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Hercules DJControl Mix Ultra Review

Imagine having the freedom to DJ anywhere – in your living room, at a party, or even in the park – with nothing more than your phone and a mini controller. That’s the kind of experience the Hercules DJControl Mix Ultra promises. This new entry-level controller is already making some waves in the DJ world, having just picked up the CES Innovation award for its unique wireless design. 

But does this focus on portability and convenience come at the expense of mixing capabilities? And how does it stack up in an increasingly crowded beginner controller market? Let’s dive in and find out.

Key Features

  • Wireless Connectivity: Seamlessly pairs via Bluetooth with your phone or tablet, eliminating cables.
  • Battery-Powered Portability: Offers up to 10 hours of playtime, perfect for mobile use.
  • Streaming Music Integration: Works with djay, giving you access to millions of songs from Tidal, SoundCloud, Apple Music and more.
  • Neural Mix Technology: Real-time isolation or removal of vocals, drums, or instrumentals.
  • Compact and Lightweight: Weighs less than a kilo and easily fits your backpack.

First Impressions and Build Quality

Right out of the box, one of the first things you’ll notice about the Hercules DJControl Mix Ultra is just how small and lightweight it is. It comes in at just 12.4 x 6.9 inches and weighs only 850 grams. It’s clear they had portability and DJing on the go as the top priority when designing this thing. Sure, it’s all plastic but it actually doesn’t feel particularly cheap. By no means is it as robust or quality as what you’d get with a higher-end controller, but it’s sturdy enough in the hands, and all the knobs, buttons, and faders feel like they’re well-built. 

The design is also fairly eye-catching and fun, and it certainly makes for a nice change from the quite utilitarian all-black gear we’re used to seeing. One of the standout design features is the included protective cover. It snaps onto the front of the controller to keep it safe from knocks while you’re transporting it, but it also fits underneath the unit and doubles up as a stand for your phone. This is a really great concept, but it’s not a perfect execution. We had to take the cover off an iPhone to get it to fit and had no luck getting an iPad to stay in place.

Hercules DJControl Mix Ultra

Compatibility

Unlike some other beginner-focused gear, the Mix Ultra is strictly designed to work with just one DJ application – djay Pro, which is available for both iOS and Android. Some may see this as a drawback, but it’s unlikely to be a big issue. This is a really feature-packed option and has more than enough capability for any beginner DJ. 

One of the other big plus points of djay, and a key part of the Mix Ultra, is its compatibility with several streaming sites. It works with Apple Music, Tidal, SoundCloud Go+, Beatport and Beatsource. This is especially important for beginners as you don’t have to worry about building up a big library of tunes to start mixing.

Setup and Connectivity

As the DJControl Mix Ultra is a beginner-friendly device, the setup is designed to be as simple as possible. Simply power it on, connect via Bluetooth to the djay app, and you’re ready to mix. If you’re just using it wirelessly, there’s no need to worry about hooking up any cables.

Ultimately, while the wireless design of the MIx Ultra is its big selling point, it’s also probably its biggest drawback. There are no audio outputs on the controller, and all the audio has to go through your phone. There’s also no headphone output to be found on this unit either, which is severely limiting. 

There is a way around this, however. Included in the box is an audio splitter cable, which allows you to take the audio output from your phone and split the signal into two channels—one for the master output and one for the headphones. The drawback is that both of these will be mono, but for the sort of home speakers you’d expect to be plugging this into, it’s probably not a major issue. You’ll probably need an adapter to connect this splitter to your phone, but there isn’t one in the box.

Mix Ultra Headphone Splitter

There’s nowhere on the controller itself to connect any speakers or headphones so if you want louder sound, this is what you’ve got to do.

Charging is quick via USB-C, taking about an hour to reach full capacity. Once charged, you’ve got a 10-hour battery life, which should be more than enough for marathon mix sessions.

Performance and Features

As you’d probably expect from a super affordable controller for beginners, the performance features are pretty basic. However, there’s still enough here to put together a mix without feeling too limited.

The Mix Ultra is based on the standard DJ layout, which makes it good for anyone getting started. You get a mini jog wheel on each side, with a mixer sandwiched in the middle. This comes with a crossfader, upfaders, EQ controls, filter controls and a browse selector to pick your tracks. So far, so standard.  

