Introduction

RANE has consistently been delivering some of the best Serato-oriented hardware for a while now, and the Performer is the cream of the crop. This new controller brings together the best of RANE’s existing lineup, and perfectly mashes it together into a new flagship. You could think of it as a RANE ONE with four channels; or probably more accurately, a RANE Four with motorized platters. In fact, it even maintains the center jog screens from the RANE Four, which puts it squarely into direct competition with Pioneer DJ DDJ-REV7.

Since the RANE ONE was released a little while back, realtime stems processing has moved much more to the forefront of digital DJing. Thus, the new Performer includes full support for Stems–in the same style and layout as the RANE Four. You get the same high-quality, scratch-ready Mag Four crossfader that you’d expect from a controller like this, and it includes paddle FX which include the entire FX suite from the RANE Seventy A-Trak Signature edition.

Features & Layout

The Performer has 7″ platters, and they contain a 3.5″ vertically oriented display which shows your waveforms, album artwork, and library stuff for browsing your tracks. The screens are bright and easy to read, and include a Day Mode for easy visibility. As soon as you move the browse knob, the corresponding screen switches to browse view, and goes back after a few seconds of not touching it. Very intuitive.

I promptly took the platters apart to examine the design. Inside there are four tiny magnets, which make for easy installation, and secures it to the matching magnets on the disc. There are protrusions that block any loosey-goosey movements. When you move the disc, it causes this inner wheel to spin, separately from the platter itself. I have to say, I much prefer this design over the REV7, which in my experience, had just a little bit of “slop” during hard scratching. The faders themselves all feel great, again they are all adjustable for tension as well as cut-in and reverse.

The crossfader, adjustable with the external dial, is very much up to the task of scratching as should be expected from a Mag Four. The middle of the mixer section is set up like any other RANE mixer, with single-turn channel FX knobs in the middle, which of course acts as your low and highpass filter. The entire fader FX suite from the RANE SEVENTY A-TRAK SIGNATURE EDITION mixer has been ported over, and you can select between these hardware FX or the software ones built-in to Serato by the tap of a button.

Stems

Like the RANE Four, there are three primary ways to access stems. The simplest way is by using the Acapella and Instrumental buttons below each deck. Touch one and, like magic, you’ve got just music or just vocals. The next way is by using Stem Split. When engaged, it breaks the vocals and music into separate faders, which you can control independently.

The most robust way is by using the Stems mode on the pads. Here, it actually breaks out into four parts: vocals, melody, bass, and drums. You can control these all independently, and can actually use these stems features in concert with each other. Once you click the Stem Split again, it combines everything back to the single fader. There’s also a cool set of transition FX that are engaged by the lower pads that relate to the stem above it.

Serato’s stem separation is still among the best sounding in the business right now, and you can hear many examples of it being used by watching the video above!

Ports & Connections

● (2) XLR outputs (Main)
● (2) 1/4” outputs (Booth)
● (1) RCA stereo output pair (Main)
● (2) XLR / 1/4” (6.35 mm) TRS inputs (Mic 1–2)
● (2) RCA stereo input pairs (Deck 3-4)
● (1) 1/4” (6.35 mm) TRS output (Headphones)
● (1) 1/8” (3.5 mm) TRS output (Headphones)
● (2) USB Type-B ports
● (1) IEC power cable input

Wrapping Up

I’ll be straight up with you: when it comes to motorized DJ controllers, the Performer knocks it out of the park. This is the best one I’ve used. The REV7 is a good product and so is the RANE ONE. But, of course, both of those are two-channel controllers, and the RANE ONE is a much simpler device.

I adore the RANE ONE as well, and I think this is a great option if you only need two channels, want something smaller, don’t care about stems, and you’re all about scratching. But the RANE Performer is the motorized controller that does it all. It takes the best aspects from the hardware already on the market: the center screens from the REV7, the robustness of the RANE ONE, and the intuitive stems control of the RANE Four.

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