‘GRV’ hinting at a groove remixing feature set and the ‘6’ indicating a mid-range product – the DDJ-FLX4 being entry level and DDJ- FLX10 being pro level. As with all DDJ controllers, you need a laptop, and for the GRV6 your software options are AlphaTheta's rekordbox and Serato DJ. The DDJ-GRV6 also supports iOS and Android devices with rekordbox for 2-channel mixing using a cable connection. As the DDJ-GRV6 is USB-C powered, this opens up a world of fun for outdoor gatherings where there is no power: all you need is a power bank and a battery speaker!

So, what does it look like? Well, the DDJ-GRV6 is a large 4-channel controller with two large jog wheels, a 4-channel mixer section, and a new groove-control section with a smart rotary selector to navigate your software. At 711mm wide and 4.6kg, it's slightly smaller and lighter than the flagship DDJ-FLX10. The layout of the players and mixer are inherited from the CDJs and DJMs, providing continuity for DJs transitioning to clubs and festivals.

Each player section has a large capacitive jog wheel with an LED position display, a fairly short tempo slider, master-tempo button, beat-sync and key-sync buttons, cue, play/pause, deck number select, loop in and loop out, reloop, slip, quantize, and memory call buttons. There are also eight PAD buttons located at the top of the player instead of below the jog wheel. With the selection of four pad mode buttons below the pads, you can make the pads function as hot-cue, stems, beat jump, sampler, key-shift, beat-loop, pad FX, and keyboard modes.

The mixer section features four well-spaced-out channel controls, each with gain, EQ (high, mid and low), and sound colour knobs, a headphone cue button that also selects stems functionality instead of EQ, a channel fader (again, these are quite short), and an LED channel-level indicator. There is a software configurable cross fader, although I couldn't find a way to disable it! Master-level and booth-level knobs are provided, but there is no master-level indicator.

The beat FX section has an LED display and all the usual controls, and features beat FX lifted from the DJM-A9 mixer: delay, LC echo, spiral, helix, reverb, flanger, phaser, filter, trans, pitch, roll, and both mobius effects. ALPHATHETA DDJ-GRV6 For the sound colour FX section, there is a button that Let's you select from jet, crush, noise, pitch, space, dub echo, sweep, and gate/comp. On the rear panel of the DDJ-GRV6 is a microphone balanced connector with an attenuator.

Master output is via a pair of RCA phono connectors and pair of balanced TRS 1/4" jacks. A pair of RCA phono connectors is provided for the booth output. There is also a Kensington lock for added security. Two USB-C sockets are used for power in – one combines power for the controller and signal from either an iOS or an Android device, or a PC running rekordbox or Serato.

On the front panel are two headphone jacks: one standard 1/4" jack and the other a 3.5mm jack, with a level and mix adjustment. Next to this is also a mic level control. And then we come to the controller’s exciting innovation – a new top section that incorporates the new groove controls and browse section. The browse section has a central multi-function smart rotary selector, allowing you to navigate around your rekordbox or Serato screen.

Buttons are provided to load selected tracks into each of the four channels and for further navigation of the software. ALPHATHETA DDJ-GRV6 alphatheta ddj-grv6 The groove section is a new function provided by rekordbox 7.0.4 onwards (this is the first version which supports the DDJ-GRV6 – previous versions will not see it). If you intend to run Serato, the function of this section is different and is used to control Serato's Stems. I'll come to that in a minute, a but I’ll look at rekordbox's Mac and Windows functionality first.

When using rekordbox, the groove circuit function enables creative remixing on the fly by substituting the drum parts of the track. There are four drumswap buttons and a gain control available, plus two selectable banks of drum swaps, making a total of eight. rekordbox 7.0.4 comes with a bunch of drum loops but there is a free downloadable 40-loop pack of all kinds available, any of which you can easily place into the eight slots. For example, imagine playing a well-known RnB track… with groove control, you can easily turn it into a DnB banger, live in the mix.

Furthermore, there’s a capture button that allows you to extract the drum part of any rekordboxanalysed track for use on another channel! To the right of these buttons are some additional effects buttons for creating live drum rolls and fills, and a drum-release paddle switch for creating breakdowns. 89 alphatheta ddj-grv6 As I touched on before, the groove section has a different purpose in Serato and AlphaTheta have provided a couple of removable overlays in the box to cover it up for Serato use.

This section now becomes a stems FX section with a level/depth knob; stems isolator buttons for vocal, melody, bass and drums; four stems roll/trans buttons; and an FX paddle switch. So, what do I think of the DDJ-GRV6? I As a long-time user of Pioneer DJ and rekordbox, it's great to see innovation, and this little beastie does pique my interest. Based on the groove feature, it's clearly aimed at creative home DJs.

I have played with that feature for a while and everything was seamless and a lot of fun. And although I can imagine I my wedding clients would be a little put off if I was constantly using these new features on their wellloved classic songs, I can also see it going down really well for a few well-rehearsed tracks! As the groove feature is enabled in rekordbox, I know it is available for use in other controllers too, and I will definitely use it myself every now and then.

I got the chance to try it on my DDJ-FLX10 at a recent corporate function and it worked brilliantly. For creative DJs in particular, this is a game-changing new feature – just make sure you don't overdo it. Most of my work as a professional full-time mobile DJ means that I use reliable, high end, great-sounding equipment. 90 Currently, I work with a DDJ-FLX10 that is well-built and bomb-proof!

Would I exclusively use the DDJ- GRV6 for mobile work? Probably not, due to the lack of full microphone controls, no aux-input (for sending background music from an iPad for example), and lack of main output-level meter. But if I had to, it would work very well as a backup. have seen comments from DJs about the lack of 'professional' XLR outputs on the DDJ-GRV6, and although this is true, what they all missed is that AlphaTheta has provided two balanced TRS 1/4" jacks, which will easily connect to a pro PA system.

So it's not actually an issue. would certainly use the DDJ-GRV6 at home to do our regular Mole and Son Mixcloud Live sessions (with my son Simon) – it's perfect for that. I would have loved to have seen multicoloured loop button LEDs, as I identify the type of cues and loops I use with different colours, but on the DDJ-GRV6 they are just blue, whatever colours you set in the software. On the plus side, the controls are intuitive, and the mixer layout has plenty of space between the knobs, making the controller incredibly easy to use, even with my big thumbs.

Incidentally, with my creative head on, those big thumbs give a big thumbs up to AlphaTheta for giving us such an innovative, fun controller. Peter, can I keep it? ALPHATHETA DDJ-GRV6 SUB 7 MK3 SERIES ACTIVE SUBWOOFERS Featuring Bass Motion Control B U I LT TO M OV E YO U R AU