Underneath each of the decks, you get 8 performance pads which can switch between 8 different modes. These are:

  • Hot Cues: Lets you set cue points and immediately jump to any point in the track.
  • Loop: Instantly set loops of different lengths depending on the pad.
  • FX: A selection of 8 different effects to alter the sound of your track, which is especially useful for transitions.
  • Neural Mix: Isolate individual elements of the track (more on this later). 
  • Pitch Play: Adjust the pitch and key signature of the track, which is good for harmonic blends. 
  • Bounce Loop: Loops the track while holding the pad and then jumps back to where the track would have been. Great for juggling bits of drums and other fun fills. 
  • Slicer: Slices the next 8 beats of the track up that you can trigger and juggle with the pads.
  • Sampler: Plays a selection of audio samples. There are some classic DJ sounds included, or you can add your own.

The crossfader on the Mix Ultra also doubles up as a powerful ‘FX fade’. This lets you super easily transition between tracks as it will automatically adjust the BPMs to match, and it applies a range of effects to create a smooth mix. This is a lot like the ‘Smart Fader’ you’ll find on AlphaTheta gear like the FLX2 or FLX4 and works in a very similar way that allows complete beginners to make a decent-sounding mix with next to no effort. 

Mix Ultra Crossfader FX

djay Pro offers a selection of Crossfader FX presets that have a selection of different effects.

Neural Mix Technology: A Creative Edge

One of djay’s biggest draws is its ‘Neural Mix’ feature. This allows you to separate and isolate the stems (individual track elements), including vocals, drums and instrumentals. On the Mix Ultra, you can activate this with a dedicated button which transforms the EQ knobs into volume controls for the stems. 

This opens up a lot more creative options when it comes to mixing than you’d get with just the standard EQ. For example, completely isolating vocals from a track allows you to create acapellas and mashups on the fly while mixing live. 

Having this level of control on a beginner-focused controller is excellent. That said, there are ways of getting similar features on things like the DDJ-FLX2 by remapping it to make use of rekordbox or Serato’s stems tools. This needs a bit of fiddling around within the software and can only be mapped to the pads rather than the more intuitive way of having a switch for the EQ controls.

Unfortunately, Neural Mix doesn’t work with tracks streamed from Apple Music at the moment. 

Mix Ultra Neural Mix

Pressing the N button in the middle of the controller switches the EQ knobs to control the stems.

Hercules DJControl Mix Ultra vs. AlphaTheta DDJ-FLX2

For beginners looking for a budget-friendly option to get started mixing on, it’s hard to look past the new AlphaTheta DDJ-FLX2  (£159/€189/$179). These two controllers come in at a very similar price and offer similar features, but they still cater to slightly different DJs. 

The Hercules DJControl Mix Ultra really puts a focus on portability with its wireless-only design. This is both a pro and a con, depending on how you use it. On the one hand, it’s easy to get things connected, and you don’t have to worry about any cables. That makes it great for mixing on the go, but it’s very limited in that it doesn’t have any audio or headphone outputs, unlike the FLX2.

FLX2 USB Connection

The DDJ-FLX2 offers many similar features but can also connect to a computer and has audio and headphone outputs.

There’s also the question of software compatibility. The Mix Ultra only works with the djay Pro app, while the FLX2 works with both Serato and rekordbox. Djay Pro is a very capable bit of software and is probably the best of the mobile DJ apps. However, the FLX2’s compatibility with Serato and rekordbox gives you a more versatile option as you can mix on both mobile and desktop and rekordbox especially is considered an industry standard across pro club gear, meaning you get familiar with the software used in venues.

Hercules DJControl Mix Ultra Performance

Price and Final Verdict

Retailing at £149/€169/$199, the Hercules DJControl Mix Ultra is a solid option for a beginner controller. Its steadfast focus on wireless portability may not be the best bet for everyone, but if that’s not a dealbreaker, it’s a great platform to learn on. In terms of mixing, having 8 performance pads that work across 8 modes, along with powerful Neural Mix integration, sets the Mix Ultra apart from other beginner controllers and opens up more creative avenues than you might expect from entry-level gear.

Given its limitations with connections and software, it’s hard to recommend this as the go-to choice for absolutely anyone, but if you understand these issues and don’t mind them, it’s a really capable controller for beginners.

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