Key Of Grey

Photo courtesy of Numark

June 27th, 2010 – Numark has announced the impending arrival of the MixTrack DJ MIDI controller. Having reviewed the Vestax Spin and using it quite a bit, I can’t help but see the similarities between them. Like the Spin, the MixTrack has a touch sensitive platter and like the Spin’s twin brother the Typhoon, the MixTrack ships with Traktor LE.

While the layout is similar, the platters on the MixTrack look to have the “vinyl feel” surface that most of their controller line (like the NS7) has. One of the biggest difference between the Spin and the MixTrack is that Numark’s controller does not include a built in soundcard. Although you would be able use the soundcard in your computer, you will need at least a 4 channel card to pre-cue tracks.

Of course, since the MixTrack is expected to have a street price of $149 dollars, you could easily pick up a great audio interface for the money difference between the Spin and the MixTrack. Something like the Echo or Audio2DJ; you can use your internal soundcard for cueing. Whether you want your audio interface built in, or you want a separate one, is up to you.

I’d be interested in checking out the MixTrack to see how it compares to the Spin. From a controller perspective, it seems to be pretty evenly matched, but it will be the actual feel of the materials and action of the faders, platter, and buttons that will be the big decider. It’s pretty cool that the price of controllers is coming down so much. I’m looking forward to seeing where the products go from here.

Numark MixTrack via GearWire