If you haven’t been updated on MixVibes Cross over the last six months, there was a frenzy of development that saw the 10-year-old French company add crucial features like sample decks, quantizing, multi-effects and much more to this low-cost, open-platform DJ software. With version 2.3, Cross tacks on HID integration with Pioneer CDJs and a few other goodies to lure you in. And if you want to use your iPad as a controller, this could be the program for you – read our full review after the jump.
Reviewed: MixVibes Cross 2.3 DJ software
Price: $99.99 / 79.99€ ($49.99 / 39.99€ for CrossDJ, without timecode/HID support)
Available: Now, from Mixvibes.com
Supported Audio Formats: MP3, Ogg, AAC, M4A, FLAC, AIFF, WAV
System Requirements (Minimum):
Windows: Windows XP(SP2)/Vista(SP2)/7, Intel 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo or equivalent CPU, 1 GB RAM
Mac: OS 10.4 or higher, Intel 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 1 GB RAM
The Good: Excellent Beatgrid editing tools. New sampling, looping, and effects features. Optional horizontal Head-Up Display. Master out limiter. Nice internal recording options. Lots of interface customization. Straightforward MIDI mapping.
The Bad: A couple of playback bugs during performance. Many newer controllers aren’t supported with mappings.
The Bottom Line: With two 8-pad Samplers, 8 cue points per track, 14 effects, dedicated channel filters, iOS app remote control, and a host of other new features, Cross is attempting to fight its way to the forefront of more digital DJs’ consciousness.
NEW VIBRATIONS
In August of last year, MixVibes stepped into the more sophisticated arena of full-featured DJ programs with the major Cross 2.0 release, and has put out an incremental update every couple of months since. While Cross still doesn’t support full four-deck mixing, version 2 added:
- two 8-pad sample decks (decks C and D)
- quantizing for keeping hot cues, loops, and samples on beat
- two new FX units with 14 audio effects each
- a single-knob bipolar (highpass/lowpass) filter on each of the four mixer channels
- a software limiter for keeping the master output from peaking
- a modular interface where you can expand or hide many different modules according to your needs
Along with the new interface features, version 2.1 beefed up the internal recorder, allowing independent recording of the sample decks and a stereo auxiliary input for external recording.
The version 2.2 update introduced compatibility with the new MixVibes Video Plug-in, which lets you play, mix, and scratch video within Cross for an additional cost of $79.99 / 62.99€.
Finally, with Cross 2.3 released in late January, MixVibes added HID integration with Pioneer CDJ units. Every CDJ function (for the CDJ2000nexus, CDJ2000, CDJ900, 850, 400 and 350) is mapped to Cross 2.3, and you can use the CDJs with just two USB cables into a laptop—no soundcard required.
Version 2.3 also added the performance-friendly Slip mode for keeping a song’s continuity while you’re looping and scratching; Start/Brake time settings for decks A and B, and compatibility with non-standard, 14-bit MIDI controllers.
INTERFACE OVERVIEW
The Cross 2.3 interface presents flexible viewing options to show you only what you need to see on your limited screen real estate.
The mixer layout naturally depends on whether you’re using internal mixing with a controller or external mixing and a timecode DVS. From there, the simplest views show you just decks A and B, the mixer, and the browser. Hitting the spacebar hides the decks and mixer to show the Collection View at maximum size.
The View menu lets you choose to show the Head-Up Display (HUD), or as Cross calls it, the Beatmatcher, a horizontally scrolling display of the two decks’ waveforms to aid mixing. You can also show or hide the samplers (decks C and D), the two FX Units, the “Locators,” what Cross terms the 8 hot cues/loops per track, and the “Sync Zone,” the Cross term for the Snap and Quantize values module. There are many viewing options within the browser, as well. You can open or hide the album cover browser, the column browser, or the Info panel, which shows the detailed, editable meta data for a selected track.
TRACK COLLECTIONS
Music must be imported into the Cross Collection. From the Cross browser, you can import your iTunes music and playlists, music from any folder on a connected drive, or the music and playlists from your Traktor, VirtualDJ, or Rekordbox collections. Our Traktor import went off without a hitch. After importing, you can bulk analyze all your tracks; Cross analyzes for the BPM/beatgrid, gain level and track peaks. You can create multiple Collections if you want. The Browser’s dock buttons can be rearranged or removed. Buttons include Files, a computer hard drive directory; Prepare, a holding area for stashing tracks you want to play later; and Autoplay, where you can drag tracks and launch Cross’s auto-mixing option. The Cross browser includes some novel features, such as a column that shows icons to indicate the audio quality of the track, and the browser’s Preview Player has a handy Track Seek bar for quickly jumping through a track you’re previewing.
