Behringer has posted photos of a prototype four-channel standalone DJ unit on its Facebook page, declaring that “the DJ industry is about to change forever”. It’s called the Klark Teknik Anima, and the promise is pro-style DJ hardware for $300-400.
The big idea is open hardware. According to Behringer, there’s “no proprietary lock-in”, and you’ll be free to create your own software for it. “We build the hardware, you create the magic,” the company says.
The photos show an early prototype – the jogs and pads aren’t even fitted yet. What you can see is a four-channel layout along the lines of the Denon DJ Prime 4 or AlphaTheta XDJ-AZ, with eight pads per deck, long pitch faders and a fold-flat touchscreen in the middle.
To give you a better idea of how the finished thing could look, we’ve mocked it up using AI, based on those photos.
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Round the back there’s a bay labelled for a hard drive, which is a smart idea, plus USB, Ethernet, two mic inputs and XLR outputs – and a Klark Teknik badge.
Klark Teknik is a pro audio brand that Behringer’s parent company, Music Tribe, has owned since 2009.
You’d imagine someone at Music Tribe had a little smile when they chose to put a name that sounds a lot like Technics on the back of a DJ unit…
So what will it run?
That’s the big question. Rekordbox and Engine DJ won’t be available on it officially, so it would be down to people reverse engineering things. Given how fast vibe-coded DJ software has taken off lately, that’s not a big stretch.
Mixxx is the obvious open-source candidate, but it’s designed for laptops, so it would need a fork built for an embedded system.
Then there’s the hardware itself. What sort of processor can you get at this price? Will it handle real-time stems? And what will the build quality and reliability be like?
Read this next: Unofficial DJ Software & Firmware: Should You Use It?
First thoughts
There’s a lot of “if” here, and Behringer has teased products before that took a long time to appear. But there’s a big demand for something like this. DJs are getting tired of high gear prices, of not getting the features they want, and of subscriptions.
A company the size of Behringer saying “do what you like with it” must make for some uncomfortable reading at the established brands today. For everyone else, it’s exciting.
Kudos to DJ TechTools for spotting this first – head over there for all the technical ins and outs.
What do you think? Would you buy an open DJ standalone at this price? Let us know in the comments.
- The Klark Teknik Anima is a prototype, with a target price of $300-400 (according to DJ TechTools, the original post said $400-500 before being edited down). There’s no spec sheet or release date yet. See Behringer’s original post here.
Phil Morse
