The Rane Four DJ controller has all the features and the price to set itself up to be one of the premier and higher-end DJ gear options on the market to date, especially if you are a fan of Serato DJ Pro. Outfitted with four channels, the Rane Four has been designed to offer the perfect performance for any DJ serious about going out there and looking their best.
And while it’s not technically a scratch unit the same way the Rane One is, the Rane Four does offer professional FX hardware, Serato DJ Pro deep Stems compatibility, as well as several very useful performance inclusions like dual mics and laptop USBs. Simply put, while it may not be the greatest controller ever made, there aren’t a lot of controllers that get quite as close
Is the Rane Four a Good DJ Controller?
The Rane Four is generally considered to be a very good DJ controller. It offers a lot of advanced features that are popular among DJs, such as four channels for mixing multiple tracks, high-quality audio inputs and outputs, and intuitive, responsive controls. Overall, if you’re looking for a high-quality DJ controller with lots of advanced features and excellent build quality, the Rane Four is definitely worth considering.
First Impressions
Starting with first impressions, the Rane Four looks and feels like a better version of a classic Rane controller. From the styling to the colors to even the different components, this thing says “I’m the best” and says it unabashedly.
Build
From a physical build perspective, the Rane Four is fairly big, weighing around 18 lbs. and hosting several impressive dimensions (31 x 16 x 4). It’s made from a solid metal construction and is one of the very few options out there with a fully removable top plate.
This removable plate makes access to the faders much easier, making any fader servicing that much easier and faster.
Even when looked at on its own merits, the Rane Four is very much a controller built to stand up to just about anything you throw at it.
Design
On the design side of things, the Rane Four does take a few liberties, particularly with the included platters.
Rather than the smaller motorized platter sizes one may be used to with a Rane controller, the Rane Four seems to – rightly or wrongly – instead go all out with two fixed full-size platters. While I doubt most people would complain, if you’re a real traditional Rane stickler, you’re probably going to at least notice the difference.
Features
Taking a deeper look into the Rane Four, we see that there are a lot of impressive blips and bops stuffed into the controller giving it its je ne sais quoi.
Not only do its aforementioned platters work like a dream, but its in-jog displays are the right level of brightness. I can see why some may have been interested in a sort of adjustment control, but for me and most other people, I’d say it’s at the best level of brightness.
Mixer
Starting with the mixer, what the Rane Four puts together here is really good. Not only does it manage to thread the needle between a “busy” or “engaged” setup without feeling especially cramped is very impressive.
The layout acts more closely to that of a fusion between a mixer from a club and one used for scratching. It comes with some of the expected Rane inclusions, like the paddle area or the FX area.
On top of that, the controller comes with four channels along with a selectable filter FX, coming in with just about everything you’d need, ranging from a split cue button around the front, controls for a second mic, as well as a crossfader-assigned segment and contour controls.
At the mixer’s back, the Rane Four offers both balanced and unbalanced master out ports, along with a balanced booth out, a pair of computer USB inputs, an IEC power socket, as well as a pair of external channel inputs that can be switched between phono and line.
The IEC power socket is particularly impressive as they’ve seemed to pull out all the stops, using something much more top-of-the-line compared to the more inexpensive and standard 12-20V power brick that is often used.#
Decks
The Rane Four’s two decks, as previously mentioned, come with a pair of full-size 8.5″ fixed platters. And while this isn’t standard with most Rane controllers, you get used to it pretty fast and can find yourself enjoying it pretty quickly, especially with the size being what it is.
Additionally, each deck hosts an internal display on either platter showing key info, waveforms, BPM, song positioning, and any elapsed time, as well as a “sticker” for any additional scratching.
The decks both come with rubberized RGB pads that are pretty big when compared to most other controllers. They both also come with their own set of OLED mini displays that directly feed into the pad modes and selections.
There’s also a pair of play/pause buttons along with several cue buttons. The buttons are all very big with a noticeable click to them, which is great for those that like that more tactile feeling to know when they’re pressing what they’re pressing.
The decks both come with a pair of pitch sliders that are fairly long and smooth to let you transition more easily from track to track. They also come with a really effective beat jump section, each with its size selector knobs along with a pair of left/right buttons.
This all culminates into a situation where you’re able to access virtually any control you’re looking for, whether it’s loop controls, library navigation, key adjusters, slip/censors, or the pitch bend. Seriously, if you can think of it, the Rane Four’s decks have it.
Connectivity
The Rane Four DJ controller has several input and output connectivity features that make it a versatile tool for DJs. Here’s a breakdown of some of its key connectivity options:
- Audio Inputs: This unit has two RCA stereo input pairs, two combos XLR/1/4″ mic/line inputs and a dedicated 1/4″ TRS booth output. This provides plenty of options for connecting different types of audio sources, including turntables, CD players, and microphones.
- Audio Outputs: The unit has two balanced XLR main outputs, and RCA stereo output pair, and a dedicated 1/4″ TRS booth output. This provides multiple options for sending audio to a sound system, amplifier, or other devices.
- USB Connectivity: The Rane 4 can be connected to a computer via USB, which allows for integration with DJ software and easy recording of mixes. It also has two USB ports, so you can connect two laptops at once and switch between them without interrupting the music.
- MIDI Connectivity: It is also a fully MIDI-compatible device, which means it can be used to control other MIDI-enabled devices, such as synthesizers or drum machines. It has both MIDI input and output ports.
- Digital Audio Connectivity: The controller has a built-in 24-bit/96kHz audio interface, which means that it can also be used as a standalone audio interface for recording and playback of high-quality digital audio.
