This has a standard big knob to scroll through your files, which clicks on pressing down (although I’ve no idea why I couldn’t get it to do anything useful when clicked), and deck A and B load buttons. The device is clearly designed to be perched in front of a laptop for easy DJing in small spaces.Īnother feature that’s started to be introduced on even the cheapest DJ controllers is the file browse area, which stops you having to touch your computer to load songs. They’re not as good, of course, as pro jog wheels, but they’re better than all of the jogwheels on DJ controllers of any price up until relatively recent times. The jogwheels are heavy rubber/plastic, not too much give in them, and because they’re weighted, they spin convincingly.
Everything about it is stripped down and budget – the plastic moulded casing, the plastic knobs and buttons (although the buttons are backlit), the USB cable moulded into the back of the unit so it can’t be removed, the fact that it comes with MixVibes software instead of one of the better-known (and presumably more expensive to license) brands…Įverything, that is, except the jogwheels. This is a lightweight, simple DJ controller, meant strictly – as its name suggests – for those wanting a first foray into the world of digital DJing. It’s the FIRSTMIX that we take a closer look at today. When we predicted that 2011 would be the year of the 4-deck DJ controller, we didn’t also guess that a flurry of micro DJ controller would hit the market too. But at the NAMM show last month, Numark rebadged and tweaked the ION Audio iCUE3 Discover to be used with the iPad as the iDJ Live, and released the DJ2GO at the same time, DJ Tech released the Poket DJ Duo, and Gemini – best known (at least here in Europe) for their mobile DJing kit – announced the FIRSTMIX.