The Denon MC6000MK2 is an integrated, full blown mixer, and dual deck MIDI Controller. It combines a 4-channel / 8-source standalone digital mixer – featuring real time channel matrix operation – USB MIDI control and 2 x stereo in / 2 x stereo out USB audio interface. The guide below will walk through the basic setup of Traktor Pro 2.7 for use with the Denon DJ MC6000MK2 controller. The Allen & Heath Xone:K2 is a highly portable and extremely versatile professional DJ MIDI controller with an integrated four-channel sound card, well suited for discerning DJs that demand maximum performance and portability.
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The Lowdown
If you’re a DJ who wants to add extra digital control to an existing digital set-up, or who wants to use a slimline device as your only controller alongside a laptop, and you’re attracted to making a mapping that suits you, the Xone:K2 has got to be something you’ll want to look at seriously. The built-in sound card is a good option to have and what’s more, this Traktor Kontrol X1 alternative doesn’t have the Traktor focus as far as labelling and control layout goes, and so will be equally at home mapped to whatever software you choose. We think it’s a winner.
Video ReviewFirst Impressions / Setting up
In the box are the unit, a USB lead, a CD-ROM containing guides, drivers and so on, and an RJ45 patch lead for connection to other X:LINK enabled products (more on X:LINK later).
One of the things DJs love about the Traktor Kontrol X1 – on the face of it the most similar controller to this that’s currently out there – is how practical it is. As well as being small and slim, it is lightweight, and you can also buy a lightweight carry case for it to make it easy to transport. Allen & Heath has plainly seen this and taken the concept further with the Xone:K2, which is actually supplied in a snug-fitting, custom case from the off.
The case is “semi-rigid”, being nylon with an all-round zip but padded with hard foam. This, combined with the four indentations for the feet of the Xone:K2, means that once you remove the unit from its case, the case can be used to raise it to the same height as, say, a mixer in a DJ booth.
The unit is built to a high standard. It is black, with a rubberised base and sides but with a brushed metal decal down the left and right bearing the Xone logo. A gripe? The four feet are plastic rather than rubber, which means they are slippier than they would otherwise have been on some surfaces.
The top plate is slightly textured black painted metal, firmly screwed down. Allen & Heath made its name with pro mixers, and it shows: From the white rubberised buttons to the bolted-down pots to the quality faders, all controls scream reliability and longevity.
On the front is a single 1/8″ headphones socket, and round the back are a pair of RCA audio outs, the USB socket (it takes its power from USB) and two proprietary X:LINK sockets.
In Use
The controls
First things first: This is not meant to be a “plug and play” device. Sure, it’s class compliant (although you’ll need to install audio drivers for certain Windows sound card configurations), and it also wisely and quite cleverly comes with two Traktor mappings (a Kontrol X1 emulator and a sample deck control mapping, complete with printable mapping legends), but it’s ultimately meant to be mapped by the user to control whatever he or she is envisioning.
This is good. Just like Vestax with their VCI-400, Allen & Heath wants the Xone:K2 to sell to digital DJs and producers who are past the very beginner stage, and who want to customise their set-ups to do exactly what they’re imagining. As such, the unit will be a good companion to all kinds of software.
You could map it to Ableton Live, Traktor, Virtual DJ, MixVibes and so on, you might use it for VJing, for controlling lighting even. Midi mapping is not difficult and once you’ve created a mapping that works for you, you’ve effectively made a custom DJ controller for yourself. What you get here, then, is a lot of built-in flexibility. There are four faders, 12 standard pots, six continuous stepped rotaries with push switchers, 28 standard pushbuttons, and two large pushbuttons.
Both the layout and the sparse labelling do, however, suggest certain uses. There’s a button labelled “layer”, for instance (we’ll look at layer options later). There’s another labelled “shift”·. There is a set action for entering set-up mode. And the four “lines” suggest control of four channels, tracks or decks, complete with associated functions. As we’ll see shortly, the LED feedback is also skewed to help you use the unit in certain ways.
But basically, it’s as blank a page as any hardware can realistically offer: Free for you to do what you like with its 171 Midi commands.
