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REVIEWED
REVIEWED: MIXO
n a market saturated with software options for DJs to perform with, MIXO offers an easy way to manage your library, import and export between DJ software, set hot cues, and create new playlists. MIXO also allows remote access to your library through its mobile app, as well as offering cloud backup and the ability to export a library to other software.
For this review I’m looking at MIXO as an alternative to my Recordbox library manager, assessing real-world usage and its value to DJs. Recordbox is AlphaTheta’s offering of DJ software, used exclusively on Pioneer DJ and AlphaTheta’s products. Its library system works using playlists, which are similar to Serato ’crates‘ and can be exported to a USB, allowing for performance on the CDJ and XDJ standalone range.
Whilst the Rekordbox library manager is powerful, I find it lacks some quality-of-life features that DJs may need, especially those with a large library. In Recordbox there is no way to remove duplicate tracks, move your library to other software, or even to play on another company’s standalone products, such as Denon’s Engine OS ecosystem.
MIXO enables users to import and export their entire DJ library from any existing libraries, keeping all their playlists, metadata, cue points, beat grids, album artwork and waveforms intact. Once you’ve imported your library, MIXO will sync all playlists, metadata, cue points, beat grids and waveforms to a cloud database via Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive, keeping the music library in sync across multiple devices. It’s also worth noting MIXO is a cross-platform software, working on Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android.
A great selling point of MIXO are the tools they offer for library cleanup. Among others, a key tool for me was the ’Duplicate Finder’ that allows you to locate and delete duplicate files on your hard drive, drastically reducing the size of your library without affecting playlists. When you use this tool and choose to remove duplicate tracks, MIXO will replace the references to the old files with references to the track you choose to keep. This is a really useful feature.
MIXO can also find and replace orphaned files – tracks in your library that are not in any playlists. This means you can easily build playlists from tracks that aren’t in other playlists, discovering new music from your existing library.
However, one issue that I did spot is that there is currently no way to remove undefined tracks (tracks in a playlist where the file has been deleted), which can lead to a messy library and may require you to re-upload certain playlists.
Once your library is set up, MIXO allows for relatively easy export to other software outside of Rekordbox, including Serato, Traktor, Denon’s Engine OS, Algoriddim DJ Pro, Virtual DJ, and others. The export works nicely, although I found that the setting within Recordbox to automatically sync with MIXO via XML could be clearer. Also, it would be good to be able to export directly to Rekordbox without going via the XML route.
The installation of MIXO is rather painless thanks to the streamlined import function, or at least that’s what I found when importing from an existing library.
I have not found an ability to import a folder of music directly into a playlist; instead, you have to import the music and then add it to a playlist manually. However, you can use the ‘recently imported’ list to easily find newly imported tracks before adding them to your desired playlist.
Personally, I find MIXO pretty easy to use and it seems far more user-friendly than Rekordbox. The intuitive user interface is streamlined and easy to navigate, taking only a few minutes to get to grips with, and the look gives it the feel of a DSP rather than a DJ software, making it feel more accessible. It’s easy to add hot cues and edit beat grids, and most usefully, this can all be done on your phone, making MIXO ideal for making playlists on the go, whether travelling to a gig or whilst in a client meeting for a private booking.
MIXO also offers custom tagging, allowing for the creation of smart playlists. These smart playlists are essentially automatic playlists made from your tags, which could be based on genre, mood or any custom parameter you set. The analysis process of tracks is super-fast, especially if you have a capable CPU.
Within MIXO, you can alter settings to change how fast it processes and therefore how intensive it is on your system when importing songs. I find if you interfere whilst importing tracks, you often have to restart the program. I would say that the inbuilt guides for MIXO could use refining. Some of the info pages can make it difficult to work out what the tool is doing or how best to use it. That said, the support email is very responsive, so if you do run into any issues there is another port of call. However, these are just drawbacks to an otherwise very well-built and integrated software that has saved me time when organising my library.
MIXO has a lot of practical applications, but the most important one for me is the fact that I can use it on my phone. This means that whenever I have a free moment on public transport, or in-between work, I can open the app and adjust beat grids or create playlists. This eliminates the need for me to always have a laptop with me, especially considering I can download playlists locally to my phone through the MIXO app.
Because of the easy porting of your library to different software, MIXO is also a great real-world app for DJs who play lots of venues with controllers or using laptops in their workflow, often relying on different software.
For example, it’s a great option if you use a Denon controller at home but use an AlphaTheta system when playing out. The library sync feature can sync with DJ software from beginner to pro level.
When it comes to pricing, MIXO Gold costs a relatively low $7 a month. For this, you get access to all the tools mentioned in this review and more, including the ability to sync to other devices and download playlists locally.
MIXO also offers a free version of their app, which acts much like the in-built file manager in Rekordbox but with a nicer user interface.
Conclusion
In summary, MIXO offers a great alternative to other popular DJ software currently on the market. The tools make it incredibly easy to organise and optimise your library whilst also syncing to the cloud for backup.
Once set up, it’s simple to use and pretty much runs in the background without a second thought. It does have a few drawbacks, such as the inability to remove undefined tracks, but these can be forgiven considering the range of other features MIXO offers, such as the duplicate tracks and smart playlist functionality.
