AlphaTheta Euphonia 4-Channel Rotary Mixer

agreed, the clip launcher view is unmatched for live performance and i mean this across any machine really

this is sweet btw, i hope this isnt too far off topic as this has become a bit of a mixer in general chat (which is totally cool with me)

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Iā€™d argue the opposite. This really doesnā€™t look like itā€™s about people spinning vinyl (see my earlier post about the obscure target audience). Why would anyone predominantly playing vinyl need digital inputs and so on (or a digital VU meter that tries to emulate an analog one, I mean, wtf). For these people, there are better fully analog options in this price bracket. And the plasticky Pioneer look does not help in any case.

As I stated in my earlier post: I (as someone who would mostly play vinyl if I really were DJing anymore on any sort of regular basis) am really confused by who they are trying to target.

Edit: And just to be clear: Rotary mixers in general are quite appealing to me. But I really donā€™t understand this one.

Itā€™s a hybrid mixer, i think thatā€™s why its confusing. somewhere in between where it will make people who buy purely digital ones for value / simplicity question all the IO and then analog purists who say pff so much conversion and digital stuff booo

for a fact a digital VU meter is substantially more accurate than any analog meter, and with new display tech the viewing angles/contrast problems arenā€™t really an issue

itā€™s not primarily a vinyl focused mixer, or a purely digital one- itā€™s filling a void where afaik there arenā€™t any other rotary digital mixers like this.

definitely alienating, but I for one am happy to see new ideas attempted (for better or worse)

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Clickbait title but this whole video is a guy playing vinyl with it and walking through every feature.

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Mojaxx knows his rotaries and talks a bit more about the sound quality in this video. Seems to like it a lot because of the Neve transformer. And suggests it could be a nice summing mixer for studios.

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Itā€™s targeting mostly digital DJs (and venues that book them) who want the rotary feel and the allure of classic transformer colouration. Itā€™s a small niche, and expensive.

Itā€™s also a marketing piece for Pioneer. Theyā€™ve seemed focused on ā€œfeaturesā€ and on nudging people into their ways of working (Rekordbox) for years. Even their top flight gear (the club mixers, the CDJ-3000s) look a bit plasticky, despite being hard-wearing. This mixer lets them say that they also care about tone, sound quality and that they still tolerate Serato users.

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welp lol

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Beautiful. I know someone whoā€™s probably gasing from this right now. Heā€™s a sucker for rotary mixers with isolators. This thing was made for proper house mixes šŸŖ©:man_dancing::dancer:

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If I were buying a pioneer mixer and spending this kind of money, Iā€™d probably buy a V10 instead. If I were interested in buying a rotary mixer and spending this kind of money, Iā€™d either buy an old bozak or a mastersounds mixer. Or both. Or one and a bunch of effects units.

Maybe that neve circuitry is worth it for some folksā€¦ probably not, thoughā€¦

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thoughtful response from someone who sounds very well versed with rotaries from djforums

