DJShahar.com
First there was HD2500, which was great by its self but when introduced to controlling DJ software, it was not all that efficient because it would not display anything on the screen.
So Denon came up with a controller dedicated to controlling DJ software AND displaying track details on the screen. Although it lacked a few basic components such as STOP, indeed it offered great features such as 5 cue points, looping control, pitch control, and more.
Denon-HC4500
Right now, there is a new controller Denon is starting to introduce to the DJ community. Yup, you read it here first. Denon-HC5000.
Let us look at it closely in comparison to HC4500
Identical Features
-screen components are almost identical
-cue
-play/pause
-beat jump +/- 4
-jog mode
-pitch slider
-key lock
-time
-sync /tap
-pitch bent
-back
-wheel (not sure if hc5000 is touch sensitive like hc4500)
Different / New Features
HC4500
-function keys x5 (cue points)
-effects x3
-looping controls (very confusing)
-image
HC5000
-loop control and cue points mix together x3
-DJ software library control
-loop *2; *1/2
-beat jump +/- 1
-
All in all, Denons new product HC5000 is pretty well put together, but nothing major that is new. If you don't have a controller, either one is ok. Personally, I prefer HC4500.
Since the new version of VirtualDJ 6.0.1 and its fabulous new mapper control, the HC4500 is far better than the HC5000. All you really need to do is map out the loop buttons and stop to be more productive. Here is my personal looping control on the HC4500.
Flip: wheel_mode jog;loop move
A1: loop_half
A2: loop_double
B: beat -1
Exit/Reloop: loop
Cue: Stop
Hope this article is informative and to your liking as it is my first article ever written about anything.
DJ Shahar
Los Angeles DJ
So Denon came up with a controller dedicated to controlling DJ software AND displaying track details on the screen. Although it lacked a few basic components such as STOP, indeed it offered great features such as 5 cue points, looping control, pitch control, and more.
Denon-HC4500
Right now, there is a new controller Denon is starting to introduce to the DJ community. Yup, you read it here first. Denon-HC5000.
Let us look at it closely in comparison to HC4500
Identical Features
-screen components are almost identical
-cue
-play/pause
-beat jump +/- 4
-jog mode
-pitch slider
-key lock
-time
-sync /tap
-pitch bent
-back
-wheel (not sure if hc5000 is touch sensitive like hc4500)
Different / New Features
HC4500
-function keys x5 (cue points)
-effects x3
-looping controls (very confusing)
-image
HC5000
-loop control and cue points mix together x3
-DJ software library control
-loop *2; *1/2
-beat jump +/- 1
-
All in all, Denons new product HC5000 is pretty well put together, but nothing major that is new. If you don't have a controller, either one is ok. Personally, I prefer HC4500.
Since the new version of VirtualDJ 6.0.1 and its fabulous new mapper control, the HC4500 is far better than the HC5000. All you really need to do is map out the loop buttons and stop to be more productive. Here is my personal looping control on the HC4500.
Flip: wheel_mode jog;loop move
A1: loop_half
A2: loop_double
B: beat -1
Exit/Reloop: loop
Cue: Stop
Hope this article is informative and to your liking as it is my first article ever written about anything.
DJ Shahar
Los Angeles DJ
Posted Tue 11 Aug 09 @ 11:40 am
dydy1
The HC5000 looks prettier to me lmao.
Posted Tue 11 Aug 09 @ 1:02 pm
DJShahar.com
good one... the magic of photoshop.
Posted Tue 11 Aug 09 @ 1:07 pm
DJ TAO of TAOTRONX
Made for SERATO ITCH and not for VDJ... :(
Everything newer that is coming out is pushing SERATO, SERATO, SERATO!!!
And nothing about VDJ :(
So what is the deal with that?
Everything newer that is coming out is pushing SERATO, SERATO, SERATO!!!
And nothing about VDJ :(
So what is the deal with that?
Posted Tue 11 Aug 09 @ 3:25 pm
dydy1
I guess most of the manufactures are on the Serato bandwagon now days. oh well.
Posted Tue 11 Aug 09 @ 4:24 pm
dat_boi_tj
honestly.. i dont see a big enough difference to upgrade
Posted Tue 11 Aug 09 @ 9:48 pm
djfrochocr
dydy1 wrote :
I guess most of the manufactures are on the Serato bandwagon now days. oh well.
I guess most of the manufactures are on the Serato bandwagon now days. oh well.
Sad :-( but true....
