4MidiLoop Arcade Button mod + 4 Jog Wheels !!!

[thictool]

Ive gone thru 4 IDJ controllers making the mod I did ANDin my opinion...

The IDJ Pots are way too close together, and the knobs fall off constantly. The Pitch Faders break, and drag along the plastic making it impossible to make any fine adjustments. The Buttons are rubber with tons of travel and cannot be mapped for and LED feedback / output.

Im not trying to trash the IDJ here.....just revieling its weaknesses as I see them in case somebody else believes the hype that ICON is trying to sell. ICON makes it seem like the IDJ is LED mappable AND ITS NOT. And the list goes on and on.

The Jogs are by far the best and most quality part on this controller.

zestoi - It sounds like you really love your IDJ, and thats alwsum. All the words I used in this post are simply my opinion....nothing more.

[zestoi]

Ive gone thru 4 IDJ controllers making the mod I did ANDin my opinion...

The IDJ Pots are way too close together, and the knobs fall off constantly. The Pitch Faders break, and drag along the plastic making it impossible to make any fine adjustments. The Buttons are rubber with tons of travel and cannot be mapped for and LED feedback / output.

Im not trying to trash the IDJ here.....just revieling its weaknesses as I see them in case somebody else believes the hype that ICON is trying to sell. ICON makes it seem like the IDJ is LED mappable AND ITS NOT. And the list goes on and on.

The Jogs are by far the best and most quality part on this controller.

zestoi - It sounds like you really love your IDJ, and thats alwsum. All the words I used in this post are simply my opinion....nothing more.

true the pots are too close together, tho i replace the caps on mine with slightly taller and more rubbery ones and it's more usable now. also a spot of glue helps.

no led feedback does suck - something i had assumed it had i guess. if we're lucky maybe they'll fix that with a firmware update. but probably not...

the far right hand fader on mine was actually broken when it turned up, level faders still seem fine tho and the xfader.

i wouldn't say i love mine but it does give me a decent set of pots and buttons for effects etc.

i do agree that the best thing about it are the jogs which is actually the reason i bought it in the first place. i just wanted some controller with touch sensitive jogs to add to my options. the only other alternative i could see was that "gemini firstmix"

i actually like using my cheapo djtech djm101 midi mixer for basic 2 channel stuff, the jogs from the idj for decks a/b and then the rest of the idj for effects and/or sample decks. tho now i have 2 scs.3d's they can do pretty much everything, but having real jogs is nice...

out of interest this is mine with new knobs:

[Onimode]

true the pots are too close together, tho i replace the caps on mine with slightly taller and more rubbery ones and it's more usable now. also a spot of glue helps.

A bit off topic, but where did you get those caps? They look nice, and my LPD8's in need of a facelift. :P

[zestoi]

A bit off topic, but where did you get those caps? They look nice, and my LPD8's in need of a facelift. :P

they're quite a tight fit. i had to strip a bit from inside them. they're nice and rubbery but so is the inner barrel which makes them a bit tricky to fit - but didn't take me too long. fitting these to the idj was waaay more of a pain than the lpd8. being slightly taller, thinner and rubbery makes both the idj and lpd8 much nicer to use imho.

ebay ofc http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130491509477

edit: back to the idj i think it has 2 things going for it really... first it has really great jogs as part of an overall setup (like the OP) and secondly it's so compact and can be used by itself if u needed something nice and small to transport.

[zestoi]

has anyone tried the icon istage at all? posting here as icon stuff doesn't seem to get many responses on the forum for some reason.

i just saw some for 70quid, which is cheaper than the launchpad and is velocity sensitive. it also (unlike the idj) does seem to have midi led feedback from watching a youtube vid...

[thictool]

no led feedback does suck - something i had assumed it had i guess. if we're lucky maybe they'll fix that with a firmware update. but probably not...


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I spoke to the American Distributer that handles all ICON products. He seemed a bit frustrated with my IDJ LED questions and said that perhaps when the IDJ hits the American market (if that even happens), they will look into adding LED support. It is unclear if the lack of LED support is a software or hardware issue and the rep couldnt tell me which was the issue. It looks pretty unlikely that IDJ LED support will ever see the light of day.

