DJ Days is a trade fair and expo for DJs held by music gear retailer Thomann at their HQ in Treppendorf, Germany, featuring not only the latest and greatest in DJ gear – from turntables and controllers to mixers, software, lighting and more – but also a packed schedule of illuminating talks and workshops and and electric performances from DMC Champion DJs.
DJ Days hosted some of the top brands in modern DJing, with hardware manufacturers such as Rane, Allen & Heath and Reloop joined by DJ software developers like Serato, Engine OS and DJ.Studio.
We headed out to DJ Days to check out the gear on show and speak to product reps about a few of our favourite pieces of hardware and software from Rane, Reloop, Allen & Heath, Ecler and DJ.Studio.
Our pick of the bunch was Rane’s System One, a controller unveiled at NAMM 2026 that the company describes as the world’s first standalone DJ system to feature motorized, vinyl-style platters, bringing together the tactile response of a classic turntable with the modern convenience of a digital standalone controller.
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It’s a flagship product for RANE at a premium price point ($2499) but you get a ton of cutting-edge features for all that cash, including onboard stem separation and access to RANE’s OmniSource architecture. This allows you to mix seamlessly between tracks from multiple sources - USB drives, SD cards, cloud libraries, streaming services and DJ software like Serato DJ Pro and Algoriddim Djay – all navigated via a crisp, full-colour vertical touchscreen.
Another highlight of the event was Reloop’s PTB-2 mixer, which was paired with the RP-7 at the company’s booth, a turntable designed specifically for 7-inch records that Reloop tells us doesn’t compromise on the pro features found in the company’s larger decks.
As an ultra-compact DJ mixer for mobile setups, the PTB-2 looks like the perfect match for the RP-7, giving mobile DJs a highly portable set-up with a decent amount of connectivity for the price, offers switchable phono/line RCA inputs, a USB-C audio interface for DVS control and Bluetooth streaming, along with the option to bus-power the mixer from your phone or power bank.
We also checked out several other mixers at the show – boutique rotary mixers from Ecler and Allen & Heath’s all-new entry-level Xone:24C – and were treated to a fascinating demo from DJ.Studio, an AI-powered “DAW for DJs” that can be used to create DJ mixes offline, with ultra-high-quality stem separation and AI-powered tools that automatically arrange tracks by key and BPM for optimized transitions.
