Two stories lead the desk this morning, and both landed today: a club-standard mixer just got a smaller, cheaper sibling, and a K-pop powerhouse's first hip-hop unit stepped out with veteran backup.
ALPHATHETA PUTS THE A9 LAYOUT IN A SMALLER BOX
AlphaTheta launched the DJM-A7 on Tuesday, November 10, a four-channel mixer that inherits the channel layout and usability of the flagship DJM-A9, according to Resident Advisor. DJTechTools reports the channel section comes straight from the A9, down to the same 45mm channel faders and the same ESS 32-bit converters, in a footprint AlphaTheta sizes against the old DJM-750MK2 — 331.0 × 387.8 × 107.9 mm and 6.7 kg, per AlphaTheta's official product page. Two USB Type-C ports let two DJs stay connected for smoother changeovers and back-to-back sets, and the mixer works with rekordbox, Serato DJ Pro, djay Pro and djay for iOS, per AlphaTheta.
What is new is Master Texture: two knobs in the master section that shape the highs (from "Smoky" to "Bright") and the lows (from "Smooth" to "Punchy") so a DJ or venue can tune the room without a sound engineer, per AlphaTheta. The A7 also adds the Split Filter to its four Sound Color FX and carries six Beat FX against the A9's fourteen, per AlphaTheta's spec comparison, plus built-in SonicLink wireless monitoring at 9 ms latency. DJTechTools lists the US price at $1,599 and says it ships in November through AlphaTheta dealers. One working-DJ caveat, per AlphaTheta's own comparison: microphone talkover is not supported.
EMP GOES OFF SCRIPT WITH DYNAMIC DUO AND JUNNY
ZEROBASEONE's first unit, EMP — Seok Matthew and Park Gun Wook — released its digital single "OFF script" on Tuesday, November 10 at 6 p.m. KST (4 a.m. ET) through online music sites, according to allkpop. The three-track single is the duo's hip-hop lane, separate from the group's main sound: title track "RUN (with Dynamic Duo)," pre-released on November 4, pairs EMP's rapping with Korean hip-hop veterans Dynamic Duo over drums and bass, per allkpop; "AFTERTASTE (with JUNNY)" and "MADE YOU LOOK" round out the set, per Star News Korea. Both members took part in writing and composing "RUN" and "MADE YOU LOOK," per allkpop, building on the unit's September mixtape "We the Extra."
Filed under The Wire, MixShow Prime's music industry news desk.
