This is a NuVJ, my second choice MIDI controller from Numark

As a class-compliant USB MIDI device it installed fine. I loaded my VJ software of choice, Resolume, mapped the jog wheels to scratch video, and scratched.

The video went bonkers.

A couple of moments looking at the MIDI messages in MIDI-OX told me why – the Total Control jogwheels use a bizarre schema for their endless encoder messages. All the MIDI controllers I’ve encountered in the past have used the same format for endless encoders, rotating clockwise will send out a stream of, (to paraphrase the machines) “+1″ messages. Counterclockwise gives “-1″. Spin your jogwheel or knob faster, and it sends out more messages per second. The Total Control, however, changes its message depending on how fast the wheel is spinning, so an increasingly quick movement would look like “+1 +1 +2 +3 +5 +7 +7 +8″ etc. Even more bizarrely, the values seem the reverse of what they should be, so a clockwise movement gives negative values.

So I took the controller back to the store, along with my Macbook to road test any alternatives. The guys were happy to swap my Total Control for a NuVJ, whose jogwheel behaved much better when tested with Resolume. It was still backwards, but it wasn’t causing the playhead to jitter all over the place.

I should have done a little more testing though, because it turns out that all of the knobs on this device work the same way. The only piece of software which recognizes them correctly is the version of Arkaos bundled with the NuVJ. Ableton Live does an ok job with the general knobs, and the jog wheels work ok moving clockwise, but counterclockwise has the live controls snapping backwards at 5 times the speed of forward movements.

So, sadly, I’m back at the same position I was in 17 months ago, sitting with a well made and reasonably priced controller, which will require hours of hacking and re-mapping to complete simple tasks.

Is anyone else in CDMLand in a similar situation? Or better still, have been in a similar situation and discovered a quick and elegant solution?

Deckadance, from the makers of FL “Fruity Loops” Studio, is now shipping. No word on the Mac version in development, but Windows, at least, is shipping now. We’re excited to try it out for all the reasons we were when we first saw it, and now we have some additional details to flesh in:

1. It hosts VST plug-ins. One of our big complaints with too many traditional DJ apps: you’re restricted to the included effects. Deckadance wisely allows you to use VST plug-ins. Like many of you, I’m not quite ready to give up Ableton Live, though, so that brings us to our next point:
2. It will act as a VST plug-in. Drop Deckadance into any host program, and you can take advantage of its vinyl support capabilities and DJ tools while using everything you like about your host.
   
3. It has some lovely effects of its own. The Juice Pack is included. I’ve been using these with FL Studio 7 as I test that, and it’s a nice bundle for US$99. $179 with Deckadance is a great deal, too. And since they’re VSTs, you can use them even when you’re not running Deckadance, in case you want some FX love in SONAR or Live.
4. It’s cheap. US$179, or $149 during an introductory offer for May.
5. It supports lots of MIDI controllers. Now confirmed: Vestax VCI-100, Behringer BCD2000 & 3000 (though interestingly not Behringer’s DJ controller), Allen & Heath Xone:3D, M-Audio X-Session, the ugly but serviceable Hercules DJ Console MP3 & MK II, and slick EKS XP10 are all supported out of the box.
6. It supports lots of vinyl control systems. Rather than restricting you to one vinyl system, Deckadance “autolearns” the timecode used by various systems, and “has been tested with timecode vinyls & CDs from msPinky, Stanton FinalScratch, MixVibes, Serato Scratch Live, Virtual DJ & Torq.” Notably absent: NI’s upcoming Traktor Scratch. NI tells us they don’t think Deckadance will be able to reverse-engineer their timecode with support for absolute mode. We have heard, though, that absolute timecode (which allows you to needle-drop, etc.) on at least Ms. Pinky, so we’ll see if Image Line can reverse engineer NI’s system.

There are plenty of big questions here, of course, not the least being how this “autolearn” system will work and if it’s competitive with systems integrated out of the box, like NI’s Traktor Scratch. But after years of relative stagnation in traditional digital DJ systems, things are getting interesting. And, while I don’t expect this will be a huge market, I’m personally interested in ways of bringing vinyl techniques into other live performance setups in tools like Max/MSP, FL Studio, Live, through integration of plug-ins like the Ms. Pinky VST or Deckadance in VST mode.

