words: LUKE PEPPER TECH Reloop Terminal Mix 4 TERMINAL VELOCITY
Reloop’s new Terminal Mix 4 controller is out to claim a stake as the only controller a DJ would want for Serato’s DJing software, but is it really up to speed compared to the competition?
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t seems that not a month goes by these days without a new controller being released — along with the promises of changing the way DJs perform — from the various marketing
departments trying to get a foothold in this crowded arena. But the days are long gone when a mediocre product could trick our senses whilst not delivering to the hype that had been built up around it. With so many truly great hardware controllers on the market, any newcomers had better be very special indeed to stand any chance of competing for DJs’ hard-earned cash, yet alone attention. So it is with this heavy weight upon its shoulders that the latest wannabe steps into the ring in the shape of Reloop’s Terminal Mix 4 controller for Serato. Will it make the grade, or is it destined to be a footnote in the history of controllers that left with a whimper rather than a bang?
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The Terminal Mix 4 is a four channel hardware controller built with Serato in mind, with a four channel mixer, two jog wheels and an internal soundcard that puts it in the same category as the Vestax VCI-400 or Native Instruments’ Kontrol S4. It comes complete with Serato DJ Intro as well as Virtual DJ LE, but has been optimised for Serato’s Itch software even though it has not been fully sanctioned for Itch by the guys at Serato. The Terminal Mix 4 is a full-sized controller roughly the same size as Native’s S4, but a damn sight heavier. The control surface looks professional, and the layout of controls won’t be a surprise to anyone who is familiar with similar products on the market. The control sections are laid out logically and the controls are reasonably spaced. On the whole the build quality is good, but there are a few little niggles that need to be mentioned such as the faders used on the pitch controllers, plastic sides rather than full metal
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construction, and the rubberised buttons which are used for the transport controls — these are not on par with the rest of the high-quality feel of the control surface. This is a personal issue rather than a massive product failing, and to be honest other DJs might not care about any of this at all.
This aside, there are many plus points to the Terminal Mix 4 — one of these is that the sound quality is excellent. Another area worthy of a mention are the jog wheels, which are just great. When buying a controller with jog wheels, clearly one of the most important factors to sway a DJ’s decision to walk home with the unit is how they feel and how they perform, especially for scratch DJs. The Terminal Mix 4 has managed to get its jog wheels just right. From the rubberised top that gives fantastic grip to the smooth action and high resolution pick-up with the software, the quality is there and will be appreciated by any DJ who
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