The Lowdown
The Mixars Quattro is a four-channel club-style DJ mixer for Serato DJ Pro. Unlike other mixers, the Quattro also includes software performance controls, which is something you’d normally find on two-channel battle style mixers. Full-featured and solid, the Mixars Quattro is definitely worth taking a look at.
Video Review
First Impressions / Setting up
The Mixars Quattro is a four-channel club-style DJ mixer for Serato DJ Pro that includes two important features that you normally don’t see at the sub-US$1000 price range: software performance controls and a dual-socket audio interface. The Quattro also includes features DJs have come to expect from a four-channel club-style mixer like channel “sound color” effects, beat-synced effects, flexible headphone cue options, and solid inputs and outputs.
Unlike Pioneer DJ’s four-channel club-standard mixers, the Mixars Quattro does not require any extra paid upgrades to use Serato DJ Pro. You get access to the full version of Serato DJ Pro and DVS functionality, which would be an additional US$169 cost with said Pioneer DJ mixers.
The Quattro fills a gap in the Serato DJ-compatible mixer lineup: The last four-channel club-style Serato DJ mixer with software controls on the market was the Rane Sixty-Four which was released all the way back in 2014 and is no longer available. At less than half the price of the Rane Sixty-Four, the Quattro follows Mixars’ model of providing feature-filled gear at a great price.
The build quality of the Mixars Quattro is good. It has a full metal construction, the knobs feel solid, the volume faders have a nice tension, but my one big gripe is with the crossfader that comes installed in the mixer. Mixars does offer a performance crossfader (called a “Galileo Fader”) that you can buy as an extra if the stock crossfader isn’t up to your liking.
The mixer has all the inputs and outputs you’d expect on a four-channel club-style mixer. Each channel has two RCA inputs, one of which is phono/line selectable, all of which can be used with DVS in Serato DJ Pro. The Quattro has four different outputs which includes XLR, 1/4 TRS, and two RCA outputs.
The software controls on the mixer are the standout feature of the Quattro and is the best implementation of controls like this on a four-channel Serato DJ Pro mixer to date. You can control cue points, looping, the sampler, load tracks, and transport controls which is a feature that’s missing even on the Pioneer DJ DJM-S9.
In Use
If you have experience playing on a Pioneer DJ four-channel mixer, you will feel pretty comfortable on the Mixars Quattro. The majority of the features on both the Quattro and Pioneer DJ’s four-channel mixers are found in quite similar places. Features like the microphone controls, headphone controls, and beat effects controls are found in the same places on both the Quattro and four-channel Pioneer DJ mixers.
One difference from the Pioneer DJ four-channel layout is that volume controls for the master and booth outputs are located in the middle, much like you would find on many DJ controllers, instead of the top right.
The effects sections of the Mixars Quattro is a mixed bag. The Quattro has a good selection of effects which includes four channel effects and 14 BPM-synced beat effects which are all post-fader, but overall they don’t sound as good as effects you’d find on Pioneer DJ mixers.
Like I mentioned earlier, my biggest issue with the Mixars Quattro has to be the crossfader. As a DJ who enjoys scratching, the stock crossfader just does not perform well enough. It is loose enough to scratch with but the cut-in time (the distance from the end of the crossfader where a channel cuts off to where the channel cuts back on) is pretty poor.
Mixars probably went with a lower quality crossfader to cut down on cost and because many DJs looking to buy a four-channel mixer aren’t too concerned with scratching. However, Mixars does offer a higher quality crossfader called the Galileo Essential Crossfader Upgrade. This fader is the same as you would find in Mixars’ two-channel battle mixer which is built with scratch DJs in mind. Once installed, the Quattro performed as good as any scratch mixer.
Software controls
The software controls can be found to the left and right of the EQ section of the Quattro. You have a deck select switch, a browse encoder to scroll through your library and load tracks, a looping encoder to select loop length and engage your loops, you have eight performance pads per side with three performance modes finally you have a shift button to access secondary functions and a sync button.
The most interesting part of the performance pads has to be the addition of a transport control mode. This pad mode gives you a play/pause button, a temporary cue button, pitch bend controls, and access to your first four saved cue points. This means you can DJ with just the mixer and your laptop, even if you do not have turntables or CDJs plugged in. I could see this being useful for mobile DJs for gigs that only require a minimal setup.
The one transport control I wish was included was some way to adjust the tempo of the tracks you are playing. This can be done by using your mouse and moving the tempo slider in Serato DJ Pro, but having hardware control of this would be much better. In my opinion, tempo adjustment controls is much more useful than pitch bend controls.
Conclusion
Currently, there isn’t a comparable product to the Mixars Quattro on the market. For Serato users who have been asking for a modern four-channel mixer with hardware controls for Serato DJ Pro, the Mixars Quattro delivers. It’s built solid, has all of the inputs and outputs a DJ could ask for and comes in at a great price.
This mixer does come up short in a couple of areas. As a scratch DJ, I wish it came with a better crossfader, but after the Galileo Essential crossfader upgrade, I don’t have any crossfader complaints. The quality of the built-in effects isn’t on the same level as what you would find on Pioneer DJ mixers, but they aren’t terrible. Finally, I wish the Quattro had a way to switch from the full-kill isolator EQ mode to a classic EQ mode for more flexibility.
The Quattro has features like software controls, dual USBs, and built-in tempo-synced hardware effects, which you won’t find on other four-channel Serato DJ mixers costing hundreds of dollars more. If you are a Serato DJ Pro user and are in the market for a four-channel mixer under US$1000 we recommend the Mixars Quattro.
