DBeat Portable DJ Console Taking Pre-Orders

Let’s see, a full-featured version of Ableton Live inside a 20-pound aluminum casing with a touch screen and a plethora of buttons and knobs? No, I’m not surprised by the $4,000 price tag. Still, you’ve got to admire Open Labs’ work here. The DBeat features a 12-inch touch screen and integrated trackball, plus drum pads, a DJ crossfader and an iPod-compatible cradle. On the software side, there’s Open Labs’ GURU beat maker and a proprietary virtual instrument host called Riff. Combine that with Ableton’s 14 GB of pre-loaded sounds and you’ve got a palette of 10,000 sounds to work with. USB turntables can be connected directly, and the DBeat is compatible with other software such as Reason and Traktor. About that price tag: Pre-order now and Open Labs will knock $500 off the sticker price. How does that sound? [via DBeat]