Reloop or Vestax ... I know it's been asked before

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
1

Reloop or Vestax … I know it’s been asked before

Hi everyone …

I’m on the edge of buying a new controller (currently working with Traktor 3.4 and an X Sessions Pro). since they don’t sell VCI 100’s here anymore (don’t ask me why) I have to buy it overseas. However, they do sell (and recommend) the new reloop digital jockey. Now, I’ve read the all the threads
available, but most are quite old …

So, quick bottom-line advice from all of you gear heads out there
(bare in mind, I already have a sound card, I’m upgrading to Pro
and I play mostly house and balearic kinda stuff)

Thanks a bunch
Ariel aka Little Papa

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RMX steel, I have to rep hercules :eyes:, the VCI is a solid controller though. If you dont mind reprogramming the RMX than it could be worthwhile, its super affordable, the vci is expensive (I guess the touch sensitive jogs are costly)

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The VCI-100, no contest.

From what I’ve seen of the Reloop, it looks to be a cheap, plasticy knock off.

The VCI is quality, through and through. Add to that the fact that the firmware 1.4 upgrade is soon (fingers crossed) to be here, and the VCI is gonna kick ass on a whole new level.

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+1 VCI-100, I own 2 of the VCI’s…SE & a Project VCI w/FW 1.3. There are bulit like a tank, and the resale is pretty good just incase you dont like it. If you get the reloop I would look at craigslist to see if anyone is getting rid of one for cheap.

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Hey, I’m in the same boat as yours.

I’m now decided to purchase either a vci 100 (black edition) or a digital jockey controller edition, version 2 that seems to be released in JUNE 2009…

I first was totally impressed and interested by the reloop, but browsing the web for infos and comparatives, I then noticed 2 things:

  • reloop is still relatively “unknown”, the “users pool” seems tiny, and there are no real useful forums… while the few reviews (user reviews) seem to say it’s a good piece of gear, not so cheap and well designed.

  • while checking the comparisons for the VCI, I found a wide universe of users and people like Ean Golden, and those forums and others, were you feel that VCI users are parts of a kind of great community sharing tips and helping each other…

and that seem really secure.

I still don’t really know… the reloop DJ 2 isn’t out yet, and the say “JUNE” as the release month, but like for the 1st version it could take much more long months to wait…

the VCI is now 1.2 firmware, and the new black VCIs that are sold on ebay and other sellers are totally new upgraded pieces of gear. With DJTechtools it seems that for a few $$ we can acquire the upgrade pack and then move to 1.3… and perhap’s 1.4… ?

this seems really useful, and let me believe VCI is a really serious choice, long-term secure, isnt’it?

well, as you can see, at this point of the debate, I’m pretty well inclined to choose the VCI (I can buy a new, sealed box black one, for 380 euros shipping included…)…

well, who’s gonna make the first step?

cheers

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Vestax all the way !!!

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Yup the VCI-100 is really the safe choice - we want to get some of these other units that are running around the moment into DJTT and do some more comparisons because we get asked these questions quite a lot.

While i will be the first to admit that the VCI-100 isn’t the end all and be all of controllers, but currently there isn’t a huge choice in the market. There is definitely room for improvement but given the solutions that we currently have available to us the VCI-100 is right up there with the best.

With so many companies putting our these format decks the competition is pretty close between the Vestax VCI-100 unit and some of the other available options like for instance the Numark Stealth Control. The competition is really so close that now its really coming down to personal taste. Which actually is really kind of sad in reality because most manufacturers(not all) are just ripping off one an other’s ideas and making basic carbon copies of one another’s units :disappointed:

It doesn’t matter what controller you are using though we are eager to help !

As said previously though if your new to this and your not very keen on working with material there is little the online tutorials\documentation for the VCI-100 does make a lot of sense because of the sheer amount of information there is on this website on this site about this device. That said a large amount of the information on the VCI-100 actually does apply to pretty much all midi controllers, you just need to learn to re appropriate the material for your own uses on your controller.

Were trying our best to expand the amount of controllers and software that we cover so DJTT can be home for all sorts of controllerists not just those using a VCI-100 and Traktor.

So basically everyone’s welcome to join in on the fun that is DJTT :slight_smile: Even Tekki with his BCR :stuck_out_tongue:

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Thanks for this nice and objective answer :wink:

I’m really near to order my black vci,

the only thing that annoys me is to think the pitch fader seems to be unuseful for lots of people to match the tempos totally manually, without using the sync option of the software…

that’s why the reloop DJ 2 is attractive with it’s 14bit pitch faders (and now sensitive jogwheels, surely copying the vestax’s ones!)

well, you’re right that’s just a matter of personnal taste, and since I’m used to musical gear and midi since 10 years I totally understand your statements. (I’m just a total noob in the digital dj realm, I produce tracks and play live with laptop and controllers since some times, but I want to compliment my live set with mp3 mixing abilities )

well, cheeers :wink:

9

I’ve had a Reloop Digital Jockey (Interface Edition, 1st Revision),
and actually i have to say that its actually not bad for the price.

But never used a Vestax though, so i have no comparison.

10

The reloop looks like a nice piece of kit, how much are they do ya reckon?