Deckadance Product Page

Music tech gear rarely surfaces in the mainstream. I never saw a Roland Juno and Cubase on Seinfeld. The Hercules DJ Controller did make it onto a recent episode of “24″, however, says CDM reader DJ Klachik:

I was just watching the 5th season of “24″ on DVD, and in chapter 21, I saw this Hercules! It it’s the “DJ Control MP3″ version, so it has no audio exits, so agent O’Brien is using it as a controller (God knows why). I was a long time Hercules DJ Console user myself (I switched to BCD2000 few months ago), so it was pretty weird to see it … it was the episode where Chloe O’Brien decided to leave CTU and become a Gabba DJ. Actually, she tried to play a recording (since you haven’t seen this one, I won’t tell you what kind) from an external mp3 device. But all she was doing, is to change the volume with one of the faders.

Cool I suppose, but we’ll know we’ve really made it when Caprica Six starts spinning experimental electronics on a Monome hooked up to Max/MSP or Bravo begins production on a new reality show called Top 8-bit Musician.

DJ Klachick is an Israeli DJ spinning “urban folk to drunk ‘n’ bass.” I enjoy the current track he’s playing on his MySpace page: “My brother … my little brother … he picks the pockets of hipsters on the L train.”

Brad Sucks, the one-man band known for Internet stardom and Brad’s brilliant title “I Don’t Know What I’m Doing”, is taking on laptop performance. First job: find a way to use limbs on your body other than your arms and hands, since those need to play the guitar.

Like many Ableton Live users, Brad finds his way to the Behringer FCB1010 foot pedal. Before you scoff at the brand name, this foot pedal’s configuration is unusual (ten stomp pedals, two “scene” pedals, and two expression pedals), and the price is ridiculously cheap (often US$150 or less).

Of course, it is from Behringer, which means there are lots of things wrong with it: it doesn’t work out of the box with Ableton Live, and it’s a pain to program. Enter an aggressive community with tutorials, homebrewed Windows editor software, patches, hardware mods, and even a $10 firmware hack. Brad has rounded up all of them in a central location so you can skip Googling and get straight to modding:

Behringer FCB1010

Brad has a great idea: Behringer should open source the firmware. Unfortunately, I think the odds of Behringer doing that are about the same odds as CDM naming Behringer our “Product Manufacturer of the Year.” We’re just getting over our rage and frustration involving Behringer’s BCD2000. Short version of that story: Behringer finally fixes the screwed-up firmware on that model, but orphans its existing users, repaints the thing, and renames it the BCD3000. No, thanks.

So, I have mixed feelings. I love hardware mods and user communities and cheap gear. But if you’re curious which gear Behringer ripped off to create the FCB1010, it’s this:

Roland FC-200

More than a passing resemblance, huh? Now, the Roland costs twice as much — US$300 — and it lacks the second expression pedal. (Oh, yeah, and Behringer moved the display. And that is a slightly different typeface.) But a quick look through the product manual reveals Roland’s MIDI implementation makes a lot more sense, even if Roland also failed to produce a software editor. Programming is actually logical, and the manual is great. Well, okay, it’s a music gear manual, so “great” might be the wrong word — let’s just say accurate, detailed, and far better than Behringer’s.

Just one paid gig could make up the difference in price. I’m torn. As much as I love the community support, I’m about ready to toss my FCB1010 for the Roland on principle alone. I can mod the Roland’s gear, too — and I probably won’t need to touch the firmware.

There is time, however. You can save yourselves from utter scumbagdom (at least in my eyes). This thing is obviously the same hardware as the BCD2000, so you can do it. Update the BCD2000 drivers and firmware and we’ll never speak of this again.

The alternative is to get crushed by Numark’s NuVJ and Total Control/ION’s iCue, Vestax’ VCI-100, MAudio’s Xponent… Seriously people, when the BCD2000 was announced it was basically the only kid on the block at the price point, 18 months later there are similarly functioned devices from all of the major players, and all you’ve managed is a coat of paint and platform support which was put together by a hacker sniffing USB packets?

Dude, ouch.

Evinyatar has commented on our early BCD2000 Not Mac Compatible post to announce that he – sick of waiting for Behringer to actually do something useful with their gear – has written and released OSX Universal drivers (MIDI only so far):

My first subject is Behringer’s BCD2000. When it was released about two years ago it was rumored that MacOS X drivers would be released by the end of 2005. Rather than waiting for those to appear (which they probably won’t) I decided to have a go myself. The result is quite good, if I say so myself. It works, which is more than I expected.