TRACK DECKS
Cross calls its decks A and B Players and its decks C and D Samplers in order to distinguish their functionality.
The Players are very detailed and allow you to show/hide the Beatgrid editor, the cover art, and the Locators, which are the 8 saved cue points or loops per track. The Locators show you their starting point time within the track, which can be helpful, and of course the Locators are shown within the zoomable waveform display, as well as the full track view below the scrolling waveform.
One of the most refreshing features of the track Players is the Beatgrid Editor. When you mouse over the waveform, a Pencil icon appears. Click it, and a really good set of Beatgrid editing tools appears. These include buttons for shrinking and expanding the beat interval, moving the Beatgrid left and right, defining the downbeat, halving or doubling the BPM, adding a user Beatgrid, etc. Frankly, I wish every DJ program made Beatgrid editing this straightforward.
FX UNITS
Cross 2.3 includes very simple, yet highly welcome FX Units – assignable to the decks, master output or sample decks. Taking up a slim row of space above the track Players, the identical FX Units both include a drop-menu for selecting one of the 14 effects; another menu for routing the effects to either the Player A, Player B, Sampler C, Sampler D, or the master output; and knob controls for effect Amount and Depth. T
The effects include Low-pass and Hi-pass filters, Echo and Delay, Phaser and X-Phaser (a phaser with a fixed feedback and tempo-synced LFO), Flanger and Jet (a flanger with an LFO), Transform, Chopper (a wild auto-filter with LFO), Crush (bit-crush distortion), Bliss (white noise with filter resonance), Brake (turntable stop), and Roll (beat repeater). The function of the Amount and Depth knobs vary per effect, but it’s pretty intuitive to get a hang of them. Beat-syncing on the tempo-dependent effect is spot on, and if anything, more tempo-related effects would be nice.
For the most part, the effects sound very good, with Hi-pass, Jet, and Chopper being highlights. However, the limited tweakability of the effects will have Traktor heads missing their old standbys.
SAMPLERS
Cross 2.3’s C and D decks are 8-pad samplers with three sample play modes: Loop, 1-shot, and Hold (playback for as long as a pad is held down). You can load and save Sample Banks, and MixVibes includes a number of Loopmasters sample banks to get you started.
New to version 2.3, Hot Slicing Banks and Hot Chromatic Banks autoload material from a Player deck to a Sample deck. In Hot Chromatic Banks, 8 identical sample slices are loaded to the Sampler according to the set Auto Loop length, and then each one is pitched up chromatically to affect their sound. Hot Slicing Banks load consecutive samples to the sample slots to give you the ability to quickly produce 8 chopped up samples from a track that you can then juggle.
MIDI MAPPING + IOS CONTROL
If you’re going to take full advantage of Cross’s samplers and other features, you’ll probably need to get familiar with the software’s MIDI mapping ability. While Cross supports about 60 MIDI controllers with official MixVibes mappings or user mappings on the MixVibes forums, many of the newer controllers don’t yet have mappings.
Without a mapping, Cross won’t recognize a MIDI controller with any kind of default setting, so you have to make a new mapping in the Preferences window. You can try to duplicate a mapping from another controller and go from there, but I didn’t have much luck doing that for the Stanton DJC.4 controller I used. But creating a new MIDI map is fairly straightforward. In the MIDI Preferences, you just start a new map, name it, and then begin combing through the available MIDI settings in the right-hand column of the window. When you find one you want, say FX 1 On/Off, you click the green ‘plus’ sign button next to that parameter, and then activate the control you want to assign that parameter to. You also have options for setting the type of MIDI control. For example, for buttons, you have the option to choose a Holder Button or Toggle Button control, and for knobs you can choose Direct Fader/Knob for knobs with start and end points, and Inc.-Dec Normal Fader/Knob for endless encoders. It took me about an hour to create a basic MIDI map, and you’d probably want to spend some more time to go deeper if making Cross your software of choice.