Overall, the Rane Four’s input and output connectivity features make it a powerful tool for DJs who need a versatile, high-quality audio interface that can handle a variety of audio sources and output options.
Stems: Serato DJ Software
For the Stems implementation, there are a few features worth taking a look at to show why it’s such a great inclusion.
Acapella and Stems Dedicated Instrumental Buttons
The first and most immediate things you’ll notice are the Acapella and Instrumental buttons. Both of these are great as they effectively offer you an instant acapella or instrumental sound at the press of a button at any time.
The sound quality varies a bit based on the track’s innate quality. While you’ll be hard-pressed to get a sound that’s indistinguishable from true acapella or instrumental, you can often get surprisingly close, with it rarely ever being completely unusable for a performance.
Stems Pad Mode
In addition to the two buttons, the Stems feature comes with a specific stems pad mode that can be used to isolate as well as entirely remove various aspects of a track. These can range from the track’s bass and melodies to its vocals as well as even its drums. To do this, you tap the top four performance pads for either deck. For any of the pre-programmed effects, you’ll want to press any of the bottom performance pads. As an example, if you wanted to remove the music from a track while retaining its acapella, you’d either use the bottom pre-programmed effects or one of the top established set effects. This is true for all of the features, and pad modes, and is super easy and accessible after only a few minutes of playing around with it.
Exclusive Stem Split feature
There’s also what’s known as the “Stem Split” which acts like an instant doubles feature. The difference is that here, you can play the track, use the Stems Split feature, and add in the acapella feature on the track while it’s still playing. What’s more, by splitting it, you can also add the instrument to an adjacent channel. Stem Split can be used alongside the channel faders to better adjust the track while adding FX or EQ filters, essentially allowing you to play two versions of a song simultaneously along both channels.
PC Accessibility
While not quite capable for all computers, based on their power, you can use the stems feature to handle pretty much all of the work, either ahead of time or entirely on the fly. This can be performed using a streaming service, though there are second or two delays between tracks, which isn’t too bad when you realize it’s doing almost everything on its own.
FX
The Rain Four has three different FX types available for users: The Serato Main FX, Serato Channel FX, and the Rane Hardware Main FX.
Serato Main FX
For the Serato Main FX, this effect relies primarily on using paddles as well as joystick-based beat control, a parameter knob, as well as a wet/dry knob. While this feature works with the Rane Hardware Main FX as well, the two are somewhat different. Here, the Serato FX offers control for six FX units that are spread across two decks
Serato Channel FX
Serato’s software FX feature offers various controls including the filter, filter & roll, flanger, and noise effects. All of these effects are controlled by the various knobs underneath the EQ channels that are prominently on display. And while they have a lot going for these features, the one drawback is that the fine-tuning control isn’t as impressive as one would expect, not offering the ability to control any of their parameters.
Rane Hardware Main FX
The Rane Hardware Main Creative FX works pretty similarly to the Serato Main FX, with this option being newer and more unique, including things like a greater amount of control over the six control options, with 22 total features to play with and cycle through. You can also save any of your favorite effects to the six buttons, allowing for some level of customization based on what works for you.
Additional Features
The FX features all have access to a small screen that shows what you’re doing with the joystick (the thing you’re going to use for beatmatching and manipulating the BPM). It’s very intuitive, with a car reversal aspect to it that makes its use surprisingly easy to play with.
It can also be used entirely laptop-free, working well with a set of record decks plugged into the third and fourth channels. The Channel FX features, when used, will revert to filters only, while the hardware FX features are still usable even when plugged into separate channels or accessed without the laptop.
When it is plugged into your laptop, everything will be set to run with the Serato software. This includes the Hardware FX features as well as adding them to any of your inputs. This all means you can quickly and easily record and live stream your music without a ton of hassle on your end.
Overall Performance
What We Like:
- Very Large
- Full-Size Platters
- Mixer Doesn’t Feel Crowded
- Hardware & Software Effects Are Great Overall
What We Do Not Like:
- In-Jog Displays Don’t have Brightness Adjustor
- Beatgrid Also Doesn’t Have a Proper Adjuster
Final Thoughts
While certainly a bit of a step away from the standard and expected Rane controller brand, the Rane Four makes sure to keep the main focus of appealing to quality performance well intact.
It may not have a dedicated scratching feature, but what it does is certain to make all but the most ardent scratch DJs happy enough, being a perfect transition over for those in the Pioneer DJ camp.
This was done specifically as a way to broaden the controller’s appeal, hitting the more performance-driven DJs that wanted something at the truly professional level – something the Rane Four excels at.
As a result, from its entirely metal build to its removable faceplate and incredible sound quality to its all-around performance in general, the Rane Four makes it clear that they really want to stand in the ring with the rest of the high-end performers rather than stay at the “kiddie pool” with the rest of the more standard and accessible controllers out there. Simply put, they’ve made it clear that this isn’t a controller for those that are just goofing around.
Probably the biggest selling point here (besides the channels, Serato features, or all-around impressive FX hardware) is the Stems feature. While it’s relatively new to the scene, what it provides is more than enough to be the perfect game changer, especially as it improves over time.
Currently, it just stands at “fairly good” though when you consider how it can just turn on instrumental or acapella mode at the push of a button, it’s clear that there’s a lot of upside with this device.
Rane Four: The Verdict
Ultimately, while Rane has always been a “good enough” product that has been on the north side of impressive, the Rane Four is the type of device that makes people stop and pay attention.
If you’re someone that has always been a Serato lover and proponent of some of the greats like the Pioneer DJ DDJ-1000SRT, the Rane Four will not only sit shoulder-to-shoulder with these devices but, in many cases, outright surpass them.
