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new to VCI400

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Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
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  • July 21, 2015 at 8:56 am #2227271
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    Hi Radomir,

    The reason you could buy the VCI-400 at a bargain price is probably because the company no longer exists, the website is down, it’s hard to find drivers and if you are not on the latest firmware upgrade you may have an even bigger problem.

    And it’s 100% guarantee that any new developments on the software side will not have the appropriate driver and other updates for the VCI-400.

    I hope some of our current VCI-400 users can give you some help with getting this one running.

    You say you didn’t want to buy Pioneer stuff for whatever reason and that is fine. However you make it sound like there is Pioneer and Vestax and nothing else. Nothing could be farther from the truth these days. Many companies make wonderful controllers in all feature- and price ranges.

    Good tip for next time: BEFORE buying something different/new, toss the idea on these forums and get the info and input so it can still have an impact on the decision you are about to make.

    July 21, 2015 at 11:53 am #2227301
    Radomir Vuckovic
    Participant

    Hi DJ Vintage,
    thank you for your reply. The main reason I bought VCI400 was the price…it was 300 euros and it’s practically new. The other reasons are that as VCI300, it is very well built, all of metal apart from knobs, so I have a feeling that it’ s going to last forever. For me this is something really important, as I don’t like plastic feel and look of many other controllers. On the other hand I know that Vestax went bankrupt, and as I see people usually move on really quickly, like they never existed. This is sad, but it’s reality (maybe they will recover as new company).
    And don’t get me wrong, Pioneer made their name with really good business moves. They listened to market needs and that’s why they are industry standard. I would appreciate new controllers from their range, and what they offer is really amazing. Looks, features, compatibility…everything…apart from price. For my current needs, it is not worth it…only if you can afford it without affecting your everyday life.
    Having all that in mind, I get drivers very easily (thank god for internet) and I don’t have intention to use it for videos. My experience until now is really good with Vestax and main idea is to use it for a long time as the last one.
    Anyway, I hope someone who use VCI400 would be welcomed to share their epxerience.
    Cheers!

    July 21, 2015 at 12:43 pm #2227311
    Fintan Moloney
    Participant

    I have a VCI 400 and its been running solid for about 6 months. I use it with Serato DJ which was a free upgrade from Serato Intro in the box. I have also used it with DJay Pro however the inbuilt mapping for that is not great and I’m in process of remapping the whole thing. No complaints with the controller however had to really fine tune the platter sensitivity to get it right for scratching. I’ve done club nights and mobile gigs with the VCI 400 and in scenarios where I use a Microphone the Mic channel works great. The ability to run two external sources through it via the line input is cool also, I run an iPad through there just in case I have PC issues. I’m running Mac OS X El Capitan (10.11) and it works fine. So far no issues with drivers or anything like that.

    Any questions give me a shout. Have fun !

    July 21, 2015 at 1:01 pm #2227331
    Radomir Vuckovic
    Participant

    Hey Fintan,
    thx for your comment. Looks like you having fun with it! What would be your suggestion for software? Does Serato DJ comes with mapping included or do you have to do it yourself? I just downloaded Virtual DJ and I will try to use it to see how it feels, although I am familiar with Serato. To be honest I would like to use it for some extra features such as effects, but I am willing to learn and use something else also. I am more classic old skul DJ, playing downtempo, deep house, house, electro breaks, techno…mainly beats music. I am not into EDM or any of the noise prevailing stuff, so buzzes, screams, horns and all those aggressive sounds are not my thing.

    July 21, 2015 at 1:04 pm #2227341
    Terry_42
    Keymaster

    First the VCI-400 will not hold up forever.
    The audio profile for 10.11 Mac OS and 10.10 did not change, but it may change in the future again (like from 10.6 to 10.7) and the controller will no longer work.
    Serato is kind enough to still drag the internal drivermapping along, but I guess with a major upgrade this will be gone.

    Do not get me wrong, I loved the 400 for its construction alone.

    However there are many non Pioneer controllers that are the same or better build quality than the Vestax.
    Denon controllers are by far the best build quality you can get.
    Terminal Mix Series -> Full metal construction
    Numark -> several all metal controllers
    and so on.
    So investing in a product that might become obsolete very soon is not a good move in my opinion.

    Trust me I miss Vestax, I always thought they bring much needed innovation into directions that other safe bet companies are unwilling to go and we lost a major innovator with them. But them moment the company went bankrupt I sold my Vestax stuff like a hotcake.

    Also as you mentioned it: The company will not recover. It has been tried to save them and that ship has sailed. Their assets, patents and stock have been liquidated and the company has officially closed down.

    July 21, 2015 at 1:12 pm #2227351
    Fintan Moloney
    Participant

    VCI 400 came with Virtual DJ in the box also so the mapping is built into VDJ for it however I haven’t used that. Its also natively mapped to Serato DJ and I didn’t have to change anything the Serato mapping is fine, once you plug in the controller Serato will detect it and you are all set. I like the integration of the effects with the controller – its very tightly mapped to Serato and I’ve heard good things about VDJ with it also so either should be fine. Try them both out and see which you prefer. I think you can get a free trial of Serato DJ the full version once you have Intro installed but best check the Serato website on that – or someone here might know.

    Either way both programs are part of what I call ‘the big 3’ which is Serato, Traktor and VDJ. Incidentally there is Traktor mappings you can download for the controller if you wanted to try Traktor.

    July 22, 2015 at 4:30 pm #2227891
    Radomir Vuckovic
    Participant

    Thank you all for your comments. I suppose maybe update would be a problem with mac OS, but windows could be without it. Well, both of them has their issues (itunes recent ones would piss me of especially when you prepare before the gig).
    Either way, I would try it as it looks really good with Serato. It’s really close to working with vinyl and I suppose we will wait for some time for significantly bigger screen on controllers to avoid laptops.
    Until then I will enjoy it.

    July 23, 2015 at 12:32 am #2227991
    Todd Oddity
    Participant

    I love my VCI-400. Great piece of kit. But I have to warn you (in case it isn’t too late to back out) that you’ve greatly overpaid for it. I got mine new before Vestax went bankrupt for $425CND (roughly 285eu). Since the bankruptcy, sales are even better if you can still find one in a store. I’ve seen used units floating around for under $100, because the market has dried up due to lack of future support.

    Now, to answer your software question – I use Virtual and have custom mapped mine like crazy (one of the main reasons I like Virtual is the power of it’s mapping engine). Never used this unit with anything else, so can’t comment on those packages, but on Virtual it is (for now anyway) rock solid.

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