Hardware Archives - The DJ Mixtape

Sonicware deconstruct MINIMAL Review: The $399 Groovebox That Works As A Mixer Channel

Grooveboxes · Hands on the mixer Sonicware deconstruct MINIMAL: the $399 box that thinks it’s a channel Eleven tracks, one stereo mini-jack, and a groove engine built by measuring what the 808 and the 909 got wrong. Here’s what it means for the person standing behind a mixer. SONICWARE DECONSTRUCT MINIMAL · $399 · PRE-ORDER, […]

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Grooveboxes for DJs: How to Actually Use One in a Set

Published August 2026 · Specifications verified against manufacturer sources A drum machine running alongside two decks is no longer an unusual sight. But almost everything written about these boxes assumes a studio desk, not a booth shelf at 1am. Search for a groovebox review and you’ll find plenty. Sound On Sound, MusicTech, CDM and half

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Battery-Powered PA for DJs: What Actually Works Off-Grid

★ A note on links — some links in this guide are affiliate links. If you buy through them we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It doesn’t influence what we recommend, or what we say about it. NO MAINS The gig is in a garden. The nearest socket is in

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DJ Gear for Paid Gigs: The Rig That Actually Works

★ A note on links — some links in this guide are affiliate links. If you buy through them we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It doesn’t influence what we recommend. THE PAID RIG There is a real difference between gear that works at home and gear that survives a

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SKAA Wireless for DJs

Editorial · Portable rig · Wireless SKAA wireless for DJs: the transmitters and speakers cutting the cables A wave of battery-powered, cable-free PA gear is arriving built around one wireless standard most DJs have never heard of. Here’s what SKAA is, why you’ll need a transmitter, and the kit that runs on it. By The

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Dillinger Labs’ Death From Above: a wireless PA that throws the rulebook out

Editorial · Weird & wonderful gear · First look Dillinger Labs’ Death From Above: a wireless PA that throws the rulebook out A battery-powered, cable-free speaker that deliberately strips out the features most makers brag about. It’s a genuinely unusual approach — and worth understanding before it turns up in a small-rig conversation near you.

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Mobile DJ speakers: the PA you actually need for paid gigs

Nobody’s first paid gig goes wrong because the mixer wasn’t good enough. It goes wrong because the room ate the sound. A club hands you a rig. A bar residency, a birthday, a small private party — those hand you a room and a plug socket. Somewhere in the first year of getting paid to

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Phase Essential Review: Wireless DVS, Now Native in rekordbox

Hardware Review · 2026 Phase Essential review The wireless system that turns any turntable into a DVS deck — no needles, no timecode vinyl. And as of July 2026, it plugs straight into rekordbox over a single USB cable. Phase Essential: one Receiver, two Remotes that sit on your records. That’s the whole system. 8.5OUT

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Weird & Wonderful Gear: 10 Soviet Synths That Sound Like Nothing Else

Weird & Wonderful Gear · Part 2 The Formanta Polivoks — the synth that launched a thousand techno basslines. In the 1970s and 80s, the Soviet Union had no music-technology industry to speak of. What it had instead were state-owned radio and defence plants filling production quotas — and inside them, engineers who loved synthesizers.

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AlphaTheta XDJ-AN Review: The Cloud-First Standalone That Bridges Bedroom and Booth

First look / All-in-one systems AlphaTheta XDJ-AN review A cloud-first, two-channel standalone built to walk you from the bedroom to the booth — streaming, cloud libraries and a club-style layout in one compact box. Rating pending Standalone 2-channel $1,199 AlphaTheta has a habit of quietly reshaping the middle of its range, and the XDJ-AN is

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