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94%
PROS
A whole load of fun! Great music and makes you feel like a DJ. Its nice to hear some of your own songs that actually sound good!
LOWS
Cannot export your mixes to MIDI or MP3 formats. Does not play your tracks while you are recording with a mic.
OVERALL
Highly recommended, will keep you entertained for hours. If you like funky music, this will definitely provide you with some fun.
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Do you want to be a DJ? Or do you just like unique funky sounding music? If either of these applies to you, go ahead and put the DM2 as the number one thing you want for the next upcoming holiday!
The DM2 connects to your USB port, and is easy to install. Under Windows 2000 and XP, you need to first install the upgrade patch available online. If you have a Pentium 4, you can also get 5 free W.A.R.P effects. Since I have Windows XP on my machine, I first installed the software that comes with the DM2, then installed the XP/2000 drivers.
I have made so many songs with the DM2. Each one has its own different sound and unique beat. It is fun to create new songs or just jazz up the songs that come with the DM2. There are 30 Mixman Singles that come with the DM2 and then there is a standard set of different types of music (reggae, country, world etc.) When you combine all of these different sounds, your songs become completely original. You can also hook up your own mic and start singing your heart out to your very own song.
There are are 6 styles of pre-made tracks that come with the DM2. These are: techno, house, hip hop, grab bag, drum and bass, and trance. Each style comes with 5 songs in that genre. Each track that makes these songs can be selected as Mixman Singles to create your own songs. The many types of styles that come with the DM2 are great for different variations of song beats and melodies.
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The DM2 can export your mixes as multiple file types. These include Real Audio, Wav, and WMA. All of these formats are nice, except I would like to be able to export to file types such as MIDI and MP3. Whenever I make a really cool track or melody, I usually want to import it into Sonar and experiment with looping and different variations. Without being able to save my mix as a MIDI file, I cannot do this. Not being able to save mixes as MP3's is a little discouraging. Since MP3 is the default music file format for most applications, I would have thought there would be an option to save in this format.
There are 4 macro options available on the DM2. You can program 4 different sequences at the single touch of a button! This is very convenient. If there were more macros available, it would be nicer. You can only use 16 tracks in a whole song, and you must create 4 macros out of this. It would be nice if you could use a different set of 16 tracks for each macro. Then again, this does comply with the standard 16 tracks available on a MIDI track.
There are 2 scratching rings, one cross fader, recording controls, a solo button, 4 macro buttons, and one moveable stick that warps your sound in three different styles. The scratching rings are a blast to play around with, and the warp stick gives your music a unique edge. The solo button is great for fade-ins and creating drum/guitar solos. I think that all of these buttons are useful in different ways and create different sounds for your music.
Overall, the DM2 is a great toy to play around with. You can create your own mixes, and end up making songs that are actually quite good. The microphone support could be better, because I was unable to find a way to play your mix while recording voice. This is not your primo DJ setup, but it's a lot of fun and a good place to start if you're interested in mixing up music.
