Questions before buying

[WarCable]

As far as price goes Gunther,

Here in AUS the VCI-100 is around $800 AUD at best!

I can pay for shipping and do the conversion to USD through DJTT and STILL have $100+ to spare with a better controller than what I would be paying $800 for!

That's all I can really contribute into this thread!

Point taken

[WarCable]

Well, I'm still looking into it more by looking at Youtube video's on the different controllers and also on nanopads as DeeEss suggested and I have to say that the Reloop Digital Jockey 2 - Controller Edition starts to make sense as obvious choice for Traktor Pro.

What is the true benefit of having touch sensitive jog wheels since the Reloop Digital Jockey 2 - Controller Edition doesn't have this feature but still is able to scratch after pressing the 'scratch' button on its panel while my guess is that the VCI-100 SE does this automatically when it feels a 'touch' on its jogs...or am I completely wrong in this?

And what do nanopads exacly do? Cue parts of songs, add beat-patterns? I'm still not aware of their actual function.

Gunther

[sine143]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2pP4FDZERE

There's Ean on a nanopad. basically, he is "juggling" between spots in the songs (cue points) and effecting it. You can achieve something similar with the bottom buttons on the vci (not as responsive, but if you do the arcade mod, it easily is if not more).

as far as having the scratch button, i believe that just changes between scratch and cdj mode, as in, in cdj mode, when you spin the jog, it speeds or slows up the song. In scratch mode, if it detects motion on the jog, it will stop the song, and start draggin it at the speed of the encoder. This means it will only be paused during motion.

[mmauve]

they are MIDI-nerds that love to spend their time doing mappings and installing firmware rather than djing

What do you want to learn? Djing or MIDI headache?

I want to learn how to MIDI headache!

[BestLegsinHD]

dont be discouraged. i started out with serato itch and have just abandoned it for ableton. it all depends on what kind of workflow you want and what type of sound you are going for. the vci is a great piece of hardware from what ive seen, and no, i dont own one nor do i plan on owning one. this is all from stuff ive seen online and on this site.

traktor seems pretty adaptable. has great fx and good midi mapping capabilities. had i not been caught up in the serato itch hype back when i decided to start djing, i would have definitely started with the vci.

i would say spend some time on youtube and look at videos of people using the different controllers/software you are interested in. good luck!

[WarCable]

We're certainly not getting discouraged. It's actually getting more confusing when I get to see them both in active setups on youtube

By the way, are Korg and Akai the only pad controller developers out there? If I type 'pad controller' in either youtube.com or google I only get results from those two brands.

Greetz,
Gunther

[DeeEss]

What is the true benefit of having touch sensitive jog wheels since the Reloop Digital Jockey 2 - Controller Edition doesn't have this feature but still is able to scratch after pressing the 'scratch' button on its panel while my guess is that the VCI-100 SE does this automatically when it feels a 'touch' on its jogs...or am I completely wrong in this?

Gunther

I am under the impression that Touch Sensitive is a good feature because when you go to scratch, i.e. press the scratch button, when you place your hand on the jog wheel it detects that contact and sends a midi message to the software which is used as a command! For example STOP playback when you touch, START playback when you release! Just like when you hold a record and let the platter free spin! So my view is it's a REALLY good feature because when scratching you don't have to create a slight constant motion in order to keep the playback where you want it, i.e. at the start of a bass drum sample!

Get my drift? I think I'm right, don't quote me on it!

As for the Pad Controllers, Akai, Korg, M-Audio also make one and maybe a few others, check out www.djwarehouse.com.au may have some more u havn't seen!

I personally bought the Korg PadKontrol with the 16 pads, 2 assignable knobs and an xy touch pad! After owning one for a while using it in garageband, ableton and now traktor. I recommend getting a Pad Controller with more knobs or sliders and not just an xy pad with a couple of knobs!

If I could swap for another Pad Controller it would be the M-Audio trigger finger! Though I'm not sure if it has the dual port capabilities korg does which allows me to have to midi in ports and ultimatley use two programs at once on the same scene set!

[n2hf1st]

Damn, that card is 20x20... you weren't kidding about it being overkill were you

I say vci-100. The thing about midi mapping taking forever is a stark lie, I designed my own mapping with full functionality within two hours of taking the packaging off. I've since tried out the djtt tsi, been disappointed, reverse engineered the 3.0 tsi, also been disappointed, and remapped it countless times and found plenty of time to test each remap out on a gig.

