UltraMixer Professional 2.4.6

Despite the name, UltraMixer Professional isn't likely to be the application of choice for those hoping to play in dance festival tents or the clubs of Ibiza. Instead it's a perfectly serviceable option for those who want to liven up a party or simply have fun playing about with music.

The program really doesn't do that much, but what it does it does well. You can mix together any two files or set them up to cross-fade so that the party really does keep on jumping. You also have the option to choose between manually fading the files and pre-programming them to run automatically, plus you can add a microphone to the mix if you want to drop some lyrical bombs.

There's also a sampling option, which works OK but is a bit fiddly and can take some getting used to. Somewhat annoyingly the program can calculate the tempo of each song, but leaves you to manually adjust them if you want to sync them to create that perfect mash-up: this really is a task you'd expect could be done automatically.

The interface, laid out like a pair of decks, takes some getting used to as there's a long going on. You'll certainly need to practice with it as the default options mean that if you mistakenly skip a track or otherwise get out of order, you may need to go hunting through file menus again.

Pros: Performs basic functions without too much trouble; good graphical display

Cons: Quite fiddly considering limited features

Conclusions: More for the hobbyist than the pro, but could be an affordable option for casual use.