Currently only MIDI in and output works. Audio does not. That means you can control Traktor the way you would on a Windows computer, but you won’t hear anything through the BCD2000’s audio ports or record anything trough them. You can still, of course, use other audio outputs, built-in or external, that do work with MacOS X.

Right now the MIDI input and output are should be identical to the Windows driver in B-DJ mode. Which means a reasonable amount of pain is implied when trying to configure Traktor for the BCD2000. Basically, the same hack that works for Windows (using MIDI-Rules and a loopback device, in our case Apple’s built-in IAC) is also required for Mac. I hope to incorporate similar functionality inside the driver in the future, eliminating the need for the hack. For now, this will have to do. A more detailed guide to setting this up will be posted sometime later this week.

3 days later there’s a release, and he’s gone further: Working on a system which will allow OSX users to actually customize mappings on their BCD:

I have just finished building and testing the Universal Binary driver for the BCD2000. So now you should be able to use the BCD2000 on your PowerBook, iBook, iMac and PowerMac, as well as your MacBook, MacBook Pro, or Mac Pro. As always, you can find the download link over at the “Links” box on the right.

On other news, I’ve been working on a GUI for MIDI Rules, which should make setting up Traktor a bit easier. After that’s done being polished, I’ll release it and write up the HOW-TO for getting Traktor up and running with the BCD2000 on Mac OS X.

Right now, though, I’m being rather intrigued by how audio works on the BCD2000. My pleas for documentation have fallen on deaf ears at Behringer (you’d think they’d be a bit more supportive when you’re doing them a favor like this one), so I’m staring at hex dumps from USB Snoop on my Windows machine trying to figure this stuff out.

This is absolutely stellar news for users, and shockingly poor form from Behringer. That they had both an obvious demand and a 2 year head start and were still beaten to OSX compatibility by a hacker with hex dumps is a pretty apt reflection on their pathetic attitude to customer support.

I’ll be picking up a Macbook (my first) in the coming month or so, but until then I’d love to hear from anyone who’s been able to give this a spin on their Mac. I’ve emailed Evinyatar to get some further information on his process, and I’m thinking of propositioning him to work on an updated Windows driver. Any other frustrated BCD2000 owners out there willing to chip in to fund work on this?

In the meantime, lucky Mac-based BCD2000 owners can download Version 0.0.1 Universal Binary and give them a go.

Eric Richmond is a “deep house DJ who was looking for a dedicated MIDI controller for ’standard’ 2 channel mixing.” Amidst all the buzz about M-Audio’s new X-Session Pro (XSP) DJ-style controller, even before it had been released, it’s been hard to get solid information on how the gear works in the real world. Eric took the plunge early and brings us some hands-on testing from the DJ booth.

The XSP is a new MIDI controller by M-Audio set to replace the older “X-Session” MIDI device, and attempts to replicate the standard 2-4 channel audio mixers with which most of us are familiar.

The device feels sturdy, better than my M-Audio Oxygen 8, and on par with my M-Audio Trigger Finger. One nice touch is the crossfader slider is much less resistant then the volume/pitch sliders, as you’d expect. The EQ/aux knobs are tall and spread out apart, so it’s very easy to tweak just the ones you want. The only real complaint I might have is that the top piece of plastic feels a little “cheap”, and the knobs and sliders stick up so high that if you pack it in a bag as-is, you need to take care that nothing would come crushing down on top of it. However, for $100 retail, these are minor complaints. [Ed: I will say, such is the case with the protruding controls on most controllers. -PK]

Choosing MIDI Assignments

Getting the XSP to work in Live 5.2.2 (my DJ tool of choice) was a snap. Just load up Live, press the “MIDI” button, and assign away. No problems/gotchas here. My first test was going to just be a standard 2-channel DJ gig, so I assigned things in a pretty standard way. The EQ knobs went to each channel respectively, and two of the aux knobs went to aux send levels for each channel (where I had various effects). Volume sliders, crossfader, and the start and stop buttons were standard as well.

Instead of using the “cue” buttons for cueing, I decided to use the “pitch” sliders as independent cue volumes for each channel. This way, I could easily mix the two channels in my headphones, independently of how the individual volume sliders were set up. With the cue buttons, I set one to toggle “loop on/off” for the selected clip in live. I mapped the sets of REW/FF buttons to moving around the session view in Live. This way, the only time I had to touch the mouse was when I was dragging in a clip. Once I did that, I could use the REW/FF buttons to navigate session view to the correct clip and use the start/stop buttons to fire them off.

