- Excellent high-end sound that’s perfect for gigs
- Motorized DJ Decks
- Intuitive and Familiar Layout
- Multiple Software Options Supported
- May Take Getting Used To For Some DJs
- Only Two Channels
It’s hard to find a DJ who isn’t familiar with the Rane name and brand.
Standing out as one of the most dependable audio tech companies on the market, the Rane team has something to offer virtually every artist.
The Rane One professional motorized DJ controller is just one of the main offerings that this business delivers, and today, we’re going to discover what makes it so special.
While it’s fair to say that you won’t get far in the DJing space without skill, any pro is limited by the equipment they have access to.
That’s why the Rane One aims to give you a complete DJ solution that offers a high-quality, versatile mixing experience for a price you can afford.
The Rane One professional DJ controller, with motorized turntable control, comes with two channels and a wide selection of hot cues, radio-style buttons, and more.
If you need a controller that gives you the creative freedom to experiment with your music, alongside plenty of powerful connectivity options, Rane has you covered.
As Rane’s first adventure into the world of motorized DJ controller units, the Rane One professional DJ controller is an undeniable success and a delight to work with. Let’s take a closer look at what this product can do.
Is The Rane One DJ controller Any Good?
YES! It is fantastic. The Rane ONE is a solid, well-built, multi-functional, great-sounding controller. The motorized platters are amazing for scratch DJs and very similar in style to the experience you get on a more advanced setup. The Rane One gives you all the benefits of Rane technology, combined with a clever layout, high performance, and offers DJ software flexibility.
Rane One DJ Controller: Intro
The Rane One professional motorized DJ controller is a beautifully built product featuring high-quality materials and a signature Rane style.
The controller comes with no less than 16 performance pads, a host of effects and buttons to play with, and two sensational mechanical turntables. It’s everything you could want from the Rane brand, packed into a compact, and efficient controller.
This flagship controller is unlike anything that came before it, helping to establish Rane as a ground-breaking pioneer in its field.
At first glance, the Rane One feels like a slightly shrunken version of the larger Rane setups, but that’s not a bad thing.
This mid-sized Rane One professional DJ controller features the same all-metal construction, tactile knobs, and robust performance you’d expect from a complete Rane system. Features include:
- 7.2-inch motorized turntable platters
- Quick-release acrylic disks
- Ultra-light and flexible Mag four crossfader
- Support for leading software like Virtual DJ and Serato DJ Pro
- 3 stereo outputs, dual mic, and dual USB dual USB laptop connections
- Phone/line and aux inputs
- 8 performance pads for each channel
- Access to Serato DJ Pro Scratch bank
- Plunger start/stop function
- Independent mixer mode with DVS
Rane One Professional Motorized DJ Controller: Features
The Rane One professional DJ controller is a sturdy and well-designed controller that feels amazingly well-built and reliable.
Though smaller than the products that came before it, the Rane One is still a substantial product, with enough weight to let you know that you’ve invested in quality.
Rane One Build Quality
The Rane One is a small but chunky professional motorized DJ controller. There’s a 674mm x 345mm chassis with four turntable-style feet, raising the device to around 120mm.
As soon as you take it out of the box, the Rane One immediately showcases its professional stance and impressive aesthetic.
Unsurprisingly, there are no cheap parts or cut corners with the Rane One motorized controller. Everything is built for professional mixing, from the tactile performance pads to the cue button that helps to start your mix.
The mixers look and feel phenomenal thanks to their mechanical design, and the metal switches and plungers are all deeply satisfying.
Though compact enough for travel, this mixer is heavy, which is to be expected with all the extra technology and metal.
You might be able to take this product with you on the move in a car, but don’t try putting it in a backpack.
The Motorized Decks
The most eye-catching feature of the Rane One DJ motorized DJ controller is clearly the two 7-inch motorized decks.
Similar to the platters on the Rane Twelve, the decks are fantastic, durable, and metallic, with direct drive motors pre-installed.
The decks are almost identical to the ones you’ll know from the Rane Twelves, but they’re just a little bit smaller, bringing the Rane One into competition with the Numark NS7III.
Aside from a tactile and textile finish, the motorized decks also feature touch strips to help you search through your music to find just the right moment for that needle drop.
A rotary button and encoder combo simplify track selection.
As expected, pitch controls are smooth and reliable, with lights at the top and button, and a pitch range button that can also act as a keylock.
There’s also a start/stop button, individual deck stop controls, reverse buttons, and censor options to choose from.
Even slip buttons appear on these decks, which is less common among modern controllers these days.