With MixVibes embracing the iOS takeover, you also have the option of controlling Cross wirelessly with iOS apps on an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. Cross iOS remote apps provide bi-directional communication between the desktop Cross software. The names of the loaded tracks and all playback information (current tempo, current playback position, remaining play time and so on) are visible on the remote app screen. You must create an ad-hoc network from your computer to connect Cross with the Cross iOS apps, which the manual shows how to do.
You don’t need a paid version of Cross to use the remote control apps; they’re compatible with the Mac version of CrossDJ Free, or the paid versions. However, the remote apps themselves cost $4.99 for CrossDJ Remote for iPhone and $9.99 for CrossDJ Remote for iPad(both are iOS 4.2 or later).
RECORDING
Cross 2.3’s internal recorder lets you record to WAV, AIFF, Ogg, or FLAC at the audio resolution specified in the Audio Preferences: either 44.1, 48, 88.2, or 96kHz. You can also choose to record tracks from any or all of the following inputs: decks A, B, C, or D, the master output or an auxiliary input (chosen in Audio Preferences). Just choose all the recording inputs you want, and after recording, there will be separate audio files for each input in the Cross Recordings folder on your hard drive. This is a potentially useful feature that I haven’t yet seen elsewhere.
PERFORMANCE
We tested Cross 2.3 on a 2012 MacBook Pro with a 2.6GHz Intel Core i7, 8 GB RAM, and OS 10.8.2 (Mountain Lion). That machine comfortably exceeds the minimum system requirements for Cross, and for the most part, the software performed with aplomb.
One continual problem that occurred may be cause for concern, which was one particular cue point—Hot Cue 2 on Player B—would either not respond to its trigger command, or occasionally it would activate itself unprovoked. That and some erratic behavior of a loop, which turned off unprovoked, were the only problems I experienced while using Cross. Still, those are pretty big concerns when considering performing in public, and they aren’t behaviors I’ve experienced with any recent versions of Traktor or Serato.
CROSS TO BEAR
MixVibes Cross has come a very long way from where it was just a year ago. It’s still a software that aims both to make DJing for beginners palatable and to provide high quotient of creativity and flexibility during performance while keeping the interface and workflow clean. It succeeds on both fronts. By incorporating sample decks, multi-effects, new looping features, dedicated filters per channel quantizing and other high-leverage features, it’s got a place in the working DJ’s software conversation.
To become a bigger player, Cross may need to clear up a couple of the bugs that—at least for me—came up during performance, and perhaps align itself with some new, hot controllers. But the several areas in which Cross has even exceeded some of its contemporaries, as with the Beatgrid Editor, Browser Preview player, internal recorder, and iOS remote apps, show that MixVibes is keen on innovation and that we should expect even better things to come.
Markkus Rovito is DJTT’s Tech Reviewer. Bother him on Twitter to get him to review your favorite new gear!
i have numark nv controller if is possible i need drivers from MixVibes Cross dj …so i can play my controller with MixVibes Cross dj thank you for support and help
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Can some one please tell me on the mixed vibes external MIDI DJ controller i am conecting to a MAC book pro and then connecting straight into the AMP.
Which out put is used to connect to the amp is it the the out put 3/4 red right white left or the output 1/2 right red left white.
mant thanks lynn
iTunes integration is the best part of Mixvibes. I can purchase and download a song on iTunes. One click on the refresh button and it refreshes my iTunes library and I can be playing that song. When it does a refresh it scans the entire iTunes library for any new files.
This process of purchasing, downloading refreshing and adding to a player ready to play can happens for me in a minute.
I promote to my clients I can play anything that is on iTunes if they have mobile phone reception at the venue.
I think the most important comment is that they are listening to their customers and improving
Just purchased yesterday and they are now on version 2.4 with 4 decks. Set up was easy. I midi mapped my american audio 10mxr in about 15 mins. Coming from serato itch a few things that Cross is missing. Vertical wave form view, better iTunes intergration(still can’t play my songs from my iTunes playlist). Instant doubles by duplicating from the deck(they have it but from track list).
I hooked my vci-300 mkii up to test scratch performance and its the same as itch!
Wasted my money on cross. after purchasing and registering the software I still cant post on their forum for support its been 4 days and counting.