Understanding the configuration options
Not only can the Xone:K2 be used to control any software that can receive or transmit Midi, the built-in audio interface means that, unlike say the Traktor Kontrol X1, there’s no need to carry a separate audio interface with you. This is one of its big attractions.
Two could be used together to double up (it’s possible to aggregate audio), or you could use one or two of them with an analogue mixer. If you do the latter, you can either use it with your headphones plugged in the front and take one channel of the analogue mixer, or plug both the headphones socket and the RCAs into separate channels of the analogue mixer, using it effectively as a set of transport / looping / FX controls for your DJ software and using the mixer to provide, well, the mixing bit of the equation.
In order to better understand how one or two of these units can work with each other or with either analogue or digital mixers, Allen & Heath has provided several simple set-up videos covering the possibilities on its website. If you’re considering the unit, it is a good idea to watch them, if only to familiarise yourself with what’s possible using it. You can find them here.
Working with layers
Imagine being able to press one switch on a Midi controller in order to move away from the current set of controls and activate a whole new set. If you’ve ever used a two channel / jogwheel but four-deck DJ controller, you’ll know what I mean; that’s basically an application of the concept of layers. It’s like a lockable “shift”.
The Xone:K2 has three layers, and to make things easy, the LEDs light red, amber or green to show you which layer you’re currently on. But you get more flexibility than just that, though. You can cycle between layer “modes”, something Allen & Heath calls “layer latching”.
In the first such mode, you can layer only the 16 (4 x 4) “switch matrix” buttons under the line faders. Everything else stays the same no matter what the layer is set to. This could be useful if you’re using the matrix to trigger samples or audio clips while the rest of the device controls four master channels of audio, for instance.
The second mode adds in the switches under the pots, and the top four endless encoders, but leaves the pots and faders unaffected. This gives you more options while still keeping a modicum of basic controls untouched.
Finally, it’s the all-out mode, where the layer button switches every single control to a new layer. Effectively, this is the virtual equivalent of three of these things all sat next to each other.
Sending and returning Midi
This will sound a bit complicated if you’ve never got involved with mapping controllers before, but really it isn’t – or at least, it’s as easy or difficult as the way mapping has been implemented on the software you’re using it with. ![]() ![]()
Allen & Heath provides clear, colour charts in the manual showing the exact Midi note implementations for all controls, so for instance when you want the aforementioned lights to come on and off to indicate the states of buttons, it’s not difficult to look up what to tell your software to send to the unit. By the way, it’s simple to change the Midi channel too with a two-step setup routine.
Midi mappings take time, but thanks to the clear guides provided with the unit and the nice, intuitive LED feedback, mapping the Xone:K2 is likely to be a fulfilling experience.
X:LINK – what’s it all about?
We said that this was a Midi controller and audio interface with a few cool features. Layering is one, and we consider X:LINK to be another major one. At its simplest, X:LINK joins up two K2s meaning only one of them has to be physically USBed to the computer. If you’re using a two-USB laptop and have another type of controller plugged into your other USB, you’ll instantly see the benefit of this.
Another use for X:LINK is to connect one or two Xone:K2s to a Xone:DB2 or Xone:DB4 mixer. Here, you can X:LINK two K2s together, and X:LINK one of them to the DB mixer – and that’s it. No USB, and both are powered by the mixer which effectively acts as a hub. Of corse, in this instance as the DB mixers have built-in sound, you’ll only be using the K2s ad Midi interfaces, not as audio devices at all.
In fact, under no circumstances will the X:LINK join or aggregate audio devices – for this to happen you still need to USB both units into your laptop. Furthermore, while you can create aggregate devices easily on a Mac, you’ll have to use third-party software to do so on a PC. So if you want to feed all audio outputs of a pair of K2s into a mixer to give you a four-channel stereo setup, X:LINK isn’t going to be part of your solution.
Creating mappings
Using the Traktor mappings is simple; you grab them from the website (they didn’t seem to be on my CD for some reason) and import to Traktor, set your audio output routing, and all works. Allen and Heath has helpfully provided printable mapping information to keep to hand, and it is a canny move to provide an X1 emulation as well as a sample deck mapping, at least to get people started.
