eDJ Gear
January 17, 2009

Rating: 10/10

The Numark Total Control is also available as part of the Numark Total Computer in a Box.

See eDJ Gear DJ Equipment Blog for a short but infomative video.

Chris
March 30, 2007

Rating: 8/10

My comments are an attempt to help people who are interested in taking the step into the laptop dj world but are confused with all the options available. I will conclude by explaining why I think the Numark is the one to go for.

The first thing to understand is how the products out there fall into two groups. There are those which are a controller only. (Hercules DJ \'Control\', The new Vestax VCI100, and the Numark) There are then products which also have an intergrated soundcard (The Hercules DJ \'Console\' and the Beringher BCD2000.

I have owned both the Hercules Mk2 and the BCD2000 and wasn\'t happy with either. The Hercules is badly designed and a result of it\'s compact size is that the jog wheels are far too easy to knock accidently. The buttons also feel very \'rubbery\' and you don\'t get that \'click\' that lets you know you have hit the button, this leads to them being pressed too hard and they wear out quickly. It\'s a shame becuase it looks like it should be good but it\'s all about how these things \'feel\' to use and the Hercules feels arkward, cheap and fiddley.

The BCD2000 on the other hand is very well built in comparison and also has seperate sliders for pitch and volume (I forgot to mention that the hercules efforts have no pitch sliders but use knobs instead! totaly useless). The BCD2000 however has some major issues with it\'s ASIO drivers which are a shame because the hardware is fairly impressive. After various cases of software locking up I would never dare use it in a gig situation. (search the forums, it\'s not just me!)

Both untis have built in soundcards which you might think is a good thing considering their low prices, (that\'s why I went for them initialy) but you do get what you pay for and sound quality is not very good, especialy when pumped through a big soundsystem when it becomes more obvious. Also, if one part fails the whole thing fails. It\'s an \'eggs in one basket\' risk you are taking!

Do your self a favour! Go for a dedicated soundcard and seperate controller, it might cost a bit more but unless it\'s for bedroom use only you would be mad to use an \'all in one\'.
Go for a Echo Indigo pcmcia card or Gigaport usb interface. They both have great sound quality and rock solid drivers that will never let you down and leave you apologising to an angry crowd!

Now the fun part and the purpose of this review, choosing a controller! The cheap option is the original Hercules \'control\' unit. But this is really just a toy and has the same arkward jog wheel problem as the other versions, so stay clear if you are a serious user (working mobile / club dj etc)

The new Vestax VCI100 is an amazing piece of kit. The touch sensative jog wheels work in the same way as the CDJ1000 cd players (different technology but you use them in the same way and do all the same tricks)
However, unless you require the ability to hold your tracks still like vinyl for scratching there is nothing else to justify it\'s £400 price tag. It\'s built like a tank to stand up to the abuse a scratch dj will inflict on it, but it also weighs about the same as a laptop so it\'s hardly ideal for lugging around! I would love to find one under the Christmas tree of course!

Enter the Numark. It is my opinion that for the majority of users, this is the obvious choice.
The controls are perfectly designed to go with \'Cue\' which is a rebadged version of Virtual DJ (my favourite software) but it also lends itself well to use with traktor. It\'s not a revolution in the way the Vestax is, but at last they have got it right! It\'s a controler that gives you all the control of \'mobile dj\' style cd player and more. It\'s well built and lightweight, and the jog wheels are set low to not get in the way. Everything is spaced out in a natural way and importantly, the buttons \'feel\' right.

For a unit which is over £100 cheaper than the Vestax, you are not getting the ability to scratch like Q-Bert (google it up if you don\'t know who he is) but you are getting what is probably the best laid out controller available. I would go as far as saying the buttons and sliders are better placed than the Vestax.


Go buy one, you wont regret it!