A few questions regarding the VCI-100SE and the Arcade edition...

[fusion]

Hi,
Doing some insane amount of research into beginner DJ equipment, and im seriously loving the VCI-100 SE and the Arcade Edition of the same controller...
As i have never actually handled or touched the controllers, i dont know how the buttons feel, so i was hoping the awesome DJ TT community could help me out a little bit

1) Is it possible to easily cue juggle with the standard buttons of the VCI, or is it terrible and is why the Arcade Edition really shines with respect to that.

2) Just a question regarding the overall look of the Arcade Edition. While ive watched heaps of videos many times each of Ean using the arcade controller, its hard to judge what they'd actually look like sitting infront of you (for me anyways :S)
Do they look genuinly professional? That is, could you rock up to a party / club with it and it looks like a solid piece of equipment, or does it give off a slight 'toy-ish' look..
In no way what-so-ever am i bagging out the awesome product haha, just im saving up some serious money, and being from Australia, it gets a bit more expensive, alongside $50 or so postage..

Thanks heaps for all your help

fusion

[Jester]

Mate i would seriously consider forking out the extra clams for the arcade edition, all the lads i know on here that have one absolutely love them. Lots of guys use them at gigs so no worries there.

[kewlbreeze]

I have the stock SE, non arcade, VCI-100. To answer your questions:

1) you definitely can juggle cue points w/ the stock buttons... Though I'm sure the arcade buttons are light years better. But the stock buttons are not going to stop you from pulling off some basic juggling routines. If you end up needing the arcade buttons later you can mod it yourself, or buy a midifighter. I, too, was debating whether I needed the arcade version, but was pleasantly surprised by the playability of the stock buttons. This of course will depend on how much cue juggling you actually do. YMMV

2) IMO, it definitely looks and feels professional. The Vestax name certainly doesn't hurt. In comparison to other controllers with similar features and in a similar price range I'd say it certainly holds it's own.

[Jeditekk]

After getting my vci se I can definitely say that the quality and pro feel are there. I've had Pioneer gear in the past then went fully digital with a mac and bcd3000, only to feel like a made a mistake getting into controllerism. Now that I have a vci and midi fighter I feel like I've made a huge leap and I feel confident taking my equipment to any gig.

At the end of any set/gig all that matters is what it sounded like with what you had and the impression you left your audience. I've seen many a DJ with thousands of dollars of gear that sounded like sh*t compared to some with just a few knobs and some faders.

[Jeditekk]

Oh yeah, you can definitely juggle with just an SE edition, but I gotta admit that I'm loving the midi fighter with the arcade buttons.