIGHT has been described by Rane to have the following:

• Two independent USB 2.0 high speed ports, each supporting twenty two, 32-bit floating point audio channels at 48kHz.
  
• Support for the connection of two computers simultaneously. [PERSONAL FAVORITE]
  
• Direct control of over 30 Scratch Live Library, Cue and Loop functions.
  
• Support for 2, 3 or 4 Virtual Decks in Scratch Live.
• Flexible USB recording options. [PERSONAL FAVORITE]
  
• 3-band, full cut EQ
• New High-pass / Low pass Filter
• Unique FlexFX bus with 6 internal effects plus USB and analog insert support for computer-based effects. [PERSONAL FAVORITE]
  

Input Channels

• Four stereo Phono/CD inputs of Line / Phono or S/PDIF.
• Four stereo Auxiliary inputs.
• Four stereo USB playback options.
• Two independent microphone inputs - one with phantom power and one with line-level input

A little elaboration on my personal favorite features:

• 2 computers can connect simultaneously: "switching out" from one DJ to another will no longer be an issue - no more external resources needed!
• USB recording: Ableton Bridge, for example, will be able to record not only the music you play, but the control actions you perform! If you adjust a gain knob, cut the bass, tweak mids and treble, scratch in a kick or snare, etc. Ableton will also "record" your knob & fader movements. (This can be very handy for post-editing and fine-tuning - see pic below, hopefully you're a little familiar with Ableton Live)

• FlexFX: Unlike the TTM57 which requires hardware programming/assignments, the SIXTY-EIGHT appears far more user-intuitive and has all operations clearly labeled.

In closing, I can't wait 'til the release of the SIXTY-EIGHT (I keep capitalizing it because Rane does). I also really hope the clubs I play at will get this seemingly awesome mixer, because with the rumored pricing, I won't be buying one any time soon...

-Kidd Spin

For more information & specs visit: http://www.rane.com/sixtyeight.html