The Lowdown
The Mixon 8 Pro is a well made, flexible and professional DJ controller that definitely does things its own way. It works with both Serato DJ Pro and Algoriddim’s djay Pro AI, the latter with iPad as well as Windows/Mac, for which it has a useful built-in stand. It is the only controller out there with four channels and paddle FX, plus proper control over software FX – something missing from most controllers nowadays. Throw in four external channels, two mics, and booth and balanced outputs, and it’s a tempting alternative to the Rane Fours and FLX10s of this world.
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Video Review
First Impressions / Setting up
Low profile but quite large and built out of metal, the four-channel Reloop Mixon 8 Pro feels like a serious controller from the off. It’s unashamedly a controller, with a nowadays unusual “mirror image” layout and two full FX engine control areas, two things that are rare on DJ gear nowadays. It also has four FX paddles – a first for any DJ gear we can think of.
Its pads, faders, knobs and transport buttons are all well spaced and full sized, but its jogs are relatively small for a unit of this size – think Prime 4 rather than FLX6/10. Personally I’m quite happy with jogwheels this size, and these also have screens built in, but they do feel a little stiff in use.
The unit has no hardware FX like on the Pioneer DJ DDJ-FLX10, for instance, and its per-channel filter knobs do just that (filter – nothing else is switchable in the place of the filters), but overall it has pretty much all the software control you can think of, with slip, auto/manual looping (on buttons), key sync (but no key shift), crossfader curve knob, even a cue split button and a stereo/mono switch on the master output.
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Speaking of outputs, there are booth and master outs, the latter with an XLR balanced option, and all four channels can take external inputs, two of which are switchable from line to phono. There are two mic channels, with talkover, and these are routed through channels 3 and 4 when required.
There are USB-B sockets around the back for two laptops, but one is switchable to a USB-C for an iPad or iPhone running djay Pro AI. No leads are provided in the box for hooking up such devices though, apart from a standard laptop USB-B to USB-A, which is a shame (a short USB-C to Lightning and/or USB-C to USB-C would have been nice).
To get the unit up and running, you power it up with the supplied 12V/3A external power brick and adaptor, install the software of choice (it unlocks Serato DJ Pro, but you’d need to subscribe to djay Pro AI), install the audio driver if using Windows, and plug in, putting your iPad into the snug, large mounting slot/stand as required.
In Use
At the time of reviewing, the unit only worked with djay Pro AI (Serato DJ Pro follows by release date, May 2023), but we have enough experience of Serato implementations on DJ controllers to tell you what you need to know generally here, and give you a bit more info in the case of djay Pro AI.
In short, it’s a lot of fun to DJ on. The hard, plastic transport buttons are responsive and accurate, the big RGB rubberised pads feel great, and the displays in the jogwheels give BPM, time elapsed/remaining, BPM/pitch and other salient info, nicely in two shades of blue.
The auto looping controls also have a strip of LEDs to show you the current setting at a glance (they flash for fractions of a beat, and are solid for whole beats), which in practice is a good way of seeing what loop value you have set without looking at the laptop or iPad.
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It’s a breath of fresh air to have direct access to decent software effects alongside the immediacy of paddles, and when you also throw in the filters, it feels like the right balance between flexibility and immediacy – especially with djay Pro AI, which also has pad FX.
Worth pointing out that there are no dedicated stems functions for Serato (there are for djay Pro AI), but you’ll almost certainly be able to switch out an unused pad mode to use Serato Stems in the same way you can do with many other controllers that pre-date the function (this one does, despite only being released now). That said, certainly to have full FX engine control in Serato is pretty rare nowadays, so swings and roundabouts.
For djay Pro AI, the labelling isn’t quite right (they seem to have decided to go with Serato labelling on the pads) – bottom line is you’ll just have to get used to the controls and develop muscle memory, whichever software platform you choose – same goes for the symmetrical/mirrored layout, which we actually didn’t mind at all.
Audio quality-wise, there are no specs given (apart from THD of 0.01% & SNR of <-85dB), so as usual, we simply hooked it up to our Adam Audio A4Vs, and pumped up the volume. Result? Excellent audio quality.
Conclusion
This is the best DJ controller for Algoriddim’s djay Pro AI out there, period – for that use, it is excellent, with Mac or iPad (it’s for the Apple versions of that software, we’re not even sure if it works with the Android or Windows versions). It feels highly professional, and the built-in stand makes it unique – it’s even big enough for the largest iPad Pro.
For Serato, the competition is stiffer with units like the Rane Four (much better stems control) and FLX10 (ditto for stems, plus Rekordbox compatibility as a bonus) – but both of these also cost a decent bit more than the Mixon 8 Pro.
Ultimately though, this isn’t trying to be a piece of club gear, which is a breath of fresh air. Its mirrored layout, its proper software effects control, its low profile, its stand for an iPad… this is unashamedly a DJ controller first and foremost. And unless you want cutting-edge control over stems, it’s a pretty highly specced one at that.
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If you’re looking for a Serato/djay four-channel controller, with lots of ins and outs, a high quality build, and that – while certainly not cheap – is certainly quite a bit cheaper than some of the comparable devices out there, you should take a long look at the Mixon 8 Pro. It does things its own way, and is none the worse for it.