All my issues have been resolved i can post on the forum and ITunes work perfectly now
I currently own an american audio 10 MXR and im planning to use cross 3.0 with it. Did you manage to map out LED’s as well along with the midi mapping?
i just brought the mixvibes cross dj package (its coming through the mail) and looking at it i thinking i made the right choice, reading the reviews here i must say its alright with me lol
I bought Mixvibes Cross because I wanted a DVS and I was on a budget. This software is amazing and 2 years later still dont want to upgrade. Very happy with it.
I dunno man. I just cant use anything other than Traktor.
Bryon
http://www.deephouselounge.com
Hi, I am UncleVibes, Mixvibes Community Manager.
Thanks to DJ Techtools for this excellent review. You can read some comments also on Mixvibes forum. http://forum.mixvibes.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=26939
Fabrice wrote :” Support@MixVibes le Jeu Fév 21, 2013 1:26 pm
I’m pretty sure the homemade mapping for the Stanton DJC4 or the controler himself was what gave him issue with the locators and so.
When a device (cd player/standalone/mixer) also have MIDI features, the MIDI part is not really the same unit, you switch to the MIDI mode (the other integrated device).
Unfortunately, most of the time, this second unit is less polished than the main one and can have issue (even the almighty P does… ).
Why ?
Sometimes the MIDI part is not really from them, it’s a third party works or they don’t want to put too much money and effort into a ‘secondary’ features that will probably masked the main goal of the unit. So beware !”
“I only have one user that asked how to map the Stanton DJC4, so I guess it must be the writer. #undercover”
There is no debate in the company about 2 decks or 4 decks but a work around, Mixvibes betatesters received CrossDJ 2.4 yesterday which included 4 decks (it will be a free update). A new CrossDJ version written in 64 bits is also on beta…
And more to come.
I am sure I will have to thanks again DJ Techtools for their global excellent work!
i used cross with a rme sound card and no probs at all
. if you use a sLL box its plug and play all day
I have been using Cross for the last month or so to test out the hid capabilities of the 2000 Nexus, and must say I have been pleasantly impressed. The software seems very stable apart from a couple of bugs which to be perfectly honest do not make my expectations of the professional quality of the software, any less than Serato or Traktor which both have bugs in it still. This software in a couple of updates time will be a major contender against the bigger boys and the price is very keen too.
from the looks of all the screen shots, this person really likes nu disco.
I love mixvibes… Only affordable DVS program when I was broke. I had issues with the music importing but they have since fixed it with cross. No software is perfect. Their support forum is pretty good too
Yep I just downloaded it to check it out with my RMX. VDJ upgrade from LE is $150 and Traktor is $99. I can’t afford that right now, Cross at $50 is perfect.
Mixvibes sounds great. I think I will pick up a version just to try the softwares ins and outs against traktor. Sometimes too many features can be an overload if not used properly, and can actually dull down a dj’s performance.
Cross and CrossDJ are going to be the software to contend with. Although there are a few minor bugs and issues, and lots of features that can be added, the one thing that MixVibes does that all these other companies seems to not do is listen to their customers.
Since I started using CrossDJ (7 months ago), it has had more feature implementations, fixes, and upgrades that the entire 4 years of traktor upgrades. I don’t even want to mention how many dollars I spend upgrading to Traktor Pro 2 through all the changes, when the upgrade to Cross 2.0 was free for 1.0 users. And how’s that resizable midi window in Traktor, after how long? I have had suggestions and bug fixes corrected within a minor revision number with Cross. Ohh, and in order to get all the new features in cross, I had to spend 0 dollars buying a new F1, or a new Machine mk2… or whatever other cool new toy NI wants you to buy that will only last 6 months before self destructing, and 3 after they introduce the next software upgrade that isn’t backwards compatible.
You should have delved a little deeper in to the quantize function of the track decks and the sampler decks, cause it’s a selling point. Also, the fact that you can have infinite beatgrid markers, to essentially “Warp” tracks like in ableton, but without keeping them as a slave to a master tempo. This is great for transition tracks, because you can have the beginning of a track at 128, and the end at 74, unlike traktor. And, the algorithm that Cross uses to pitch tracks is probably the best in the industry with the exception of dedicated hardware like CDJ’s. Also, works with any sound card.
Speaking of CDJ’s, anyone notice that the beat detection on Rekordbox is Fu$%*ng amazing? Guess what Cross has? And the browser of Rekordbox, essentially, that too. Smartplaylists, got em. Stability, unmatched.