This setup worked extremely well: I had only used the XSP for a few hours before the gig, but since it felt like a standard mixer, it was obvious what was doing what, and I didn’t make any mistakes. If anything, it was pretty liberating rarely having to look at the computer screen — there was none of the dreaded “he’s checking e-mail” syndrome that people complain about with “digital DJs”.

Comparisons

Lastly, I know we’ve all probably tested a ton of devices in searching for MIDI controller nirvana. In my particular quest to find the perfect “standard DJ midi mixer” I looked into and have had physical experience with:

1. Kontrol DJ – A good friend of mine who DJs in Traktor uses this, and it’s an AMAZING controller, and is perfect for Traktor. Unfortunately, it does not map to Ableton Live that well.
2. Faderfox LV2, DJ2, DX2, LX2 devices – I know someone who has a couple of these, and they’re amazing, but the problem was I couldn’t find a combo of any two of them that gave me “everything” I wanted. Plus, they’re quite pricey, and at that price point, I would want things to be perfect.
3. M-Audio Trigger Finger – Before getting the XSP, I was using a TF as my main mixing controller. While it actually worked OK (I could use pads as EQ kill switches, which was sweet), I was leery of using other banks for one-shots and fx. Since the TF does not tell you which bank is loaded in the LCD display, I was fearful that I’d be in the wrong bank, trying to do the wrong thing.

Conclusions

So, what’s the verdict? In my case, it’s EXACTLY what I was looking for. Now when I have “standard” DJ gigs, I have a perfect controller just for that task. No more making a wacky Trigger Finger bank to try and fake it. The only thing I would have liked to have seen were kill switches for the EQs, but again, for $100, it’s hard to complain.

I know people will say “but the power of Live is being freed from two channels; I want to mix 13 clips at once and I only want to use one end-all-be-all device while doing it!” If this is the case, then this is not the device for you. With the XSP able to handle my “standard” DJ gigs, I can free up my Trigger Finger to be a wacky FX board, as well as programming a couple of banks for triggering one-shots and loops.

Anyway, hope this review helps, and if you guys have any further questions about the device, feel free to email me @ eric DOT richmond AT gmail DOT com

Ed: If anyone else has hands-on experience with the X-Session Pro, we’ll post that, too; I’m still interested in what non-traditional DJs, electronic musicians, and VJs might do with this device! -PK

Related:

M-Audio Releases X-Session Pro DJ Controller, $129

Cheap, Functional, Quirky: BCD2000 Mix & Scratch MIDI Controller Review, Part I

Faderfox Controllers for Live, DJing: US Distribution, Upcoming Models

Faders, Knobs, Crossfader: New VMX Control Surface

The US$300 NuVJ, in contrast, looks like it might have just the combination of controller features and build that people want, with complete Mac and Windows support. More on that in a moment.

In the meantime, our friend Steve Cooley writes on somesoundswelike about the disappointing lack of nudge controls on the iDJ2, Numark’s revision to its iPod DJ mixer:

I’ve been staring at the iDJ2, and noticed there’s no nudge controls … you know, the thing that lets you simulate a spindle-twist or a finger on the platter to momentarily speed up or slow down a track that you’re beatmatching to another track … these are absolutely critical tools to beat matching … Oof. To come within 99% of solving all of the criticisms of the original iDJ, and then fall on your face for the last 1%… that’s a shame.

Shown: his picture, clearly laying out his response. I don’t expect this will get fixed, as the iDJ2 is supposed to ship some time in August. Sure enough, if you look closely at the NuVJ controller, it has the same problem, and even more oddly lacks transport controls. (Maybe Numark is planning a separate controller for the music market, and assuming VJs will just use the clip buttons to trigger their video clips?)

Thanks, Steve! I’m equally disappointed: this could be a deal breaker on the iDJ2. But back to the NuVJ, I still think some people might find it useful as a controller for software like Ableton Live, musicians and DJs alike, assuming Numark gets the other details right. See Create Digital Motion for a preview of the hardware, but here are the controls that could make it useful for music, from Numark’s specs:

1. Dual large rotary wheels for scratch, scrub and pitch functions
2. Illuminated pads for each of the two channels for assigning and selecting visuals
3. A/B Auto Fade buttons on each channel for switching sides of the crossfader (largely useful for VJing — maybe you could reassign to nudge controls?)
4. Tap BPM for synchronizing visuals to the music (musicians could use as tap tempo, or, again, could reassign to something else)
5. Large backlit LCD to display messages sent by the software (excellent, provided you can send these messages via MIDI from other software)
6. Instant black (or any other color) button (This refers to blackouts/breakdowns in VJing; again, you could easily reassign to something else)
7. 360-degree rotaries: 2 for the effects on each bank, 3 for the master effect, 2 for the master brightness and contrast, 2 bank selectors (this could easily be used for filters, effects, etc., and I find a smaller number is often optimal instead of having a zillion different knobs)

What do you think? Is the NuVJ tempting, or would you rather have a different controller? The only thing really holding me back here is its size; for Ableton Live I’d really prefer something smaller.

