Cast your minds back a good 18 months, when the previously solid marriage of Mixars and Innofader came to an unceremonious end. Stocks of the original Serato DJ enabled DUO mixers were exhausted without a decent crossfader to fit inside the empty slot. But rather than sulk, they hit up spiffing crossfader makers of the Pro X Fade, and announced more choice for DJs in the shape of the new Galileo fader range.
And we’re now at the point where the new DUO MKII is just about ready hit the shelves all over again, complete with the Galileo Essential crossfader. Details follow:
Mixars and Pro-X fade are proud to present Galileo Essential, our new crossfader mounted in DUO mkII.
The key new feature is the new third generation XCP plastic conductive track technology.
The ‘essential’ fader offers amazing strength and durability with extra long life. The fader stem is thick and strong and is 8mm wide. The fader cap is sloped/triangular. The fader is also very easy to take apart to clean as you just pull the cover off.
The ‘essential’ extra long life conductive plastic tracks, (XCP) can be maintained with a specially formulated Pro X Fade ‘Ether’ lubricant which has been developed for the new tracks. Older versions of the PXF have a green PCB board and this new ‘essential’ has a black PCB board.
By improving the tracks using 3rd generation XCP tracks and together with the PXF ‘Ether’ lube, it means the fader will last longer between needing to be cleaned, in normal conditions. So now you can enjoy your fader for longer. The PXF ‘Ether’ has got lubricating and intense cleaning agents, which unlike the previous use of just Caig lube, doesn’t leave residual on the tracks, as when Caig was used on it’s own, when it dried, it left a layer which would attract the build up of dirt. With the new formula and track, Pro X Fade have significantly reduced this issue.
With the ‘essential’ fader, you also get the quality sound, firm control, smooth buttery feel and a warm, musical feel of a precisely configured fader which adds an almost harmonic tone to your scratching.
You can purchase the PXF ‘Ether’ directly from Pro X Fade here: (worldwide shipping)
http://proxfade.co.uk/shop/?product=pxf-ether-super-lubricant
Essentially…
The Mixars DUO MKII is unchanged apart from having the new Galileo Essential fader inside. Aside from the new fader, the good news is that the price is expected to be a little cheaper than before too. Check with your local purveyors of DJ goodies for confirmation
You’ll also need to update to the latest Serato DJ for it to work. Sorry — progress means moving forward, sometimes whether you like it or not.
ABOUT THE GALILEO ESSENTIAL
The first thing — as I understand it, the Galileo Essential is made for the DUO MK2. It’s not designed to be retrofitted to older DUOs, nor will it be available as a retail spare.
For those looking for a viable alternative to Innofaders inside your existing DUO (and other mixers for that matter), the Pro X Fade XCP is what you’re looking for — it’s the Essential with all the bells and whistles in place. Check the video about to see the handmade goodness in action.
Like the previous Pro X Fade, it’s a complete fader experience in a box. It aims to fit as broad a range of mixers as possible without resorting to putting all manner of connectors in the box. Naturally, this reduces the plug and play ability with every mixer in the market, but should work with a large percentage of the existing mixers that take a mini Innofader. If in doubt, check the Pro X Fade XCP product page where you can grab it for £90 with free UK shipping and £10 elsewhere.
A key update to the Pro X Fade family is the new Ether lubricant. One of the complaints about the old PXF was how it needed cleaning more regularly than most would like. But with the new XCP tracks comes a newly formulated lube, and every new PXF sold comes pre-lubed as well as having it supplied in the pack. If you’re someone who likes the ritual of cleaning your fader (my hand is in the air for that), then you can get fresh supplies directly from the Pro X Fade site for the paltry sum of £6.
Now I’m certain that the guys at Pro X Fade will be reading this and will doubtlessly leap on any questions in the comments. But if you want some more details on fitting and compatibility, send your queries to siya@proxfade.co.uk and he’ll happily set your mind at rest.
SUMMING UP
The new Mixars DUO MKII is apparently in some stores in the US already, and slowly making their way into shops elsewhere in the world. I believe the price is a little cheaper, but no matter what the new price is, it’s at least HALF the price of the DJM-S9, and will suit most user’s needs.
