Hercules DJControl Mix Ultra

Bought this for my 5 year old son about 8 months ago to use with the DJAY app he was already familiar with. It has been great so far and even with being used by a rough 5 year old has held up very well with no broken buttons or switches. This is a super simple platform for anyone getting into mixing and pairs easily with the DJAY to connect you Apple Music or other music platform. The compact size makes it easy for my son to throw into his backpack with his tablet on road trips. In 8 months we have not had any issues with it. Great value for a compact mobile setup.

amazing product

I love this controller and have had so much fun with it so far. Is this a $2000 dollar quality controller, no. Being at around $220 is the best you will find for a battery controlled DJ controller. You basically have this, a Denon, Numark, and alpha theta (Pioneer). Do I like my Pioneer DDJ-400 more than this, yes, but cutting out the wires when just messing around in the kitchen, living room, other house parties, ext. is quite fun. I have read many complaints about the BT latency and I have to say, they are blowing that way out of proportion. Is the latency noticeable on Bluetooth, short answer is yes, but it's not anything that would overly frustrate me when DJing to a Bluetooth device in general. You have to expect with BT that the transmission involves compressing the audio signal, which can result in a minor loss of sound fidelity. If you plug in a lightning or aux cable it will get around this latency issue and then can be directly plugged into your Bluetooth device. For highest quality sound: Plug your iPad or iPhone directly into a Radial Engineering Direct box. That is the brand that I suggest, hands down. I have seen the Radial USB-Pro 2 work and that will have the highest possible sound quality output at 24-bit / 96 kHz with high-quality DAC's. The Radial Trim-Two 2-Channel Passive AV Direct Box will also work (The one I have) and I believe this way is supported by Radial Engineering. Both will allow for balanced XLR outputs that can be connected into studio monitors or larger speakers, ext. The only gripe that I had with this controller was initially getting it to connect. For some reason I had to go into the settings on my iPhone and find the DJAY app. In the settings of the app I had to "Allow" Bluetooth connections. I do not know why for me that was automatically set that way, but once I switched to allow it was easy within the app.

TL;DR: The quality is pretty good but there's a few bits that could be improved. Overall: Not bad but a bit pricy for what it is. Pros: ~Hefty. This thing weighs more than expected. The weight doesn't make it any less portable but it feels like it could withstand being dropped. ~ DJAY is a robust bit of software, especially considering it's written for Android/iOS primarily. The pro feature are mostly worth the subscription price. ~ There isn't that much input lag. It is almost as responsive as my Inpulse 500 controller which is impressive over Bluetooth. ~ Dedicated low, high, mid controls and performance pads. The addition of controls solves a lot of my complaints with the smaller controller ~ Roomy for a mobile controller. It's just as easy to work with as a full sized controller and the button placements are identical to the 500. No learning curve if you're used to Hercules kit. ~ Bluetooth sound out isn't terrible. There is noticeable lag but nothing that you can't get used to. If the lag is really a problem, use a hard line output. DJAY works on most devices with a usb to headphone adapter Cons: ~ Stated battery life is way too generous. With heavy effect/control use, the battery lasted around four hours on a full charge ~Will work plugged in but only sort of. I don't know if it's a particular glitch with my phone but upon reaching a full charge, one deck in the software started glitching. The problem resolved itself when I unplugged the controller from usb power. It didn't freak out until it was full, however. I can't say if this glitch is repeatable. ~Yes, there's bluetooth output lag and it is noticeable. ~ This is a software gripe but since this thing is software locked...when scrolling through the music library, the UI will crash if navigating too quickly. Using the navigation buttons/knobs on the controller seems to work better but the back function is buggy so some touch navigation is required. ~Price. $219 is steep for a controller that can only be used on mobile devices. However it does outperform similar, more expensive units. ~ An updated, somewhat modern devices is needed. The software is a real a double s on older phones/tablets As stated above, I like it overall. As a seasoned DJ, I find that it does enough to just barely make this work for live performances. That said, I'd rock a party/club with it but I'm aware of the potential for it to get pissy. The need for an updated phone, the somewhat minor software gripes and the fact that this goofy thing is over $200 is what knocked it down a star. I'm pedantic but I'm also impressed with what can be done with it. Play with it, enjoy it for what it is and don't expect the world and you'll be happy.

Works great . I love it so far