Tonium Pacemaker v2
27 FEB 2009
Launch price
from £free
Stuff says
Still one of our favourite gadgets – but now cheaper and much easier to use
PREVIEW
Tonium’s original Pacemaker had the double advantage of making us look cool and cutting down on the amount of DJ gear we had to lug around. But it was always just a little too complicated for our limited DJ skills and the price remained a little too high for a weekend hobby.
The secret’s in the firmware
Those two problems now look to have been solved by a shiny new version. Though the device looks exactly the same, storage has been slashed in half to 60GB. This should make it cheaper while still providing plenty of space for your ‘floor fillaz’.
But the real magic happens in the firmware upgrade, which greatly simplifies its use. The screen now has two pulsating VU bars for each track, making it easier to see exactly what’s playing and what’s waiting to drop in. Previously, it was very easy to silence the wrong track, leaving you dead on the dancefloor.
Auto beat match
First time users are given a helping hand with the addition of auto beat match. At the click of a button, the Pacemaker will match the tempo of the incoming track to the one playing, allowing you to seamlessly blend tracks. A visual meter in the middle shows you if they start to drift out and helps you make small adjustments.
The roster of effects has been boosted with a new delay, which that sounds better than the old echo, crush (mild distortion) and a wah-wah sounding effect.
Plus there’s also the ability to alter the tempo without affecting the pitch in Timeshift mode – useful if you have two songs in the same key but not tempo.
Free upgrade
Like its predecessor, the Pacemaker 60GB supports a wide range of audio files: MP3, AAC, WMA, OGG, FLAC, WAV to be precise.
And if you’ve already got a Pacemaker the whole shebang is available as a free download from the Tonium website from late April 2009.