Wanna learn how to make music like Mix Master Mike? M-Audio's MixLab, which includes an X-Session Pro USB mixing desk and Torq LE software, is what you need to get your (virtual) DJ-ing fingertips hot. But it only shines when you hook it up to your own favorite software for use in more complex compositions.
Torq LE slurps up your music (including what's stashed in an iTunes library) and lets you drag and drop tracks into two virtual on-screen decks. From there, you can take the tunes and run with them — at least so long as you're sticking to the basic techniques it offers. Each side of the deck mirrors the other, allowing you to match and mix each song independently, with three EQ knobs, three mixer knobs, headphone cuing, and pitch and volume sliders. At the bottom, a nice slack cross-fader executes the magic you've lined up with the rest of the board, and it's easy to build loops, apply special effects and save your work live to disk in WAV format.
It's also damn hard to master. An auto-sync button, which helps get one track in lockstep with the other, works only on very basic levels. For everything else, you'll need to mess with each tune to get it just right — but that's the point, isn't it? After only 20 minutes, this neophyte managed to segue neatly between Disco Star Wars and Magic Bird of Fire. We won't subject you to the results.
While the included software only allows for basic work (you can't really scratch, and you can't overlay samples), the X Session deck is really a generic MIDI controller. It can be put to more advanced use in programs like Pro Tools and Reason. As a way to hook onscreen controls to real, physical equivalents, it's hard to argue with the $95 street price. Just think what you could do with this.