Numark mixtrack users, how’s long term performance
Hi, I am interested in upgrading from a maudio xsession pro to the numark mixtrack. I just want some jog wheels to spin ala cdj again. I also want more navigation of my traktor duo.
My question is to owners of the device is how are you getting along with it?
Should I bother to upgrade or wait for something else? Thank you in advance.
No prob
The resolution on the jog wheels are awesome(in traktor, anyway). I’ve been wanting to paint it, but I’ve been gigging a lot. This thing paid for itself in one night. And I have no desire to upgrade to a “pro” controller. I highly recommend buying this machine. Especially if your funds are limited. As far as duribility goes, I never drop my equipment.
Thank you
I got small issues. . .
I would’ve like the USB to be detachable, rather than connected. Easy mod, but I’d rather have it removed for moving the unit around.
The faders aren’t the most sturdy. Again, an easy mod. I took the thing apart to see what i have working to try to do a Arcade mod. Arcade mod is a no go =(
As far as working with Tracktor, it’s flawless. I’m using Tracktor LE, and I’ve had no issues whatsoever. The jogs are really responsive, and everything works as it should. Gigged with it at a house party (I’m still new to Tracktor), and played 5 hours with no hiccups. I even had my friends take a stab at it. They use a VCI-300 and ITCH, and they were fairly impressed with the layout.
I’d say go ahead an buy it, but Numark recently announced the MixTrack Pro at the BPM show. . comes with PC DJ and an built-in sound card (Not so much a deal breaker, but I got a Audio 2 DJ, and I rather enjoy Tracktor instead of PC DJ). Costs about $250, which is bout $100 more without the sound card, but has added features I really really like. Headphone jack, detachable USB, little bit thicker, but then again, it’s the same unit on the MixTrack with some of these smaller features.
I’m thinking bout picking one up, but I’d rather have the Audio Dj 2 instead of relying on the internal sound card.
And, as hearlessjames said, “I never drop my equipment”.
Hope that somewhat helps. Good luck!
Thanks for the thorough input. Would you mind posting pics/details on how you did the fader and detachable usb cable mods? I would really like to do those as well on my mixtrack.
Thanks!
I’ve had a rollercoaster with this controller, but in the end, I think it is a great piece of kit. Especially considering the price, relative to many other controllers…
I have Traktor Pro set up, and the installation of the controller (as you will see if you google it) was an unnecessary nightmare. It actually doesn’t have ANY installation, but the packaging isn’t very good at letting you know this. I got the impression that the only way I was going to get this thing working was to install Traktor LE over Pro. It doesn’t use drivers like any other controller I’ve used does, and it doesn’t have any “power” lights – again, like any other controller does. The only time the lights light up are when you have midi out sending a message to it (which makes sense, but for god’s sake, at least let me know it’s on and my computer recognizes it…)
In the end, it really is as simple as “plug it in.”
The second issue I had was relating to virtual midi ports. The default .TSI mapping the controller comes with has the midi settings defaulted to ALL IN/ALL OUT. With Midi Yoke installed for production junk, this ended up causing all sorts of infinite loops that would only show themselves for certain functions (looping, in particular). Once I cleared this up by simply changing the ins and outs to that specific controller, I was set.
For $140 or whatever I paid for it, it is an absolute blast. I’ve been playing with Ableton Live using a button-based config for DJing, and it feels quite refreshing to return to the feel of decks of any kind.
Once you get this thing sorted, it’s pretty good. I hope you enjoy it.
I haven’t gotten to it yet, but I’m looking to buy the parts from Sparkfun.com for the USB. I have yet to purchase em, but they connector is failry easy. I can change it up to a mini or Micro, but this seemed the easier rout, and I suffer from “fat fingers” (I’m not iPhone/iTouch/iPod Nano friendly LOL!):
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=139
The Faders, you can probably get from the same place. I wanted a smoother throw for either the CF and the input/line faders. These are soldered right onto the PCB inside. Looks simple enough for me in the MixTrack. But if I could, I’d do a cross fader reverse switch as well, but I’m looking into and seeing what I’d have to do, since the Mixtrack PBC is pretty much a single piece, and I’d have to place it in an open area (no pcb underneath), and wire some sort of switch to do this.
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9119
I’m still on Tracktor LE though, so I haven’t done any .tsi or anything like that.
These are small mods that I’m looking into still, but my ever expanding gear keeps me from doing this. If yer serious bout it, keep me posted.
I purchased mine a few months ago to finally make the permanent jump from my digital vinyl setup and make the move to Traktor Pro alone… I’ve yet to have a single crash or hiccup during any performance or practice session with the Mixtrack teamed with my Korg Nanokey (I have it labeled for cue juggling on the side) and my Audio8 interface. I’m the type to baby my gear for the most part but after daily use over the last couple months the only wear and tear I can notice is the channel faders loosened up. Which is a good thing since they are really tight to begin with. I really have only have one complaint over this product, and it’s been mentioned already. That would be the USB not being removable, I’m dreading the day that it shorts out from the cable getting old but I’m looking to modify that in the near future. Other than that Mixtrack feels good and works great, I highly recommend it.
