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Darth

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  • April 2, 2012 at 6:30 pm in reply to: Thinking about buying the SCS.4DJ? Read this. #17801
    Darth
    Participant

    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.

    April 2, 2012 at 5:16 pm in reply to: Thinking about buying the SCS.4DJ? Read this. #17789
    Darth
    Participant

    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.

    March 27, 2012 at 8:26 pm in reply to: Thinking about buying the SCS.4DJ? Read this. #17446
    Darth
    Participant

    Hi, my first post on the forum will be about (and for!) the SCS4 ! 🙂 [insert conspiracy theory here]

    Anyways, I’d say I also have quite a bit of experience with the unit myself. I have used it for 6 months now
    and still do. While it’s not the perfect controller (as if there ever were one) I’d definitely say it is usable.
    I play 6-9 professional club nights a month and I do with the SCS4.

    My song library consists of 3000+ tracks. Upon startup the unit will check the library which will take 1-2 minutes,
    I haven’t timed it but I’d say this a pretty accurate estimate.

    LmfC mentioned the distortion (bug), this is something I have also experienced a few times, I believe it could
    happen when the unit has a heavy workload (playing tracks with fx applied while the unit is analyzing new songs).
    It has never happened when the unit has been 100% free of background tasks.

    The headphone out is too loud for me too, however I never cue two tracks simultaneously, I like to use the cue/master
    mix knob. This overly loud headphone output is a firmware thing which hopefully will be improved.

    The effects could be better but in my opinion they are easily on par or even slightly better than VDJ 6 (the last VDJ I ever tried).

    The audio output is in my opinion very decent. I use the balanced outputs with jack connectors as they’re a few dB hotter than RCA.

    The biggest concern I’d say is to find the right kind of media (thumbdrives, SD cards) for the SCS4. I once tried
    a 16Gb cheapo usb stick from Kingston which wouldn’t play nice at all. Also different media works better with
    different formatting (FAT32/NTFS).

    The delay effect is buggy on the present firmware which can bring the unit on its knees under certain conditions,
    this is something that I’ve posted on the new Stanton forum as well and hopefully they can fix it shortly.

    The Stanton support became worse pretty much right after Gibson purchased Stanton, hopefully the new forum
    will become more lively than it is know.

    So, my perspective on the unit is that you can definitely make it work. I find it very handy for travelling and setting up.
    For now it’s nearly ideal for playing out tracks, beat matching, some fx. For the price it is unbeatable even now, and
    judging by forum posts from Stanton reps I have high hopes for future firmware updates too.

    Next for me, controller/interface -wise will be something with more features. Right now I’m looking into new iPad
    apps and controllers and also the new standalone thingy from Eks Labs. But for simpler dj work, SCS4 can def rock a party !

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