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The 1.4 firmware that we have been working with Vestax to create will fix the issue of low resolution pitch faders on the VCI-100 (along with lots of other goodies) :slight_smile:

Dont ask me when it will be here because i am not sure, but it IS comming ! excited hehe :stuck_out_tongue:

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I thought that before buying one after reading some stuff on the net but I can use the pitch faders no probs to mix :smiley: they ant no technics faders but they are usable with abit of adjustment :slight_smile:

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When will it be here..:smiley:

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The prices in Germany are 249Euro for the standard version,
and 329Euro for the Version with sound interface.
Prices for revision1 and the revision2(which comes out in June) are the same.

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Thats $575 NZD. About the same price i paid for the i-mix.

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You better check in local store, price vary a lot in different countries.

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Beware!

Beware!

I sold my vci because I wanted to play around with some rotaries and I didn’t want to spend more money on a second controller. So I bought a reloop digital jockey instead.

At first I thought buttons felt a little bit flimsy but I wasn’t entirely happy with the buttons/knobs on the vci either. Apparently the buttons below the jogs on my reloop are already starting to malfunction. The other buttons work fine. Maybe this issue has been resolved at the time of speaking. The only way to tell would be asking for a replacement.
If the issue still occurs I might have to do a arcade button mod. (I just can’t afford dropping a track and then realising it didn’t fire because the button didn’t make contact properly.
An arcade button mod would be better either way but you’ll lose warranty + it will cost more money.

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Hi,

Thanks BentoSan, I didn’t see this thread was keeping on :wink:

Guust-Fi,

I saw your little review and comparison of the 2, when you had it both, and you seemed pretty happy with the reloop.

Could you enlight me please, about midi implementation:

does the 2 midi layers (accessible via shift buttons) share the SAME midi parameters, using a kind of modulator in traktor to be assigned to 2 different devices, OR;

does the reloop have a fully DUAL MIDI LAYERS implementation, that is to say, one button sends 2 different midi notes or messages if shift is pressed or not?

I don’t know if I’m clear, but I’d like to use my dj controller IN my live set (ableton live + padkontroll and faderfox LV2), and the ability to have 2 distinct midi layers could allow me to control Traktor AND Live simultaneously with the Reloop.

i.e:

layer 1 = traktor, classical use

layer 2 = parameters of my live set (my live set is like an in-depth mix of my tracks, and it outputs 2 general busses in the master.) I could use the line faders, fx pots and EQ pots to control Volumes, FX and EQs in live…

So I coud mix 2 tracks from traktor + 2 channels of my live set on the same dj controller, and still have my other controllers to in-depth live tweaking (my tracks in live are multi-tracks, and I have the volume faders and mute buttons on the faderfox; and those multi-tracks are cut in 8 slices that I can trigger with the padkontrol…)

well, I hope I’m clear with my question:

does the reloop allow this that seems not possible with the VCI:

Send a different midi parameter with one button/fader/pot when the shift key is on ? (without the help of traktor or bome’s midi translator pro)

thanks a lot

ps: I saw that the reloop DJ 2 interface edition would be priced at 369euros, and this price seems attractive, but 249 euros for the controller edition would be really cool… but with such a cheap price, will the build quality be reliable???

cheers

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I’ll check the midi layer implementation tomorrow.

As I said. So far it hasn’t been reliable. (Speaking about the cue buttons as mentioned…)
I don’t have any experience with korg or faderfox but I am pretty certain you will find the reloop a step down in build quality.
Considering your current setup I would tend to advice against the reloop and in favor of the vestax.

The reason you want an extra controller is for the “traditional” controls such as jogwheels… crossfader etc. isn’t it?
Those are al a tad better on the vestax. Especially the jogs. Also vestax fits in any bag. Reloop doesn’t.
To control the effects in traktor I guess you could use the encoders on your faderfox?

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[QUOTE]I’ll check the midi layer implementation tomorrow.

As I said. So far it hasn’t been reliable. (Speaking about the cue buttons as mentioned…)
I don’t have any experience with korg or faderfox but I am pretty certain you will find the reloop a step down in build quality.
Considering your current setup I would tend to advice against the reloop and in favor of the vestax.

The reason you want an extra controller is for the “traditional” controls such as jogwheels… crossfader etc. isn’t it?
Those are al a tad better on the vestax. Especially the jogs. Also vestax fits in any bag. Reloop doesn’t.
To control the effects in traktor I guess you could use the encoders on your faderfox?[/QUOTE]

Thanks man,

yes the vci seems the ONE,considering the build quality.

But this midi question is really important to me, since the VCI won’t allow me to use 2 layers for 2 softwares, because the shift option that is doable with the vci seems to use traktor’s modifier option, in the hardware side of the question, the vci has only ONE midi parameters layer… so I won’t be able to control Traktor AND ableton Live with the VCI simultaneously,…

whereas the reloop might make it doable…

so I’m waiting for your feedback about the reloop’s midi implementation!

concerning your question about my faderfox, yes it could be mapped to traktor FX’s, but traktor FX’s don’t attract me. I’m not an “fx DJ”, all I want is to be able to mix mp3s in a classical way, and to mix it in my ableton live set simultaneously. the faderfox and padkontrol are assigned to my live set parameters.

Thanks agein,

cheers

ps: while thinking further more on this midi question, I realise I could manage my setup with a bit of brain tweaking and using bomes tranlator pro (that is 80$ I think, and I would need the PRO version because in non-pro there is no modifiers…)

I would need to make a TSI file, where all defaut vci/ traktor assignations are regular, but with a SHIFT button that would make all these controls not assigned to traktor.
With bomes I would use another modifier, to have all midi controls not going thru Live, but only when the SHIFT button is on…

seems an idea.

Well, brainstorming seems never finished!!! lol

cheers