Bird Electronics unveils palm-sized DJ5 micro mixer

For the DJ looking to stuff his / her entire setup into an array of cargo pockets, we've found your mixer of choice. Bird Electronics' DJ5 is the likely successor to the overly simplistic DJ4 that we saw earlier this year, but this beauty packs a bit more functionality into a not-too-much larger package. Set to go on sale next week, the palm-sized unit features a pair of 3.5-millimeter input and output jacks, left / right headphone volume and a slide switch for Line 1 / Line 2 / Mix. Best of all, you can power this thing with just a trio of AA cells, so there's no need to fret if that AC plug is chillin' out on the opposite side of the room. Get set to mix things up real soon for ¥15,000 ($132), and click on through for a few more shots.

[Via Impress]

[Josh F @ Nov 9th 2007 9:25AM]

That trio of AA batteries looks more like a duo.. I could be wrong.

[Darren @ Nov 9th 2007 10:53AM]

Yeah, I had the same thought, but the product page says otherwise. Also, it's possibly the third one is slid up under the casing out of sight.

[Owen @ Nov 12th 2007 12:35PM]

And wheres the crossfade?

[Matt M @ Nov 9th 2007 10:33AM]

Crossfade would be nice. Guess you have to slide one up while you slide the other one down to achieve the same effect.

[sr20driven92 @ Nov 9th 2007 10:59AM]

I wondered the same thing, but it looks like the cross fader is the a 3-way switch. No fun there..

[Derek Martin @ Nov 9th 2007 11:03AM]

the 3 way switch is for headphone monitoring

[Lobsang @ Nov 9th 2007 11:15AM]

a complete spec on this would be helpful

[Lobsang @ Nov 9th 2007 11:19AM]

Nevermind...saw the spec when i clicked on the pic.

[DSL @ Nov 9th 2007 11:37AM]

meh

[shane @ Nov 9th 2007 11:48AM]

meh

[McGinley @ Nov 9th 2007 1:10PM]

3 AA batteries?I suppose for certain situations it could be handy but I would definitely choose a wall socket over them any day...besides...unless you have battery powered decks as well its kinda pointless...

And no crossfade?

Still, I suppose it would be ok for things like in the pic up there with the ipods...for small parties and stuff.
Otherwise,useless.

[atrain @ Nov 9th 2007 1:12PM]

http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/generic/8753/

What is this? 2 op-amps, 2 slide pots to control volume? And they want $130 for that?!! Eww!

[brian j. parker @ Nov 9th 2007 1:50PM]

Since it only has 3.5-millimeter inputs, you aren't going to be able to hook up any "real" players (CD or vinyl) that can be pitch/tempo shifted, so leaving the crossfader out makes sense-- this isn't for DJ's who are going to beatmix, it's for casual party DJing. Unfortunately that makes this more a novelty than something useful.

A really small-footprint DJ still has to learn to go off a laptop (I have a few friends doing that), or get an all-in-one like the Numark CDMIX3 with some MP3 mix CDs. I don't think it is ever going to be possible to pitch shift an iPod; it might be possible to buffer up the track, but that would be so unwieldy and financially unfeasible that it's never going to happen.

So this might be the best you can get if you're an iPod DJ and absolutely must fit everything in your pockets. But the Numark iDJ is of negligible size and has way more functionality, so this is really only interesting if you're stuck with other brands of MP3 player. I just can't see this shifting many units.

[laughallway2bank @ Nov 9th 2007 3:13PM]

As a dj of 9 years i can say that this thing is pretty much useless... except for what Brian was talking about (a casual party) -

It runs off batteries... i could imagine djing at a club and having the batteries die on you...

Any real dj that wants to mix all the songs on his laptop/itunes uses TCV systems like Serato Scratch live, Virtual DJ, Traktor... this allows you to do anything you could do with vinyl/cds plus more and use your itunes library...

As far as mixing and pitch shifting with an Ipod... yes it can be done, there are many options, but this one (iDJ2 by numark) only uses ONE ipod and you can play two tracks and pitch shift, crossfade, and effects... http://www.numark.com/idj2

Something a bit more realistic for the "casual pocket bedroom/small party dj" would be the pacemaker.. http://www.pacemaker.net/

just my 2 cents

[brian j. parker @ Nov 9th 2007 3:21PM]

I didn't know about the iDJ2. That is hot, much more feasible to use than the original... not only can I see it appealing to hobbyists and amateurs, but even though I have a "real" rig I could see getting one of those for mucking around at parties. Thanks for the link!

[Eicosanoid @ Nov 9th 2007 3:51PM]

Why is everybody kvetching about the lack of a "crossfade?" Just push one down at the same time you push the other up. There you go. Crossfade. Wasn't that fun?

[teel @ Nov 10th 2007 7:44AM]

Pretty useless for DJs without EQs for the channels...

[Natasha Cloutier @ Nov 12th 2007 9:35AM]

No crossfade, no CD or vinyl input, just a toy for parties and people's iPods. Not impressed. And then serioulsy, I can picture the batteries dying on me (source of stress). As a DJ I wouldn't use this in any serious capacity.