After I unplugged the mAudio xSession Pro for the last time, I resigned myself to buying one. I found myself plugging it back in over the past couple of months just to play with it some more, hoping that I'd find something terribly wrong that would color my perspective, but I'm all out of snark. The xSession Pro is a fabulous mixer--you won't see professional DJs spinning major parties or club gigs with one of these anytime soon, but you might start seeing them show up next to the main turntable setup or devices like them next to a laptop near the main mixer.

Since I'm a DJ, getting acquainted with the xSession Pro was a bit easier for me than it would be for most. At the same time, the controls are so straightforward that anyone of any skill level can be up and running and playing with the effects and features within minutes. Torq, mAudio's mixing software that comes with the xSession Pro, is very easy to use, and all the features on the mixer are duplicated onscreen. If you're like me and used to spinning vinyl, you can tell the software to respond to the mixer as if it were connected to turntables. If you're used to mixing CDs, you can select that as well.

The mixer itself has all the basic controls you'd expect on a two-channel mixer: a crossfader, volume controls for each channel, pitch controls (since you don't actually have turntables), and knobs to control the gain and the EQs. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the software and the mixer both support built-in effects such as flange and strobe. After playing around with the effects, I found myself having so much fun that I decided to record what I was doing.

Some DJs would laugh at a tool like the xSession Pro and how easy Torq makes putting a mix together. You can beat-match and sync up two tracks in your playlist with a single click, even if the two songs are drastically different--a skill that DJs who are used to turntables and analog mixers spend years perfecting. The xSession Pro and the Torq software make it so easy to create mixes and line up tracks that I can easily see the most purist of DJs rejecting it outright. At the same time, because the Torq software integrates so well with your existing music collection, it's a must-have for iPod and laptop DJs looking for an easier way to mix without carrying a ton of records or CDs around.

Another pleasant surprise from mAudio was that Torq can play and mix your iTunes music. Torq snags your iTunes library as soon as you install it, and you can drag in any music from anywhere on your hard drive to your playlist. I had some difficulty importing songs that were stored on my downstairs PC across my home network, but if you have your shared computers mapped as drives in Windows, you won't have a problem.

The xSession Pro and Torq are winning hardware and software, respectively, but combining the two into the same package makes the bundle even more impressive. Torq is remarkably well-designed mixing software, and while you won't replace a studio-quality recording app with it, it's more than enough for someone who just wants to record a few mixes here and there for their friends to hear, or to get started as an amateur DJ.

I had a chance to chat with some folks from mAudio at DigitalLife and grill them on the product. They helped me understand the target market for the xSession Pro, and why it felt kind of flimsy at first: The device is aimed at amateur and at-home DJs, people like me who would use it to supplement their turntable setup, or someone who wants to be a laptop DJ in their spare time using an MP3 collection or music purchased at iTunes.

The xSession Pro gets its power over USB, so you don't need tons of cables--one USB cable and a free port on your computer is all that's required. It's plastic and portable, though not meant to be dragged around to stadium venues or used by DJs whose names inspire thousands to line up for hours; mAudio has a world of professional products for that. The mAudio xSession Pro is supported on Mac OS X, Windows XP, and Windows Vista, and retails for about $125.95, but I found it on a couple of sites for as low as $99.