NRKy

rfb, post: 32943, member: 2662 wrote: Since there is no review on the blog, I thought I’d post this since I’ve had one here for a few weeks. Not to say that this is a proper review, or if it were it’d be anywhere near Phil’s awesome reviews… but anyways, here goes:

Little rant here on the Vestax VCI 400 SE or EGE sold by DJTT (that is DJ TechTools, NOT DigitalDjTips!).

It’s a completely overrated controller and if you are not a very hardcore midi mapper, I’d totally advise against buying this.

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Let me say first once again that this is spceifically aimed at the Ean Golden Edition (or Special Edition), not the VCI 400 as reviewed on DigitalDjTips.

Hardware wise the VCI 400 is an AMAZING piece of kit, Vestax did an awesome job. So many controls on a comparably small 4 channel controller (smaller than the S4) – yet everything feels well spaced out, all the knobs, buttons, faders are high-quality, it’s a solid metal construction and so much thought for detail went into the unit (like easily replacable faders, jog sensitivity and jog tension adjusters, very nice filter knobs, good range of in-/outputs, different firmware for audio and midi, standalone functionality, even the ac adaptor that can rotate 360 degrees is awesome).

The ball was dropped by DJTech Tools on this one, hate to say it. Because generally I like DJTT. Everybody raves about their support, and sure they’re friendly and get back to you in a timely manner, but when it comes to actually supporting their “own” hardware… oh well (this is not just in regard to the EGE, check out their forums for how content users are with Midifighter Classic support as another example…).

There doesn’t seem to be an error free mapping for this controller as of now, and there don’t seem to be a whole lot of people on the DJTT forums who run the unit without problems. Actually the best mapping I’ve run wasn’t by DJTT but by some hobbyist (coincidentally out of my hometown Hamburg, Germany). DJTT didn’t even release a proper TP 2.5 mapping for it all the while it was out. Take note that the EGE is solely aimed at Traktor with customized firmware, as opposed to the standard VCI 400. Now they finally have one out for TP 2.6. You have to update their own DJTT midi firmware to use this though, which you can’t even do on a Mac (!). Good thing that not only I use a Mac, but they have one in every single video at their offices too.
None of the mappings (I have used tons of custom mappings for different controllers in Traktor, so I know how to properly import stuff, set everything up etc) did run error free for me, making the controller totally unreliable and a pain in the ass to use. Oftentimes things would work out fine in the beginning, and then after time some things (or everything) would just drop out. NOT FUN when ur controller turns into a brick halfway into a set because of some midi fuckup.

Now this would all be nice and dandy if they marketed it as a controller purely for the hardcore midi mapper who wants an endless playing field to get their own mapping ideas for a wicked controller down. But they market it as sth which integrates almost as tightly with Traktor as a NI controller (due to their own magic firmware and mappings, blahblahblah) and it just DOES NOT. Very very disappointing, especially for this kind of money (depending on the dollar as a European you come in between 800-850 Euros). If it would work as promised it might be worth it. But not in reality. The newest mapping by DJTT had to be split into two TSI’s because of the shitload of commands, just so you know that it’s not a piece of cake to fully reap the benefits of the hardware with your own mapping. If you don’t feel up to it, please do yourself a favor and buy something else like I did after weeks of frustration.
/rant over.

The lesson to take away from this: Check the forums for people complaining first, before buying a product that is hyped up by features on paper and some cool video starring Ean Golden.

I just got wind from local suppliers that this model has been discontinued. Does Vestax plan to continue updating mapping ideas ya think? They also mentioned something about possibly being able to upgrade to the next model since its discontinued. I would like to support Vestax because it has good products, but would like to be transparent about my options in buying this controller. Hope someone has any clue to these claims being true, cuz i will buy it and upgrade later if possible.