- Excellent high-end sound that’s perfect for gigs
- Motorized DJ Decks
- Intuitive and Familiar Layout
- Multiple Software Options Supported
- May Take Getting Used To For Some DJs
- Only Two Channels
The Mixer
The mixer section feels a lot like that of a much larger Rane product.
There’s a wonderful Mag Four XF crossfader, which is sure to be a top-selling point for any professional stocking up on new equipment.
Two 45mm up faders deliver an excellent balance of resistance, while per-channel Omni filters and 3 bands EQs give creators swift and precise control.
Users can experiment with input and gain selectors for each of their two channels, as well as volume controls for their booth and master connections.
In the middle of the mixer, you’ll also find a strong FX section, with paddles for temporary effects, and buttons that offer access to Serato DJ Pro Scratch options.
Using the mixer on the Rane One DJ motorized DJ controller feels just like using a slightly smaller mixer on the Rane Seventy-Two, or a similar setup.
The experience is fantastic, with two channels to explore. The EQ components in these mixers are set for full kill automatically.
Although you can apparently send both decks to your headphones with the deck cue buttons, we haven’t found a way to do this yet.
Controls, Inputs, And Outputs
On the front of the Rane One motorized DJ controller is a selection of additional controls, as well as extra inputs.
There are two mic inputs available with access to two-band EQ and volume management. The second mic input can switch to an Aux.
Mixer adjuster controls are onboard for scratch DJs, including reverse and crossfader switches, alongside up-fader deck contours and reverse too.
The front of the machine also features headphone controls, including cue level and mix, a split cue button, and two headphone sockets.
If you head around to the back of the mixer, you’ll find the master on/off switch alongside an IEC input socket, dual USB laptop connections, and a low/high torque switch.
The rear of the device is also home to XLR primary and booth outputs, two mic Omni-jacks, an RCA aux-in unit, and multiple deck inputs.
There’s also a ground pin for ground wires.
Loop Controls And Performance Pads
Underneath each deck on your Rane One professional DJ controller, you’ll find a selection of performance pads.
The pads here are formatted in the standard four-by-two pattern to give you two sets of eight. These are the only obvious buttons on the controller made of rubber – likely for comfort purposes.
The pads offer complete, swift, and precise control over your Serato DJ Pro technology, such as dedicated loop controls, hot cues, slicer, sampler, and loop rolls, all with the appropriate variants.
On top of the pads are five button selectors, and choosing a selector allows you to switch to this new pad mode. Pressing the pad, a second time switches into the secondary mode.
Compared to some mixer competitors, you may find that the Rane One pads feel a little smaller. Though the pad size is comparable to that of typical Rane mixers, they might feel just a little offer if you’re used to a different manufacturer.
The good news is that the shift in format isn’t significant enough that it might throw your whole rhythm off.
There are also parameter buttons included within the pad section that gives you further control over your pad functions.
This is quite typical with Serato DJ pro-technology.
The scratch bank feature from Serato is available to access here if you’re exploring your scratching skills.
On the right of each performance pad collection, you’ll find a series of three dedicated loop control buttons.
These buttons are very intuitive for both manual and automatic loops.
Deck Setup And Use
Since the Rane One DJ controller is a complete DJ solution, there are not a lot of initial setups necessary. The slipmats, platters, and control disc are packed separately when you receive your kit.
All you need to do is insert the components into the appropriate enclosures.
Once your components are aligned correctly, they should clip neatly into place. Remember to lock the control disc to the spindle by holding the top of the spindle and rotating the deck till you hear a click.
If you’ve experimented with Rane technology before, like the Rane Twelve, the Rane One is going to feel extremely familiar.
The platters feel just the same as their larger brothers. If you haven’t used motorized decks before, then the Rane One mixer is sure to blow you away.
The high torque motors, complete with their adjustable switch option make everything feel incredible.
When reaching the end of a track, your deck will automatically stop, and hitting reverse spins the disks backward too. There’s even a light to show you when you’re nearing the end of a track.
It’s also possible to totally switch the deck motors off, which might be ideal for DJs who aren’t comfortable with motorized turntables.
The platters allow for scratching when the motors are turned off too.
The touch strip solution on the decks is a fantastic alternative to the old-fashioned tonearm.
You can easily run your finger along the strip to jump to anywhere on your track, with LEDs to guide your location. Each deck also has a rotary top-right scrolling feature to help with browsing through your playlist.
Pressing this knob once will load a track while placing it twice loads the track to both decks.
Next to the rotary, a single button gives you access to the previous screen. When the shift is held, this button will also add selected tracks to a “prepared” library.
