Cross DJ for Android 1.5 — now with MIDI
Dan Morse·
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Cross DJ for Android 1.5 — now with MIDI

As we are all constantly reminded, Apple is still the king of mobile when it comes to anything audio. The DJ software/hardware scene on iPhone and iPad is maturing at a steady pace. In fact, Pioneer only just announced the WeGO3, designed for mobile devices.

But there’s one shining light for Android users. Mixvibes, the team behind rekordbox and Cross DJ, have been steadily plugging away at the feature set of their Android edition. With some pretty big news in the changelog for the latest version, 1.5, the development doesn’t seem to be slowing.

Although MIDI control in Android is nothing new, I think we can safely say that Cross DJ gets a ‘first’ with the app providing a full MIDI mapping for a DJ controller. Those of you with a U-Mix Control Pro can plug in and get all the features you need to get mixing. The guys at Mixvibes also say there’s controller support to come, so watch this space.

There is a big caveat, though, in that we are still waiting for Android to provide access to proper multi-channel audio, like iOS has. In theory, certain kernels (and later versions from 4.1) already support USB audio, but my experiments with various audio interfaces have failed to get any noise out. This means you’ll still have to use a splitter cable to be able to cue and play music out at the same time. Which means we’re still on mono audio.

Also available in this release is Mixcloud integration, allowing you to not only record your sets in the app, but upload them, along with timestamps and tracklists… all done for you! Mixvibes also mention SoundCloud, but that’s been a feature for a few months now.

You get a lot of app for the price ($9.99/£5.99) and as usual, the new features are free in the update.

Press release

Cross DJ for Android, now with MIDI control & Mixcloud integration

World premiere: Cross DJ for Android, the 1st pro DJ app on Android, now enables users to control the app with a controller. Besides, Mixvibes adds the possibility to record and share a mix on Mixcloud & SoundCloud.

MIDI Control

Connect your Android device to the U-Mix Control-Pro: all Cross DJ controls are mapped. Browse, scratch, sync tracks, add effects…everything works at a very low latency. Watch the video: http://youtu.be/5ocke5GDg78

The U-Mix Control Pro mapping is the first step in showing that MIDI control on Android is now possible. More controllers are to come, so stay tuned!

Mixcloud integration

Record your mix and export it to Mixcloud, directly from within the app. Cross DJ also exports the tracks names + timestamps and automatically publishes a smart tracklist. No extra-work to do, it’s all built in the app!

Bonus: SoundCloud integration

Record and export your mix to SoundCloud: Cross DJ writes tracks names as comments below the waveform.

Get it now

See also

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mixvibes.crossdjapp

Pricing and availability

Update is free for all current users.

About Mixvibes

Mixvibes has been developing DJ apps for Mac, PC, iPad and iPhone for more than 10 years. It is also the company who developed Pioneer’s rekordboxTM, worldwide club standard music management software.

Cross DJ

What I think

Android is still a few years behind Apple’s mobile operating system, but it has one big advantage in that the roadmap is much clearer since iOS has already paved the way. Even though Google are still playing catch up, the process should be smoother and easier. And we are getting there!

I’ve owned the app since it first came out and have slowly been watching it grow in features and mature. The reality is that Mixvibes’ ambition or ability aren’t the limiting factors here, rather it’s Google’s OS. It’s the same old story we hear every time. Android has poor support for the features we as DJs are asking for. Unfortunately, the reality is that we aren’t currently Android’s market. Google are all about consuming media, be it Netflix or Google Music. We can see that things are slowly changing, but I don’t know about you, but I’m getting a little bit frustrated at the pace of progress in this area.

What do you think of this news? What features would you like to see in Cross DJ for Android? Lets talk about it in the comments!

16 Comments

  1. With Android L we should see a drastically reduced latency time which should be more or less comparable to an iDevice.

    If you haven’t had chance to check out the (rather long) YouTube video, here it is… http://youtu.be/92fgcUNCHic

    Here is a page on USB audio in Android L… https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!topic/android-ndk/SnZ2j6odZSM

    The Caustic discussion forum seem to have a few sighs of relief too as it will help greatly with music production.

      1. I can pitch bend at the center of the jog wheels by holding down left/right and I have just realized if I double tap the center the pitch will reset to normal. But for some reason when I press up/down the value still remains 0%, I can’t adjust the pitch independently. The only way is to hit the sync button to sync up the track with the opposite deck.

