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Forum: Old versions

Topic: trial of the herucles, all the experts -please input is neeeed

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yesterday, i finally went and purchased the Hercules Dj console. The program is great, I don't have to use the mouse, matches beats through VDJ console, cuts easily, nudges, man o man pretty neat. I have one question-Is there any way to get a decent scratch from the system? I mean you can do only very basic scratches but they don't sound too good bc when you let go of the jog wheel there is a gap in the music, maybe 1/8-1/4 of a second where the music catches up to the jog wheel. Another thing I noticed is that you can't stop the song and hold it there by holding onto the jog wheel. The song keeps on playing. So as far as scratching, it's impossible to do with any precision- unless of course if someone can enlighten me. Now my other decsion involves the VirtualDJ XP10- one will cost approx 360.00 US- will this do the trick... Is one enough. I want to make sure this will scratch excellent. not just ok... thanks to all who reply
 
Posted Wed 28 Jul 04 @ 2:36 pm
hey...

I was kinda unsure about how seriously u where about scratcin, so posted for u to maybe not get the Hercules:
http://www.virtualdj.com/forum/display.html?topic=5951&page=2

oh well, thats to late now.. lol

but u can make cool scratch on Hercules too, just have to do a few tricks so that it gets a more vinyl feel, hang on will post here in a few mins :)
 
Posted Wed 28 Jul 04 @ 3:17 pm
OK, the HOLD & RELEASE issue, to get rid of the gap, and also get a more vinyl feel of actually "holding" the record :


- in VDJ setup, choose (joy) stick for scrach
- turn off jogwheels for scratch....

now, in regular play, the jogwheels are for nudge (speed up/down song)

BUT HERE IS THE TRICK:
- use (joy) stick to stop the song
- scratch with jogwheel (yes!! it is scratch when song is stopped, even if not checked)
- release (joy) stick to play song again

now you kinda have a "touch sensitive" plate through the joystick (will stop the song as long as u hold it, and play the song when u release the stick)

You can also make a "hold" button that would work in the same way
 
Posted Wed 28 Jul 04 @ 3:20 pm
now....about cutting sound, so that scratch sounds better (just play the forward scratch sound, and kill backwards, or oposite)

usually this effect is done by scratch-dj's by moving the crossfader fast to the middle/far side.. to cut sound

U can try to set crossfader behavior to "smooth" in setup in vdj, to get a "scratch crossfader" (FAME settings)

you CAN change most buttons on the Herclules console to fit your needs...

Since there is no mute function in VDJ, the button you want has to be made in 3 steps :
find a letter that you want to assign the function to, say the letter "Z".
In keyboard shortcuts (setup) assign 3 functions to the same "Z" shortcut:
(1) equlizer - kill bass - temporary/momentary - default deck
(2) equlizer - kill mid - temporary/momentary - default deck
(3) equlizer - kill high - temporary/momentary - default deck
(all assigned to the same letter "Z")

now, open the dj console mapper for hercules (right click the litte green alien head in system tray)
make new preset (to have the original to go back to)
and assign the letter "Z" to the button you want to have the temporary mute on...

and now u have a really cool temporary mute button, that will mute as long as the botton is pressed ;) and will play sound again when released
 
Posted Wed 28 Jul 04 @ 3:27 pm
thats great info. ill try it. see where im at..
is there much difference from this to the virtual xp10's.
unfortunately im at work now but i can't wait to get home.
i used to mix w 1200's so i know how to scratch a little..
but to mix with hip hop you need this in your arsenal.
how much an improvement is the xp over the hercules for scratching... and if there is a major difference, now that you know a bit more about what i want to do, can i get away with one?
my other option is the final scratch (but its 500 big ones) or the time coded vinyl w some turntables and a mixer.
 
Posted Wed 28 Jul 04 @ 3:51 pm
u used to mix with 1200 ? hmmm
Hercules is more of a "toy" for u then...
but hey, its still kinda fun and cheap..

