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M-Audio Torq Xponent Control Surface | 
 enlarge | Brand: M-Audio
Category: CE
Buy New: £339.00
Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 51541
Legal Disclaimer: Please check manufacturer's website for product compatibility
UPC: 612391800185
EAN: 0612391800185
ASIN: B000RI31YC
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new stock! Dispatched from the UK!!
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| Features:
| • | full-size, professional-grade controllers | | • | 4-OUTPUT USB INTERFACE: | | • | advanced MIDI control surface: | | • | 2 3-band EQ control knobs with kill buttons | | • | 2 touch-sensitive scratch wheels |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Incredible Advanced DJ Performance/Production System. Torq Xponent is a cutting-edge performance system that brings professional-grade control to the world of the computer-based DJ. Engineered by M-Audios SynchroScience Design Group, the package includes the Torq DJ software thats revolutionizing digital DJing and the Xponent hardware control surface that puts all that power right at your fingertips.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Plastic not fantastic March 25, 2008
M. D. Consterdine (Newcastle, Staffs, UK)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have been making my living as a club DJ for over 20 years, I have 2 friends who use Torq Both speak highly of it (I know 2 others who used it and much prefer Serato). I have both, Serato wins just for stability.
This Xponent device seems like a great Idea but it's badly made. Maybe ok for the bedroom but not for the club. Start button broke on first night and every knob on it felt like it might break if you were to get a bit rough with it.
If this device was any good I might be using Torq instead of Serato.
Even if you do use and like Torq (with T/C CD's) don't waste you're money on this.
 Midi Dj'ing has arrived.....Shame software and drivers aren;t up to the job. June 21, 2007
DK (UK)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I have editied this review now, the original review is left below but I will add the following:
1. This will not run on Windows Vista yet. M-Audio will not state when it will be Vista ready.
2. The drivers for XP have dropped in and out all the time since owning it and in the end I couldn't re-install the drivers at all.
3. I have sent the unit back for a refund because I simply could not get the thing to work reliably at all. I only got it to work properly for 50 minutes at a time maximum before the buttons would stop working, the sound would go scratchy, the speakers periodically went on and off, and the unit itself just behaved in an odd odd manner.
------Original Review------
Firstly its important to outline my DJ experience so you can put this review in context.
I am a trance/techno/house DJ who used to DJ bars and the odd club. I have always been and still am a Vinyl lover but these days I can no longer afford to keep up with vinyl and I need my spare room for other things these days like kids!!! I still love to DJ or do house parties but my serious days are over.
Platters
So to the Xponent. The most important thing for me were the feel of the platters and the Xponent platters are the best Midi ones I have used so far. They don't have the "Depressable" platters like on Pioneer CD decks, they are actually touch sensitive on the top, but they do function and behave exactly the same as CD decks. You can put them into CD, Vinyl or mixed mode and to be honest they felt odd for about an hour before I totally got used to them. They are heavy and solid, spin a little freer than CD ones but they are great.
I have used the Hercules, Vestax VCI-100 and the Behringer models and the Xponent is by far the best of any of these.
Unit
The unit matches my laptop colour exactly and I am sure they must have spoken to Acer as the plastic is exactly the same! The unit is heavy so it doesn't slip at all in use and has 5 big sticky feet to support it. The buttons have that multi-click thing you see on some smartphones so you never miss a click and the feel of the unit is solid and reliable.
The colour of the lights has sparked some debate on the forums! But after using the unit at a party last weekend I really saw the benefit of them. Everything is quite intuitive, the lights really help DJing in the dark and I had very few issues (See below) with the unit at all. The the unit pulsates is also quite cool.
The mixer was OK. The sound is fine and thorugh my KRK powered monitirs I was as impressed as the sound from my DJM600. OK MP3's can be a little flat compared to Vinyl but the sound quality is by far enough for me. The faders could be tighter, but a little bit of foam stuck to the underneath of them sorts that out! I found the kills really good, and mixing was really easy even after only 30 mins of use.
There are direct outputs for Main and Booth speakers and a headphone hack. Please note that this unit has a built in soundcard/amp so you don't need a sound card or anything for playback like with the VCI-100. You just plug your speakers into the unit, your laptop and go!
Software
OK, the Torq software is fine and after using Traktor and Ableton, I am really happy with Torq its great. However the Windows XP drivers were a real pain and obvious work is required here. You must make sure you download the latest drivers and Torq software from the site but even then I had issues with the install of the drivers. A quick phone call to M-Audio sorted this out though and the excellent support reminded me why I use M-Audio stuff so much. They even rang me back so I wasn't paying for the call! M-Audio told me they were working on this but even so it was a problem that was easily fixed when I knew better. After correctly installing the drivers I now get no issues at all and run at a really low latency with no hiccups (I have a T7200 Dual core laptop).
Mixing
So the unit is great, the software is great and its fantastic being able to take your laptop, your ipod and the Xponent in a bag to a party and be albe to mix in tunes from anyones SD cards on the spot, really easily. It even searches your Itunes library and any USB device including an ipod. I found that rather than spending painstaking amounts of time mixing records and keeping them in beat, I was spending more time creating cool mixes using the loop in/outs, the effects and the visual apsect of the sound that Torq gives you. It was just simply great fun and the my Vinyl "Turnatablist" friends were actually really impressed and scratched freely with the Xponent. I always hated CD decks because you couldn't see quiet spots on the track like you can with Vinyl but Torq lets you see this clearly visually.
The effects were OK. The flanger wasn't as good as on my DJM600 (But what is?) but the other effects were pretty damn close. I especially like the reverse effect which gives you that "Whoop, whoop" sound on the track you are playing just by pressing a button! You can plug-in your own VST effects anyway so the effects can be a lot better with the right plug-in. The mouse pad can also be used as a VST controller.
Issues
OK, these are the issues I have with the unit
1. The headphone track monitor buttons are at the top of the unit and I did touch the platters a few times when pressing them until I still haven't got used to it.
2. The unit does not have a MIC input, I know thats a no no for some but you can rig up through your laptop if you need to. Not great though.
3. It would have been nice to have some external inputs aswell so you could plug in CDs etc, it has been a pain at times having to mix through another mixer so we could easily swap DJ's and equipment.
4. The mouse pad is too sensitive for using to select tracks etc. I ended up using the pad on my laptop most of the time. I could not find a sensitivity option in the prefernces of Torq.
5. Make sure you cover your laptop keyboard with cling film or something as people will spill beer on your works laptop!!!
Overall
Overall I think the Xponent is a great piece of kit but i'm not sure if it is stable and good enough for my needs. It does have some issues seen above and if i'm really honest then I would wonder how suitable this is for a Pro DJ but I bet you anything you like we see these appearing in bedrooms and Studios across the land as soon as it is Vista ready and as soon as it is stable enough to be called a proper product. The unit is just awsome if they can get that right.
It is much better than the Vestax VCI-100 although the Vestax really does kick it all over the place for reliability and it fills the gap between the top spec stuff and the lower end stuff.
Hope this helps
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