    1. We too hope for DJs having more choice of mobile platform too. While I’m a dedicated Apple guy, Android is a long way from rubbish. I’m not holding out much hope for Windows phone users to get a lot of DJ goodness though.

  5. Ipads are great, but the real promise of Android devices is using the easier file management and expandable storage in the context of DJing. Popping in a large SD card into a Android tablet is way cheaper than similar sized Ipad. Apple really holds storage for ransom. DJ software is a unique category in that you really don’t need a bunch of CPU power (you’re only playing some MP3s with the amount of tactile control of a video game), but it needs access to relatively huge amounts of storage.

    1. Just watch most DJ software taxing the CPU to the max with time stretching and maybe some audio effects. Most DJ apps can not do 4 decks with good quality time stretching on mobile… And while many Android devices have strong CPUs, it’s not enough without proper thread scheduling which is completely missing from Android (sched_fifo, etc.).

      1. Then the problem lies with the design. As a full-time professional DJ, I’ve done pretty much the whole spectrum of venues, high to low-end. I rarely see anyone using 4 decks, crazy effects, or extreme time-stretching really. I blame Native Instruments’ marketing and the whole controllerist movement for leading people astray. There’s a lot of focus on shiny whiz bang features instead nailing down the basics correctly. It does new DJs a disservice and makes pros not take mobile platforms seriously. Properly emulating the feel and basic features of a CDJ-1000 should be simpler to develop than Angry Birds (which is on every platform).

        1. Even with 2 decks, most DJ apps eat the mobile CPU. No matter how extreme is the time-stretching, applies to just 0.05% change as well.

          Properly emulating the feel and basic features of a CDJ-1000 is definitely more complex than developing Angry Birds. It’s only easier a bit if you license many components (time stretching, etc.).

          1. Really? I’m not a programmer (yet), just a big thinker. I would think that emulating the physics, gravity, and visuals of aiming a slingshot projectile and breaking various items would be a bit more complex than a simple spinning platter. In general I think developers are choosing feature creep over basic quality. You rarely hear anyone complaining about latency or lack of tactile control with mobile games including first-person shooters and ports from other platforms.

            And that’s my point…most DJs don’t really need or want time-stretching, sync, or crazy effects. I’m not a purist, they’re nice to have, but only after the basics have been done right. I think we want the ability to bring less gear to a gig but not without losing basic functionality that has been the standard for 15+years.

            I guess it’s easier pile shite on to generate excitement than to make a solid basic working tool.

            1. Time stretching quality is very important for the users, as well as sync and effects. Those features are very important to reach a good position on the market.

              Time stretching alone is more complex than physics in apps. Furthermore, games can use existing game engines. Most game developers are not needed to deal with such things, “just” use Unity3D. There are no such engines exist for a DJ app.

              I spent almost 2 years researching and developing my own time-stretching solution. Serato (the company) was basically created around their time-stretching engine…

              1. Serato was just a small plug in developer until they jumped into DJ software. The success of the company was built on the fact they had the simplest, most stable DVS solution which led to market dominance especially among professional DJs. That further proves my point. Scratch Live was always a step or two behind other DJ software in terms of features, but Serato worked enough on the basic functionality of being as reliable as using a turntable or CDJ (in standalone) that it didn’t matter.

                I have multiple DVS solutions (Serato, Traktor Scratch, Torq(RIP), etc.), I have Cross DJ on my Android tablets, and own all the ipad DJ apps too. I actually bought DJ Player and honestly wish you would have spent more time on the platter response than the damn time-stretch algo. When you back-queue using the ipad screen, it sounds like a digital cheese grater not a vinyl record. I respect your hard work. I’m just giving my opinion as a end-user. DVS on DJ Player works pretty good.

                The platter on Cross DJ just sucks however. There’s a unnecessary ramp up and looseness after you lift your hand from the platter. Pretty much makes it impossible to use. I’ve told them and they don’t seem to care really.

                1. I always had the focus on good vinyl sound for MIDI jog wheels and DVS. I have no interest to make the touchscreen sound like vinyl, it’s not a platter. It moves precisely according to your finger, without any faking of vinyl.