The menu system is straight forward to use. DMX Mode allows you to choose from the 6-, 9-, 21- or 30-channel DMX modes. Auto Mode gives you the standalone options using one of the 12 built-in shows, or selecting Auto will run through all 12 shows randomly. Slave (or Secondary) Mode allows you to set Master (Primary) unit along with Secondary 1 and 2, for daisy chaining the units without DMX control.

Meanwhile, the advanced menu allows you to control the Dimmer Mode, Display, DMX Fail and LED Calibration across all four of the RGBW elements. The COB (chip on board) LED is a type of LED lighting technology that uses multiple LED chips mounted directly onto a substrate, creating compact and efficient light source. This allows the CosmoPAR to produce a very bright output, due to the large number of LED chips packed closely together, whilst also providing the benefit of uniform light output.

It's also worth me mentioning the CosmoPAR’s luminance. Luminance refers to the amount of light that passes through, is emitted from, or is reflected from a particular area, and falls within a given solid angle. At a 1m distance and a beam angle of 40 degrees, the CosmoPAR produces: • Red: 1429 • Green: 1469 • Blue: 1872 • White: 1205 • Full On (RGBW): 5820 While the above is technical and will mean something to some people, I’m sure you all really want to know how good they are on the road.

CITRONIC COSMOPAR CITRONIC COSMOPAR I popped the units on Gravity Stands via a top-hat and used them at a wedding and a wedding showcase. The single-pole look really sets the units off, which for someone like me with OCD is aesthetically pleasing. The colours the CosmoPAR produced were warm and vivid. Whilst I would have preferred the LED to be hexcolour and warm-white – for creating rich amber hues or that required warm-white for retro events – the units manage to provide a good enough mix of colours to produce what I needed.

The lights performed perfectly across the events I tested them at. Using DMX to produce a twinkle effect across the fixture and recreate the couple’s wedding colours meant the CosmoPAR fitted in perfectly with the welcome. The fixture creates a beautiful halo-style effect from the centre COB LED, and when the party kicked off, the brightness turned up, and different modes were activated, the a CosmoPAR delivered faultlessly. I can also see the CosmoPAR being used on stages for corporate events and award ceremonies, as well as the wedding and party market.

I will certainly be adding two of these to my inventory straight away and I can’t wait to use them at both my corporate and private events. a .£ The Yamaha DM3 is a product you wouldn’t necessarily expect to see in a magazine for DJs, but it’s a perfect fit for our market for those requiring a little more than just your average controller or mixer. input digital audio console, the Yamaha DM3 comes in two flavours – the more affordable DM3-S (Standard) priced at £1,600 or the DM3 priced at £2,000.

The latter includes Dante (Audio over IP) but both options are identical otherwise. The audio quality from the desk is amazing thanks to its 96kHz sampling rate (which can also be knocked down to 48kHz if required), on top of Yamaha’s great pre-amps and processing. The desk is powerful yet intuitive thanks to its simple layout. Yamaha has fitted the DM3 with a 9” touch screen that’s plenty big enough to see everything you need, whilst keeping the desk in its compact form factor.

In fact, the desk is small enough that it can be racked in a 19” rack. Most functions can be accessed by simply touching the item you want to control on the touchscreen and turning the ‘touch and turn’ knob on the righthand side of the desk. This approach keeps the desk’s design clean and sleek, as it doesn’t have a whole array of confusing knobs and buttons. The DM3 has 8 + 1 motorised faders (8 channels and 1 master), which follow the multiple layers you can select using the fader bank buttons to the side of the desk.

The fader layer buttons allow you to go between inputs 1-8, inputs 9-16, FX/monitors, outputs, and the two custom fader layers which you can freely assign in the menu. In a single channel strip, you have the fader, the channel on/off button, the cue button (to preview the channel on the headphones or cue output), and the channel select button. All these buttons are illuminated so you know when you have them active or not. One feature I particularly like is the option to automatically select a channel by simply moving the channel fader – something you can toggle on/ off from the menu.

It takes a bit of getting used to but is quite nice to use! So, why is this product in a DJ magazine? At first glance, you might think the DM3 is quite an expensive piece of equipment that DJs probably wouldn’t use. But you would be wrong!

The DM3 is actually the perfect match for DJs – and here’s why. It fits into a small space (perfect for your DJ booths). It features Yamaha’s amazing pre-amps and channel control, meaning your microphones won’t be limited to the often awful microphone inputs found on most controllers. It also allows you to expand your inputs and output options, should you need to.

YAMAHA DM3 And there are a whole host of other winning features that I’ll cover in this review, including computer/app control and USB audio input and output (great for recording and direct playback). Incidentally, the Yamaha DM3 isn’t just for live use; it’s a fully-fledged control surface too. So, if you are a producer or like making your own tracks in the studio, the DM3 will fit right in and can become part of your digital audio workstation. It comes bundled with Cubase AI software.

Oh, and you can even load VST effects on a computer and use them live through Yamaha’s VST rack software. On-board the controller are six user-defined keys that sit below the fader bank buttons. You can program these buttons as custom desk functions or use them to remotely control software like Cubase in DAW Remote Bank mode. DJs will love the range of on-board connectivity options too.

The DM3 offers 16 analog inputs: only and 4 XLR/TRS combo sockets. These input channels can be linked to create a stereo pair, and you can even choose which parameters of those channels are linked (meaning they can be controlled together) or turned off (for individual control). For example, you could link the faders to control the volume together but have separate EQ, so both channels can be EQed differently. In the output section are eight analog XLR outputs, named ‘omni out’ because they can be assigned as anything you want – ie as a mix output, a matrix output, or another function, such as inputs direct to outputs, cue, monitor, FX only, USB, Dante (DM3 only) or oscillator.

