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Stanton FS2
Well first off hands down the FS2 amp offers more than the Serato amp such as two Firewire (400) ports, Midi I/O, mic input etc. You can even use you iPod or an external hard drive, which has me somewhat wanting to get FS2 (iPod use would be the shit). The down side to the FS2 amp is that it’s much bigger than the Serato amp, like almost twice as big, which for a mobile solution is a big deal. The amp is silver and a lot sexier than the Serato amp (black)…for those of you who care about this kinda thing. Software As a first time user of this product, the UI (user interface) is pretty straightforward. You have the waveform of each turntable/track on its appropriate side. The track listing below that. The thing I don’t like is that you only have about 5-10 seconds of the waveform on each side of your needle placement (see screenshots). If scratching…no big deal, but when mixing this might be a problem depending on how well you know you records. Lets say you got a few new tracks the day of a gig and where only able to hear them once or a little bit of them and they where all bangers and you wanted to play them that night. When does the track end? Who long does the last chorus/verse go for? Something to maybe think about. I didn’t actually set-up/configure Traktor FS so it’s kinda hard to speak on this. I’ll let Nick handle that. Overall, the IU is fine for me, easy access to your mp3s/waves/whatever format. Play lists are easy, organization of songs, etc. Interface is easy to see, understand and use. After installing the software/drivers etc., its pretty much plug and play. In use (scratching) I didn’t notice anything different you can’t do with FS2 that you can’t do on vinyl…at first. The sound is great, a little digital sounding with drags somewhat, nothing anyone would notice in a live/club situation. Probable the only reason I noticed is because I was looking for it and we were in a controlled (sound) environment. I didn’t notice any latency at all. If there was any, I missed it or it wasn’t pointed out to me. Now in case you didn’t notice in the video or didn’t see it yet, during one of my scratch sessions I was doing a series of drags and all of a sudden the scratch loop just kept playing by itself… I wasn’t touching anything. Nick hit a key or two on the laptop and it stopped, but could you imagine being in a live performance situation? Than would suck! And I play live so this is definitely a hug concern. After the incident we all tried to get FS2 to mess-up/freak out with no success. Which I guess is good. I know Nick already mentioned this, but you can’t go from no movement to a rapid scratch movement. You won’t get any sound. You have to be in motion to do this. So yeah I guess this is a latency issue now that I think about it. Another minus. In use (mixing) I didn’t do any mixing with FS2. Mixing as in two records song mixing/beat juggling style, so I have nothing for this section. Summary Overall I liked FS2, but the latency is an issue. If I actually owned the product it might even be a bigger issue. The scratch amp is a little to big for portability, but it does have more features and if you can us you iPod…hell yeah. The iPod is something I’m going to look into and get back to you on. Rating – 7.5/10 Rane Serato Scratch I like the fact that the amp is smaller. It doesn’t have as many features as FS2, but if your just straight mixing/scratching… its ideal. Nothing fancy just a black box. Software I actually like the UI of Serato a little more for a few reasons. 1. There is a rotating circle (simulating a record) with a marker that always lets you know where you’re at on the record. It moves with the same motion as your record so it’s a lot more visually appealing to look at then the waveform. 2. Along side the vertical waveform, there is a small line that shows a marker where the snare hit/bass hit is (one or the other) depending on which one has the higher frequency. Very cool. I’m not exactly sure how I fell about the waveform being vertical. I, along with a lot of you are used to seeing waveforms being displayed diagonally. But I guess one could get used to this. In use (scratching) Now to the meat. I gotta be honest, I thought for sure that after using FS2, Serato was not going to hold a candle…I was wrong. I didn’t notice any latency at all. Not during slow drags or Uzi’s, nothing. And I really tried to mess Serato up, but the fact is nothing bad happened. The only this was some weird noise (cccckkkk) that the tone arm was picking up when not in play (touching vinyl). Manils cleans off the stylus and I stopped. Not sure about that. Other than that, is sounded great. In use (mixing) Again, I didn’t do any mixing with Serato, so noting for this section. Summary I really liked Serato. No latency issues, didn’t sound digital to me, I liked the record marker on the