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December 20, 2006 ../ TestDrive: Ecler Nuo4 MIDI DJ MixerLong Term Test Uncovers A Lot To Love About Ecler's Nuo4 DJ Mixer A funny thing happened on the way to the last NAMM show, we stumbled across the Soundwerks booth in the "dome" at the Anaheim Convention Center, and learned that the company was ramping up distribution of the Ecler line of mixers in North America. Mostly unknown outside Europe, Ecler manufactures quality mixers that many of our staffers have long admired.Jon Ghoddoussi, the affable President of Soundwerks, demonstrated several of the Ecler mixers, but his eyes went wide when he came to the Nuo4. The Nuo4 is a four channel mixer with EQ control, cue buttons, crossfader assignment, gains and faders housed in an elegant black case with large textured knobs, and an Ace up its sleeve, full MIDI implementation.
Nuo4 The Swiss Army Knife of DJ MixersA couple of months later, we received a Nuo4, but were at a conundrum. How should we review this forward-thinking mixer? Would having just one writer do it justice? Probably not, since the Nuo4 is a Swiss Army Knife of sorts, a very versatile mixer that was designed from the ground up to address many different DJ markets, from Hip-Hop scratchers, to Progressive House blenders, to DJs who want to perform a "live remix" by adding the power of computer software such as Ableton's Live and Native Instruments Traktor into the action. The solution? Send it out to several DJs, compile the responses, and see how it all adds up.
An Overview Of The Nuo4The Nuo4 is a four channel mixer with three bands of EQ on each channel with full Kill, 60 mm faders and a VCA Crossfader. A fifth MIDI channel is located in the center of the mixer showcased by a magnetic silver inlay. Its purpose is solely to control software programs and only has a gain knob, located above the Crossfader, and not its own dedicated fader. You'd think that having all this analog and digital action on a DJ mixer would be a total mess, but Ecler did it right. Every one of the DJs who got their grubby hands on the mixer lauded the company for the mixer's intelligent ergonomics.In fact, the "Nuo4 is one of the most well thought out mixers" according to many of the DJs who gave it a go. None of the controls are cramped and "nothing seems like it was a last minute thought." The large tasty knobs have grooves around the tops that beg for twiddling. While they layout was "intuitive" and made "perfect sense" to our testers, there was one complaint about the being about to see the silk screened letters and numbers "in a dark club." The mixer measures 14.5 by 12.5 by 3.1 inches and tips the scales at almost 12 pounds. The Nuo4 does include an integrated power supply that is capable of auto-switching from 90 to 264 VAC, allowing you to plug it in almost anywhere on the planet. The unit's rear panel of connections was somewhat confusing to a few of the testers who wondered aloud about the H Line and L Line inputs.
Take A Ride On The H LineEcler decided to have dedicated RCA inputs for H Line gear (High or 0dBV sensitivity line-level inputs) such as CD players, as opposed to L Line (Low or a -10dBV sensitivity) connections for tape players, and the like, in addition to phono inputs. "If Ecler wanted to go through the trouble of having separate 0dBV and -10dBV inputs then they should have just had a toggle switch and just one RCA connection," stated one tester, while another "liked the idea of separate H Line and L Line inputs" to get the optimal bond to his gear. Overall it's always better to err on the side of too many connections as opposed to too few, so we'll take the extra set of RCA inputs, but "give the user the versatility, and put both H and L line inputs on all channels, not just one."A couple of testers griped about the positioning of the phono grounds, which are located in the center and not tidily next to their respective RCA connectors. "Does anyone at Ecler own a turntable where the ground wire is built into the RCA cables?" However, the current positioning allows for a quick union without having to perform finger acrobatics to set the connection. Input four includes a XLR mic input with a 20dB attenuation switch, as well as phantom power, a wonderful option for those who would like utilize a condenser microphone for incorporating acoustic instruments. Input 5 is labeled Computer and features two pairs of RCA connectors for audio input from a computer. The primary input is rated at a sensitivity of -10 dB, with a second 0dB sensitivity input allowing an additional computer input for use with the mixer's monitoring circuitry.
Where Should We Send The Return?The Ecler's effects section was somewhat of a puzzle to a couple of the DJs who wanted to make use of a separate effects unit. While the other testers pondered, "why didn't they just incorporate a couple of basic DJ effects into the unit?" One reason is the lack of a beat detection feature, which negates the ability to mix in beat oriented effects (more on this later).
The second is that Ecler attempted to go beyond the typical send/return scenario with their effects design. Ecler added the ability for the effects to be pre or post fader on each input, something you rarely see on a DJ mixer, opening the door for very creative mixes. The thing that annoyed several testers was the fact that "the Send is more like a Wet/Dry mix," then a true effects send. "I just don't get the philosophy behind the Nuo4's Send, which only provided, at most, a 50% wet mix. (After beatmatching) I like to mix in a really washed out track and then slowly pull back the effects to reveal the next song. It's like focusing a camera lens. Unfortunately, the Nuo4 doesn't allow this type of mix, and when I do mix in the an effected track the volume goes wild, so I have to constantly ride the fader at the same time." In defense, of the Nuo4, you do have the ability to bypass the fader, but the Nuo4's quirky effects loop obviously didn't make a very good impression to this DJ. The back of the NUO4 contains two master outputs, Balanced XLR's for the house PA, and a pair of unbalanced RCA connectors designed for the DJ-booth's monitor. An additional RCA Recording Output is also included for another system or a recording device.