That last bit may sound like a load of random words, but all the functions are handy for different reasons. Imagine you were doing speeches for a wedding and you wanted to send a separate mix to a recorder to record the speeches? Or give a feed to the videographer? You could simply send them feed without any music, just microphones.

In a studio environment, using the cue would be handy if you wanted to solo a particular channel to your main set of speakers without using a headphone output. Speaking of headphone outputs, I should mention that there is one on the front panel of the desks with a rotary control for volume – this is for cueing or listening to your main mix when no cueing is active. As well as these physical inputs and outputs, the DM3 also features digital inputs and outputs.

Using USB gives you 18 inputs and 18 outputs. Using Dante (DM3 model only) you also get access to 16 inputs and 16 outputs over IP. YAMAHA DM3 YAMAHA DM3 All the options for inputs and outputs are freely assignable, so you can do some rather complex mixing and routing if you want to! And just above the headphone port is a USB port.

This is used for plugging in a USB storage device to recall and save scenes to and from the desk, but you can also record to a USB stick. Another great feature that will be particularly useful to DJs is the two FX banks, which include some of in Yamaha’s perfected audio effects such as reverb, delay, chorus, flange, phase, symphonic (a kind of doubler/expander) and dual pitch (pitch shifter). Most often these are used for reverb and delays – great if you’re working with vocalists or musicians.

You simply assign the channels you want to the effect and return the effect back into whatever mix you want – easy! Yamaha also includes a library of preset effects that you can choose from too. Whilst we’re on the subject of the library function, hitting that button whilst in a channel also brings up a range of presets for you to choose from which are filterable for easy navigation – all, vocal, drums, guitars, keys, horns, strings, spoken, and others.

These presets change your channel settings, including for both EQ and dynamics, which is a great way to get your desk set up quickly or to give you a start point to tweak from. You can also create and store your own presets for future use. Another great feature is mute groups. They allow you to assign channels to a group, which can then be muted and unmuted together by the simple press of that particular mute-group button.

There are six mute groups on the DM3. A great example for mute groups is for FX – a simple way to turn FX on/off with one button, like at the end of a song when a performer wants to talk rather than sing. a 81 yamaha dm3 Each channel has its own dynamics settings, including gates, compressors and ducking, as well as its own EQ, which includes a high-pass filter (great for removing that low-end rumble and feedback from If mics when near subs). There’s both analog and digital is gain, phantom power, delay, and phase as well.

Inputs aren’t the only things that are feature-rich on the DM3. The outputs also include a graphic EQ, a parametric EQ, dynamics, delay, pan and of course volume control, and you can use presets here too. The DM3 also allows you to store scenes that you can switch between – useful if you are running a show that needs multiple quick changes or if you just want to save different configurations and recall them. For example, you might want specific settings for different venues you work in.

You can also set the presets to fade, so they don’t suddenly snap when you recall them! In terms of external control for the DM3 series, Yamaha has a range of control options other than in using what’s on the surface. Connecting a DM3 to a network will give you control through apps, although you will need to connect to an existing network as there is no Wi-Fi built into the console. Yamaha has apps called StageMix, for remote control, and MonitorMix, which allows performers to adjust If their own mixes.

There is also a DM3 editor software for Mac and Windows, allowing you to pre-configure your DM3 before you even take it out the box. You can also keep the software connected to the DM3 during operation for monitoring and control purposes, as well as save a file to a memory stick and recall it on the desk when it’s in situ. The DM3 editor is a great way to backup your console and all its settings too. If you want to go even further you can even control the DM3 series via OSC and USB-MIDI.

Not something I tried, but something I likely will in the future. As I mentioned in the opening, the DM3-S comes without Dante (Audio over IP), whilst the DM3 model comes with it included. This does mean you can use the DM3 model with remote stage boxes and inputs/ outputs via the Dante ports. Yamaha sells its own stage boxes but as Dante is open-source, you aren’t limited to using Yamaha’s offerings alone, greatly expanding your options.

In our case, it means we can link the Yamaha DM3 to our Allen & Heath SQ5 and share audio between them all over the network. It also means we could use Dante to patch an output directly to a speaker via the network. This may sound like witchcraft but it’s pretty easy and can also save a tonne of cabling! 82 Unfortunately you can’t just buy something to convert a DM3-S model to a DM3, so make sure you know if you do or don’t want Dante before you buy. you don’t, you’ll save a bit of money, as the DM3-S the cheaper option.

All in all, these compact digital mixing consoles offer a huge range of input and output options with powerful processing behind them. The DM3 consoles are user-friendly and intuitive, whilst still living up to Yamaha’s reputation for high-quality sound and performance. The sound is perfect and definitely in the same class as Yamaha’s biggest desks, many of which are industry-standard in larger events around the world. So, you know you’re getting a brand and sound quality that’s tried and tested.

The DM3 has so many pros and very little by way of cons. I particularly like the weight and size of the desk. At just 6.5kg and 320mm x 140mm x 455mm, it’s tiny – even in a flight case – which is a real bonus some settings! The only thing I’m not keen on is the external power supply.

I’d much rather have it in the desk and via IEC, but it does mean that it’s easy to replace if needed. (Although it does use a 4-pin XLR connection to power the desk, so it’s something you really need to order directly with Yamaha.) you’re already thinking of buying a DM3, I really don’t think you’ll regret it. Be sure to take a look at the Yamaha website and watch their self-training videos, as they show you just how easy-to-use but powerful these little desks are.

No doubt there is so much more these desks can do too – I feel like I’ve only touched the surface! Check out the DM3-S and DM3 either online or in person and I guarantee you’ll fall in love. YAMAHA DM3 Sales UK Service Hire Powder 01252 91 88 66 | 07831 848 716 wow@