![]() ![]() ![]() These pads aren’t velocity sensitive or pressure sensitive, but they have a nice clicky feel to them when they activate. One thing they’re not too good at, though, is performance based button pressing techniques… hence the addition of pads. They’re also handily backlit, which both helps you find them quickly and alerts you to their state. I like the firm, hard click of the buttons on the Mixtrack Pro II – they have a short throw and it’s immediately clear when you’ve activated the switch beneath. The most conspicuous change to the Mixtrack Pro in making the Mixtrack Pro II is the addition of eight soft pads on each side of the unit, but Numark have considered where the original plastic switches are still relevant and they still grace the rest of the unit. On the other hand the crossfader is light and smooth, the fader caps are nice between your finger and thumb, and the deadzone at either end is only around 2mm make no mistake, there are better ways to spend your hard earned if you just want to learn to scratch, but the Mixtrack Pro II definitely won’t let you down if you want to get some practice in – it’s actually quite fun to scratch with. It means that it’s very easy to make slow, smooth adjustments to channel volume, but doesn’t translate well to quick, scratch and trick mixing-like movements. The faders – bar the cross fader – are quite stiff, a style that seems to be more or less the accepted standard for channel faders nowadays. There’s a smooth if maybe slightly stiff feel to the main knobs, and a ‘light’ feel to the effects encoders – it’s not that they’re too loose, more that they feel like they’re a bit too easy to turn for how many ‘clicks’ they have per rotation. ![]() The only thing really betraying the feel of the jogwheels is the fact that resolution per turn isn’t up to par with top level controllers, leaving slow movements a little digital sounding in software. There’s no tension adjust, but the way they’re set up toes the line between requiring a tiring amount of work for scratching movements and unworkably free spinning if they were porridge, the jog wheels would be ‘just right’. Being touch activated, you can leave scratch mode on permanently should you wish and achieve a pitch bend effect by caressing the silver edge of the wheel rather than touching the black section in the centre, as the activation sensor ignores the edge. They’re smooth in rotation, firm and (barring ‘testing’ their limits) wobble free. With that said, it’s still a very well made controller for the consumer market and it feels sturdy in all the right places and the the jogwheels, smaller and a little more flush to the fascia than the original Mixtrack Pro’s, are a standout. The ‘Pro’ in the Mixtrack Pro II is a bit of a misnomer because nothing about the controller screams ‘pro’. ![]() In practice this isn’t a deal breaker (and excessive minturisation certainly isn’t a Numark-exclusive foible), it’s just something you have to be daintily mindful of when using the controller – especially if you have big hands. The EQ knobs are very close together, the pitch faders are just a little close to the pads, and the tri-fader design is too much of a squeeze for me – it seems odd that the master fader isn’t a knob to leave the two channel faders a little more room to breathe. It’s skinnier too It’s a smaller size in every direction, and if anything I think that’s a bad thing whilst it’s good for a controller that’s aimed at home use to be able to be packed away easily, things are maybe just a little bit too cramped up. Visually this brings things into line with Numark’s higher level controllers – the NS6, for example – and makes a very good first impression. It’s a completely plastic design, but the faceplate sports a pretty smart faux brushed metal look. Straight out of the box, the Mixtrack Pro II looks more impressive than the original. The Mixtrack Pro II doesn’t try and reinvent the wheel so much as incorporate the must have new features of a DJ controller whilst leaving the original formula in tact as much as possible, a move that Numark is presumably hoping will help to solidify the ‘most popular’ status for another couple of years. For nearly two and a half years, the Mixtrack Pro has been at the top of the pile for beginner Dhes taking their first steps into the world of mixing, but in that time the idea of what DJing is has evolved somewhat – and importantly for a DJ controller, the world of software has changed a fair bit too. Link: Numark - Price: $299/€219/£179 IntroductionĪccording to Numark, the Mixtrack Pro is the world’s most popular DJ controller. ![]()
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