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
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.
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!