2 cents from a more than happy CrossDJ !
Hi Clayton, thanks for the great feedback.
We always try to balance the digestibility of review with an exhaustive overview of every interesting feature, which can be quite a challenge when there is so much to talk about in this case.
But you’re right that the quantizing and beatgrid features are especially cool in Cross. The beatgrid options are one of the most convincing upsides for me to use the software. Cheers!
Hi Markkus, nice review. Although I’d have to call CROSS professional. They developp Rekordbox for Pioneer too. What does that say about MixVibes, that they are providing the software for the DJ gear industry blue print ? In fact thousands of professional DJs are already using MixVibes technology through rekordbox. And some pretty big names for sure …
Anyways, my 2 cents and my personnal experience is that for Pioneer-friendly DJs, CROSS is a really appealing software solution and definitely worth checking out. The interconnectivity between CROSS and Rekordbox is a big plus too… It allows to switch from home to club set-up without loosing any of the database metadata (loops, CUE points, etc..).That’s definitely a good thing for professional DJs who travel a lot and switch settings often ! peace
It’s true; it’s always precarious to say whether a product is “professional” or not. It’s even precarious to say whether a particular DJ or producer is “professional.” Like many of us, I earn some money from DJing and music, but it’s not my main income. Does that make me a pro, or is being a pro more about your level of professionalism, which you can have whether you get paid or not?
For sure, Cross is going to appeal to and work for many pro DJs, and not for others. I hate to blanketly label it as one thing or the other. But looking at MixVibes’ trajectory of Cross development, it’s quickly becoming more and more pro-worthy. Given the company’s history of free updates for it’s users, it may be worth getting in on the ground floor now!
i have been using cross for a bit now and love it i have used it with a rme sound card before and felt like real vinyl for me
Great (in depth) review. Personally, I use MixVibes Cross DJ (vs. Traktor) now because it it very straight forward and reliable. I own Traktor Pro (using Traktor since 2006) and have the F1. But I (midi) mapped out the F1 for MixVibes Cross DJ. It’s great software, but I agree, having 4 full decks will help me because I switch a lot between different songs and segments (and need my upcoming songs/segments “cued up” ready). If anyone cannot afford Traktor or Serato, they should try MixVibes Cross. The straight-forwardness of the design and flexibility has helped me focus on the music. Multiple track collections and the Browser are great also. (“Smart Playlists” are also powerful when organizing tracks/playlists).
Also worth noting that if you don’t need time code or HID , Mixvibes Cross DJ is just 39.99 euros / 49.99 USD. I myself bought a controller that had native Traktor support but did my own mapping and now play all my gigs with CrossDJ which I much rather prefer !
Excellent point, AP S. That could be a compelling price for the controllerist. Thanks.
Also there’s a downloadable demo version on Mixvibes’ site for PC/MAC. That’s how they got me hooked. 😛
Hi Sim. L
I don’t agree with you. We can’t say this or this software is for PRO or Beginnner. It is not because Mixvibes missing one or two Traktor features it turns the software for benginner only. Traktor, Serato, Mixvibes are hopefully different in some of their features but are all designed for Djing. Mapping LED display and 4 decks control don’t make you a PRO DJs.
If you are a 1 year user of MixVibes, you might notice you can find help on the user community forum for LED and mapping and also 4 deck control is on the way for a future update. Are you still considering the switch really ?
I’ve used Mixvibes cross Dj for the past year or so. Its a great software, but for the style of music that i play, (tech-house, deep- house) its better to work with four deck allowing more creativity… I’ll probably switch to traktor. Also, i found that only one FX unit per track was not enough, and you can’t map the LED display on your controller… Cross DJ is better for the beginner djs or the mobile DJs that don’t require complicated mapping system.
you can get plenty creative on two decks, not sure what you’re getting at here. two decks is by no means an unprofessional setup.
bear in mind that built in effects and all this stuff are fairly new. back in my day (uphill both ways) we had two turntables and an analogue mixer and we liked it.
agreed. although i started with cdjs, it’s still the mastering of the art of mixing that is key to any good dj. each dj has their own unique creative style of mixing. i’ve played at clubs and bars for years (5+) with only 2 decks and it has been great. now running a NS6 w/ Serato Itch, but i don’t consider myself more professional than any 2-deck djs.