Sometimes I experience issues with the crossfader on the Mixon when used with djay—for example, when the A-THRU-B switch is accidentally moved. So I decided to do a deep dive into the interoperability and performance of the crossfader functions between djay software and the Reloop controller, and I recorded my findings in this short video.
This led me to the following questions:
How exactly do the hardware and software interact in terms of crossfader control?
When I enable the crossfader by clicking the exclamation mark in djay, why does the crossfader work even though both A-THRU-B switches on the controller are still set to “Thru”?
Do you think the hardware and software are working together as expected, or would you agree that there’s some interference between the two, making the behavior a bit inconsistent?
(For example, when one switch is set to “B” but the crossfader in djay is disabled, you don’t visually see any change, yet the audio is still affected.)
(you have to enable the sound in the video. It is on the bottom right below)
Hi @DJ_Big_Blender, I spoke with our hardware team regarding your questions.
Everything looks like it’s operating as expected. However, we do see how the UI could be confusing.
The exclamation mark is shown whenever the crossfader is not at the standard setting of Deck 1 Left / Deck 2 Right, no matter what has changed. This is to avoid a situation where you had changed the assignment in the past and now when you move the crossfader on the screen you are confused why it doesn’t do what you expect. It’s basically just a visual warning for the user.
The switches on the Mixon 8 remote control the settings in djay. So, when you click the exclamation mark to reset, you tell djay to ignore the settings on the Mixon 8 and reset to Deck 1 Left / Deck 2 Right. To use the switches on the controller again you need to move every single switch on the Mixon 8 back and forth so djay will receive the position of the switch again.
Would you find it more intuitive to just not show the exclamation mark when a controller is connected?
Thanks for taking the time to speak with the hardware team and provide such a detailed response. I really appreciate the effort to clarify how the crossfader integration works between djay and the Mixon 8. It definitely makes things clearer for me now.
I agree that everything seems to function as intended once you understand what’s happening, but I do think the user experience could benefit from a more detailed status indication. For example, visually showing which deck is currently assigned to which side of the crossfader (e.g., “Deck 1: Left / Deck 2: Not Assigned”) would provide clearer feedback and reduce confusion when things don’t behave as expected.
One thing I’m still unclear on: your explanation doesn’t fully explain why the crossfader continues to affect the audio even when both Mixon 8 switches are set to “THRU.” If both are in THRU, shouldn’t the crossfader be completely bypassed? It still feels like there’s some inconsistency or overlap between hardware and software control in that case.
As for your question about whether the exclamation mark should be shown, I think it would actually make more sense not to show it. A warning symbol usually implies that something is wrong, but in this case, it’s not really a problem. I’ve disabled the crossfader on purpose, and I suspect many other users do the same, especially since the crossfader can easily be bumped during a performance. Maybe having an explicit “Disable Crossfader” setting would be helpful for those who prefer not to use it, and then you wouldn’t need to show the exclamation mark at all.
Thanks again for looking into this. This kind of transparency and engagement really helps users understand what’s going on under the hood.
Hi again @DJ_Big_Blender. We don’t think the 2-Deck view mode has any space left to fit an on-screen assignment indicator, but we can probably hide the exclamation mark in this case.
Here’s a tip you might find helpful in the meantime. When in doubt you can check the 4-Deck view mode, as it has indicators for the crossfader assignments on screen.
To answer your question, “why does the crossfader affect the tracks while the hardware switches are set to THRU?”. The switches and the crossfader are not electronically connected, they both just report their position to djay via MIDI. So when you click “restore” in djay, you tell djay to ignore the switches and process the crossfader as if the switches are on the default. The Mixon 8 looking like an external mixer gives the impression that the switches should be directly interacting with the crossfader, but in reality everything is just a remote MIDI control for djay. So, it is possible for djay to just ignore individual switches when you click a certain option. I hope that helps!
I just checked the 4-deck view, and I noticed how the crossfader assignments are displayed there. That’s definitely useful for checking current settings when needed. (For me personally the 4-deck layout is way to overwhelming. I would immediately being diognosed with ADHD when I would use that ), but only for looking into these setting it is helpful).
The explanation about the Mixon 8 switches being MIDI-based rather than hardware-wired really helped—it does give the impression of being part of an analog signal path, so knowing it’s all MIDI-driven clears things up.
That actually led me to wonder: is there a reason those crossfader assignment switches don’t show up in the MIDI configuration list in djay? I was curious if I could disable or reassign them directly but couldn’t find them there.
Regarding the 2-deck view, I DO believe there might be a minimal, non-intrusive way to show crossfader assignment status. Something similar to how the tempo slider subtly incorporates the Key Lock icon and the center-dot coloring—perhaps a small “A” or “B” icon could appear near the crossfader, and nothing shown when set to THRU (unless it’s MIDI-mapped to another function like Track-Match-preview or similar ofcourse )
(like this)
Or perhaps even just three small dots side by side, with the active one lit in green. This would take up very little space and still provide clear visual feedback without cluttering the UI.
Btw:
Personally, I would prefer if the software simply followed the hardware switch settings. I’ve already run into some issues during live sets where the crossfader wasn’t behaving as expected, and it wasn’t easy to quickly figure out why. That kind of ambiguity can be stressful in a live situation.
You’re welcome @DJ_Big_Blender. The crossfader assignment switches don’t appear in the mapping menu for technical reasons and since it’s usually not necessary to remap them. Thank you for the feedback for the view mode, we will look into this further.
), but only for looking into these setting it is helpful).
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