I am not going to go into too much detail about these specific mappings, as the whole point of this controller is that you map it to do what you want. Instead, I decided to power up Algoriddim’s djay software, mainly because it is ridiculously simple to map Midi controllers to. Within 10 minutes I had basic control over two decks, including pitch, and all EQs and channel faders mapped too. Assigning the bottom endless rotary to crossfader completed a basic mapping.
With a day or so, I am confident I could get everything else mapped and have a great little custom controller for that software, using at least one of the layers for effects (for instance).
Sound quality
Serial keys for ubisoft games for pc. I don’t agree with arguing over whether 16-bit or 24-bit audio is best – this is 16-bit audio, but other factors (rest of equipment chain, quality of recordings, understanding gain staging, venue acoustics, more esoteric technical info such as frequency range and response, signal to noise etc) have a much bigger bearing on sound quality from an audio interface than arguing over digital bitrates. Plus 16-bit has always sounded fine to me.
Instead, I’ll say this: I trust Allen & Heath not to put sub-standard audio interfaces into their gear. They’re a mixer company, after all. Suffice to say that the audio from the unit is perfectly passable, and crucially, it’s also loud enough for both headphones and feeding either straight to powered speakers/PA or into an external mixer. Good enough for me.
Conclusion
Kudos to Allen and Heath for taking the best parts of their nonetheless now dated and bulky Xone:1D and Xone:2D devices, seeing the success of the jogwheel-less Trkator Kontrol X1, and bringing it all together in a new device with built-in audio. Of course, it suffers from an inherent characteristic of this type of device: One size will never exactly fit all. You’ll always want a control where there isn’t one, or the ability to label up things once you’re happy with them (a wipe-clean overlay would be a nice accessory, guys). High tide bold font download.
But the flipside of this is that, assuming you can master the intricacies of mapping to whatever software attracts you, you can craft a controller that’s customised pretty much to how you want it to be.
The built-in sound card is a good option to have as it saves you taking an extra one, but it does mean that if you’re pairing one or two of these with a digital mixer, you’ve paid for a sound card you’ll never use. I guess it’s the price you pay for flexibility.
Speaking of flexibility, the X:LINK and layer options are for me ultimately what stand the Xone:K2 apart from some other Midi controllers, and coupled with its pro build quality, what make it a controller that could quite possibly do really well for the Allen & Heath.
I’m sure we’ll see some really cool mappings appearing for it in due course, and Allen & Heath would do well to foster an eco-system around what I am sure will become a fervent user community once these hit the streets in numbers.
Overall, then, if you’re a DJ who wants to add extra digital control to an existing digital set-up, or who wants to use a slimline device as your only controller alongside a laptop, and you’re attracted to making a mapping that suits you, the Xone:K2 has got to be something you’ll want to look at seriously.
Likewise, if you play in cramped DJ booths or in places where you never know how much space you’re going to have, and aren’t prepared to switch to CDJs in such circumstances, you’ve now got an alternative to using a Traktor Kontrol X1. What’s more, this alternative doesn’t have the Traktor focus as far as labelling and control layout goes, and so will be equally at home mapped to whatever software you choose. We think it’s a winner.
Xone K2 Driver
After a lengthy build-up extending back to the 2011 BPM convention, Allen & Heath’s new contribution to the growing slim-line compact controller field, the Xone:K2, will hit the shelves at the end of this month. Part update to the discontinued Xone:1D, and part open-ended answer to Native Instrument’s Kontrol X1 and F1, the Xone:K2 combines deep programmability with a 4-channel audio interface and proprietary X:LINK connection, making it suitable for a wide swath of digital DJing proclivities.
Manufacturer: Allen & Heath
Price: $499 (MSRP) / $299 (common retail price) Availability: End of May, 2012 Communication: MIDI over USB (USB powered) Ships with: Padded carrying case/DJ booth stand, USB cable, X:LINK (RJ45) cable, CD (Windows drivers, PDF guide, mappings) Weight: 2.2 pounds (1 kg), 3.3 pounds (1.5 kg) with the carrying case Dimensions: 5.3 x 14 x 1.2 inches (13.5 x 35.8 x 3 cm) System Requirements: Class-compliant MIDI/4-channel audio device for Mac OSX. Class-compliant MIDI/2-channel audio device for Windows. Full 4-channel operation requires included ASIO driver for Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Windows 7.
