Richie Hawtin has been at the forefront of technologal advancements in DJing for years.

During the 2000s he led the charge of digital DJs, becoming the most famous spokesperson for Native Instruments’ Traktor software and an evangelical user of Allen & Heath’s Xone devices. His latest foray into DJ hardware is a new brand called PLAYdifferently, a venture alongside former Allen & Heath engineer Andy Rigby-Jones.

The pair’s first device isn’t what you’d expect given their history with digital innovation. Instead of offering control over software like the Xone series, the Model 1 is an all-analog mixer that concentrates on sound quality first and foremost, claiming to treat vinyl, CDJs and laptops equally and offer DJs a performance experience they can’t get with traditional mixers.

Eager to see if Model 1 lived up to the hype, FACT TV caught up with the pair in Berlin to get the lowdown on the mixer, along with a demonstration from Hawtin himself.

Hawtin will be playing at this year’s Weather Festival in Paris from June 3-5 – tickets for that can be found here.

Model 1 is released on June 30. Full info is available at the PLAYdifferently website.