Well, to get a 100% same feel as u had with those 1200, you need timecode vinyls for sure . And they are extremely cheap, right here at website :) all u need is to hook up those 1200 to your soundcard in-line, and u have the exact same possibilities and feel as you had with real vinyl, but now u play with mp3's and VDJ ;)

And forget about Final Scratch! really! the timecode vinyls here, is a bargain, and sooo much easier to connect and use... they are claimed to never skip, and users say it works great :)

XP10's are a crossover thing. Like the pro CD-decks as for example Pioneer cdj1000 are... Cd players with scratch, on jogwheel. XP10 have the same feel to it, a jogwheel that u can nudge the song, and a tactical plate on top used for scratch. The plate is touch sensitive, so u can pretty much emulate what u do on a vinyl

So, hard for me to tell what u are really looking for... But if u are used to 1200, maybe timecoded vinyls would be cool for u :)
 
Posted Wed 28 Jul 04 @ 4:11 pm
i havent mixed on tables for about 10 years.. so it should be difficult at first. What im looking at is how hard it would be to scratch with the Vinyl coded disks as opposed to the xp10's. Is there any official feedback on this yet?

I guess i can get 2 Vinyl coded disks and tell my friend to bring his 1200's over since i dont own a pair of t tables.

Now you say forget the final scratch. is there any reason y...

the reason i ask is that my friend wants to sell me 2 -1200's in the box for 500 bucks (plus needles). then i need a mixer and the vinyls.. lets say for the sake of argument 650.00 (BC im not going to go off and get the monster mixer just yet)

or use the Final Scratch for approx 500.00
what do you think..
sorry im just picking your brain here...

using the xp10's (forgetting the feel) can it do the same thing as the turntables or not quite.
 
Posted Wed 28 Jul 04 @ 4:57 pm
Scratch is hard... period! lol ;) it really is...

if u cant get a good scratch on Hercules, u will NOT get a good scratch on vinyl or xp10 ...

But, the xp10/vinyl are better for real serious tricky scratch where vinyl controll is needed, but these scratch teqniques are very hard... so u gotta parctise a lot ;)

reson for forgetting FS? well, its to expencive, kinda sensitive to setup... thats all ;) The reson for saying forget about FS, was first of all a price thing.. Look at the timecode price here? and u dont need that FS box :) just your soundcard

AND YES, xp10 and vinyls can do the same thing! :)

so, if u are getting those 1200 and mixer, get timecodes..

if not, yeah.. XP10 could be it, and thats what I'm gettin. Becuase I dont have turntable at home, so XP10 is a cheap solution for home use, and club use too..

but you could hang around a bit, before u decide. Both are just a week old, so u can read the feedback from other users maybe, before u decide ;)
 
Posted Wed 28 Jul 04 @ 5:34 pm
great ill hold off and join in on the conversations then..
 
Posted Wed 28 Jul 04 @ 5:48 pm
"if u cant get a good scratch on Hercules, u will NOT get a good scratch on vinyl or xp10 ... "

LOL, Sorry DJ In Norway, but i disagree with that statement.
I can scratch all day on vinyl, basic and advanced but the hercules..... chugga chugga chugga chugga, thats about as advanced as they get for scratching. I cant achieve no where near anything on the Hercules like i can with vinyl scratch wise.

d00d5ter.
 
Posted Thu 29 Jul 04 @ 9:51 am
LOL... I agree, totally..

what I meant was if u can not get that "chooga chooga" and far basic scratch workin on Hercules, I guess getting an expensive turntable will not be maybe the way to go...
Was just trying to see if he was a real newbie on scratch, or if he had tried some before ;)

hehe... but agree, thats why I told him to get timecodes (or xp10) if he's serious about scratchin, and even learning ... :)
 
Posted Thu 29 Jul 04 @ 1:26 pm
ok got the chugga chugga, still working out the kinks.. did he modifications to parts of the system and i guess its a bit better... the only thing is that you have to go round and round on the joystick.. this is how you do it on turn tables but it takes some getting used to...
it works well with the fader too... but i guess yes im looking to get a little more out of the system.
its good but i defenitely want to see how the vynil coded disks can do as far as skipping or latency is concerned.
im assuming it should be very good.. getting those is the cheap part, my concern is now the 500 for the 1200's but it still beats the heck out of buying 12inch singles like old days when i would dj
 
Posted Fri 30 Jul 04 @ 8:46 pm


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