A Crossover ArtistThe beat jugglers among the testers were pleasantly surprised by the Nuo4's Crossfader controls, and came away impressed. "The Nuo4's VCA Crossfader was one of the best VCA's I've used. Tight, solid feel and minimal noise," stated one scratch master. Nothing too fancy, the Nuo4's Crossfader is simply a 45mm version of the standard Ecler VCA fader. Although it can be swapped for the Ecler Eternal magnetic fader, which is standard on the Nuo5 and HAK360, none of the testers complained about the way it performed.The Crossfader's controls for customizing its manners are located on the front along with a second Headphone jack. The Crossfader Curve has three stages, a Switch/Fade that flips the curve from Saw to Square, a Large Knob for fine tuning the curve amount, and finally a Cut-in knob for modifying the In point closer or farther from the fader's boundaries. The turntablists found that by investing a small amount of time into these three controls they could achieve excellent results. "The Cut-In feature will go un-noticed by many DJs, but its the Nuo4's secret weapon if you like to cut it up."
MIDI MojoLast, but certainly not least, we explore the Nuo4's MIDI implementation. To several of our testers, a "DJ mixer with MIDI is like tits on a bull": Useless. However, to the DJ who has the passion for exploration and isn't afraid of technology, MIDI implementation is like taking the red pill...see just how far down the rabbit hole you can go. And believe us, for $749 bills, Ecler lets you go pretty far down.Again, the MIDI savvy gave Ecler kudos for their intelligent layout and excellent ergonomics, not to mention the performance attributes. The main MIDI action takes place in the center of the mixer highlighted by a removable magnetic strip. Use of the MIDI features requires a computer capable of running Windows XP/2000 or Mac OS X. Windows XP software comes packaged with the unit on a CD ROM, while the Mac software needs to be downloaded from Ecler's new user-friendly website. The mixer can be connected to your computer via USB or a standard MIDI cable. The four meaty rotary control knobs that float above four buttons also perform as switches when pressed. This gives you a total of four endless knobs and eight buttons. But wait, there's more!
Ecler then includes a 3-way "Layout" toggle switch below - giving you the ability to select three different "scenes" of completely different MIDI controls. Layout One can be set up for the EQ and Deck Controls in a program like Native Instruments' Traktor, Layout Two can be designed for Effects and Layout Three can be set for the Sampler. Going from one Layout to another just means flipping the toggle, enabling you to fly from one performance attribute to another in your software program. But wait, Ecler's not finished yet! Underneath, the Layout toggle is an additional A/B "Tap" button. This enables you to send six different MIDI messages from each of the Layouts of 12 individual controllers. Still with me? Well that gives you 72 designated MIDI messages right there. However, the most obvious application of the A/B is to jump from one deck to another at the touch of a button. "The A/B Tap button is just brilliant!" cooed one tester who found this workflow to be very intuitive. "Although, I was apprehensive about using Traktor with the Nuo4, their performance philosophy and MIDI controller flexibility made rocking the virtual one's and two's as easy as their real world counterparts." But wait, there's even more! Inputs 2 and 3 can also send MIDI through the EQ, Gain, Main Fader and Crossfader when set to MIDI Control. In all, 89 separate MIDI messages can be sent from the mixer to your computer for an infinite number of creative possibilities. And unlike many other hardware controllers where you must use the pre-assigned controller values, every single one of the 89 controls is customizable via Ecler's Control 4 Lab software. More, you say? OK, here's one more thing... The Nuo4 can transmit MIDI Clock to your computer. Now it isn't sophisticated, and certainly doesn't always work, but you can sync Traktor by tapping along with the current song's tempo via the Tap button. The Nuo4 will then transmit that "timing" to your software as long as you have the computer in Slave mode.
A Sonic And Creative PowerhouseWith all this gushing, the Nuo4 does come up lacking in a couple of areas. First, the mixer could really benefit by incorporating some sort of BPM auto detection with MIDI sync. If the Nuo4 could simply determine a vinyl record's tempo and then automatically set the master tempo, the a DJ wouldn't have to go through the aforementioned Tapping scenario that isn't what we'd call reliable. The high water mark here is the Allen & Heath Xone:3D that even incorporates a MIDI clock push/pull switch for fine tuning your beat matching, but remember that's a 3 thousand dollar mixer.While the magnetic strip's label windows are a great concept for sliding in the names that you designated for each knob and button, in reality, they are almost impossible to work with and you're better off just writing the names down on a large piece of white tape. A couple of testers felt the plastic knobs felt "budget" and the faders "could use a little more resistance for better feel." In conclusion, the Ecler Nuo4 offers a tremendous value to the modern DJ who wants a mixer that bridges the gap between the analog and digital worlds for well under $1000. Even if you don't use the MIDI, the Nuo4's sound quality, versatility and ergonomics represent a great investment. However, if you do wade into the warm waters of MIDI control, the Nuo4 will allow your creativity to flourish in ways that you never expected.
The Future: The extensive, long-term test of the Nuo4 allowed us to
gather a lot of feedback from the many testers who put the unit through its paces. Several DJs complained that the Nuo4 was hard to see in a
dimly lit club atmosphere and suggested back-lit labels or a LED light bar across the top that would illuminate the many controls.
Copyright © 2006 Futuremusic® All Rights Reserved. |
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   The Ecler Nuo4 MIDI DJ Mixer offers a tremendous value to the modern DJ who wants a mixer that bridges the gap between the analog and digital worlds for only $749.
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