Duality Pro by Cobra Magic

Duality Pro is a high caliber magic app designed for pros that allows you to reveal any information in a prerecorded video. I have had Duality Pro for two months now and have had a chance to perform several variations and really spend time getting to know the app in and out before posting this review.

First things first, it’s the most expensive magic app I’ve seen. It’s $300 for the basic functions and another $150 for additional methods. $450 for an app is kind of insane, but if the effect is what you’re looking for, the cost doesn’t really matter.

The overall design of the app is easy to use with video instructions covering all aspects of the app, but it does feel a little “clunky.” It’s not a sleek UI. If you’re use to the smooth Marc Kerstein style UI, you may be a little taken aback by the rudimentary nature of this app. Everything works well and does what it’s supposed to do, so it doesn’t really matter what the UI looks like. The audience will never see this side of the app, but it’s just something worth mentioning. The instructions are great and easy to follow and every single button you can click has an information button that reminds you what it does and has a link to a video that explains what that button does. This is super helpful and convenient and sure beats scrolling through an hour long tutorial to find the one part you need. 

The best thing about the app is how easy it is to set up a video. They provide around a dozen generic videos that you can use immediately, but the process to make a video of yourself (which is what everyone SHOULD be doing) is simple, quick, and only takes one video. It just takes a few clicks to position things and then you’re ready to reveal numbers, text, drawings, and/or images. There are some requirements for the video you make—the biggest being that the information has to be in a static position. You can’t turn a pad around or move it once the writing is revealed.

Another really great thing about the app is that you actually cue the information as the video is playing. This is one of the things that makes this unique. As the video is playing the spectator makes their choice and then see their choice revealed just a few seconds later. It’s really clever and makes it feel impossible because clearly you don’t just have multiple videos depending on what they say. 

You also get many different methods to cue the information to the app and each method has its advantages depending on your circumstances. 

The first input method is the Grid Dim which allows you to input a one or two digit number under the disguise of undimming the screen as the video plays. This is probably the most casual input method. This action will likely be completely forgotten because it is so motivated. 

Then we have the Grid No Dim method which allows you to input a one or two digit number by tapping the screen as the video plays. This is best used if the spectator won’t be watching the screen as the video plays so if you’re going to project or airplay the screen, this is a good method. 

Next is the Pause method where you input a number in the act of pausing and unpausing the video. This is really clever because it, again, happens naturally as you pause the video to build the dramatic tension before the reveal. You can input a one, two, or three digit number with this.

After pause allows you to pause the video and then input a one or two digit number as you unpause it. This works best if you want to pause the video to give them time to formulate their answer then when you unpause it, you input their chosen number.

Gyro is an input method of a one or two digit number that doesn’t require any touching of the screen at all. It’s clever and it works well, but I prefer the other methods. 

D.vir input is the first method that allows you to input a number or word. It’s disguised as a password protected video. This is the weakest/most transparent method to me. It will be hard for them to forget that you typed something as you went to play the video. 

Lock Screen similar to the previous input method, this allows you to input numbers as you apparently unlock your phone. 

All of the above input methods are included in the price of Duality Pro. The next four methods are all part of the Extension pack.

Bluetooth keyboard, versa remote, or nexus remote All of the other methods require you to be holding the phone; this is the first method that is hands free so the spectator could be holding your phone or your phone could be on the table the entire time. This is great to use with an assistant, but it can also be done solo. 

Self Drawing this sort of turns your screen into a swami gimmick so that you can write/draw whatever you want on the screen as the video plays. This is the first option that allows you to reveal drawings, but it can also be used for numbers or short words. Basically anything you can draw with your thumb as you hold the phone. This is another method that works best if you’re projecting the image onto a screen or tv because you don’t want them staring at the phone screen as you use this input. 

Duality Transmitter is my favorite option to use with an assistant. It’s a separate link that connects to your Duality app. It allows an assistant to type, draw, or upload a photo on their device and it will be sent to your video as it plays. This is about as perfect of a method as you could imagine. You can’t use it solo, but for a stage, parlor, or special performance where you can have a helper, this is killer simply because it’s completely hands free for the performer and you have complete freedom for what you want to reveal. If you’re going to use this on stage or for social media or something, the extension pack is worth it for this one feature. 

Multi Revelation allows you to reveal multiple pieces of information in one video. So you can write something, reveal it, erase it and write something else, reveal it, erase it and write something else and reveal it. Think of this like a confabulation style reveal that happens in a video. It works in tandem with the Duality Transmitter. While it’s a nice idea, I prefer just a single revelation. If it were me and I wanted to reveal three things, I would force two items and have those as legitimate reveals. I think it hints at the method a little too much to use this for three reveals back to back. 

And finally, as part of the extension pack, you get app Integrations: Stranger, Lumen, Inject, and Goo. As you can imagine, if you’re using something like Inject, then they search for something on their own phone and it automatically gets loaded onto the video which could already be playing. 

You also have an option to share the video with your spectator. If you use this, you’ll need to “fine tune” the share video setting. If you don’t do this, the video revelation WILL be off. So make sure you don’t skip that. However my recommendation is to not share the video with the spectator. For two reasons:

Reason 1 - Look, this is the problem with all of these types of things… it doesn’t look perfect. It sort of looks like a digital image overlaid on a video which is exactly what it is. It’s just so difficult for it NOT to look like that. Some settings and environments can look better than others, but I think for the most part, you can just tell it’s not actually marker on paper. You might be able to get around that by writing the prediction on a digital surface like an iPad or something, but even then, I think you can tell it’s not an organic part of the video. Listen, I know David Copperfield uses a similar method with his overlaid image in an email in his Vegas show, but even when I saw that, I thought it was painfully obvious that it was an overlay. Maybe my eyes just see it in a way most people don’t, but I think people are getting more aware of this type of thing due to the rampant nature of AI and constantly having to check for subtle clues to know if any given image is real or AI.