For me, MIXO is a no-brainer for most mobile DJs, with the reasonably priced paid version being a compelling option for DJs of all types who need to organise and manage their library remotely.
For this review I’m looking at MIXO as an alternative to my Recordbox library manager, assessing real-world usage and its value to DJs. Recordbox is AlphaTheta’s offering of DJ software, used exclusively on Pioneer DJ and AlphaTheta’s products. Its library system works using playlists, which are similar to Serato ’crates‘ and can be exported to a USB, allowing for performance on the CDJ and XDJ standalone range.
Whilst the Rekordbox library manager is powerful, I find it lacks some quality-of-life features that DJs may need, especially those with a large library. In Recordbox there is no way to remove duplicate tracks, move your library to other software, or even to play on another company’s standalone products, such as Denon’s Engine OS ecosystem.
MIXO enables users to import and export their entire DJ library from any existing libraries, keeping all their playlists, metadata, cue points, beat grids, album artwork and waveforms intact. Once you’ve imported your library, MIXO will sync all playlists, metadata, cue points, beat grids and waveforms to a cloud database via Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive, keeping the music library in sync across multiple devices. It’s also worth noting MIXO is a cross-platform software, working on Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android.
A great selling point of MIXO are the tools they offer for library cleanup. Among others, a key tool for me was the ’Duplicate Finder’ that allows you to locate and delete duplicate files on your hard drive, drastically reducing the size of your library without affecting playlists. When you use this tool and choose to remove duplicate tracks, MIXO will replace the references to the old files with references to the track you choose to keep. This is a really useful feature.
MIXO can also find and replace orphaned files – tracks in your library that are not in any playlists. This means you can easily build playlists from tracks that aren’t in other playlists, discovering new music from your existing library.
However, one issue that I did spot is that there is currently no way to remove undefined tracks (tracks in a playlist where the file has been deleted), which can lead to a messy library and may require you to re-upload certain playlists.
Once your library is set up, MIXO allows for relatively easy export to other software outside of Rekordbox, including Serato, Traktor, Denon’s Engine OS, Algoriddim DJ Pro, Virtual DJ, and others. The export works nicely, although I found that the setting within Recordbox to automatically sync with MIXO via XML could be clearer. Also, it would be good to be able to export directly to Rekordbox without going via the XML route.
The installation of MIXO is rather painless thanks to the streamlined import function, or at least that’s what I found when importing from an existing library.
I have not found an ability to import a folder of music directly into a playlist; instead, you have to import the music and then add it to a playlist manually. However, you can use the ‘recently imported’ list to easily find newly imported tracks before adding them to your desired playlist.
Personally, I find MIXO pretty easy to use and it seems far more user-friendly than Rekordbox. The intuitive user interface is streamlined and easy to navigate, taking only a few minutes to get to grips with, and the look gives it the feel of a DSP rather than a DJ software, making it feel more accessible. It’s easy to add hot cues and edit beat grids, and most usefully, this can all be done on your phone, making MIXO ideal for making playlists on the go, whether travelling to a gig or whilst in a client meeting for a private booking.
MIXO also offers custom tagging, allowing for the creation of smart playlists. These smart playlists are essentially automatic playlists made from your tags, which could be based on genre, mood or any custom parameter you set. The analysis process of tracks is super-fast, especially if you have a capable CPU.
Within MIXO, you can alter settings to change how fast it processes and therefore how intensive it is on your system when importing songs. I find if you interfere whilst importing tracks, you often have to restart the program. I would say that the inbuilt guides for MIXO could use refining. Some of the info pages can make it difficult to work out what the tool is doing or how best to use it. That said, the support email is very responsive, so if you do run into any issues there is another port of call. However, these are just drawbacks to an otherwise very well-built and integrated software that has saved me time when organising my library.
MIXO has a lot of practical applications, but the most important one for me is the fact that I can use it on my phone. This means that whenever I have a free moment on public transport, or in-between work, I can open the app and adjust beat grids or create playlists. This eliminates the need for me to always have a laptop with me, especially considering I can download playlists locally to my phone through the MIXO app.
Because of the easy porting of your library to different software, MIXO is also a great real-world app for DJs who play lots of venues with controllers or using laptops in their workflow, often relying on different software.
For example, it’s a great option if you use a Denon controller at home but use an AlphaTheta system when playing out. The library sync feature can sync with DJ software from beginner to pro level.
When it comes to pricing, MIXO Gold costs a relatively low $7 a month. For this, you get access to all the tools mentioned in this review and more, including the ability to sync to other devices and download playlists locally.
MIXO also offers a free version of their app, which acts much like the in-built file manager in Rekordbox but with a nicer user interface.
Conclusion
In summary, MIXO offers a great alternative to other popular DJ software currently on the market. The tools make it incredibly easy to organise and optimise your library whilst also syncing to the cloud for backup.
Once set up, it’s simple to use and pretty much runs in the background without a second thought. It does have a few drawbacks, such as the inability to remove undefined tracks, but these can be forgiven considering the range of other features MIXO offers, such as the duplicate tracks and smart playlist functionality.
For me, MIXO is a no-brainer for most mobile DJs, with the reasonably priced paid version being a compelling option for DJs of all types who need to organise and manage their library remotely.
The full review can be found in Pro Mobile Issue 126, Pages 76-79.
