AlphaTheta DDJ-GRV6 Controller Review

Video Review

First Impressions / Setting up

The DDJ-GRV6 (“groove six”) is a professional-looking controller despite being built to the same consumer standards as AlphaTheta’s other lower-end controllers, which basically means lots of plastic and cheaper-feeling (and looking) controls.

As it is the direct replacement for the DDJ-FLX6 in the company’s range, one can’t help but compare them visually. And while it retains the FLX6’s full-size jogwheels, it loses the ill-advised huge “hero knobs” that made that controller look (and sound) silly. Overall, it is a far more serious-looking device.

However, it gains a new strip across the top differentiated from the matte finish of the rest of the controller by a gloss black finish that looks really cool and contains the controls for the new Groove Circuit for Rekordbox and Stems FX for Serato. We’ll get onto those.

With a professional-looking new library management panel-top middle and a very club-like feel due to the new positioning of the performance pads/buttons, first impressions overall are really good.

Setting up

To get the controller going, you install either Rekordbox or Serato and plug it in with a USB-C cable to your computer. Plug in the audio cables and a pair of headphones if you want them and you’re good to go.

Both software packages nowadays will want you to register and log in. But the good news is there’s no payment required as both are activated by this hardware.

(This isn’t a software review or tutorial of course, but if you are interested in learning more about how to use Rekordbox or Serato, do check out our Rekordbox Made Easy and Serato Made Easy courses.)

In Use

Groove Circuit

First thing I did was head to the new Groove Circuit, which is the Rekordbox standout feature of this unit. It lets you remix the drums of any track live. By tapping one of four buttons, you can substitute the drums in any playing track with preloaded drum loops, pre-installed in two banks of four.

Not only that, but you can sample the drums from any track that you’re playing directly into one of those slots and then use those in the same way. Other packs are available within the software to download and use, or you can build your own in the way I just described.

It’s actually straightforward to understand once you start using it and it’s a lot of fun, as is another part of the new Groove Circuit called “drum roll”, which is like the loop roll functions that have been on DJ gear for a long time, but only affecting the drums.

Really, this is just a shortcut to selecting the drum stem and then using loop features, which is possible on other gear, but fiddly – and now it’s been made easy by this.

Finally here, there’s a “drum release” paddle that cuts the drums from the mix while initiating an effect of your choice, like vinyl break, spin back, echo out and so on. This is similar to a feature that’s been on Serato’s stems since they launched them, and again, it’s fun.
 

 

Overlay stickers

These same buttons do something different in Serato and interestingly, AlphaTheta provides stick-on overlays for this part of the controller, should you happen to be a Serato user.

The overlays work quite well: They’re high quality and AlphaTheta assures us they can be stuck on and taken off many times, although I’d limit it to as few as possible, frankly. But nonetheless, once they’re stuck on, they look like they belong there, which is good.

Stems FX

In Serato, Groove Circuit becomes Stems FX, which gives you the same roll feature I just talked about, but you get to choose the stem or stems that you do it with, not just drums. And, you get to use the paddle on any stem of your choice too, in the same way I described for the Groove Circuit.

There are a few other features here, but essentially that’s it. It may just be new ways of using stems, but again, it’s pretty cool.

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New library controls

These take advantage of Rekordbox 7’s improved library features, with direct access to discovery features in the software and really nicely, a hardware preview, so that you can listen to any track that you’ve selected in the library at the tap of a button in your headphones without loading it. This was always possible, but you had to use the mouse, so it’s a big improvement there.

These buttons do slightly different things in Serato, although one thing both apps share is the view button, which quickly cycles between different software views, including a library view, so you can more easily find tracks.

Both Serato and Rekordbox benefit from the big new encoder/joystick at the heart of the library section, borrowed directly from the Opus Quad.

New place for performance pads

One interesting thing about this unit is that the performance pads have been pushed to above the jogwheels and laid out as hard buttons in a line of eight. This is of course the same as on the CDJ-3000 and the Opus Quad controller. And I like it!

However, what’s innovative here is that unlike those units, these don’t just control cues and loops, but you get the whole range of features, such as loop roll, keyboard, sampler, and many more. This is the first controller that has fully utilised this style of pad for all the things that controller DJs are used to seeing on standard pads, and it works well.

A plethora of FX

We did enjoy using the Sound Color effects, whose implementation is again a first on a controller at this level, meaning that the per channel filters can be switched out for all kinds of things such as noise, dub echo, jet, and many more (usually) reverb/delay type effects. Like the beat effects, they work on both Serato and Rekordbox.

Read this next: How To Use The Echo Effect When DJing

Note that the “beat FX” are software controlled and work fine on both Serato and Rekordbox.

Serato no longer second best!

The effects spoken about above are another indication of the fact that maybe for the first time, AlphaTheta has succeeded in making a controller which doesn’t shortchange users of the secondary software that it works with: More or less all the knobs, features, and functions do the same thing or an equivalent thing in Serato, and there’s very little of the mislabelling which has dogged this kind of dual software device in the past, especially with the overlays.

I’m impressed by it, and I am happy to recommend it to Serato users, something I wouldn’t do with its predecessor, and frankly something I’m not that keen to do even with the flagship FLX10 software controller from this company, which for me still has Serato as a poor second platform against its primary platform Rekordbox.
 

 

Other things

Sound quality is fine for a controller at this level, and overall the GRV6 really does have enough features to make it an exciting controller per se.

It’s the first controller with deep Rekordbox 7 library integration, only the second controller with official Rekordbox stems control, and of course, its headline Groove Circuit and Stems FX additions are unique.

Finally, although it does work with Android and iOS devices using Rekordbox software, unlike the FLX4, there’s no Bluetooth link between your tablet or phone and the controller, so you will need to use a cable to connect the two should you want to use it that way.

Conclusion

AlphaTheta does like its gimmicks, and sometimes what the company chooses to do goes right over my head (ahem, Mixpoint Link? Anyone?), but this time I think the additions are useful and fun.

More than that, this is a highly featured controller anyway, with great jogwheels, excellent effects, and loads of pro features to keep you busy for a long time.

DJ like a pro using ANY gear: The Complete DJ Course

AlphaTheta has clearly tried hard to make it work better with Serato as a secondary platform to its own Rekordbox, and by and large it’s succeeded. It is a shame that the supplied Serato DJ Pro doesn’t come with the Pitch ‘n Time expansion pack, which is necessary for key shifting, especially because Serato refuses to sell that separately to people, and so it’ll cost you an awful lot more to get an essential feature in my view, but that’s hardly AlphaTheta’s fault.

Interestingly, the GRV6 is probably the closest stepping stone to club gear in this company’s controller range, even more so than the FLX10, because the layout is closest to CDJ-3000s due to the new pads.

So if you want something that you can practice on at home that won’t feel too different to what you find in the club, this is it. And while it costs a little bit more than the FLX6, we think it’s reasonable value.

This is especially true when you look at the fact you get a perfectly usable version of Rekordbox for free, you get a good version of Serato for free, and it does have a lot of features, including some unique ones that’ll keep you happy for a long time.

It’s certainly much, much better than the FLX6, and if you can live with some disappointing omissions like a lack of an auxiliary input, very small pitch faders, and the overall consumer build quality, and you can afford its not insubstantial price, I think you’ll have a lot of fun with this.