M-Audio has started a new DJ product division called SynchroScience, and have unveiled their first product, Conectiv. (Yes, that’s one “n”, one “v.”) The software end makes sense, even if it’s nothing new: play, cue, and mix AAC, MP3, WAV, and WMA files with effects, and use specially-encoded records to scratch from a real turntable. M-Audio has included features some of their competitors left out, like VST plug-in support and a built-in 16-cell sampler, and priced the hardware/software bundle at the reasonable US$250 level (though cheaper Windows DJ software could be combined with one of M-Audio’s own interfaces for less).

The hardware side of the product, however, is utterly baffling: two big mix knobs, no cross-fader, and no effects controls? And M-Audio still hasn’t designed their own USB DJ control surface for use with the software we’re already using? I wouldn’t be so confused, except that M-Audio normally makes products that make sense. Maybe someone can explain what happened?

The bundled controller/audio interface has two large mixing knobs, plus mic and cue levels, but no cross-fader, and no knobs for effects. Why make a piece of integrated hardware if the controls on it are going to be basically useless? Cross-fading with two knobs would be far harder than using a single cross-fader, so the “newbie-friendly” argument is out, not to mention you won’t have hands free to control effects (not that they included knobs for that, either). Our friend Wally notes that some techno and house DJs prefer knobs, but it seems to me that would be the exception rather than the rule, and it still doesn’t explain M-Audio leaving you to do a filter sweep with your mouse on a tiny on-screen control. I didn’t even get to ask for a scratch surface. M-Audio’s control surfaces are usually well-conceived, and I honestly don’t know what they were thinking here.

Worse, M-Audio has passed up the obvious opportunity: they distribute software that’s already a huge favorite among DJs and friendly to advanced and beginning users alike (Ableton Live), yet even if you want nothing more than a cross-fader controller for said package, M-Audio can only offer you the Evolution X-Session, shown below. The X-Session works, and it’s wildly popular because it’s dirt cheap and no one has bothered making anything else. But it’s badly in need of an update: M-Audio only sells it because they acquired UK gear manufacturer Evolution years ago and they’ve done nothing to improve upon it since.

I’m going to stop griping here, and switch to an open plea: M-Audio, please, now that you’ve got a DJ division, make a clever controller that we can use with any software, particularly with Ableton Live (but also open for use with everything from Reason rigs to VJ apps). No one else is doing it for an affordable price; we liked Behringer’s BCD2000 but few can get their hands on one, and Mac drivers are a no-show. It’s an obvious category for M-Audio to be in, so built it, and they will come. DJs will buy it. Musicians will buy it. I’ll buy it. All my friends will buy it. You’ll buy a new yacht. (Okay, this is the musical instruments industry, but at least a new pontoon boat.) Everybody’s happy. As for Connectiv, two knobs make us cry. See how sad we are? Now see us with a nice, portable cross-fader controller? See how you’ve made us happy? Do you want us happy or sad?

Updated: Obviously you want me happy, and MORE PATIENT. Here’s exactly what I described wanting. X-Session Pro

Update 2006-01-13: We have learned that a BCD2000 user, Evinyatar has released an OSX compatible driver (Universal Binary, MIDI functions only), and has plans for more customizations. -JL

Behringer’s North American PR rep Derrick Davis tells us the BCD2000 isn’t shipping in quantity yet; Jaymis got his hands on a limited-release shipment. The Mac is currently unsupported; that much we can confirm, as we’ve received a couple of reports in which Mac users tell us they’ve been unable to get it working. (The device itself is not class-compliant and requires drivers for the control surface to communicate with the computer.) Behringer expects to ship in quantity soon, though Davis didn’t know whether Mac drivers would be included. It would be surprising if they were not, given the BCD’s fader and rotary controller siblings (The BCF- and BCR2000, respectively) are Mac-compatible. But, really, we won’t know until it ships. Stay tuned.