Hercules DJ Console review - Page 7 - Software and testing

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

The software
To make a product like this work you need serious expertise, I gotta be honest with you here I only tried Virtual DJ as it is sufficient. But we'll do a quick overview now.

Atomic Virtual DJ:	This is the software you'll use the most, in general it is a DJ mixing program which supports a variety of audio formats like mp3,wav,wma,cda and is built around a very user friendly Graphical User Interface. The fun part is that you can change skin to a deck that you prefer. What's also really nice is that it can record a wav real-time during your mixes. That recording you could edit into a mix with other software. This is the software what it's all about. There is a downside though. You can only choose two resolution formats 800x600 and 1024x768. If your screen is bigger it'll run in a window. I'd like to see full screen in the future. But that's tricky with the skin options that Atomic wanted in the software. None-the-less it's a downside.
GMixon New DJ 2003:	This is also another DJ mixing program yet which supports multiple audio formats (mp3/wave/cda) and is laid out like two digital mixing decks. It works fine but Virtual DJ just has my preference for a variety of reasons.
Ots CD Scratch:	It's in the name, scratch away. Although not at really interesting for me you can scratch a CD like in the good old days with a vinyl LP. It's quite funny to do actually. However, the program switches to the restricted version (though still usable) after 30 days !
Arturia Storm DJ:	Using Arturia Storm DJ is basically an audio sequencer, choose from many virtual instruments like analog synthesizers, drum machines, sample sequencers etc drag and drop them onto the interface and you are ready to compose in real time. A really nice piece of software, but again not why we where interested in the DJ Console. It all boils down to Virtual DJ.

This software will allow you to do anything you need to do and is completely controlled by the DJ Console, it's the best symbiosis of hard- and software one could imagine.

Music - WinAMP
You can say much about soundcards these days, but the quality that the DJ Console produces is just awesome. It's just superb quality, it offers a remarkably clean and very detailed sound no matter if you listen to the latest Metallica's St. Anger or House or even classical music for example. The sound is deep and clean, even when I tested it with Beastie Boy's Intergalactic off the Hello Nasty CD.

Games
Although not designed for it I played a few games with sound routing through the DJ Console. It's good and comparable to any mediocre soundcard. The big downside for most of you is the lack of functions like EAX for example. You know, Creative is the best for gaming. It's not even really a close race. So everything that is happening soundwise is controlled by Microsoft Direct Sound, it's not bad but don't expect Audigy quality as you'll miss out on environmental sounds. I was very pleased with the overall quality though, considering this thing runs over USB and I did not experience even one glitch I have to say that this is very positive. I've played Call of Duty and Jetfighter V with it for about an hour. Gaming music over USB is an issue though, the CPU utilization in Direct Sound 3D can go up-to 25% due to the USB connection. An alternative is to have a normal soundcard installed in your system and simply unplug the DJ Console. It's not a huge issue though, the console is still capable of handling games.

DVD Playback
Since we are dealing with a USB sound device that can handle Dolby Digital I had to put it to the test. I popped in 2 Fast 2 Furious and Lord of the Rings - Two Towers. Again a shocker as it was really good sound. Very dynamic, very deep. Must have something to do with 24bit sound quality. It's not something you expoect from a console like this but it's nice, high-quality and after you have heard a thunder or two impressive to say at the least.

Mixing
But let's go to where the product was made for, mixing music. I fired up Virtual DJ, made a loop of ZZ-Top - Gimme al your Lovin and then started mixing live. First things first, it has been about ten years since I've mixed anything so I can say officially that I suck at it ! Nonetheless I understand the dynamics and the needs. The user friendly interface of the software in combination with the console makes it easy to mix a songs. Basically what I did was make a loop of some beats at 130 BPM, left it running and then started live mixing older year '80 tunes over it and then slowly start mixing some '03 music into it.


Atomic Virtual DJ Software

After all that was recorded I edited the music, cut out the bad stuff and tried to make a reasonable downmix of the entire recording. Last thing I did was save it as MP3 (not an option in Virtual DJ btw) and placed it on-line.

So now you can all tell me that I suck at mixing, but remember, no matter how bad I am I'm only trying to demonstrate the capability of this product. And it wouldn't be complete without a small mix.

Download djconsole.mp3 - 5.45 MB

ZZTop - Gimme all your Lovin'
Irene Cara - Fame
Prince - Kiss
Bryan Adams - Run to you
Lionel Richie - Dancing on the Ceiling
Eurithmics - This must be an angel

56K Feat Bejay - Save a Prayer
Preziozo Feat Marvin - In My Mind (do you believe in love)
Ian Van Dahl - Secret Love
StarSplash Endless Fantasy
Master Blaster - How Old R U

What you will hear is the result of 45 minutes work. I made a quick loop which is the underlying beat and then threw in random numbers on which I equaled the BPM to the beat. That resulted in one big recoding which I cut into smaller chunks to safe file-size. The end result was saved as MP3. And .. don't laugh .. don't shoot the messenger :)

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