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The Rane One is a top-class DJ controller for Serato, VirtualDJ, and Algoriddim DJay. Robustly built and with a high-quality finish, it really stands out from other DJ consoles, especially with its two motorised jog wheels: For real-feel vinyl authenticity, each rotating turntable is equipped with a 7" acrylic platter plus slipmat, letting DJs pull off the kind of tricks that they could otherwise only perform with "real" turntables and the right records1. 16 performance pads also mean hotcues, loops, and beat jumps can be part of the performance. The integrated two-channel battle mixer has low-pass and high-pass filters, a three-band equaliser, FX paddles, and a Mag-Four crossfader. And the powerful sound card with a dynamic range of 110dB to 113dB pumps out music with 24bit PCM and 48kHz through professional XLR outputs to PA and DJ booth monitors.
DJing with vinyl is a whole different experience: Scratch DJs in particular need records that spin on a slipmat and rotating turntable in order to perform their techniques. But mix DJs who don't want to rely solely on the sync button also love the feel of vinyl. With its seven-inch jog wheels, Rane has found a perfect compromise between usability and portability: The Rane One is still easy to take to the next DJ gig or battle jam. Besides compatibility with Serato DJ, the Rane One also offers support for the popular platforms VirtualDJ and Algoriddim DJay. Traktor DJs, however, haven't been invited to the party.
With the Rane One, DJ software suites like Serato, VirtualDJ, and Algoriddim DJay really come to life. Thanks to the two compact rotating turntables and the battle mixer, any digital music files can suddenly be touched, mixed, scratched, and backspun in a more organic and "real" way than with the rigid jog wheels found on most other DJ controllers. And thanks to the Serato DJ software included here as standard, DJs don't need anything other than a laptop and headphones to start mixing right away. In addition, two more turntables or media players and two microphones can be connected.
The Rane company was founded in 1981 in Mukilteo, Washington State. The MP 24 mixer, introduced in 1986, was considered the club standard for 20 years. The Bozak-style designed MP 2016 mixer and the accompanying XP 2016 equaliser were launched in 1999, long before rotary mixers became trendy - they are still in high demand today. Their genes live on in the excellent MP 2015 mixer. In 2003, Rane released the Serato Scratch Live, one of the first DVS systems, and even though Serato now operates independently, Rane still makes Serato-optimised hardware, such as the Twelve, a motorised DJ software controller with a twelve-inch control vinyl, which was introduced in 2017. Its technology is also present in the Rane One. Since 2018, Rane has been part of the vast InMusic Brands family, which encompasses Denon DJ, Akai, M-Audio, Numark, Alesis and Stanton, among others.
With its unique implementation of two motorised, rotating 7" turntables and a battle mixer, as well as the 16 illuminated performance pads, the Rane One brings two worlds together: "Vinylism", the art of scratching with vinyl, and "Controllerism", i.e. performing with cue points, loops, and DJ software. All this comes in a single robustly built and flexible unit: With its professional XLR outputs, the Rane One can be connected directly to a PA. Thanks to the two USB ports, two DJs can connect laptops for exciting B2B jams. And because two microphones can also be connected, the unit is also perfect for a rap battle. The Rane One ships with the Serato DJ Pro software package as standard. The Rane One even supports DVS via external turntables, although the Serato DVS software is required for this.
Rotating turntables can be found in many DJ controllers in a number of different formats. Some only use motorised jog wheels. With the Rane Twelve Mk.2, Rane already has an impressive controller in its portfolio with an actual 12-inch vinyl disc that almost perfectly simulates the torque of a genuine professional turntable: However, the Rane Twelve is almost as big, heavy, and expensive as one, too! The more compact Rane One, fortunately, adopts much of the same technology from the larger Rane Twelve. The turntables feature the strobo dots typical of Technics gear, which together with the slipmat provides a realistic feeling when mixing. By the way, it's also becoming more and more common to mix with 7" vinyl: The so-called portablism mixing trend is based on small portable turntables. Hip hop legend Biz Markie has already been spotted with custom-made Technics SL-700 mini turntables, and historically, most Jamaican reggae and dub tracks were released on 7".