" > Correction. None of the Master Sounds actually have iso bypass. V10 has one.
>
> Edit:
>
> I missed a detail on the first block diagram. The transformer seems to be on its own send with DAC, and then an ADC puts it back into the digital domain. Potentially that means a utility setting might be possible to bypass the transformer. The master level might be digital domain and the headphones mix entirely digital domain, too, which means they could conceivably change the headphone master feed to be post-master-level, or at least add that option. If this is all indeed the case, then itā€™s odd they didnā€™t just have a ā€œTrans Saturationā€ dry/wet knob specifically for that purpose, and then the current headphone master sourcing would actually make sense.
>
> Edit:
>
> I have listened to a pair of high bitrate lossless clips recorded to an interface and ones that were sent through various mixers including the Euphonia & recorded to the same interface. The V10 is more reference/source. The Rane even more so, like itā€™s just the interface with that source content. If measured, youā€™d only get a little added phase distortion from the Rane tone controlsā€™ filters. The core sound to me on the Euphonia is arguably roughly halfway between the NXS2/A9 & V10 if the two were at other sides of a continuum, but the transformer definitely does something.
>
> The saturation difference is most obvious looking at a spectrograph and especially at the raw waveforms. Most evident on higher amplitude portions and peaks, giving it a subtle expander effect or very crude analog version of declipping plus coloration harmonics. At first blush, it sounds like itā€™s mostly V-shaped added harmonics distribution, but looking at the waveforms and spectrum itā€™s apparent the mids are getting them, too. Perhaps just sounds that way because the kick and presence regions are both just more obvious to the ear, and those are where the musicā€™s peaks are getting more of these harmonics. Itā€™s a bit like what happens with something passed through some tube emulators or, youā€™re right, like a Urei. I think itā€™s more refined-sounding than a Urei, though, and the expander sensation is welcome.
>
> The midrange harmonics seem pretty tame to me, though. Along with the reduced microphonics, I can see this getting less congested than tubes with dense source material when pushed, but what the Euphonia does to the sound seems more simplified tonally than tubes, ignoring the slight expanding quality. Maybe you canā€™t do exactly what transformers do with tubes and vice versa. The Pioneer digital mixer beat bloom has an added touch of thump overlaying & obscuring it instead. The high hats arenā€™t more polite (the NXS2-onward have been polite) or more grating & tinny (pre-NXS2), but like the original transient is both slightly dulled and with more associated side-energy, yet coming off as strangely less synthetic. I was not expecting barely softened attack and added harmonics to seem less artificial. Anyway, some who just rabidly find the Pioneer mixer sound objectionable (bloom in the lows, synthetic highs, etc) will probably prefer what the transformer is doing to it.
>
> I still donā€™t totally get why they didnā€™t allow us to source the USB main out pre-DAC apart from the transformer, and I donā€™t get why they left out a SPDIF or AES/EBU digital out to also bypass the transformer and choose our own DAC stage. Now that Iā€™ve realized theyā€™re looping the transformer out (trans send) through an ADC stage back into the mix, itā€™s an even weirder bunch of choices. Maybe they really wanted to make a certain impression with people and didnā€™t want you to be able to bypass any of itā€¦ iso, DAC, or transformer. You go onto a Euphonia, and itā€™s going to impart a certain sound. Heck, maybe they didnā€™t want people able to easily demonstrate that the pre-DAC & pre-transformer digital bit stream is not largely different than their other recent models.
>
> Like Iā€™ve previously said, also a lot of other weird choices on thisā€¦ almost like itā€™s 17 years ago Vestax or Ecler. Though, back then there was a lot more innovation and competition than there was until just recently. At least someone is doing something. A coloration and slight expander effect being done in the analog domain with a transformer mixed back into a digital mixer is not something I would have guessed in a bazillion years.

> Last edited by Reticuli; 03-16-2024 at 02:07 PM."

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https://x.com/nir_un/status/1777930119258034564

recorded a super hot short clip spinnin some midimiliz, sounds good to me i think i was clipping my video capture unit a bit too hard though. Sounded amazing through the speakers

the built in FX are good enough, that tape echo and shimmer are really tasty esp paired with the isolator send fx. i feel guilty spending so much on this thing when i have a model 1.4 but itā€™s totally different to work with

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Oh wow you got one! looks like it is a joy to useā€¦ I ended up getting the noise engineering euro mixer and it is easy to forget how important having good control over your mix can beā€¦ reminds me that someone was making a DJ style ISO EQ in 1U euro would be a fun addition to my mixer.

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kind of gets you there, its def possible. i know alot of ppl use this on the side for live and its a bit of a secret weapon status piece

and agree, its soooo important esp for live but even for recording out tracks I find things are more fun to manually fade in and out instead of using automation inside the box. although its necessary sometimes i find for what i do iā€™m totally ok doing mutes/fade in manually

and yea this thing feels soooo solid. hats off to pioneer dj/alpha thetaā€¦ i think as more people try them and hear them theyā€™ll sell pretty well

just adding this here, this looks fantastic as another isolator option

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