Jonas Hansson

I figure’d I would follow up on this thread in case someone find it through the search and consider getting the Hercules Control Air+ ( Air Plus ).

Summary: Dont purchase it!

Basically, the controller while it does feel cheap, had all the features listed on it that I wanted.
However the implementation of one particular function was really, really bad!

The pitch sliders! While I can live with them being short, the pitch sliders on the Hercules Air+ have a huge deadzone, not just in the center, but if you move the slider up to decrease BPM and then want to increase BPM by moving the slider in the opposite direction, there is a deadzone of ~1.5mm before the controller even send out a MIDI command to alter the BPM. That is crazy and makes beatmatching manually very difficult. It also had a deadzone in the center of roughly 2mm in each direction before sending out a MIDI command.

(The pitchsliders did seem to be of high resolution thought once the controller actually sent out commands, it’s very strange they have implemented it this way. I guess what one should be looking for is pitchslider length, resolution and deadzones, the last I didnt even think could be an issue before getting this controller)

According to the store I purchased the controller from, they are actually supposed to be this way and was not a defect, and both left and right deck were the same. Luckily the store I purchased if from was great and I was able to return the controller and got the money back.

While used equipment are usually expensive where I live (almost new price), I was able to find an used DDJ-WEGO (1) two days ago for a great price and got that instead and I’m glad I did, while this controller is older, it’s still miles ahead of the hercules, And the pitchsliders work great!

• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by Jonas Hansson.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by Jonas Hansson.

Thank you for the input.

I have been searching for used alternatives for weeks, but unfortunately the prices around here are not good for used DJ equipment, normal price for an used DDJ-SB (not SB2) seem to be around $200 with shipping.

To clarify, the Hercules Air “Plus” is not sold by bax-shop from what I could find, its the “regular” version they sell for €119 now, the plus model is usually around €70 more expensive here, which is why I thought it may be a good deal still. The pads on the plus model is said to be switchable between hot-cue and samples and velocity sensitive, but maybe not the same as pioneer? Jogwheel also said to be larger and better (I know they wont be up to pioneer standards, but not looking to be scratching). There was also gain control and dedicated filter buttons on top.

The “deal” I got on the Air+ was $120 with a 5 year warranty included.
My thoughts was to get this to get started, and perhaps later on when I do find an used DDJ-SB for reasonable cost, upgrade to that and keep the Air+ as backup, or giveaway to nephews if they get interested.

My question is , can the Air+ be good enough to get started with, without missing out on any important feature that is a must have to get really good? (The low throw pitch fader I know of, but the DDJ-SB seem to be suffering from the same thing?)

Thank you for the input once again.