Unboxing photo shoots are a modern phenomenon that have blessed/plagued the tech websites for a few years now. Loathed and hated in equal measure, they aim to show people who don’t have one what they look like, beyond the ultra glossy studio shots and CGI renders. So it’s only fair that those who love them get a slice of that action, while those that hate them don’t have to look.

So the latest star of our unboxing endeavours is the new (but seems old now) Native Instruments Kontrol Z2 mixer/controller. It’s a stunning lump of technology out of the box – heavier than you might expect and a marked step up in quality from their controllers. The weight has me so intrigued that I’m sorely tempted to open this puppy up to see if it’s artificially heavy. I doubt it is but it’s worth a look inside anyway, if only to check the space for full-sized Innofaders.

Hooking it up to Traktor Pro 2.6 yielded the expect results – everything works as it should, the post-fader effects operate perfectly, and I now know what flux mode does exactly – and it’s a lot of fun. More than that I cannot say as I haven’t played with the Kontrol Z2 long enough to form solid opinions. I’ll be reporting back in a couple of weeks when I’m very intimate with the finer points of the Z2. But I think I’m going to have some fun with this.

Here’s some pictures, shot, cleaned up and uploaded in 90 minutes. So don’t expect excellence, but good enough.