It was pretty game-changing back in 2015 when Nintendo dropped the Switch, ushering in a wave of 2-player gaming on the same console. Two joy-cons, one console, mano-a-mano gaming. You didn’t need an extra controller – Nintendo built right one into the Switch. Designer Eunjun Jang wants to bring that same modular multiplayer culture to deejaying… because it’s an activity that is conducive to socializing.
Nobody plays music alone, the act of deejaying is inherently social. Look at the Boiler Room sets, where the deejay is surrounded by sometimes a hundred or more people, absorbing the energy emanating from the console and the speakers. The ‘Twin’ DJ Console just turns that emotionally social activity into a physically social one. Two player decks, one mixer in the middle, quite like a Nintendo Switch but for music. The units snap together to create a single 2-player console, but split them apart and they’re like a mano-a-mano setup for two deejays trying to collab in real-time.
Designer: Eunjun Jang
The Twin has this clean-yet-fun design, sort of like if Teenage Engineering met Braun. The console strays away from extra fluff, giving each player just a tiny screen that lets them monitor effects and whatnot. The music itself plays from smartphones which pair with each of the player units. Run the Twin app and place each phone above the player and you sort of see how the entire setup looks like a Pioneer XDJ or something. The controls are simplified, and the entire device is nearly 60-70% smaller than your average DJ console. This makes the Twin perfect for using on the go, in your bedroom, or at a café.
The design is truly fascinating, although it begs for some color and vibrancy. You’ve got the mixer front and center, with EQ knobs, a cue button for each deck, channel faders, and a crossfader that lets you swap between left and right decks, so you’re shifting between songs. On the player themselves, you’ve got a tempo key to let you manually sync songs, a cue key that lets you trigger a particular part of a song, and a play-pause key that form the most crucial set of controls. There are 4 extra keys on the top corner, along with a shift key, and while most DJ consoles have a disc that you spin to rewind/forward or scratch music, the Twin ditches that for an elegant jog-wheel on the side. It’s cute, and it gets the job done, although seasoned deejays may have their own hot-takes.
The modularity is what sets the Twin apart. You can pull the individual parts together and sit across each other, mixing music from your phones. Why build a Spotify playlist when you can literally play a deejay set in your jammies? It feels much more involved, allowing friends to bond and jam together in a way that Spotify or Apple Music just won’t let you.
Pogo pins allow you to snap the elements together or pull them apart, quite like the Nintendo Switch. Ultimately, that’s exactly the vibe Eunjung was going for. Games are nice, but music is just *chef’s kiss*. Each player gets their own dedicated deck, but you might end up fighting for the mixer if you’re not careful! You want to vibe together like Disclosure, not call it quits like Daft Punk!
That said, the Twin still feels like just a toy right now. It lacks the extra features that most professional DJs would really need. Proper effects, looping, the ability to add separate vocal channels, or even shift pitch. Then again, most amateur-level DJ kits stick to the basics, allowing for more simple techniques so that people can master those before moving onto larger tasks. Although, that’s where Twin’s modularity does come in handy. Imagine if Eunjung just designed a set of Pro-grade players that you could snap to your mixer, turning your entry-level DJ set into something enough to sustain a bloc party!
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