Todd Oddity

General order of gain staging:
– pick a track, scrub to the “loudest” section of that track
– set your channel gain to roughly 0db (not exactly sure where that would be on the RR, but half way through the yellow is normally a good guess for starting point (never red – red is bad).
– then turn up your master to the desired volume, but not more than 0db (again, this is likely to be approximately half way through the yellow)
– don’t touch the master again, you’ve set it where it needs to be. Adjust each track you load to 0db using the channel gain.

If this isn’t loud enough, you need more from your PA and amps – pushing the controller higher will just distort your sound and lead to clipping.

Because Serato drops outdated hardware from time to time (just look at the switch from Itch to DJ to see how many people were left in the dust) and with no active partner in Vestax, there is nobody to keep paying Serato their fees so they don’t have a lot of motivation to keep baking in backwards compatibility.

Or an OS change comes along and screws things up for you as there won’t be any firmware update for the hardware.

Thinking “why would there be problems in the future” is short-sighted. There are countless examples of these problems cropping up, and either the hardware or software companies having to scramble to fix them. With Vestax gone, that won’t happen anymore.

But the choice is yours. You can go out and buy a used car with no parts available anymore and maybe it will work for a long time, or maybe you’ll get 15 metres from the sales lot, it will catch fire, and they won’t even offer you an extinguisher because “you bought it as-is”. I would *never* take that chance with a critical piece of performance gear no matter how good the deal was. But that’s me.

Depending on the software you use you can do it whether or not the actual CDJ has any cue point support. Most of the major softwares will allow the addition of an accessory controller (such as something like a Reloop Neon) that will add cue points into your setup. If you have an X1, I’ll assume you are looking at Traktor, so it should all just work.

As a side note, if you’re looking at the CDJs as standalones, it gets a little more complicated. The SP1 is currently the only unit I’m aware of that allows you to do this – and only with specific models of CDJ I believe.

Vintage, can’t speak to your part of the world, but in both Canada and the US ‘fair use’ is absolutely a thing. It doesn’t cover what this guy is doing, but it does cover other uses. But it’s a tricky set of laws to navigate.

LMP. you didn’t state what country you were interested in, and the answers do vary a little between different nations. But in general no, there is no way that is legal in most countries. I believe copyright holds for 50 years past death based on international treaty – although I do know some countries actually let it run longer.

Guy, Vintage wasn’t saying Vestax was inferior (they built amazing controllers – I loved my 400), and he wasn’t saying you need to switch controllers every year. He was saying the company went bankrupt and support is no longer available. No drivers. No firmware. Nothing. You have no guarantee that it will be able to connect to a computer and work. And no remedy if it doesn’t. That also means no more payments to Serato, so they may drop support sooner or later.

So no, the 400 would not be a good option for you, simply because you’d be investing in something that may not work tomorrow, assuming you could even get it working today. The SP1 may add the features you want and keep you rolling a bit longer. But at some point, you will be looking at a forced upgrade as your current Vestax gear will stop working. The upside here is that the SP1 would likely hold some resale value.

“The problem … is that it is very hard to tell which one drifts into which direction”

Not to sound old & cranky, but this is why experienced DJs always tell newer DJs how important it is to learn mixing by ear. You should be able to hear the individual parts of the mix to be able to track down which part of it is drifting. The technology doesn’t always work as expected, and it is important to be able to fall back on the basics.

Now, having said that, I suspect much like Peter does, that the issue is the non-analysed tracks you’re using. The BPM readers on those are just estimates, not a detailed read. Therefore if you’ve matched up the numbers across all of your decks, it doesn’t mean they are actually 100% spot on. Your options would be to take the time and analyse, or start getting your ears tuned up to be able to hear each track in the mix like DJs did pre-software.

Well first up, check how it is currently formatted. In Windows open up explorer, find my computer (if you aren’t already there) and then right click on the drive and select properties. You should see how it is formatted. On a Mac, find the drive (either on your desktop or on the left side of finder), two finger click and select get info.

Once you know that, we’ll have a better sense of what needs to be done next. It’s worth noting here though that changing the file format of a disc will require moving all your files off of it. Formatting wipes all data.

Slightly off topic, but keep in mind that what makes the HS7s fantastic studio monitors is also the same thing that makes them terrible for just sitting around listening to music for an extended length of time – they highlight audio imperfections. The HS7s have a very high listening fatigue due to the extremely flat response through most frequencies, meaning they can actually become unpleasant to listen to.

Not saying you can’t do it, but if you do, and you do find your head hurting a little after awhile, you might want to consider getting something a little warmer for day to day general listening.

🙂