Each bank has a gain control, a two-band EQ and a knob for dialing in effects like phasing and echo.
You do all of your selecting on the FirstMix with the big "Browse" knob in the middle, and you assign tracks to deck A or B (left or right) by pressing one of the buttons right under the big knob. I loaded up the software with a bunch of different tracks and had at it. The FirstMix comes with MixVibes Cross LE – the "LE" always signals you're getting something less than the big business, which is to be expected at this price point. Gemini has been making solid DJ equipment for eons (and has some higher-end offerings) so it's designed to closely resemble the real deal. Being an entry-level, $100 device, the Gemini is dead simple – there are two plastic platters that spin like records for cueing your tracks, and a mixer in the middle with the absolute minimum of knobs and controls. My terabyte drive runneth over with MP3s, so why not?īesides, this thing makes it easy.
So when the Gemini FirstMix showed up on my desk, I felt like it was some sort of personal challenge, a hurdle I needed to clear. The addition of hefty technology never made DJing more fun for me, just more complicated. I used a Vestax Typhoon at one of my gigs when the other DJ left it connected for me to try out. I played around with Traktor through a Kontrol interface. With them came dozens of software apps and USB devices made for digital mixing. Of course, laptops finally conquered the DJ booth. Vinyl was king, and the king's word was law. I'm not anti-digital, it's just that vinyl was the only choice in the mid-1990s when MP3s weren't yet commonplace and those CD-DJ decks were still prohibitively expensive. I've been a vinyl guy ever since I started DJing on the radio and at local parties when I was 19.
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