Wired.com has a review of the Tonium Pacemaker Portable DJ Machine, and decides it’s cool, but an expensive toy:
The Tonium Pacemaker may be modeled after the idiot-proof iPod, but taking advantage of all the features on the Pacemaker requires an inordinate amount of button pushing. Fiddling around with it while sober requires a certain amount of dexterity — it’s easy to tap the wrong track. Tough to imagine trying to queue up and mix in bar lighting after a few drinks.
Ultimately, it’s a cool toy to play around with but not exactly the life of the party.
WIRED Beautifully engineered; looks like the gorgeous byproduct of a mind-meld between Jonathan Ive and Walter de’Silva. 120 GB memory. Battery holds enough juice for five hours of mix-and-play time.
TIRED Doesn’t act like an iPod. Complicated menu and mixing options make the device not very a practical instrument. $800 could buy you a round-trip ticket to Spain, Berlin or some other hotbed of electronic music.
Have you given the Pacemaker a spin yet? If so, let me know what you think in the comments.
Tags: DJ equipment, music toys, Tonium, Tonium Pacemaker
6 Responses to “Pacemaker Portable DJ Machine Review”
Please Wait
I had one, premier edition #5 in fact. Ultimately I ended up returning it. However, it wasn’t really because I wasn’t pleased with the device. On the other hand it was a super cool gadget. The thing is that I’m not really a DJ (I’m more into production) and for $800 getting Max/MSP 5 makes more sense for me. That’s why I returned it. If it had been a bit cheaper I probably would have kept it just because it was a really cool gadget.
Naim - do you think it’s a cool music toy or something more?
i own 3 and there amazing… good entertainment when your traveling lol
Jose - why three of them?
i have 8- 1 for each day of the week and 1 for my fanny
Carol - I don’t want to know how you play that last one.