Wayward Product Review: We test the Tonium Pacemaker

There are a lot of great things about this job. The newest, I recently learned: High-tech companies can be convinced to lend out high-tech gadgets for review.

I read about the Tonium Pacemaker in the August issue of XLR8R. It’s a Swedish-designed, portable, self-contained DJ kit, with two stereo channels, a mixer and a host of digital effects, all crammed into a hand-held gadget the size of a PSP. It markets itself as the perfect on-the-go DJ companion, with the capacity to upload either 60 or 120 GB of music. But it’s prohibitively priced at $599 (for the 60 gig) and $699 (for 120 gig), which is a lot of money for a DJ to shell out on as-yet-unproven equipment.

I wrote the company, asking them to let us borrow a Pacemaker to test. Miraculously, Tonium’s PR reps at Max Borges Agency had one in the mail to us within 24 hours. 

The way it’s pictured makes it appear cordless, as though a DJ could rock a party and jump around with the crowd at the same time. Immediately, I pictured it in the hands of the local mixers who appear a little torn between manning the turntables and dancing with the party people. (Miles Bonny and the Nomathmatics crew leap to mind.)

DJ Sku and Brent Tactic, who have recently been teaming up for Yeeeah Buddy!, their First Friday gigs at Czar Bar, were perfectly suited for test-driving the Pacemaker. First revelation: It’s not cordless. (Cars don’t fly yet, either. Sigh.)

Here’s their review: