Hello everyone, been reading the forums for a while but decided to go ahead and start posting. Great community by the way, love the stuff posted here
So anyhow, I recently got rid of my CDJ-1000mk3’s ($2000+ for the ability to only play CDs just seemed really restricting on a creative level). I sold the decks, and bought a Unibody MacBook Pro 15" with one half of the money, and now Im wondering what to do with the other half, thus the title of the thread.
Is there any significant performance differences between the VCI-100SE w/ Arcade Buttons, and the VCI-300?.
Some other questions I had:
1.) Assuming both will be used with Traktor, does the VCI-300’s high resolution MIDI signals provide better overall control and feel than the VCI-100SE?.
2.) Is the sound card built into the VCI-300 considered high quality?, or would a VCI-100SE paired with something like a Native Instruments Audio 2/4 interface be better?.
If Im also missing any other key points or comparisons, by all means let me know. Thanks!
Alright, I dont own a vci 300, but I know for a fact that the audio card built into it is a maya 44, which retails at around, 80 dollars, and is said to be a decent intro card.
This part is mere speculation
I dont think the vci 300 can make use of the Hi res feature withen traktor, thats an itch only kind of thing.
It really boils down to what you want to do. If you have decided traktor is your beast, I’d think about the fact that the vci 100 has a number of good mappings to control traktor (namely Eans, which I use a slight mod of). I havn’t looked at mappings for the 300, but they seem to be sparse.
Definitely, the mappings for the VCI-100 are really nice from what I can tell.
If the VCI-300 has a built in MAYA 44, Ill have to read up more on it to see how it holds up to NI’s sound cards.
Also, to my understanding, the newer versions of Traktor support High Resolution 14-bit MIDI signals, which would indicate that the VCI-300 MIDI signals would work without prior conversion if Im not mistaken:
Hmm, actually, the maya 44 is what is in the VCM 100… so, I might be wrong there, sorry for the mixup (although it could be the same one in the vci 300). Maybe Bento or someone else could correct me?
Nice to know Im not the only one who has come across this dilemma lol.
Thats awesome though, you pretty much have the same setup I was thinking about, since you like it, thats a good indication Im on the right train of thought for my needs.
However, what makes you say that the VCI-300 is more oriented towards scratching than the VCI-100SE?. Is this due to jog wheel size?, or latency issues?, I don’t really scratch much, but I take it into consideration cause jog wheel responsiveness and pressure sensitivity are big key points for me (this is why I loved the CDJ-1000mk3).
Also, does the Audio 2 suffice well for your needs?. Im thinking a compact, straight forward 2 channel soundcard, one output for master out, another for headphones. Plenty of “umph” on sound output if possible.
if you’re just after a 2 channel card, then definately get the audio 2… i havent used a 2 (yet… mines in the mail) but it has the same processor in it as the 4 and 8. i’ve used the 8 and it sounds fantastic.
Traktor only supports 14-bit messages from faders, not from jog wheels. Because of this you still need to run the VCI-300 through the mini.translator that DJTechTools developed, and will then lose the 14-bit faders.
The internal card on the VCI-300 is okay. I have an Audio8 and it is light years beyond the VCI-300’s internal card. Beautiful piece of kit.
If you want to use the VCI-300 to its full potential you should really pick up Serato. If you’re going to spend that much money on a piece of kit you might as well use it for what it’s meant to be used for, as long as changing that intent will cripple the ability of it as much as will happen.
Assuming both are used with Traktor, I would say, beyond a shadow of a doubt, to get the VCI Arcade edition and an Audio 2 or 4. I don’t even think this would be considered a debate. I would only recommend making a single change to the formula. I use my jog wheels for pitch fading instead of the pitch faders due to the added control. It makes up for the lack of control the 128 step pitch fader gives you.
Other than that, you’re going to have a rather solid setup with you. Only thing to make it any better would be a little drum controller on the side and you’d be unstoppable.
Better to go modular ie vci 100 + separate soundcard. If something goes wrong with one you still have the other. If some thing goes wrong with vci-300 then you need to replace both sc and controller.
also, you get more knobs on a vci-100.
Unless you want to scratch proper… then a vci-300 and itch would be a better way to go
DvlsAdvct: thats the gold mine of info I was looking for, I KNEW there had to be a catch of some sort to the high resolution MIDI support, and if the jog wheels aren’t supported, the VCI-300 is most certainly not appropriate for my needs as far as Traktor goes.
You mention using the jog wheels for pitch control, are the pitch faders that lacking in resolution?, Im used to using a pitch resolution of 0.02% on a ±6% parameter - is this a bit too demanding from the VCI-100SE?.
My only real reserve with ditching the VCI-300 altogether is the Ableton/Serato partnership which has yet to announce its new product (Im hoping a Scratch/Itch plugin for Ableton Live) and the fact that ITCH 2.0 is going to released soon. Augh, decisions.
Thus far, the general consensus is pretty clear: For Traktor, a VCI-100SE Arcade w/ Audio 2/4. Thanks for the input!
Think about it this way. The pitch fader has 128 steps. There are 300 steps in a .02% resolution on a 6% parameter. So you lose more than half of your steps. If you did it at a .1% then there are only 60 steps and you can get all of the resolution, but lose the fine tuning. The jog wheels allow you to have up to .01% resolution, and can use it with no finite limit (up to +/- 100%). You can also have a quick reset button and don’t need to actually move the wheel to get it back to the original tempo.
Makes for a good time.
The thing with the Ableton/Serato partnership thing is no one knows what we’d be getting. You’d be holding out for a product that might not deliver anymore than we already have with routing Traktor into Ableton directly. Might be worth the wait, but then again, I’m not really sure you’d get a whole lot more than we already have access to.
Ahh ok, now it makes sense, thank you for explaining that
So with the jog wheel acting as pitch control instead of the pitch faders, how does that impact your ability to scratch/scroll through/cue the track effectively? - Im assuming you have a shift function which would toggle this feature on or off?. How did you setup the TSI mapping on the jog wheel to perform pitch functions?.
Sorry for so many questions, I just want to make sure I know exactly what to expect or adjust if Im investing a chunk of money on this
I toyed with the Idea of a vci-300 for ages as i play mostly hip-hip/r’n’b etc and i did not think the vci-100 would cut it but i’m happy to say all is good with it.
At the moment I cant really cut in a tune via a scratch on it as I dont thinks it’s very good for that and not as good as a cdj or a vci-300, saying that I am about to upgrade to 1.3 firmware and it might be different but to be honest i’m fine with setting cue points and the unit is really good.
I already had a soundcard so went vci-100 and second hand ones are going for like £220 now on ebay and £360 new so it’s a good deal.
The VCI-100SE comes with a Vinyl Mode button that is a shift key for the jog wheel itself, and you can customize a whole ton of commands into it if you want. The sky really is the limit.
