With its long line of outstanding DJ mixers and MIDI controllers, Allen & Heath continue to set a trend in digital DJing devices. The XONE:4D is Allen & Heath’s latest edition to the market, and compared to their earlier model the XONE:3D, the 4D operates in a similalr fashion, though it does carry additional features without requiring any additional software beyond the driver installation.

One of the major changes in the XONE:4D is the new 20 Channel 24bit USB 2.0 Soundcard that allows you to control 4 stereo tracks/channels simultaneously, enable you to perform multi-track recordings using software like Ableton Live, or control 4 independent channels/decks using DJ software like Traktor. Another added feature to the XONE:4D is its white screening is painted with UV sensitive paint allowing the device to glow under a UV light.

Amongst other changes, the Allen & Heath XONE:4D mixer is also a slimed down version of the XONE:92 mixer that includes two independent LFOs, and the ability to switch the FX2 RCA socket as a recording output.

Mixer

The Allen & Heath XONE:4D’s mixer is a analogue digital mixer. 4 channels, 3 phonos, 3 band EQ, cue buttons, switches for selecting cross fader channels. The XONE:4D mixer also features Allen & Heath’s LFO’s for the 2 crossfader channels and a rotary knob to set the frequency the LFO affects. An addition to the mixer is the new BMP section, this section synchronizes with the mixers internal MIDI clock and the softwares MIDI clock. You can also manually adjust the MIDI clock using the plus and minus switch. Having a synchronized MIDI clock means that you’ll never be out of sync with the tracks playing on your CD’s/Turntables and the tracks playing from your laptop/PC.

MIDI Controllers

The XONE:4D has a total of 105 separate MIDI controls which can send up to 227 MIDI control messages. This is new to the XONE:4D, the 4D MIDI controllers have 2 MIDI programmable layers. So each MIDI control can be programmed twice. You could use the first layer to navigate your music library while the second layer is used to control your decks or music clips.

The MIDI controls are divided into two sections on the XONE:4D, both on either side of the mixer. The jog wheel also acts like 4 independent buttons, for easy use when navigating and locating tracks. The MIDI controls can be assigned to anything that reads MIDI signals; it’s really up to how you want your setup to be. Allen & Heath have also released pre-configured setups and overlays that can be used in Ableton Live and Traktor. The setups are available from the Allen & Heath website and can be downloaded for free.

Using the XONE:4D with Traktor

Connecting the XONE:4D was simple, all I needed was the USB cable and a XLR cable for sending the master out to my amp. Next was to install the 4Ds drivers, although I had the CD I downloaded the drivers from the Allen & Heath website. With new products the companies are always releasing new drivers to fix minor issues experienced by users, so it’s always good to install the latest drivers. The installation was also easy, once the drivers were installed the Mac recognised the XONE:4D as a MIDI device and a soundcard. Next I used the user guide provided to help me setup the soundcard and settings in Traktor.

It’s important to setup Traktor to use External Mixer setting and to setup the channels correctly. That way you separate the analogue mixer controls and the MIDI controls. Once all the setup was done, I was able to control the Traktor decks volume and EQs using the XONE:4D’s analogue mixer controls. This setup also allows me to use the XONE:4D’s LFO’s on the Traktor decks. Audio latency with the mixer and the software was seamless. Sound quality was good, no additional noise.

Next I configured the MIDI controller areas, well not all of the buttons, but just enough to suite my current setup. Setting up MIDI controls on Traktor takes a bit of getting used to, but once I got the hang of it I configured various sections of the controllers. There are endless possibilities and setups you can do with the XONE:4D. I found my setup although simple allowed me to focus more on looping and effects without having to worry about beat matching.

Summary

Allen & Heath’s XONE:4D’s newest additions include the highly useful 20 channel 24bit USB 2.0 soundcard that allows you to record 4 stereo tracks simultaneously, its 2-layered MIDI controls to give you a total of 227 MIDI control messages from 105 separate controls, and it’s UV light sensitive paint coating makes this unit an all in one digital DJing solution. Although the number of allowable controls is pretty overwhelming, a DJ/Producer can configure the XONE:4D to his/her liking. The fact is that all you really need to get the XONE:4D going is a single USB cable. Tetup is simple, and the configurations are endless.