The EKS “Otus” is billed as the “World’s most comfortable DJ controller”, with a full complement of remappable knobs, buttons, and touch-sensitive sliders. It’s certainly not the ugliest bit of gear I’ve ever seen, although someone with any experience with live mixing might be more able to tell you if it’s of any practical use. The Otus is $900, available soon at North American music retailers or right now at EKS.fi.
EKS Otus DJ controller
9 Responses to EKS Otus DJ controller
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I DJ regularly, and I can say from the looks of it, this controller will likely do what most people would want it to, but I find a few things wrong with it.
A) Needless nubby corner wotsits would make finding space for it in the DJ booth more of a pain.
B) A large amount of real estate is taken up by the trackpad, when ideally you don’t want to have to be moving a cursor around at all when you DJ. Most DJ software is focused around getting the performer away from the computer and letting them connect with the audience.
C) For the price and size, there are too few knobs and switches. The controller I use is 4 years old and cost $75- it has 16 knobs and 11 buttons, and is the size of a couple of paperback books, and does everything I could ever want. (Evolution X-Session)
D) Looking at the apparent build quality, the price makes some sense, but there are better-featured units (especially the Vestax ones) for less money, with two jog wheels and a better compliment of controls.
It’s always cool to see folks making new DJ controllers though… Lord knows there are advancements to be made.
@ feedingfashionistas:
In response:
A) Those needless corner wotsits actually make the unit able to sit on TOP of a turntable, which helps to accommodate a smaller booth.
B) Yes, there is a large trackpad, which can be mapped to be an X-Y controller instead of a traditional pointer controller, and the corners are actually jog wheels which will help find and select music instead of inputting via the mouse/trackpad.
C)It seems to be modeled after the Pioneer CDJ 1000, which is an industry standard. In my view, it’s an “Everything you need and nothing you don’t” kind of product. All of the buttons/knobs are mappable via MIDI, so if there’s a function that you want but it’s not bundled “in the box” you can program it. The numerous different types of control surfaces (knobs, touch pads, sensors, etc) give a very wide range of controllability.
D) Yes. It is VERY ‘spensive. I’d need to play with one in person to know for if it’s worth it. But for my DJ Dollar, having a unit that’s got 2 digital/analog outs AND a headphone jack is almost priceless. They just don’t make those kinds of things.
This looks cool – there’s a full review of it on MusicRadar. They say it’s “the Bruce Lee of DJ controllers”
How do convince a club to buy this?
How do you teach DJ’s to use it?
Sure, some DJs will bring one with them, but the majority will show up and use regular turntables or cdjs.
As someone else said, DJ booths are packed tight. I can’t see where you would put this. The map-able controls are great if you own it, but it’s too expensive for many people. So what do you do if it belongs to the club or the other dj? Show up an hour early for your gig and map the controls the way you like them? Nah, you show up ten minutes before your gig and use the gear you can already use with your eyes closed (and drunk).
I’ve been regularly using previous-model EKS controllers as a club dj. The fact that you can map controls to software functions makes them an invaluable tool for avoiding touching the keyboard or mouse ever.
I’d been waiting for the Otus to come out for some time and can’t wait for the opportunity to demo one.
When it comes to external controllers, resolution means a lot to me. I’ve worked on plenty of pieces of hardware where I cannot for the life of me adjust from +3.5% to +3.6% because the controls are way too sensitive.
The ribbon-strip scares me a little because of this, but I really can’t imagine what else I’d want from a controller. Except maybe a display.
you can use one controller to control 2 virtual decks, so I suppose the price should be compared to the cost of 2 turntables or 2 cdj’s. However, if i’m using a midi controller with ableton live or comparable software, a platter is kind of obsolete anyways. It’s got the xy control like a kaos pad, which you can scratch with.
In response to: deejayqueue
A) Those needless corner wotsits actually make the unit able to sit on TOP of a turntable, which helps to accommodate a smaller booth.
Only if you have the turntables vertically for a “scratch setup” and you don’t see that very often. 80% to 90% of clubs have Turntables setup Horizontally for regular mixing.
Been using Otus for a year soon, and I love it. I have my own unit and I carry it with me so I don’t have to rely on the club having or renting one (or two) for me. At the moment I’m fine using just one to control two tracks, and then I have a Korg nanoPAD to trigger loops and sounds from the other two decks.
The “weird” legs are very useful (and you can take them off, too if you want) and with them I’ve had no problems sitting Otus on top of 1200s or CDJs and other random stuff you can find in a booth.
When you go to the club for the easiest and stressfree switch you need two stereo lines ready to go (that’s what I do soundchecks for) or the controller plugged in beforehand, but it’s not a disaster to plug in two RCAs or digi cables on the fly, and if worst comes to worst, you can “steal” the other CDJ’s RCAs on the fly during the last track and you can just jump in an start spinning, because you’ve booted your laptop and Traktor (that’s what I use) and loaded your first track beforehand. I also have a couple of CDs with me always so if there’s a problem I’m not left without music to play.
If you have the luxury of the club providing the controllers for you, you don’t have to set up or map anything after you’ve done that once, the setup is done in your software, so just plug in the controller and you’re ready to go.
Here’s a little clip of me playing with Traktor & Otus in DC a couple of months back:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyMcbYshLVU
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haha its Darude in the flesh. Thanks for the comments. Also, “Brett Burton,” no offense bro, but I believe that attitude will not lead to a successful DJing career. “Why learn to use something new when it costs money and you can show up drunk and use the club’s CDJs.” Maybe if you were a globetrotting trancemaster 5000 like M. Darude you would understand the necessity of forward thinking. As an aside, M. Darude, from my experience, a majority of American college students heavily associate “Sandstorm” with the entirety of that strange “techno” music that you Europeans listen to. “Playing techno” at a party means playing “Sandstorm,” Benni Benassi’s “Satisfaction,” or Daft Punk.