The Good: Tons of pro-grade controls packed into a small surface. Flexible layering options lets you shift between three control layers on some or all of the controls, while leaving other sections locked. Acceptable sound quality with adequately high output levels in both the headphone and main outputs.
The Bad: No hard level settings for the headphone or main outputs. No booth outputs. Maximum utility requires the patience for custom MIDI mapping.
The Bottom Line: You get fully MIDI-programmable channel strips and a button grid with three possible layers of functionality in a professionally constructed controller with a 16-bit/48kHz 4-channel soundcard. Serious working DJs will appreciate the powerful custom workflows they can construct after putting the time in to program their own mappings.
DESIGN NOTES
While larger than the Kontrol X1, the Xone:K2 incorporates more controls and is still built specifically to fit in the DJ booth alongside a pro DJ mixer. It’s roughly the same depth as Allen & Heath’s flagship DB2 and DB4 mixers. The K2 comes with a durably-padded, zippered black carrying case that doubles as a stand. Zip off the top and set the K2 on the back of the case bottom. There are indents on the bottom of the case for the K2’s four plastic feet, so the height of the K2 on the stand matches the height of the DB2, DB4, and many other pro DJ mixers.
A soft plastic outer shell encases a coated metal faceplate on the K2. All of the nutted pots and rotary encoders represent professional build quality, and the nutted construction of the knobs means the the inner circuit board is protected more against outer trauma to the knobs. The four 60mm-throw faders possess the signature Allen & Heath smoothness, and their tops are indented generously, making them a pleasure to use.
In addition, the 30 rubberized buttons feel fantastic. They are soft-touch LED rubber buttons with a click, yet they are firmer and feel more robust than the looser buttons on the Kontrol X1. In short, despite the plastic casing, Allen & Heath maintains its usual high standard of build quality on the Xone:K2.
CONTROL SECTIONS
The K2 serves up 52 hardware controllers. When you factor in push-button encoders and three possible layers of functionality (more on that later), that’s 171 possible MIDI commands.
From the top down, the control segments break out like this:
• 4 push-button rotary encoders. Turning the encoders sends MIDI CC (continuous controller) messages, while pressing/releasing the encoder button send MIDI Note On/Off messages. Tri-color LEDs beneath the encoders reveal the controls layer status if applicable but are not MIDI controls.
• 3 rows of potentiometer knobs with tri-color LED switch buttons.
• 4 linear 60mm-throw faders.
• “Switch matrix,” consisting of a 4 x 4 grid of tri-color LED switch buttons.
• Layer and setup controls. The bottom row of two LED buttons and two push-button rotary encoders deals with layer switching, setup mode for selecting the MIDI channel and layer mode, or can be assignable if layering is turned off.
LATCHING LAYERS
There are three possible layers to the K2 control surface that you can assign to MIDI, and the LEDs will glow red, amber, or green depending on what layer they represent. There are also four Latching Layer modes that determine which sections of the K2 will respond to layers and which sections will stay locked to one layer. Let your mind run wild with customization possibilities here. That’s what the K2 is all about.
To set a Latching Layer mode, you must enter setup mode by holding down the Power On/Setup encoder down on an unplugged K2, and then plugging in the USB cable to a computer to power it up. That enters you into setup mode, and using the Setup encoder with the Shift button to enter Layers mode, you can scroll these five Latching Layers states:
1) Latching Layers is turned off. This is the default mode.
2) Only the four rows of 16 Switch Matrix buttons respond to layers, while the rest of the K2 is locked.
3) The 16 pot switches on the top half of the K2 respond to layers. That’s the four encoder buttons across the top (represented by the top row of LEDs) and the three rows of four LED button switches under the knobs.
4) “All Switches” mode: the 32 total switches from modes 2 and 3 respond to layers in this mode.
5) All of the K2 controls respond to layers in this mode. The faders and pots support “soft takeover” when switching between layers to prevent sudden parameter jumps. For software that supports soft takeover, such as Ableton Live, the control value for a different layer won’t change until the pot or fader moves to the current parameter’s position.
Still confused as to how Latching Layers behaves? Check out the below video from Allen and Heath themselves that gives a quick overview of the concept.
