Beatport seems set on becoming a hub for DJs with today’s launch of a remix contest platform called Beatport Play.  This new dedicated site features songs from top-tier talent like Steve Aoki and enables budding producers to get their work on a major label. We also have a inside look at the new Beatport “artist pages”, a DJ social network of sorts,  which is currently in alpha. 

Today Simon Cowell announced he will be producing a new show in the search for great talent: DJ X Factor.  Following the success of the first season of X Factor, Simon shifts his focus with the help of Will Smith to what he calls “the new breed of rockstars”. Boom or Bust for Djing? Here is our take..

It’s been another wild year at one of the largest trade shows in the industry, and over the last few days, myself and the entire DJTT editorial team have been hard at work bringing you the latest and greatest from the convention floor. NAMM is over, and we’re getting back to normal DJTT articles very soon,  but we wanted to compile one final post with a summary of every new DJ product we covered this year.

Native Instruments had a party last night to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Traktor, and there they unveiled their powerful new version of Traktor as well as the new piece of hardware we’ve been waiting to learn more about, the Traktor Kontrol F1. Read more about NI CEO Daniel Haver’s semi-official announcement last night!

The Smithson Martin KS1974 is one of the more interesting products at this year’s NAMM show, because it’s a really laterally thought out product. What the guys at Smithson Martin are doing is bringing touch capability to your workflow without having to make any sacrifices to the raw power of your existing software setup. We had a chance to take an in-depth look, and a video overview and interview with Alan Smithson himself- click through to watch! 

One of the best parts about NAMM is when we get to go downstairs and explore the basement, often full of smaller and more boutique companies making unique products. At the Livid Instruments booth, we had the chance to look at their latest project, the up-and-coming Omni Modules with rack-mounted modular MIDI units. Learn more inside!

When was the last time you found yourself craving a keytar? Today’s probably a great day to start- at NAMM 2012 Alesis revealed the brand new Vortex, a MIDI Keytar made to bring performance elements to producer/DJs who play sets in DAWs. The potential for exciting MIDI mappings is extensive, and the unit even has a built-in accelerometer that can detect two types of motion. Full quick look video after the jump!

Yes, the picture we posted earlier this week of the MPC DJ was very much real, and we’ve got a full look at what the prototype unit looks like. Additionally, we took a quick look at the brand new Numark 4Trak controller, designed to be Numark’s flagship Traktor controller, in response to users who were dissapointed with the NS6/7 mappings for Native Instrument’s DJ software.

Korg rolled out their brand new pocket-sized updates to the Mini Kaoss Pad and Kaossilator yesterday at NAMM 2012, with a complete visual upgrade, new OEL screen, and some new sounds and effects. We took a minute to shoot a quick video overview of this beat-destroying and phrase-synthesizing duo!

A number of our readers on Twitter and Facebook have been asking us what the latest news from Pioneer is at NAMM, and while there aren’t any major new device announcements to share, they do have a few cool smaller items of note – see inside to find out what the latest is! 

Rane and Serato have worked tightly together for eight years pioneering practical DVS systems. The TTM57 is definitely showing its age, though, and has now received a modern update.  There are 2 models of mixers: The Rane 61 and the Rane 62 depending on what your flavor of mixer is.

One of the most solid all-in-one offerings we saw at NAMM was Reloop’s first official 4-channel controller, the Terminal Mix 4!