vestax | Digital DJ Tips

April 10th, 2013 News & Opinion

Musikmesse 2013: Vestax VCI-400 Gets Traktor, Deckadance & djay Editions

by Phil Morse

The new Vestax VCI-400TKT is basically the Vestax VCI-400 with a smart Traktor-centric faceplate and an optimised mapping, so those who want to use the VCI-400 with Traktor can now do so more easily out of the box.

The Vestax VCI-400 controller is on show at Musikmesse 2013 in three new editions, with faceplates and mappings for Traktor (VCI-400TKT), Deckadance (VCI-400DK) and djay (VCI-400djay).

The new editions match the Serato DJ Edition (VCI-400DJ) that was previously announced at the NAMM Show, and brings the total number of variants of this controller to five (or six if you include the DJTechTools version).

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April 10th, 2013 News & Opinion

Musikmesse 2013: Serato DJ Arrives For Vestax VCI-380

by Phil Morse

The Vestax VCI-380 with Serato DJ running: This upgrade from ITCH will be available imminently.

The Vestax VCI-380 is on show here at Musikmesse 2013 running Serato DJ, the successor to the Serato ITCH software that it has previously been supplied with.

No doubt an official press release and confirmation of availability are coming from Serato, but we’ve seen it, it works, and so today we can confirm that the wait is definitely over for all you patient VCI-380 users.

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January 24th, 2013 News & Opinion

NAMM 2013: Vestax VCI-400DJ For Serato DJ Software

by Phil Morse

Vestax has surprised us at the NAMM Show 2013 by sneaking out the Vestax VCI-400DJ, a limited edition run of the Vestax VCI-400 that comes with Serato DJ software in the box.

As Vestax’s other Serato controllers, the VCI-300 and the VCI-380, are currently only for Serato ITCH, that makes the VCI-400DJ Vestax’s first DJ controller for the new Serato DJ software.

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November 29th, 2012 Reviews

Review & Video: Vestax V-Midi Interface For iOS DJs

by DJ Hombre

The Vestax V-Midi is a small audio/Midi interface for use with iOS devices.

Vestax V-Midi review: When Apple produced the Camera Connection Kit (CCK) to patch the hole left by lack of USB support with the iPad, digital DJs, musicians and software companies jumped on it as a means to transport CoreMIDI data to/from the iPad for hooking up external gear such as DJ controllers and keyboards.

Unfortunately, the same loophole wasn’t available for iPod Touch and iPhone users, and as such they were left out of the Midi connectivity scene. But now the Vestax V-Midi has come along to change all that…

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October 16th, 2012 News & Opinion

Preview & Video: Vestax PBS-4 Web Broadcast Mixer

by Phil Morse

The Vestax PBS-4 allows anyone to broadcast a mixture of audio and video directly to the web. Great for DJs wanting to play live sets to a global audience, either from their clubs or their bedrooms!

Vestax PBS-4 preview: In today’s online world, there are more ways than ever to showcase your DJing and VJing talents. Podcasts, videocasts and DJ performances can all be broadcast to the world from your bedroom, giving you a chance to build a following and develop your skills “in public” that didn’t exist a decade ago.

And, of course, if you’re a clever up-and-coming DJ who’s already playing out, you can also broadcast live from your venue. It’s now perfectly possible to broadcast a DJ set on the web using cheap cameras (maybe one over your decks, and one on the crowd), a sound feed from your mixer, a second laptop, and a broadband connection. The Vestax PBS-4 is designed to help you do just that…

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October 3rd, 2012 News & Opinion

Serato DJ Intro Users Finally Get A Software Upgrade Path

by Phil Morse

Serato DJ Intro users can finally unlock the potential of their DJ controllers by upgrading to Serato DJ, the new software that is to replace Serato ITCH.

Owners of Serato DJ Intro controllers finally have a software upgrade path, as Serato today announced Serato DJ, its new pro DJ software, which is to replace Serato ITCH.

For a one-off fee of $199 (although there’s an opening offer – see below) owners of any Serato DJ Intro-compatible controller can upgrade to the new software. Serato DJ will begin to become available from November 1, and be rolled out to all compatible DJ controllers over the winter.

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June 26th, 2012 News & Opinion

Vestax VCI-400 Finally Gets To Stand Alone

by Phil Morse

Finally you can make proper use of those external inputs on your VCI-400, thanks to today's firmware upgrade.

Vestax today announced that its flagship DJ controller the VCI-400 can now finally operate as it always should have done – as a standalone mixer as well as as a Midi controller.

Users can upgrade to the latest v2.0 firmware for free, in order to enjoy the ability to mix external inputs such as CD players through the mixer alongside their software sources.

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May 29th, 2012 Reviews

Review & Video: Vestax VCI-380 Serato ITCH DJ Controller

by Phil Morse

The Vestax VCI-380 is the most fun we've had on two decks for a long time. Read on to find out why...

The Vestax VCI-380, which was released today, could just offer the most fun it’s possible to have on two decks with Serato ITCH. It takes the best bits from the highly innovative Novation Twitch, and adding some of the dependability and usability of Vestax’s previous Serato effort, the VCI-300.

We’ve had one for a week and so had time to scratch under the surface of this new Serato ITCH device. It turns out that not only does it combine the best parts of both of those controllers I just mentioned, but throws in an effects twist all of its own, and rounds everything off with some standalone mixer goodness. High time we took a closer look, in this, our full Vestax VCI-380 review and video.

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April 26th, 2012 News & Opinion

Video: Vestax V-MIDI Core Midi Interface For iOS Devices

by Phil Morse

DJing with iOS devices is great, but also hampered by some annoying limitations. Apart from the big obvious drawback (the need to mono-split the audio for headphones cue, something that until Apple changes the spec, we’re all stuck with), there are other drawbacks.