Posted Tue 11 Aug 09 @ 9:57 pm
SBDJ
dat_boi_tj wrote :
honestly.. i dont see a big enough difference to upgrade
Looks like more of a downgrade to me in terms of flexibility for mapping. The 5 function buttons on the HC4500 are very useful; I use mine on VDJ6 for multiple uses...
Posted Wed 12 Aug 09 @ 4:14 am
fatboyfoster
I agree, the fuction btn's on the 4500 are very very handy. Plus the 4500 is more like Denon's 'Standard' layout from the earily days.
Ill be sticking with my 4500 thank you very much :)
Ill be sticking with my 4500 thank you very much :)
Posted Wed 12 Aug 09 @ 5:09 am
DJRAVEM
Yeah, looks like this new controller is just more customized for Serato.
Posted Wed 12 Aug 09 @ 6:24 pm
Caliente123
its customized for Itch datbase. Search crates etc.. Itch now has 3 midi controllers...
Posted Wed 12 Aug 09 @ 10:56 pm
PhantomDeejay
BTW:
It's NOT even a MIDI device.... So you better forget it unless you use it with Serato Itch... It's not an upgrade from HC4500 (as the name suggests)
It's NOT even a MIDI device.... So you better forget it unless you use it with Serato Itch... It's not an upgrade from HC4500 (as the name suggests)
Posted Wed 19 Aug 09 @ 4:43 am
fatboyfoster
Quote :
It's NOT even a MIDI device....
I beg to differ!.......
from the denon website...
- Dedicated USB Hardware/Software DJ Controller
- USB MIDI Controller with Built-In Sound Card
I do agree that it does not mention about working with Virtual DJ, but im sure it will.
Posted Wed 19 Aug 09 @ 9:03 am
kradcliffe
Having just returned from a week in Cracow, I went to quite a few clubs and NOT ONE digital DJ was using VDJ. Most used SSL with Pioneer CD players and a couple used Traktor. There seemed to be a mix of mac and PC users.
I had a chat with a couple of the English speaking guys, and their opinion was that VDJ was unreliable and suffered random crashes. It's not happened to me, but maybe this whole search bug and crash to desktop issue has dented people's confidence in the software. It seems that SSL is really rock solid, and unfortunately VDJ is not in a lot of cases.
In one club the DJ was using a macbook, SSL and Pioneer CDJ's and his mixing and scratching was simply brilliant. We went there a few times, and he was scratching his heart out with SSL and it was perfect.
Maybe VDJ needs to improve it's reliability and market confidence to compete. I still feel the time between bugfix updates in VDJ is very poor, although I do use VDJ with the DN-HC4500 in my club and I think it is a good combination. VDJ just tries to do too much for everyone. SSL is less featured but apparently far more reliable.
I had a chat with a couple of the English speaking guys, and their opinion was that VDJ was unreliable and suffered random crashes. It's not happened to me, but maybe this whole search bug and crash to desktop issue has dented people's confidence in the software. It seems that SSL is really rock solid, and unfortunately VDJ is not in a lot of cases.
In one club the DJ was using a macbook, SSL and Pioneer CDJ's and his mixing and scratching was simply brilliant. We went there a few times, and he was scratching his heart out with SSL and it was perfect.
Maybe VDJ needs to improve it's reliability and market confidence to compete. I still feel the time between bugfix updates in VDJ is very poor, although I do use VDJ with the DN-HC4500 in my club and I think it is a good combination. VDJ just tries to do too much for everyone. SSL is less featured but apparently far more reliable.
Posted Wed 19 Aug 09 @ 9:28 am
PhantomDeejay
It's NOT even a MIDI device....
I beg to differ!.......
from the denon website...
- Dedicated USB Hardware/Software DJ Controller
- USB MIDI Controller with Built-In Sound Card
I do agree that it does not mention about working with Virtual DJ, but im sure it will.
It seems they changed the specs last week. However:
The DN-HC5000 is packaged and designed to work solely with Serato’s ITCH software program and the optional BU4500 Dual CD/MP3 player, ............... and utilizing Serato’s HIDI technology to improve speed, accuracy, and communication between software and hardware.....
I believe the key here is this "HIDI" technology... :P Also, if you notice the design, the "MIDI" logo is missing... It may communicate through "MIDI port" but it does not utilize pure MIDI commands.... Time will tell though.
I beg to differ!.......
from the denon website...
- Dedicated USB Hardware/Software DJ Controller
- USB MIDI Controller with Built-In Sound Card
I do agree that it does not mention about working with Virtual DJ, but im sure it will.