I hope to get the new model in for review. I didn’t finish reviewing the last one because of the fader kerfuffle, and ideally I’d like to fix that. And we’ll keep you updated on the rest of the Galileo fader project when we get more news.
GALLERY
They’ve gone from a contactless capacitive sensing fader technology to a contact-based fader technology that’s essentially a re-hash of the deep-body Vestax crossfader that debuted about 20 years ago.
Having more choices in 3rd-party aftermarket faders isn’t a bad thing, but it seems like charging $120 for a hot-rodded CF-PCV (which currently retails for $70 at stokyoworld.com) is not a step in the right direction. For an additional $5, I could buy an innoFader PNP that has the same 8mm stem, but also has adjustments for tension, cut-in, and curve, and the contactless technology means I can go for years without cleaning it. That seems like an awful lot of features to sacrifice for $5.
I’m surprised it took Mixars that long to put a new fader in. From the last announcement people got the impression that they’ll just swich to a new supplier and continue business as usual, no “mk2” or such.
Also, how come no one talks about these new SDJ “mixers” working in internal mixing mode, making them esentially a midi controller.
Isn’t that (internal mixing) the case for the Z2, too?
Yes, but I didn’t mention Z2 here. Z2 at least does 2+2 decks ;) And of course, people must be aware that internal mixing enables software fx to be post-fader (oh the uproar of users when DDJ-SZ hit the market)
Yeah, what’s the point in going away from contact less faders to “regular” faders? Not enough cash flow because the contact less faders lasted an eternity and more? ;)
Pretty sure this is my next mixer. I’m not prepared to shell out 3K for the latest Rane unit for SDJ and this mixer has enough in it for me.
Still ridiculosly overpriced compared to Z2. This just shows how much money hardware manufacturers have to give from each sold unit to Serato.
In Germany you can have a Z2 for 589€ and the Mixars Duo will set you back 599€.
Probably the price for the Mixars is still to drop in your region.
The original Mixars Duo had a MRSP of around 1k € which is crazy, glad to see it has dropped.
I hear what you’re saying but I have no desire to go near Traktor. Happy to pay the difference to stay away form it if I have to tbh.
I did not understand, replaced the crossfader with no contacts to go back to VCA crossfader? Galileo is nothing more than an old PRO X FADER working with carbon track, it simply got softer by VCA. Thankfully the Mixars DUO not have a mixer to compete in its price, but it would be interesting for InMusic to release a Mixer Numark or Denon with platform for Serato with the Magnetico RANE crossfader…. I believe that still in 2017 InMusic will launch a mixer RANE to unseat the DJM S9.
I’m hoping for a X600 mk2 with either Rane or DenonDJ letters on it and SDJ/TSP certification. You DVS folks might wish for a more software oriented version with midi buttons on sides and less fx on the mixer like this Duo, S9 or Z2.
As far as price goes, I just purchased a Mixars Duo MkII brand new for $650 from AGIPRODJ.COM. It is a very nice mixer. I used it at a gig this past weekend and found it extremely user friendly and simple to use (coming from my Rane 62). I had also owned a Traktor Z2 a few years ago. Similar layout with Z2 and I feel like build quality is similar although Duo’s interface with Serato is simpler and less cluttered. I had some concerns initially about Galileo Essential crossfader as it was stiff with a heavy feel which made it slower and harder for me to nail the cuts but after a little lubrication and a few hours of “breaking it in” it is now every bit as nice as my Rane 62. The additional cut in adjustment is really accurate. After fine tuning it I think the cut in distance is even shorter than for my Rane 62. You can’t beat this mixer feature-wise for the price! I was saving up for Pioneer DJM S9 but so far I’m very satisfied with Mixars Duo MkII for less than 1/2 the price!
a lot of words about cleaning and lubing the fader.
my experience with the PXF is i have owned 2 of them and they both felt heavy on the cut even after lubing.
so i replaced them with innofader for the Xone:2:02
what i liked about them was the option to manually dial the cut in point on each side.
Still no sign of their “Primo” controller though!
Anyone know if I can replace them channel faders with mini innofaders?
you had me at “thick and strong”
still the worst name in the game…MIXARSSSS