Denon DJ DN-X600 2-Channel Digital Mixer

Comments about Denon DJ DN-X600 2-Channel Digital Mixer:

This two channel mixer is great - solid effects, thoughtful design and great craftsmanship in tandem with a killer sound card make for a mixer that's hard to beat in this price range. I use mine for DJing a variety of electronic music, hip-hop and more via Traktor Pro 2, although part of the mixer's charm is that it hearkens back to the scratch mixers of my youth that I learned to play on. I didn't want a crowded 4 channel mixer since my style tends more towards classic mixing, and less towards tons of effects and sample work. I think that if you enjoy playing around a lot with 4 channels, sample decks and so on, there are some solid offerings on the market (from Denon as well, I might add). But for a clean, simple and well designed 2 channel mixers, if that's your thing, I can say that the DN-X600 has been extremely satisfying to use.

Faders are smooth and curve adjustable, knobs are tall and rubbery. The layout is very nicely spaced out with nothing feeling cramped or out of place. The headphone amp is quite powerful and the inputs and outputs are great. With the matrix routing, it's quite possible to stretch this two channel mixer into a role that includes Traktor/VDJ etc, two CDJ's, and two turntables; more than enough gear for most DJ's (all mixed into two channels, of course). I've heard a few people talk about using the mic/aux switchable input as a third channel for more involved mixing, and I could see that being quite handy. The third aux line sounds great and has it's own basic EQ, and volume knob; it can also receive effects independently of the other two channels from the onboard effects unit. Another perk is that nearly all of the controls on the mixer are midi mapable, which can lend itself perfectly to VDJ applications as well as creative mappings for Traktor or Ableton. It's an amazingly sweet sounding soundcard in the DN-X600 as well, and the build quality is fantastic.

The mixer does, unfortunately, have a few faults. Without Traktor Scratch certification, the unit will not function properly with (specifically) a Mac as a DVS timecoded mixer. It's too bad, but you can blame Native Instruments, and not Denon for this. If you are using a PC, there's a workaround for this, and I hear the mixer works terrifically. Another limitation of this mixer is that the effects are not assignable distinctly to each channel - that is to say if you want to run a reverb into channel 1, and a delay into 2, you will not be able to do this on board. This being said, the effects section on this unit is really great - high quality and intuitive to use. I use the on board effects with the software effects sweet in Traktor, and I'm more than covered when it comes to shaping the sounds.

All in all I feel that this is a really fantastic mixer that I plan on keeping for some years. It offers top shelf features at a reasonable price, and has a layout that I feel is perfect - one that feels better to use than offerings from Pioneer and Allen & Heath, whose 2 and 3 channel offerings I was also considering and have used. It's worth mentioning that Denon's customer support has always been fantastic. If you have a problem, you call them up, talk to a real person who knows what the heck they are talking about and get it resolved. I've got 100% faith in this unit's build quality and repairability if anything should go wrong. All told, I'm immensely pleased with it and I highly recommend that others check it out.