- Excellent high-end sound that’s perfect for gigs
- Motorized DJ Decks
- Intuitive and Familiar Layout
- Multiple Software Options Supported
- May Take Getting Used To For Some DJs
- Only Two Channels
Software And Utilities
The Rane One professional DJ controller is a software-ready controller and a Serato DJ Pro product. Once you have your Serato DJ Pro account, you can simply plug your device straight into your laptop (via the dual USB laptop connections) and the software will recognize it automatically.
Setting up Serato DJ Pro is a quick and simple experience. To make your mixing even more intuitive, Rane has also included a crossfader calibration option.
To access the calibration feature, you download the service and run it alongside the unit with the device plugged in.
You might need to move the crossfader around a little bit, and you’ll eventually get a notification letting you know you’re calibrated.
We assume that this makes a difference to the overall performance of the crossfader, though we didn’t try the product without the calibration.
Keep in mind that making the most of your Serato DJ Pro software with the Rane One professional DJ controller does mean devoting at least some time to regularly updating and patching your device.
You may find that you have a few problems if the software becomes outdated before you notice.
Register your device with Rane and they should send you notifications when you need firmware updates.
Effects
The Rane One DJ controller is a highly versatile complete DJ solution, with its access to Serato software, the compelling Mag Four crossfader for precise cut control, and a stunning set of motorized decks.
It even comes with a host of software effect control options built-in.
Like most controller creators, Rane is going above and beyond with the Rane One to make sure you can control your effects as comfortably as possible.
There are a set of two paddles on your device which you can push downwards when you want to engage an effect temporarily. Flicking the buttons upwards means that you lock the effect into place.
A set of six buttons also gives you full access to all of the Serato effects. If you’re familiar with Serato DJ software, you’ll know that they’re formatted across a set of effect engines, with two sets of 3.
However, Rane simplifies the process of choosing your effects by bundling everything together. Once you’ve added your effect, you can access the controls for depth and beats to change the sound.
Notably, Effects are available to access on both channels, and you can hold down multiple buttons at the same time to create combinations of sounds and experiences.
Overall, the effects are fun and intuitive to work with. Flexibility built into the core of everything you do on the Rane One professional DJ controller means that there’s plenty of scope for professionals to get creative.
Rane One DJ Controller Review: Pros and Cons
The Rane One is a delight in DJ engineering, and a fantastic product for any professional to invest in. If you’ve always wanted to get your hands on a more portable mid-sized controller from Rane, then the One delivers, with the beautiful build quality and an amazing set of features.
The platter is amazing for scratch DJs and very similar in style to the experience you get on bigger setups.
The buttons for effects and mix management feel smooth and intuitive. Even sliding through your tracks is a wonderful experience.
Combine all that with innovation like the Mag four crossfader, and it’s easy to see why people are falling in love with this machine.
The Rane One motorized DJ controller gives you all the benefits of Rane technology, combined with an intuitive layout, performance, and software flexibility.
Pros
- Excellent high-end sound that’s perfect for gigs
- Motorized DJ decks for an authentic feel
- Intuitive and familiar layout
- Multiple software options supported, including Serato
- Wide range of inputs and outputs to choose from
- Mag four crossfader for expert cutting
- Powerful selection of 16 performance pads, eight for each channel
- Hot cue, pitch n’ time, saved loop, sampler, slicer, and roll
- Scratch bank feature from Serato
- FX control with stackable buttons
- Fine-tuned depth control
- Instant software access panels
- Navigation control and touch sliders
- Dedicated loop and pitch range controls
- EQ 3-band isolator control
Cons
- May take a while to get used to for some DJs
- Only two channels
- No secondary function on loops
- Small microphone switches and buttons
Rane One Professional Motorized DJ Controller: The Verdict
The Rane One professional motorized DJ controller checks a lot of important boxes for DJs in search of the perfect mixer.
For years before the Rane One arrived, DJs were dreaming of a device just like this, offering sensational performance and tactile experiences through motorized decks and amazing buttons.
The Rane One professional DJ controller might not be the first mixer to deliver motorized platters on a smaller device, but the Rane does something that no other company can.
Offering the feel of real vinyl and a wonderful range of feature options, the Rane One motorized DJ controller is as close to perfect as a mid-sized mixer can get.
This is a product designed for a specific market, including DJs that want to scratch, perform routines, and battle.
The Rane One’s sensational combination of high-quality materials, powerful features, and access to leading software make it hard to find anyone who wouldn’t be drawn to this device.
Although it’s not the cheapest controller out there, it’s also way more affordable than paying for a pair of turntables and a battle mixer separately.
- Excellent high-end sound that’s perfect for gigs
- Motorized DJ Decks
- Intuitive and Familiar Layout
- Multiple Software Options Supported
- May Take Getting Used To For Some DJs
- Only Two Channels
