Help me find a decent mixer
Long story short I’m after a mixer that I can throw in a backpack along with my laptop and soon to exist Launchpad and/or Midifighters.
Is there anything that has a decent combo of low price/size and high performance. It’s a bit hard finding how good something is just through the Internet and when the two stores that sell mixers in my city don’t let you play with them unless you book like a week in advance
Cheers. 
Honestly really depends on what you need out of the mixer. 2 channel? 4 channel? FX?
Best bang for your buck 2 channel mixer in my opinion? Rane TTM-56 (Not the 56s, the older one if you can find one used).
But mixers are tricky, and get really expensive really quickly depending on what you go for.
Do you mean an actual mixer that you can use with just turntables or CD players or a mixer style midi controller?
Assuming you mean a real standalone audio mixer and not a midi controller…to throw in a backpack along with a laptop AND lauchpad AND MIDIFighters…you are looking at best at a 2-channel mixer as any 4 channel mixers that I can think of are all large, bulky and heavy. You might consider a something that is slim like a Vestax 06s or an Ecler Nuo 2.0…both nice 2-channel mixers that won’t set you back too much and are slim enough to fit in a backpack.
To me it sounds more like he needs a mixer style controller. In which case I vote the Behringer CMD MM-1 or the A&H Xone:K2.
Personally I’d go for the K2 for the built in audio interface, nice build quality and free case. And the fact that it’s actually available now 
Agreed…right now, other than a Xone:K2, I don’t know of any controllers that give just a “mixer interface” AND are built durable enough…
Once upon a time we just had the x session pro. shudder
That was my first ever controller…I’m happy that things gone now
I still have mine!!! My X-Session Pro and a Launchpad got me started using Traktor!!!
There is another one 
http://www.djtechpro.com/product_detail.asp?cate_id=63&subcate_id=105&product_id=451
These are looking much more what I’m after. 
I’ll see if they are available in this city’s stores then.
I use the djtech djm101midi mixer for house party’s or small bars and it is actually pretty good, light and works.
I’ll vouch for the X session pro. also if size is a problem. look at the vestax and ecler turntablist mixers
http://www.eclerdjdivision.com/productCont.php?ap=2&sub=1&id=34&lang=
http://www.vestax.com/v/products/detail.php?cate_id=18&parent_id=4
X session pro is not nice. Really really try before you buy.
I’ve been looking at a midi mixer myself - was interested in the new Behringer one but decided to get a Stanton SCS1m:
http://www.stantondj.com/stanton-controllers-systems/scs1m.html
Perfect for what I need and less than £200 brand new with Firewire card…
BTW you can get an X Session Pro for under £25 now - however bad it is you can’t complain at that:
http://www.thomann.de/gb/maudio_torq_mixlab.htm
£25 for an X-Session Pro? That should be the first port of call for any and every noob. PERFECT for learning the basics on.
I’m still waiting for a dedicated MIDI mixer with good build quality and functionality.. Like a bus powered compact version of a DJM 800 or the A&H Xone DB series… The closest thing (that is still unreleased) is the CMD MM1 from Behringer…
… Behringer.. No ones favorite manufacturer..
However it’s not bus powered which kind of defeats the modular purpose…
Can we expect A&H, NI, Pioneer to come through with what we’re looking for?
Here’s the Behringer link http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/CMD-MM-1.aspx
Behringer is one of my favourite manufacturers tbh. They make lots of neat stuff.
