Hercules Dj Console (or Similar)

Off-Topic
1

this is a thread about the hercules dj console that sagosen and I started in some other thread, if anyone has any other kcomments or knowledge about these things, please share !

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I have been toying around with the vdj some time now and have setup an okayish config using my keyboard and my midi-keyboard, but its definately not the cream of the crop yet.
I am basically mixing two kinds of music, one being funky disco house and the other one being jazz/funk stuff, for that discohouse thing the key is simply to set correct cues and then using the eq-mixer and the crossfader for nice fades, whereas the jazz-thing mostly needs hard cuts. I made some little scripts with the vdj for that and it works well (like stop deck1 with a brakebeat effect and start deck2 at the same time), but the disco-house thing is really not too easy with my setup.

I do have faders and knobs on my midi-keyboard so I can use the crossfader and the eq-mix-faders, but it does of course have no lock at the middle and so I easily end up somewhere beyond the middle and this is very audible sometimes … also latency is an issue.

now with the hercules, as I gathered, you cant remap the buttons, right ? because it has no eq-faders, and I need those (I dont use the eq-knobs) … also I would really like to know about the latency and the overall reliability, I have read reviews where people claimed that buttons would not respond always after using it for a few months and such … :(

however, the console might still be usable, if used with a laptop, the console and a usb-keypad, since you can use the keypad to trigger certain settings like crossfader/eq-fader left/middle/right or to start/stop the decks …

I am really not sure yet, since there are other mixing consoles like the hercules out there, but they all have that built-in audio interface that I dont really need, I would be happy with a good console working only as a midi-controller for 100€, if it was rock-solid-quality, but it seems there are non out there (yet).

2

Strange, I didn’t notice any latency when using the MIDI-keyboard compared to the Hercules… Ofcorse, this is USB1 and the resolution of the faders could definetly be better. The middle lock is quite useful, gotta agree with that but you do have shortcuts in VDJ for pitch-centering don’t you? Also, if you avoid the timestretch-function, being slightly off shouldn’t really be audible.

If you want EQ-faders you’d have to use the midi-keyboard, sorry… Think it’s possible to remap buttons in VDJ 2.06, but don’t know for sure. But besides, where’d you get those faders from? The ones on the console are in use.

About reliability, haven’t had any problems with the buttons but then again I’ve been a severely inactive dj for the past months. I can imagine that the buttons would jam up because it’s easy to hit them the wrong way, not get any signal through and hit it even harder next time. The buttons ARE responsive if you hit the right spot, but I REALLY wish they weren’t rubber!!

“Some” users are way too rough on their equipment!

About the genres, I usally mix d&b, regular 4x4 techno/house/trance etc and electro. A friend of mine who only mix trance use beatlock/autobpm-functions, but with ex. d&b you have to do it manually, which is really no problem for me with the console. I’ll try to set up usage with keyboard/MIDI-controller and see if I get the same results when I have the time and repost results later. :)

Oh, and I have 2 friends who dj all the time with VDJ, I’ll ask them to post some of their experiences with using the software.

Haven’t seen any dj-controllers at that price either…

Any other specific things you want to know about? :)

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i try to avoid hardware that uses the USBus for streaming audio data. i’ve had some bad experiences in this area and generally feel that firewire is better suited to the task. that, and the “plastik fantastik” feel that you’d described in the other thread would sort of turn me off to this gadget. i think it would be rad if someone made and interface that combined using usb for midi, power and so forth and firewire for moving the audio data.

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Yep. USB1 for audio, ehm… The asio-drivers are crap in Renoise, and I seriously doubt that’s Renoise’s fault!

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Okay, this is my final verdict on this USB-interface for Renoise-usage:

CRAP!!!

The asio-drivers are horrible, avoid!!!

I’m selling mine asap. :(

I’d keep it, but I need the money and nowdays Renoising is more important to me than dj’ing…