I have a Mixtrack, and I’ve been pretty happy with it so far. The faders are a little plasticky, with good resistance for mixing on the upfaders and a reasonably smooth crossfader, and the knobs aren’t terrible either. There are some things about the layout I would change if I could redesign it, but it works rather well in practice. It’d be nice to have a 4th knob in the mixer section for filters, and it’d be nice to have a 4th knob in the effects section, but I’ve gotten over that by press+turn functionality to control dry-wet/parameter 1 at the same time on the first knob.
I have a pretty comprehensive and flexible 4 deck mapping that I’m just doing some testing on before I release it here on the forum. I’ve settled on touch-sensitive scratch/pitchbend jog wheels, loops, effects, and juggle modes for all 4 decks, and a few other features that are working out pretty well so far in practice. Should be out in a few days, if I can get some time to play with it first and make sure the kinks are ironed out. Here’s a preview:
That looks awesome Cashen! I can’t wait, it’s exactly what I’ve been looking for.
@ Cashen
:eek:
That. . .is. . .awesome!!!
Nice layout Cashen.
I’ve just taken delivery of mine (£100, bargain!) and I’m really pleased with it. Great controller, feels well built, looks stylish… couldn’t ask for more!
Currently working on my layout - two decks initially, but I’m going to look at making it 4 deck, incorporating deck shift switches like you have and also my X-session and iPad for effects and mixing control.
Few things I’ve done differently to you so far, as I really wanted filters in the mixer area: I have the “Cue Gain” knob set as Filter for deck A, “Cue Mix” knob as filter for deck B, “Load A” and “Load B” are filter on/off for each channel (using the folder/file LEDs), then holding shift makes the filter knobs into deck gain knobs, and returns the load buttons to their normal functionality.
With the browser knob, I have pressing it on its own as preview/pause, pressing it with shift as switch between file and folder, and turning it while holding it down as preview seek. I’ve got the X-fader as cue mix (as I don’t really care for crossfading normally), and leave cue gain to my soundcard/with the mouse).
I have the pitch faders as normal, with +/-6% so I get 0.1% accuracy, then I have +/- pitch bend buttons mapped to fine tempo adjustments, so I can get it nearly spot on with the fader, then use the buttons to tweak it (to make up for the low resolution).
Not really worked out how I’m going to implement effects and loops yet (I tend to use advanced mode effects), but I’ll be sure to update you. Hope this offers some inspiration and I’ll be sure to share my layout when it’s done 
can someone help me with a mixtrack mapping. I’ve been working all day on a maping to make fader fx’s with the jog wheel, gain, and pitch slider. like in ean’s video.
The only problem i’m having it making the third preset turn on at the bottom of my gain. it’s doing the reverse, it stays on the entire gain slide, and when i put it to the bottom it turns off. Any suggestions?
The mixtrack was a MISTAKE.
First one that I ordered from Musician’s Friend seemed fine at first but within a WEEK I noticed the crossfader was being glitchy. Then after a few more weeks and testing it turns out if you move the crossfader up or down it moves it to the left or right in a gltichy manner.
It was unusable as a DJ controller at that point because the crossfader was going haywire all over the place.
I exchanged it for ANOTHER mixtrack except when this one came, no crossfader problem, but the right jog wheel was like 75% responsive and had some sort of resistance when compared to the left.
All-in-all the responsiveness is just not there and the build quality is pretty poor, i mean at 150 it must have cost half the price to build the thing.
I’m ordering a Vestax Typhoon because of the metal jog wheels, and less plastic/better pastic. I"ll post back to compare the two but I haven’t had a Numark Mixtrack work 100% yet, and for some reason I see a LOT of good reviews out there. Buyers beware.
double that…
Cashen…we are waiting?
A bit jaded…
I have the MixTrack Pro. I bought it about a month ago and I love it so far. The only thing is, I can’t find any mapping for virtual dj. it comes with the LE edition and I have an older version of VDJ (6.0.1). The controller will only work with the LE edition that came with it for 30 days. I’m not against using Traktor or anything like that, I just prefer VDJ. If anyone can send me a mapping for VDJ 6.0.1 it would be greatly appreciated. djakwareeus@gmail.com
or
experience.ha@gmail.com
Excellent mapping Cashen. I cannot wait.
I can’t find any videos out there of people who know how to scratch demonstrating that such is possible on the numark mixtrack. I just want to know: on the Mixtrack or Mixtrack Pro, is the jog sensitivity and accuracy good enough to do decent scratching? I’ve already got my beloved VCI-100 SE (1.3 FW), and it’s fantastic for most things, but I just can’t stand the lack of accuracy on the jogs. I can’t even throw in little scratches or beat juggling where it’s appropriate, nor even just for fun, because the jogs are so inaccurate.
The Mixtrack looks very nice, especially the Pro, but I won’t even consider buying it if the jogs aren’t scratchable.
I’m fine with cue juggling, and that’s all well and good and all kinds of fun, but I want to have a little bit more flexibility in my routine.
Alternatively, does the 1.4 FW make the VCI jogs accurate enough to scratch with? I know it extends the range of the faders by messing with the ADC bits or something (and fixes the problem with the scratch button notes that I hate so much), but does it provide enough of a boost for the jogs?
If anyone knows answers to either of my questions, please report back.
Thank you.
I think that problem you describe is more “program” derrived than anything… In fact i’m almost certain of it. I thought the wheels had a lag too when i purchased mine… There is a setting in Traktor that allows you to adjust the jogwheel sensitivity… I don’t know about the VCI, although I too would like to own one…
