I’m not a particular fan of the product, but it must be recognized that from a strategic point of view it’s a good move on AT’s part.
They offer a gateway to the feel/layout of their CDJ 3000/DJM A9 setup at a lower cost. Exactly what they need as an entry point to catch beginner DJs and then lock them into their ecosystem. So the day they move on to a real 3000/A9 setup they immediately find their bearings.
This is why Pioneer/AT manages to maintain its position as leader and “industry standard”, because they understood that at all levels it was necessary to make the user captive to get them used to the “club standard” feel/layout.
And this is exactly why Denon DJ can’t get ahead, because the Denon DJ range is inconsistent and heterogeneous between the different products. There is no continuity or guideline in terms of layout between the entry-level, mid-range and the Sc6000/x1850 products. The only thing that comes close is the SC Live, but the prime 4 layout is totally different, same for the prime go.
Not to mention that in reality the entry-level of Denon DJ (which only does stand-alone now) is rather Numark, and Rane who takes care of the controllers still has a completely different layout, style and buttons.
There is no continuity or harmonization between Numark/Rane and Denon DJ to make it so that if a user who starts on a Numark NS4FX then moves to a Rane 4, feels familiar the day he finds himself on an SC6000+ x1850 control room
In fact this DDJ-GRV6 takes up the idea that I had developed in this post in which I proposed to develop a controller based on the layout of the LC6000. This would offer a real gateway at a lower cost to capture new users in the Denon ecosystem, to have a controller that would have the feeling / layout of an Sc6000 / x1850 control room and that makes users familiar with this type of equipment.