So I just took possession of my new Rane MP-2015. I’ve only had about 30 minutes to play on it thus far, so I’ll share my initial thoughts.
First off, build and fit and finish: Amazing. It has that Retro look, similar to the Rane MP-2016, the wood panels in person look fantastic. The knobs and switches are all high quality. The pots are a little looser than you might expect, but they are high quality (most of them are metal stemmed pots).
Hooking it up was easy peasy. I plugged my CDJ-2000’s in via SPDIF, and my 1200’s into the phono inputs. It all just worked (obviously).
Getting it to work in Traktor was very simple, no drivers or anything are needed (I use a Macbook Pro). I just selected the input channels and could play in internal mode (controlled via HID and an X1). Of course, timecode/scratch control is not yet enabled for this mixer just yet, so it’s disabled.
Holy headroom! You can really crank this mixer. It’s kind of insane. Even the gains, I only have them on about 2 with the SPDIF inputs to play at 0Db.
The filters sound amazing. Adjustable resonance is amazing. The isolator is fantastic.
Everything is simply laid out and very easy to figure out.
Sound wise I would say they are comparable to what I remember from when I had my Xone 92 (that was quite a few years ago now).
They are better in that:
You get one per channel (including the submit channel)
You can set it to HP, LP, or the combined HP/LP (kind of like how Pioneer does it)
Resonance is full adjustable (huge improvement over Pioneer), but not independently like on the Xone 92 (not a big deal). The Xone has the mid-pass filter, which I never used anyway.
But then there is the option to combine the different filters on the Xone to get an “all-pass” filter so that you’re able to accent quite specific frequency bands using the resonance control. Best filter function ever. But I guess the parametric master isolator makes up for that to a certain degree.
Awesome. Congrats.
How do the pots feel in comparison to a 2016? Tight on the turn? Do the isolators sport the same resistance or are they a bit looser?
I know the outputs are supposed to be amazing… But how are the headphone outs (more important to to those of us on the other side of the headphones . ). Loud enough?
Thank you for posting a pic next to something familiar… A Nexus. That has to be the best pic I’ve seen yet because it shows the correct scale. Love the wood panels, but I’d be more inclined to (ouch) remove them so it fits in a case…protecting it is more important than looks for me
Keep us up on your thoughts as you dive deeper into it. This is moving further to be my next purchase. I can’t wait to get back to using a real mixer again…I miss the layout and flexibility.
I’d say the pots are looser than the 2016 (when new, they loosen up over time). They are good though, very high quality. I wish the actual knobs themselves weren’t hollow. The 2016 is the same knobs, it seems like if they filled them in with something (plastic), it would make the whole thing feel even more solid.
The headphones can go so loud it would blow your head right off.
Just an FYI, but with the wood panels ON, the mixer is the same width as the DJM-900 Nexus, so it’ll fit into a standard case as-is.
Considering there is a lot of mileage on these ears, that sounds loud enough .
Good to hear about the width… A Rane rep said it was standard 12" mixer without the panels, so I assumed it was a tiny bit too wide for a Nexus or 92 case. Many of my gigs are about putting most of the gear in cases for protection and ease of travel, so good to know it could fit in many of the options out in the market already.
I’m sure someone will come up with heavier knobs…but, I liked the feel of the 2016, so may not be an issue for me.
Call me stupid, but how would this be a scratch mixer. I don’t think that is what RANE had in mind when they made this. But nice to know it can be used with Traktor. Thanks for your Review.
. ). Loud enough?