It seems they changed the specs last week. However:
The DN-HC5000 is packaged and designed to work solely with Serato’s ITCH software program and the optional BU4500 Dual CD/MP3 player, ............... and utilizing Serato’s HIDI technology to improve speed, accuracy, and communication between software and hardware.....
I believe the key here is this "HIDI" technology... :P Also, if you notice the design, the "MIDI" logo is missing... It may communicate through "MIDI port" but it does not utilize pure MIDI commands.... Time will tell though.
Posted Wed 19 Aug 09 @ 10:41 am
jakovski
Hmmm... don't know where you got your informations from but just to correct them:
Serato communicates to the controllers via High Resolution MIDI, that means 14-Bit. This is no 'secret language' which only Serato speaks. It's a normal implementation of MIDI. All the (in the moment) known controllers HV-4500, VCI-300 AND NS7 are JUST normal 14 Bit MIDI devices.
Btw, what you seems to mean is 'HID' and stands for 'Human Interface Controller' - this is an USB implementation for controllers. And yes, this no secret language, too.
(Why did everyone is thinking there is a mystery in the communication with Serato ??? Maybee because it sounds cool ??)
Greetings, Heiko
Serato communicates to the controllers via High Resolution MIDI, that means 14-Bit. This is no 'secret language' which only Serato speaks. It's a normal implementation of MIDI. All the (in the moment) known controllers HV-4500, VCI-300 AND NS7 are JUST normal 14 Bit MIDI devices.
Btw, what you seems to mean is 'HID' and stands for 'Human Interface Controller' - this is an USB implementation for controllers. And yes, this no secret language, too.
(Why did everyone is thinking there is a mystery in the communication with Serato ??? Maybee because it sounds cool ??)
Greetings, Heiko
PhantomDeejay wrote :
It seems they changed the specs last week. However:
The DN-HC5000 is packaged and designed to work solely with Serato’s ITCH software program and the optional BU4500 Dual CD/MP3 player, ............... and utilizing Serato’s HIDI technology to improve speed, accuracy, and communication between software and hardware.....
I believe the key here is this "HIDI" technology... :P Also, if you notice the design, the "MIDI" logo is missing... It may communicate through "MIDI port" but it does not utilize pure MIDI commands.... Time will tell though.
The DN-HC5000 is packaged and designed to work solely with Serato’s ITCH software program and the optional BU4500 Dual CD/MP3 player, ............... and utilizing Serato’s HIDI technology to improve speed, accuracy, and communication between software and hardware.....
I believe the key here is this "HIDI" technology... :P Also, if you notice the design, the "MIDI" logo is missing... It may communicate through "MIDI port" but it does not utilize pure MIDI commands.... Time will tell though.
Posted Wed 19 Aug 09 @ 11:15 am
Caliente123
@ Phantom Deejay...Whether you call it Midi, Hidi, Friddy, Izzy what ever... Its a Midi Controller Designed for Itch. Would it be different if it was made for Virtual DJ.... No. Anything that can be controlled right of of the Unit instead of using the compuer is Midi..
This a controller for those that want to use Itch without having to buy the Serato sound card like the HC4500 requires for serato..
This a controller for those that want to use Itch without having to buy the Serato sound card like the HC4500 requires for serato..
Posted Wed 19 Aug 09 @ 5:31 pm
PhantomDeejay
I'm just reading what denondj.com says... nothing more...
http://www.denondj.com/DN-HC5000-P120.aspx#
http://www.denondj.com/DN-HC5000-P120.aspx#
Posted Thu 20 Aug 09 @ 12:46 am
jakovski
If they would write the eart is a flat circle.... would you beleve that too ? - Just joking, but in the moment all 'HIDI' Devices are just normal MIDI controllers which use 14-Bit communication for the elements. Thats it.
Greets, Heiko
Greets, Heiko
Posted Thu 20 Aug 09 @ 2:47 am
PhantomDeejay
Thanks for the declarations. However it would be nicer if these were written with a more proper way...
I don't pretend that I know everything about controllers. I just read what DENON says about THEIR OWN controller. Other than that, thanks again for clearing it up. And no, I didn't confuse HID with HIDI nor HIDI with MIDI...
Thanks!
I don't pretend that I know everything about controllers. I just read what DENON says about THEIR OWN controller. Other than that, thanks again for clearing it up. And no, I didn't confuse HID with HIDI nor HIDI with MIDI...
Thanks!
Posted Thu 20 Aug 09 @ 4:28 am
