Mixvibes is back with another update to the Android version of Cross DJ, adding features, tweaking the interface and improving performance. The biggest additions are the portrait view, giving you one large deck on-screen to play with, which should help sausage fingers get more accurate, and the ability to change deck colours to make it all pretty-like and coordinated to your brand/outfit/handbag. On top of that, there’s been a duo of performance improvements to make the app less power-hungry and improve track loading times.
Now up to version 2.3, both the ‘Free’ and ‘Pro’ apps have been updated, making this an ever more solid choice for DJs with mobile devices. You can see from the huge list in the press release below, how many features they’ve packed into the software!
Paris, France – July 2nd, 2015 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mixvibes Cross DJ 2.3 for Android: Mix in colors
The update brings some colors, a major design overhaul, better performance & more.
Introducing colors
- Change the color of each deck.
- 7 colors available: blue, orange, red, yellow, green, purple & pink.
- Change the color of each deck, separately(making up to 49 combinations).
New portrait view
- Switch the device orientation to access a portrait view:
- Display a single player on the screen.
- From the turntables to the pads, everything is bigger so you get more control.
- Use the app like a casual music player.
- Design improvements for a more efficient workflow
- Active effect notification: anytime an effect, a loop, an EQ or a sample is active, its tab button gets colored. So you know at a glance what is active, on each deck.
- The music library has been redesigned in accordance with Android Lollipop standards.
- The beatmatcher is back!
- Main view: adding key display + pitch sliders + easier access to sampler.
- Tablet: new layout, with EQs always visible.
- Full screen mode.
Drastic performance enhancements
The decoding engine has been rewritten from the ground up, greatly improving the app performance:
- Track loading time is now twice as fast.
- Battery consumption has been significantly optimized.
Mixvibes Cross DJ, a more attractive package than ever
- Cross DJ offers the full package of a modern DJ app: 2 decks, EQs, FXs, loops & hot cues, sampler, waveforms, automix, record… But Cross DJ even has a few unique tricks of its own:
- SoundCloud integration: load & mix any track from SoundCloud in seconds.
- Folder explorer to browse your entire Android device by folder.
- Library: sort tracks by BPM, key, title, artist, album or duration.
- Industry standard layout: Cue/Play/Sync, 8 hot cues per deck, advanced beatgrid edition.
- Key analysis & display (in library and in main player).
- Sample banks: more content (72 samples) + 12 exclusive “Drum loop” samples.
- Sampler: record your own samples & play them.
- Mixcloud integration: seamlessly upload your recorded mixes to Mixcloud.
And last but not least: the Pioneer DDJ-WeGO3 is now supported! (Cross DJ Pro only)
Pricing & availability
Cross DJ Pro is 4,99€ / $4.99 / £4.99
The update is free for all current users.
Optimized for mobile & tablet. New Introduction video: https://youtu.be/8ZXIT468LdA
Download Cross DJ Free for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mixvibes.crossdjfree Cross DJ Pro for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mixvibes.crossdjapp
About Mixvibes
Mixvibes has been making professional DJ software and apps for 15 years. Downloaded by millions worldwide, its flagship app Cross DJ is now available on Mac/PC, iOS and Android. Mixvibes has also developed Pioneer’s rekordboxTM, the worldwide club standard music management software.
My take
Having tried a few of the different DJ apps on Android, Cross is still my favourite. The bold, flat UI gladdens my heart and the feature list for the app feels complete. That said, nothing has really changed, even with the constant tweaks Mixvibes are doing. The software is still held back by Google’s inability to provide solid audio. Until that’s sorted, I could never see any DJ app on Android becoming the centre of a pro DJs setup.
What’s strange is that even on iOS, things seem to have stagnated a bit, even though it’s already a viable platform for audio. We were having this discussion on the studio not long ago and we couldn’t understand how major players like Traktor DJ don’t have DVS support (or even a Traktor DJ Pro). Walking up to a booth with an iPad Mini, an Audio6 and some control vinyl seems like the logical thing to do, but there’s resistance somewhere. Just, where, though? Maybe you guys can help?
Grab Cross DJ Pro for €4.99/$4.99/£4.99 on the Play Store, or try out the free version first!
Why do you think mobile devices haven’t taken over the booth? Do you use any apps for your DJing?