Novation has introduced Dicer – a new palm-sized cue point and looping controller, designed to fit exactly where you need it: on your turntables, CDJs, mixer or laptop.

The Novation Dicer was designed by DJ Tech Tools’ Ean Golden. Here’s what he has to say about the genesis of the Dicer:

About 2 years ago, I started to carefully watch the djs that had switched over to digital systems but were only using turntables and the keyboard to control their music. It seemed obvious to me that controllers could be used to great advantage by this group but none of them wanted to buy into the idea. The 2 main issues in the way of controller adoption:

1) There was no regular space in the booth to put a controller in an ergonomic position other than the laptop that was usually over the mixer. Most booths are small by design and rarely have extra room to put controllers close to the turntables.

2) The only thing you could really midi map that was “performance oriented” in Serato were cue points and loops. No one had really discovered cue point juggling yet and loop roll was not an official feature. Now with loop roll, effects and cue point juggling in regular use Serato djs are discovering what I was trying to tell them 2 years ago- they need controllers!

The Dicer was my solution to problem #1. The only thing you can count on in a dj booth is a Technics MK2-1200 (although that is becoming less the case now). So if you can only count on the turntable, where on that turntable could you put a controller? The 45-adaptor hole, which provides stability and some clear open space, was the obvious choice.

Dicer ships in pairs – one for each side.

The Novation Dicer is expected to retail for about $99. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Description:

Plug Dicer in, slot it on your turntable/CDJ, and you can instantly set cue points and use them to trigger ‘Hot Cues’. Or, flip Dicer into ‘Auto-Loop’ or ‘Loop Roll’ modes, to trigger loops, or ‘roll’ sections of the track to create climaxes, drops and glitchy breaks. Each ‘mode’ illuminates Dicer’s pads a different colour, so you can instantly see what mode the pads in, even in dark clubs and venues.

Dicer’s buttons can also ‘learn’ other software functions. So, you can assign different FX to the pads, or trigger samples over the top of your mix, or even browse tracks in your iTunes library!