Mixcon Munich 2019 - Gear Highlights

Mixcon is a DJ and Producer convention in Munich. If you haven't read my blog about Mixcon in general, make sure to check this out first by clicking here. In this blog I will talk about my favorite booths and setups at the convention.

Reloop  

Even though Reloop had probably the smallest booth at the whole event, they also had the best one in my opinion. They had setups with their flagship controller Mixon 4 and a turntable-mixer-DVS setup and they are amazing. 

The Mixon 4 is a professional Serato DJ controller with the option to use it with the Djay mobile app on IOS or Android. You can use this controller with your phone or tablet without using a laptop. You can own this setup yourself for an affordable price of €606 euros. 

The Reloop Mixon 4, one of our overall favorite DJ controllers, at Mixcon 2019

The most surprising product at Mixcon was the Reloop RP-8000MK2. This turntable is not just a high quality product that brings a lot of innovative and unique features, but also has an almost non existing wow and flutter. This includes the option to connect this turntable to your PC via USB when using DVS. The turntable features a screen that can display a lot off things including the tempo (BPM) of the track. On top of that you can control the start and stop speed.

The coolest thing about the 8000 is probably the MIDI section that includes a browse encoder knob and 8 performance pads with 7 performance modes. This allows you to do a lot of stuff like track loading, hot cueing and looping directly on the turntable itself when using DVS. That is absolutely amazing, especially for people who use club mixers instead of battle mixers. 

We also found the platter play mode really cool, allowing you to play a track in different pitches by actually speeding up or slowing down the platter. This pitch can be controlled via the performance pads of the 8000 or an external MIDI keyboard. You can still play analog vinyls on this turntable, without using any of the midi functions. 

The Reloop RP8000MK2 and Reloop Elite at Mixcon 2019 – my personal favorite setup at the whole convention

Denon DJ

It seems like Denon’s goal is to outline Pioneer in the market of DJ hardware, they are working really hard to achieve this. They do this by releasing a lot of incredible high-quality products with a lot of features, which they sell for pretty low prices. One of these devices is the brand new all-in-one 4-channel player Denon Prime 4. And what’s the best place to present it to potential buyers? Right, an event like Mixcon. They used this opportunity and built an amazing, big booth with 3 Denon DJ setups.

Denon had their club Prime setup, consisting of two SC5000 and one X1800. This was my favorite Denon DJ setup at Mixcon! The SC500 is an amazing player and the X1800 an incredible mixer. The Denon Prime setup definitely has the potential to become the next club standard. I also loved the fact that they had a laptop running Serato connected to the club setup. This way, you could test the Denon prime setup with Serato DJ, which is an amazing combination. 

Denon Prime - my second-favorite setup at Mixcon Munich 2019

They also had the M version of the player set-up there. The SC5000M is basically the same as the SC5000, but with a real 7 inch, spinning vinyl instead of the jog wheel. This combines the unbeatable feel of playing on vinyl with the advantages of digital DJ media players. The only downside of the SC5000M is that it currently doesn’t support any DJ software in HID mode. The Denon team however promised that it will support Serato, just like the regular SC5000.

Two SC5000M and one X1800 at Mixcon 2019 – A really innovative and amazing setup

Denon also had their brand new Prime 4 All-In-One player at the event. This one was probably the most appreciated product at Mixcon. It was used by the visitors of the Mixcon almost all the time and even the Denon DJ employees were DJing on it whenever they got a chance to do so, which shows us that they are really passionate DJs themselves.

I got the chance to play on it for a few minutes and I have to say that this is an absolute game changer. You basically get the full Denon Prime Setup, consisting of two SC5000s and one X1800 in one device for €1.699. it’s 4-deck standalone player and will soon also work with Serato DJ in HID mode. It has an almost identical layout to the full Prime setup including a huge 10-inch touchscreen that works like the one found on the SC5000. Going from the Prime 4 to the Prime club-setup, work seamlessly and without any problems.

The Prime 4 is probably the perfect home setup for all club and touring DJs, who play with the Denon Prime Setup at their live gigs. The Prime 4 is Denon’s response to Pioneer’s XDJ-RX2 and DDJ-1000 in one device and it can definitely compete to both of these Pioneer setups.  

The brand new Denon Prime 4 All-In-One DJ player at Mixcon 2019

ImageLine

The whole Mixcon gear area was quite DJ focused and there was not a lot of producer equipment. The producer equipment that they had was amazing though! As an FL Studio user myself, I really enjoyed playing around in ImageLine’s FL Studio Booth. Especially the Akai Fire, an incredible fully featured FL Studio controller that can act as a Step sequencer, keyboard, launchpad, and even mixer controller. It’s definitely one of my favorite studio controllers.

The FL Studio Booth at Mixcon Munich 2019 – probably every producers’ and beatmakers’ paradise

Pioneer DJ

The last booth on our list was the one by Pioneer DJ. Even though Pioneer didn’t bring very innovative equipment, their booth deserves to be on this list, simply because of the huge amount of gear in their booth. You had the option to try out their full Nexus 2 setup, which is currently the international club and festival standard, is an amazing opportunity, especially for newcomer DJs. But I also really liked the XDJ-1000MK2 plus DJM-750MK2 setup there, which is definitely a great home setup for every club DJ that want to get used to Pioneer’s nexus setup but can’t afford to spend €7000. 

However, I found that Pioneer’s CDJs are kind of outdated as I directly compared them to Denon’s SC5000s. Pioneer DJ will definitely have to come up with something innovative and cheaper than their current productline to stay the number one brand in the market of DJ Equipment. If you want more information on that, read my article about Denon vs. Pioneer. 

Pioneer’s Nexus 2 Setup at Mixcon Munich 2019 – The international club standard 

2 XDJ-1000MK2s and 1 DJM-750MK2 – only half the price of a full nexus setup but remains the same layout and most of the features

The amount of gear in the Pioneer DJ booth was incredible – also in the area of DJ controllers! Here you can see the Pioneer DDJ-1000 at Mixcon Munich 2019 

Overall Conclusion

The gear area of Mixcon 2019 was absolutely amazing: There were so many awesome setups to try out! I am definitely looking forward to Mixcon Munich 2020. I also really hope that some of you guys got interested in the convention after reading this article. Let us know in the comments down below if you will be at Mixcon 2020 or at any other music conventions. And if you go to Mixcon or any other DJ convention, don’t forget to bring your Recordbox analyzed USB stick or Laptop with you as this will drastically improve the fun you’ll have at the event!