Thinking about buying the SCS.4DJ? Read this.

Thanks for the buyer beware. This community welcomes criticisms of all types and is not all “fluff” so you should be fine.

Sorry to hear about your negative experience with the unit, but you might just save somebody else from having a similar one.

I’m an avid supporter and only suggest against it when someone is dead set on utilizing Traktor. Mapping this unit to Traktor is a waste as it is designed for Itch and you can midi map everything, but will lose the amazing resolution on the jogs. Now, however, Numark makes the Traktor Equivalent the “4Trak” so…

If you have any questions feel free to shoot them at me here or via PM.

Also love the 4 channel stand alone mixer should anything happen to the laptop. Just a quick flick of a siwtch by the line fader to go from PC to line input (2 phono, 2 mic, 4 Line or any combination)

Take a look at my setup on Facebook. I actually run channels 1 and 2 in itch and 3 and 4 in scratch live with the Technics simultaneously on the same MBP 13″ with no issues.

https://www.facebook.com/VinnyBlanc

Reminds me of my endeavours with the fresh released, directly bought VCI-400…

It sucks so fuggin much that gear producers use users as betatesters and delay them again and again because they’re not really interested in fixing the bull$hit they have thrown out…

Hmmmmm, I’ve been researching the SCS.4DJ a lot over the last few days, and this is actually the first bad review I found of it. I know a few people have complained about build quality and stuff, but for the price it really seems like a good deal. I’m seriously considering getting one, as I’ve had more than my fair share of laptop woes when DJing over the years, and I’ve been longing for an all-in-one unit. I’m a very basic DJ, more a selector, so one cue point is enough for me, and I have a Korg Kaoss Pad so the effects being simple doesn’t worry me much either. My main thing with this would be stability – which from most other reviews I’ve read seems very good.

FACT: I myself have posted a confirmed SCS4 bug both on the new and old Stanton forum. My posts have never been censored. I was also asked by two different Stanton reps to provide an mp3 file that caused a channel overload so they
could look into the issue before last update.

Slightly before the Gibson deal was announced the forum went quiet, it was during NAMM as well so it might’ve been both the NAMM and Stanton having to let people go, this we do not know.

I myself have a background in Tech Support so I guess I’m more of a problem solving type than the average Joe.

An Italian rock dj mentioned on the old forum that he had 10,000 tunes in his library and everything worked smoothly. He was kind enough to share info on the type of media he was using, a fast speed SDXC card. I purchased one immediately to test it out. It worked clearly better than my (about-to-fail) HDD so I bought an extra card for backup.

I discovered the delay bug painfully mid-gig. However I know how to avoid it. I have experienced the distortion (which sounds as if a bit crush effect had been applied) a couple of times. I learned how to avoid that too, by analyzing music beforehand or not playing music while the unit is analyzing. Not a big deal at all, I add maybe 20+ fresh tunes a week.

There clearly are people that get along with the unit, I am one of them. From my tech support experience I can say that problems nearly always are software related. There are variables to deal with, with the SCS4 it could be anything from different media read/write speeds to different MP3/MP4 etc encoding, bitrates, non standard files et cetera that have an effect on the outcome.

SCS4 is no Traktor and I never expected or even wanted it to be that. Stanton have worked on the unit, say perhaps 1-2 years. Developing new hardware and software is no easy task, for example Traktor is more than ten years old and has undergone many changes and updates. Software business is complicated, especially the testing part which is very time consuming. I’ve no idea how big or small resources Stanton can allocate for SCS4 development but I’m sure no business wants to sell bad gear.

I went to the new Stanton forum right away because I want new info on the product as well as share the knowledge,
how to work the thing. And let Stanton know of possible issues and feature requests, the usual business.

As for conspiracies, how about your forum history that consists of three messages describing your disappointment at a product, this could also be the work of a Stanton competitor eh?

Maybe Phil himself also could chime in, how has Stanton pressured him for favourable reviews ?

Yes, I definitely consider SCS4 a nice product. As with most gear, you need to know how to make it work for you.

So far I’ve played around 50 gigs with it, all FIVE hour+ sets. This is where I’m coming from.

And finally, the gear geek that I am, the SCS4 is not the ultimate controller for me. I am constantly looking for
gear news and reviews that might interest me. Next I might be using iPads, who knows. The SCS4 is the best laptop
free solution for me at the present time.

Two things I don’t like and definitely expect a fix are the delay bug and overly loud headphone out I get on my HD-25II and drummer headphones. The delay bug in particular can be so well narrowed down that one would expect an easy fix.

My own assumption is that perhaps the song waveform/grid/database system is unnecessarily heavy on the media and might require a redesign of sorts. And I certainly hope their new controller won’t be taking development resources away from the SCS4.

I like the minimal aesthetic on the SCS4 although my ideal controller would have maybe 3 channels and hot cues/sample
pads. Software wise I expect IK Multimedia to become a big player, their DJ Rig app for the iPhone/iPad is already very clever at a young age.

If I can find one for the right price, I may give this unit a shot and see how it goes.