Welcome back to Tracked - the week in DJ tech and culture, curated from inside the booth. This week: an unannounced AlphaTheta club mixer leaks at the FCC, a $199 tablet turns any controller into a laptop-free standalone, and more.
🤫 Leak Desk #
More hardware spotted in FCC filings.
AlphaTheta’s DJM-A7 brings wireless monitoring to the club tier. An unannounced 4-channel club mixer, the DJM-A7, has surfaced in the FCC’s equipment-authorisation database (FCC ID 2AM73-0008, grant dated 12 June 2026). It sits below the flagship DJM-A9, and the I/O wired up in the test filing reads like a spiritual successor to the workhorse DJM-750MK2 - a full club feature set, no send/return loop.
The signal is two radios: a vanishingly small 13.56 MHz NFC coil and a separately certified 2.4 GHz module. Easy to read that as a cloud or Wi-Fi feature - but an NFC coil next to a 2.4 GHz module is the exact signature of SonicLink, AlphaTheta’s ultra-low-latency wireless headphone monitoring from January’s DJM-V5, paired by an NFC tap. The stronger read is wireless monitoring reaching the tier most working DJs actually buy, not a networked mixer. The specs are verified-as-filed; the SonicLink read and a 10 December 2026 reveal window are supported inference, not stated fact. Read the full FCC breakdown →
🎧 General DJ #
5 crucial DJ skills that have nothing to do with mixing Reading a room, working a booth, managing a night - the parts of the craft no controller teaches, and the ones that actually get you re-booked. Read via Crossfader →
Also worth your time:
- The history of DJ technology: A long view of how the gear got from belt-drive to standalone. Worth a quiet afternoon. Read more →
- How to record your set - and actually use it: DJOID on capturing your sets and turning them into gigs. Read more →
- Visibox 5.0 goes audio-reactive: New “Visualizer Clips” render in real time from ISF shaders and MilkDrop presets - open formats with big free community libraries - for triggering visuals off a controller or Stream Deck. Read more →
⚙️ Hardware #
A $199 “brain” for your controller - running Mixxx DeckShark, a tablet head-unit that turns an entry-level controller into a standalone rig without a laptop, surfaced on the Mixxx forum in June. The DJ channels missed the catch: that polished UI is Mixxx, which is GPL-2.0-or-later, yet the site names neither the project nor a source repo. Nothing’s shipped, so nothing’s amiss - but at launch, copyleft means buyers get the source and attribution. Full piece to come. See the Mixxx thread →
Check out:
- AlphaTheta’s SLAB wins Red Dot: Best of the Best 2026: The sampler/production controller takes the top design prize for the second year running. Read more →
🌐 Software & Open Source #
Mixo now exports straight to Rekordbox USB The cloud-first library tool has added Rekordbox USB export: prep and organise in Mixo, write a USB, and walk up to almost any club CDJ or standalone player in the world. A small feature with an outsized payoff for travelling DJs. Read via Digital DJ Tips →
More on software:
- Lexicon 1.11: The latest round of library-management fixes and features. See the highlights →
- Owen Williams on open-source DJ software: A Mixxx developer talks through the project on Lorenzo’s Music - a good listen if DeckShark got you thinking about what “community-driven” really means. Listen →
- Heads-up - playlist export on Mixxx: A forum thread flags a problem exporting playlists; worth a check before you lean on it for a gig. See the thread →
That’s Tracked for this week. #
Tracked is published free, but subscribers get it the moment it drops:
(Always free. No spam, unsubscribe in one click.)