Also, having a touch sensitive wheel is a big plus. You do not want to be pressing a scratch button when your natural instinct is just to grab the jog wheel.

It's not just that we're fanboys... the vci-100 is a damned solid piece of kit that can be chucked around. Imho the vci-100 + masking tape strips + sharpie + custom mapping combo can't be beat. Look at the reloop digital jockey. What if you don't want the play button on the right, you want it on the left? You're kinda stuck with it.

Don't worry about the lack of high-res midi, chances are you'll be using sync most of the time. Plus, it's not that difficult to get close to the right tempo with just 128 steps, I do back to back sets with a friend of mine sometimes and I don't have any difficulty using the pitch faders and nudging the platter along to keep in sync.

Finally, you're right about not wanting to buy something with a built in sound card... they almost always have buggy drivers and just don't work as well as a dedicated interface.

oh and p.s. good luck finding darn good monitors for less than $450 usd - studio monitors are an expensive endeavor if you care about the sound they're putting out. just a tip

[WarCable]

Yup, you hit the nail on the head there. It will become a case of carefully taking all of the pro and contra's into consideration and somehow I do find it weird to put 'scratch' mode on before you can even do a scratch while the VCI-100 just does it automatically when you pull the jog back...er...I assume because when I look at its layout I also notice a button called 'scratch'...er, oh my god...

However, DeeEss' point about letting a track stop as soon as you hit the jog seems more interesting. Don't get me wrong, I do think scratching should always be an option but I will be focussing on trance, hardtrance (hardstyles in general) and it doesn't happen that often with those styles if you compare this with urban music for instance but the feature to have the deck stop as soon you hit its jog, seems something which will occure countless times more then actual scratching

Going to look into the pad controller from M-audio

oh and p.s. good luck finding darn good monitors for less than $450 usd - studio monitors are an expensive endeavor if you care about the sound they're putting out. just a tip

I had to send my GF away when I came to that part of your reply. I just told her: "Don't worry dear, I got it covered...he was just joking...I wasn't going to spend both of our 13th month paychecks on this...uhum" Thanks!

But on a more serious note, I was hoping to get me some of these: http://www.proaudio.com/product_info...oducts_id=7390 or these: http://www.proaudio.com/product_info...oducts_id=6835
Tell me if you may have come across them somewhere and how that experience was like. Both monitors are in range so I would not end up being too far away from that 450 USD. Still have to hear them first ofcourse.

By the way, all of this is alot and I can joke around as much as I want to, it doesn't mean all of this will happen just overnight. I want to take it serious and just giving in to the desire to have a shopping spree is not what I wish for. I ask all of this to get me informed as best as I can and then use the feedback I get in a way so I can connect it with my own way of learning how to be a digital DJ.

I'm really thankfull that communities such as this exist. Already a huge 'thank you' from me to those who added their two cent.

Gunther

[n2hf1st]

The scratch button on the vci-100 toggles which midi cc the jog wheel sends out... sounds complicated, but basically you could set it up so when it's lit, it acts like vinyl, and when it's not lit, you can scroll/seek through the track at high speed.

Really it's not about scratching, it's about finding the downbeat or doing backspins. But believe me, they're damned nice things to have. I started off with a bcf2k and a trigger finger, went to timecoded vinyl, and am now firmly in the vci-100 camp, which ironically is actually the first bit of kit I really wanted, I just cut corners and now have loads of unused gear lying around.

Usually the way you set up the midi to scratch with a vci-100 is like this -> scratch on when you touch the platter, and the actual scratch to the rotation of the platter. That way you can also set up the side of the platter to nudge the tempo.

Rokits are very popular with djs, they sound like a little baby pa system. The problem with that of course is that the mids are scooped pretty deep, whereas with studio monitors you want as much clarity as possible in that range. For djing, yes, for studio work, ehhhhh you can get by with them but meh. Maybe look into a pair of mackie mr8s, I own a pair and am fairly pleased with them for being a low end monitor. Ultimate solution of course is to head to a guitar center with some cds and listen to as many pairs as possible.