£1,369, alphatheta.com
When AlphaTheta Company, the mother or father firm of Pioneer DJ, introduced it had created a brand new model to take a seat alongside Pioneer DJ, additionally referred to as AlphaTheta, it raised a number of eyebrows and a ton of confusion. Via the haze of that confusion got here AlphaTheta’s first two merchandise — the WAVE-EIGHT wi-fi speaker and the topic of this overview, the OMNIS-DUO. Each items are designed for portability and DJing-on-the-go, complementing one another and making an attempt to pave sufficient of a differentiating path that justified such a turbulent model switch-up.
The OMNIS-DUO undoubtedly does that, on the floor at the very least. Its hanging all-blue design is a departure from Pioneer DJ’s standard black and gray colourway. It’s additionally a lot smaller than Pioneer DJ’s latest all-in-ones, such because the XDJ-RR and RX3. In actual fact, it’s solely 18mm wider than their uber-popular DDJ-400 controller, which supplies you a way of how a lot AlphaTheta has packed into the OMNIS-DUO kind issue.
OMNIS-DUO setup
On unboxing the unit, you’ll first discover the burden. At 4.6kg, it’s loads heavier than controllers of the identical dimension. However that’s to be anticipated, not least due to the added audio I/O and touchscreen, however the six-hour-plus battery that’s been launched. Extra on that later.
The OMNIS-DUO feels good. Very good. It’s sturdy and stable – the channel faders glide with a satisfying resistance; its cue buttons reply with an affirming click on, and the knobs don’t really feel free underneath the chassis. This looks like a professional unit — and so it ought to, with its price ticket of €1,369.
Switching the unit on – no plug initially required due to the battery – the display is spectacular; shiny and with a wealthy decision. The display may also be inverted in the event you’re DJing exterior within the daylight, which is a pleasant contact.
As soon as you choose your Supply, it’s a well-recognized story of scrolling by means of playlists, artists, albums, tracks, and so forth. Considered one of our favorite issues concerning the OMNIS can be one of many easiest: it’s powered over USB-C. This implies it helps the usual MacBook Professional USB-C plug which can sound inconsequential however with the ability to sizzling swap between laptop computer and controller, or solely bringing one plug with you, on a visit is a pleasure and a lifesaver.
How do you play music from the OMNIS-DUO?
Media-wise, there’s a USB-A slot and an SD card possibility, or you possibly can hook up with rekordbox by way of wi-fi LINK. Oddly, you possibly can’t hook up with a laptop computer and rekordbox library by way of USB-C, regardless of there being a USB-C port for utilizing the unit as a controller. You may solely hook up with rekordbox LINK by way of wi-fi. That is, once more, handy for dwelling use, although we had a number of crashes doing this on firmware 1.0.0. After we up to date to 1.0.1, we couldn’t re-create the issue. In the end, we’d have felt extra snug with a wired cable.
There aren’t but any streaming providers on the OMNIS, which is a serious disappointment. Beatport Streaming and TIDAL on the very least would have been welcome, though we’d be shocked in the event that they had been on the way in which in a future replace. Its fundamental competitor, the DENON Prime GO, has had these accessible for years.
The display is small at seven inches however responds fairly effectively to poking round and scrolling by means of cramped playlists. You may browse both by scrolling along with your finger or utilizing the devoted 360 Browse encoder. Urgent down on the encoder enters a class, Shift-clicking it strikes backwards out of that class — all very apparent and intuitive. Choose the monitor you wish to play, press both the 1 or 2 button to load it to the suitable deck and also you’re up and operating.
How do you utilize the OMNIS-DUO?
When you’re within the combine, the DUO is fairly simple. The eight efficiency buttons on every deck solely function as sizzling cues so there aren’t any modes to fret about. Every channel has the same old three-band EQ and trim with a Color FX knob per channel and there’s a worldwide mixer Beat FX part just like the DJM vary. The results part solely has two buttons, however they don’t allow you to cycle by means of results, solely the beat delay time and different parameters.
Results are extremely private so it’s unimaginable to please everybody, plus the DUO is working inside a decent footprint. Nonetheless, we want we may assign results to every deck, or change the chosen impact with a bodily button. Having to make use of the display each time you wish to alternate between what channel the impact is assigned to is irritating. That is the place FX Pads may turn out to be useful – all of that is fixable by way of firmware updates so possibly AlphaTheta will change up how results work sooner or later. This was our largest frustration utilizing the OMNIS-DUO.
One of many distinctive options of the DUO is the flexibility to ‘stream’ from a Bluetooth gadget. The implementation is pretty distinctive in that it caches audio reside from a Bluetooth supply right into a deck in real-time, with the waveform being constructed earlier than your eyes. Theoretically, you possibly can then ‘DJ’ from any audio supply together with Spotify or YouTube. The gadget doesn’t save the recording so you possibly can’t construct up a library this manner, and you’ve got a max of 10mins of reminiscence per deck when caching. This might have been a really cool characteristic in the event you may then assign what you cached to sampler pads and replayed the incoming audio like a sampler. Because it stands, it’s nonetheless cool however feels prefer it’s a middle-man answer till streaming sources land on the gadget.
AlphaTheta suggests utilizing this to take requests by permitting punters to ship music to your DUO. We’ll allow you to resolve if you wish to open that exact Pandora’s field.
The unit additionally has Bluetooth output however the standard latency caveats apply.
Must you purchase the OMNIS-DUO?
We’ve talked loads about what the OMNIS might be, and what it could be sooner or later, nevertheless it additionally deserves numerous credit score.
It’s modern and feels intuitive, it sounds glorious and it’s exceptionally enjoyable. The battery would possibly appear to be an afterthought to most customers, however you’ll end up going cable-free most of the time. The flexibility to file on the gadget means you are able to do mixes with no cables in any respect, on the couch with the unit in your lap, and music over Wi-Fi. We recorded a number of two-hour units utilizing solely the battery, on to the gadget, and every little thing labored a allure.
Sure, Denon DJ did this primary – although the jogwheels are a world aside – however the actuality is Denon DJ just isn’t the business customary, so there’s much less incentive to undertake their ecosystem in the event you intend to play often in golf equipment. The professionals and cons of AlphaTheta’s dominance in golf equipment are past the scope of this overview however suffice to say this is a wonderful possibility for a house setup for touring, semi-pro and hobbyist DJs.
In case you’re already within the rekordbox ecosystem, the OMNIS-DUO is simply easy to make use of. It’s not low cost, in any respect, however don’t let the monotone blue idiot you – this can be a professional unit and AlphaTheta is off to a improbable begin with their new vary of merchandise. With a number of firmware tweaks, we dare say this might turn into a basic.
Key Options
- Battery and USB-C-powered moveable DJ controller
- As much as 5 hours play time on battery
- Two-deck format with acquainted mixer
- Touchscreen operation
- Navy blue end
- Eight efficiency pads per deck, plus Beat Loop and Beat Leap buttons
- Six Sound Colour FX, eight Beat FX
- Native compatibility with rekordbox and Serato DJ
- USB-A, SD card, USB-C, wi-fi and Bluetooth connectivity
- 2x mic inputs, 1x line enter