MAPPINGS
While the Xone:K2 was made expressly for you to customize it to your own workflow with your own mapping, you may well find a preset mapping that works to your liking. As of this writing, there were several Traktor Pro 2 mappings and an Ableton Live Project setting available at Allen & Heath’s K2 product page, and no doubt many more will soon be popping up on forum sites after the product launch.
Xone K2 Traktor Mapping Denon Manual
Allen and Heath have also confirmed that official mappings for Virtual DJ, Serato Scratch Live, MixVibes and Mixxx are currently under construction. Sim city free download game.
Although the Xone:K2 is probably best for those not intimidated by making their own mappings, the ones that are out there right now serve well enough to get you started using the unit quickly, especially in Traktor, where creating a mapping feels more laborious than in Ableton Live or other DAW software. Just import the TSI file into Traktor, check your Audio and Output Routing settings, and you’re good to go.
Allen & Heath currently include Traktor mappings for sample deck control, an X1 emulator, a loop/FX controller, and an all-purpose setting for using the K2 as a lone Traktor controller. However, when you’re ready to take the leap into custom mapping, there are some handy Traktor mapping videos at Allen & Heath’s site as well as some other useful setup/use case videos.
(Editor’s Note: On the Maps section of the DJTT site, we’ve already got 10+ custom mappings for the K2. Check them out!)
AUDIO INTERFACE AND SOUND QUALITY
The Xone:K2 only supports audio at 16-bit and 44.1 or 48kHz, not 24-bit/96kHz. So while hardcore audiophiles may not appreciate that, the K2’s sound held up well and compared favorably to other DJ oriented soundcards out there, such as the Native Instruments Traktor Audio 6 and the soon-to-be-discontinued M-Audio Conectiv.
One of my biggest gripes about the K2 would be the lack of any hardwired audio controls for the audio outputs. The 4-channel configuration sends channels 1 and 2 out of the front-panel 1/8″ headphone jack, and channels 3 and 4 out of the back-panel RCA stereo outputs, but there are no level controls for either output unless you program software level controls for them into your K2 mappings. That makes using the K2 for audio less convenient for sure.
As it stands, several of Allen & Heath’s suggested use cases for the K2 involve not using it for audio at all or routing one or both of the audio outputs into an external mixer.
USB / X:LINK
The Xone:K2 sends MIDI, audio, and derives power over USB. The unit can also be powered by the X:LINK (RJ45/ethernet) port, which is a proprietary connection for linking two K2s together or for linking one or two K2s to an X:LINK-supporting Allen & Heath mixer, such as the DB2 or DB4. However, only the USB port shuttles audio, so if you use X:LINK to connect two K2s, only the one connected by USB will transmit audio. There’s no doubt that X:LINK serves a worthy purpose of letting you conveniently sync up K2 units to each other or to a mixer while only using one USB port on a computer, I only wish that it was an open standard that other gear could adopt as well.
THE NO-SPIN XONE
Judging from the extensive conversations on DJ Tech Tools’ forums and other venues, people seem to have a pretty good idea of whether the jogwheel-less Xone:K2 will fit into their setups or not. Generally, although you could track down a pre-made mapping that works for you, the K2 was not really created for the newest of the newbies. It’s a highly customizable MIDI controller for those who want to customize it highly for their own particular purposes. In that way, it’s can be incredibly liberating once you take the time to program it.
One or two of them together could easily suffice for many digital DJ’s needs, or the K2 is also a hell of a supplementary controller. You could add it to a Kontrol X1 to incorporate audio and many additional controls for a super compact DJ rig, or drop it into a busy remixing/production studio as an Ableton Live clip grid and channel strip controller.
The audio interface differentiates the Xone:K2 in an important way, but it also necessarily jacks up the price a bit, which may be a concern for those who would only use it as a controller. At $299, it’s about $100 more than a Kontrol X1, for which you receive a 4-channel audio interface, more controls, and most importantly, full MIDI customization for any MIDI-supporting software, be it for DJing, VJing, music production, or lighting.
Xone K2 Traktor Mapping Denon Software
However you may use it, the Xone:K2 provides a ton of flexibility and possibility. It brings the pro-grade construction and playable feel; you bring the creativity and vision.
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