[zestoi]

It looks pretty unlikely that IDJ LED support will ever see the light of day.

lol, pun intended?

it's a real shame tho about the lack of midi feedback. the iStage seems to have it which also seems pretty cheap atm.

the istage is 60quid and the vestax padone seems to have dropped from 120quid to only 90.

suddenly i feel the need to buy something

buy an istage or play it safe and go with a 2nd launchpad or go with the brick of a padone? decisions decisions...

[thictool]

Somehow this thread has become more about the IDJ unit. The IDJ contoller is about 1 percent of why I built this custom controller.

Heres a vid I made explaining the 4Midiloop based rig and what brought me to this project.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiuoZcrHB54



<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kiuoZcrHB54" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[zestoi]

cool, really interesting video. if the idj was 1% why u created it then u can blame me 99% for derailing the thread i guess

your "exit button" makes a lot of sense. nothing worse than using some effects and then not being able to get out of it just when u need to. it disables the main effects and then enables a mild reverb then from what u said? u then manually disable that or it's set to auto decrement or something when held down?

i can see the point of having dedicated buttons for certain effects - the gater is probably the one i use most too.

as for layers... i hate layers for anything i need to get to right away, anything to do with levels etc - but then i'd prefer to use them for less used stuff, like the slicer effect or something. stuff i want access to but don't use too much. if actions A+B can share the same set of buttons if i know i'll never need to use them at the same time.

you've got a lot of controls on that 4midiloop anyway so no real need i guess...

having said all that - the last time i dj'd out was years ago on a pair of turntables and fairly basic mixer - no fx at all - just levels+eq+kills so i guess i don't know quite what i'd need when i finally play out on purely digital stuff

[escapemcp]

So I think that the IDJ is a great unit....

No, seriously though, great project and vid. Some points tho:

1) You must have a ton of usb's connecting through that hub. I counted 5 + the RME interface (but that's on a separate USB port). No problems running through the hub then?
2) I was looking at getting the 4midiloop, and was thinking I could get away without jogs. I tried mapping a controller where the jogs controlled FX, but you can't get away from the fact that sometimes, it is just so handy to be able to scrub through the track quickly (e.g. checking you have the right tune or creating new cuepoints). I love your solution.
3) Layers suck.. period. Totally agree with this (& this was why I was looking at the 4midiloop). Sometimes you need to get to a control FAST, and if you have to change layer and then press, it's just too much! I spent ages mapping my first controller with 4 layers, but when it actually came to using it, I couldn't, I kept forgetting which layer I was in and messing up my mix (luckily in my bedroom!)
4) The RME interface - I have an Echo Audio Layla 3G, and yeah, the Traktor interface sounds awful next to it. I don't think I will ever buy an Audio 8/4 etc. I will always be looking at RME or Echo when it comes to a soundcard. They are just so nice sounding.
5) No xfader then You preferred decent cue/stop buttons. The XF is starting to become redundant anyway, now that we have 4 decks.
6) The play positioning really does suck now that I have seen the vid. Just putting them in the space at the bottom of the fader would have worked well (although the XF may have interfered with them, but in your setup, this is not an issue).
7) Shocked by the build quality of those pots. On the 4midiloop website, they boast about how it is made from "aircraft grade aluminium".... shame they didn't attach the pots to it! For the cost of the unit, I can't believe they took this shortcut!

Great vid, best review I have seen of the 4midiloop, and it wasn't even a review. Yeah, you *may* have been waffling around 13 mins in, but these waffling vids are often better than ones that are more structured. The fx stop button with reverb is handy (which you might not have mentioned if not waffling!). Interested in what as zestoi said - how do you apply the reverb... is it set to 'hold' in traktor so that it only reverbs whilst button is held down?

So to recap: the IDJ has great jogwheels, but it's buttons and faders are shit and it doesn't light up... no wonder you brought a 4midiloop to cover the functions not available (or are crap) on the IDJ!

escapeMCP

P.S. Get some funky jog wheel stickers! It looks too plain at the moment.