Hercules DJ Console review

Posted by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 11/17/2003 08:00 AM [ 0 comment(s) ]

Page 2 - The DJ Console

The DJ Console

In simple wording the DJ Console basically is a portable DJ controller with built-in multichannel USB sound card which you can hook up towards a desktop or laptop PC. Once the software is installed and the device is hooked up properly you can mix MP3/WMA/WAV/CDs just like a club DJ and all that in an easy to use environment. Let's have a look at some of the technical features of the device.

Features

2 vinyl-style jog wheels for spinning and scratching, with finger grips for rapid, accurate song searching or speed adjustment
1 crossfader for seamless mixing between the two decks
6 ergonomic potentiometers and bass/medium/treble controls for creative remixing on the fly,
2 rotary encoders and 2 sliders for tweaking volume or changing the speed of music (pitch/master tempo) in real time
28 buttons to play/pause songs, speed music up or down for accurate mixing (pitch bend), add effects, cue points (song positions) and loops on the fly, skip through tracks backwards or forwards, rewind or fast forward and more
A soft rubber ministick provides mouse emulation or allows for special DJ FX control.

Of course the DJ Console needs a stable and solid software solution and therefore Hercules signed an agreement with several companies. The most important one is from atomic productions who delivers a full customized version of Virtual DJ. The software emulates the layout of comon 'real' consoles like the Pioneer CDJ700S, Tascam CD-302, and many other layouts. You can choose them by downloading and installing, btw. some skins are free to download. The buttons and faders in the software are corresponding to the DJ Console. That means if you press CUE then CUE at software level is handled properly.

USB sound card
To get the best out of the DJ Console Hercules opted to integrate a soundcard in it. The sound section itself is powered by a AKM AK4529 codec with 2 ADC channels and 8 DAC channels in 24 bits up to 96kHz. There is a Crystal CS8427 circuit for the S/PDIF and a Texas Instruments TUSB3200 for the USB. USB unfortunately is at 1.1 standard offering only 12 Mb per second. The DJ Console is equipped with 24 bit/96kHz converters, it only does run with a maximum sampling frequency of 48kHz and quantification on 16 bits. That's by far the most practical solutions and also sufficient for our usage since we are not professionals. Using 24 bit converters by the way is something that I like as it can uplift performance a notch over a 16-bit converter.

The advantage is that you now have a plethora of connectivity on the DJ Console records as it can record audio from instruments, home stereos, CD/DVD players or other devices and plays-back music in high audio quality. The front and rear audio panels provide an extensive range of high-end connections including optical and coaxial digital In/Out and MIDI In/Out to easily connect most analog/digital consumer devices and audio/MIDI gear! You can remix out to amplified speakers and enjoy up to 5.1-channel surround sound (up to 6 outputs). When you are not using the Console it'll function as normal soundcard.

Also, one of the bigger advantages of the console is that you'll be able to play one track for your audience via the DJ Consoles speaker outputs, while you can listen to another track over the headphone output at the same time to prepare the following mix. With the press of a button you can switch between the two channels, really nice.

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