The first is that there’s no obvious way to plug Midi USB controllers in, and the second that once you use the bottom connector to attempt to do anything (better audio ins/outs, Midi etc), you lose your power supply. Enter Vestax’s forthcoming V-MIDI, which has a solution for both, as shown in this video from Musikmesse 2012.

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March 27th, 2012 News & Opinion

Video: Vestax VCI-380 Serato ITCH Controller Talkthrough

by Phil Morse

In this exclusive video recorded at Musikmesse 2012, Mike from Vestax talks us through some of the features of the company’s forthcoming VCI-380 DJ controller.

Designed for Serato ITCH but with an open architecture so it can be mapped to any Midi-learn software, it is probably best described as a hybrid of the company’s VCI-300 and the Novation Twitch. However, having seen it “in the flesh” we were particularly impressed with a couple of its features, more so than just from the press release.

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March 17th, 2012 News & Opinion

Vestax’s New VCI-380: The Ultimate 2-Deck ITCH DJ Controller

by Phil Morse

The Vestax VCI-380: Compact, powerful and pro-quality. Looks like the ultimate two-deck ITCH controller to date. (Click to enlarge.)

Vestax has today announced its latest DJ controller, the Vestax VCI-380 – a two-deck, Serato ITCH-powered performance Midi controller and audio interface.

It takes some of the best features of Vestax’s popular but ageing VCI-300 ITCH controller, incorporates elements of the spec of the company’s flagship VCI-400 model, and adds a healthy dose of the innovative Novation Twitch to boot. In doing so, Vestax seems to have created the ultimate two-deck Serato controller. Read on for full spec, video, press release and photo gallery.

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January 21st, 2012 News & Opinion

Fancy Your Own DJ TV Show On Ustream? Check This Out…

by Phil Morse

Vestax & Ustream

So we’ve seen Tiesto broadcast a live set on video over Twitter, and we’ve got many readers who have experimented with broadcasting audio and video of their own DJ mixes across uStream – but soon it might all be getting much easier.

Today we’ve been shown a working prototype of an audio and video mixing product from Vestax that is designed from the bottom up for mixing straight to uStream – and it rocks.

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November 14th, 2011 Reviews

Review & Video: Vestax VCI-400 DJ Midi & Audio Controller

by Phil Morse

The Vestax VCI-400: Serious, made of metal, festooned with buttons: Is this the natural successor to the VCI-100?

Professionally constructed in metal with top quality components, and packed with more buttons, knobs and faders than practically any other DJ controller, the Vestax VCI-400 already has many serious digital DJs salivating at mere sight. (Update: There’s now also a VCI-400DJ version for Serato DJ).

We’ve had a week to play with an early production model that Vestax sent to us straight from Japan, and this review and video document our first thoughts on this monster of a controller. Expect us to revisit it later when we’ve had more time with it.

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October 21st, 2011 News & Opinion

Vestax Spin Becomes First Full-Sized iPad DJ Controller

by Phil Morse

The Vestax Spin DJ controller and iPad now play nicely together, along with djay 1.4 for iPad

If you love digital DJing but think having to set up your laptop just to see your waveforms and navigate your library is a bit of a pain, now you have an alternative – if you’re a Vestax Spin owner, that is.

Because it’s now officially possible to use the Vestax Spin to control djay for iPad, meaning you can take your iPad, your Spin and your headphones to the party with you… but leave your laptop at home.

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October 11th, 2011 News & Opinion

Exclusive New Video: Vestax VCI-400 Overview

by Phil Morse

I managed to grab product supremo Reishi Mizumoto from the heaving Vestax stand at the BPM show last week, and escort him to a quiet room, prototype VCI-400 in hand, to talk me through some of the finer details of this new all-singing, all-dancing controller.

We particularly liked the VU meters built into each channel fader (a truly cool way of keeping an eye on your gain staging, and a way for anyone else in the DJ booth to see if you’re driving into the red at a glance!).

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October 1st, 2011 News & Opinion

Preview & Official Video: Vestax VCI-400 DJ Controller

by Phil Morse

Vestax will today launch its latest DJ controller, the VCI-400, here at the BPM Show. But we have an exclusive: The official video from Vestax themselves introducing the new controller.

Below we run through the controller’s main features, the software it comes with, and offer early analysis of who it will appeal to and where it fits in alongside other controllers, in order to help you decide if this high-end button-fest is going to be the controller for you. Watch and read on…

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September 6th, 2011 Reviews

Review & Video: Vestax VCI-100 Mk II DJ Controller

by Phil Morse

Vestax VCI-100 Mk II - is it enough at its new price for you to get your wallet out?

About this time last year, when everyone was talking about four-channel controllers, Vestax almost it seemed apologetically slipped out the VCI-100 Mk II, its follow-on controller to the emblematic VCI-100 – the controller that really started it all.

The VCI-100 Mk II was instantly compared to the VCI-100, a controller that had become the became the darling of a relatively small number of nonetheless influential controllerists. Because the VCI-100 Mk II was no longer as modifiable, no longer a heavy metal box, and because – well – it was more appealing to the everyday DJ, it had a section of the modders and button-punchers up in arms. How dare they not release another controller aimed at that small community?

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November 5th, 2010 Equipment

DJ Controllers: The Ultimate Buyer’s Guide 2011

by Phil Morse

The Traktor Kontrol S4 is one of the most desirable DJ Midi controllers on the market today.

34 36 of the best DJ Midi controllers reviewed and rated

Most people get started in digital DJing out of curiosity. They tend to download a trial or limited version of one of the big software packages such as Traktor or Virtual DJ, loading some MP3s onto the screen, and having a go. Indeed, some never progress past this stage, happy to DJ with a keyboard and mouse or trackpad.

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