UI. No complaints here, except for the dirty needle/audio noise I mentioned earlier. Again, I don’t own Serato, so I’m really not sure of how much of an issue this is/could be. And to be honest, I don’t think it only a dirty stylus. Another thing that really surprised me was that this was running off of an Intel Pentuim Celeron. Which if you know much about computer, Celerons aren’t the best for audio and in my personal opinion aren’t really that great for much else. Anyway, again, I really liked Serato. Rating - 8.5/10 Numark CDX Nice sturdy casing, basically the same as a Numark TT turntable. Nice platter, Great torque speed. The pitch slide feels a little flimsy; I wish it felt a little more like a Technics 1200. I feel when using it I’m very conscious of the flimsy factor and an extra careful. The buttons feel ok. The smaller buttons feel that way; small. The jog wheel is easy to use to search through tracks. I would like the track select knob to be a little bigger/fatter. MIDI in/out, which I have not used. Digital out to use w/digital mixer or to connect to am external CD burner…I have not used these either. The spindle screw does become a little lose after a while, and in some cases I’ve read where they pop out and people lose them. Hasn’t happened to me…yet. Overall, I have no problems with it and in fact like it a lot. Software The main complaint I have is that you have to know the song/track name because it does not list the name of the track, only the track number. So if you have a CD with 100 mp3 tracks, you’d better write them down. The LCD display is easy to see/read. It shows the pitch, track number, track time, etc. The CDX has 5 onboard effect, sonar, slide, echo, filter, chop/pan, all controlled with the jog wheel. The CDX has a loop feature, smart loop, trim, auto Beatkeeper, BPM tap button. I’m not going to get into these, but will say that the effects cut out when you cut the fader off. Now I can’t understand this…it seems to make sense to everyone else I talk to but I don’t get it. It seams to me that the effect should be looping threw the actual CDX and the fader should not affect this. This really bothers me…a lot! In use (scratching) The one thing you don’t have to worry about with the CDX is latency. This is not a factor with this unit; I’ve owed a CDX for about 5 months and no problem. I will say that it does sound a little digital when doing very slow movements or very short fast movements. This is something no one would notice in a live situation, but in a controlled environment (bedroom/studio) you will notice this (depending on your ear). You can do everything with a CDX you can do with vinyl. All movements, all scratches. Feels just like vinyl. The only big difference is needle dropping and marker. Even if you but a maker on the record, it won’t be in the same spot when you eject the CD and put it in again. But to help this you can use the “CUE” button. It will start at the beginning of the track when you hit the button. Or if you stop it at the beginning of a sample and hit “CUE” it will start at that point every time. Confusing? Well, if you use it it’s very simple. In use (mixing) No problem when mixing. Just like a regular turntable. Like I said before the only thing is the record marker issue, which I think might be a problem when beat-juggling. Summary Although the CDX is a little deferent from the FS2/Serato solutions, it’s a great tool. And like the latter mentioned, it eliminates the bulky vinyl. The mail thing I like about the CDX is that you can use whatever audio/samples/music you want in one unit making it very mobile. Meaning, no laptop, extra cables, amp. But the down side is you don’t have the option of playing any vinyl. And truthfully because I am the way I am, with the CDX I will always carry a bag of vinyl and a turntable in my ride when I’m at a gig because I don’t want to be fucked if a CDX goes out or messes up. Rating – 8.5/10 Summary/Overall Impressions My situation might be a little different from Nick, Salty and Manils in that my primary live dj function is in a metal type band. So I’m looking for a very mobile/portable solution that I can use my own samples with. Because I’m in a band and I play venues with other bands, I have to be able to set up quick and a lot of times break down even quicker. I want something besides just vinyl because I make a lot of my own samples and use them with the band. You might say that a CDX is all I need, but what if I do want to use vinyl (which I still do), I can’t unless I set up a turntable also. And what if a CDX goes out…I need to be able to switch to vinyl on the fly…The CDX does not allow this. Now with FS2 and Serato, I do have the option of switching to vinyl if something happens. The scratch amp goes out or my laptop messes up. But now I’m looking at the portability issue, a laptop and a scratch amp. Now the Serato amp isn’t that big so it’s not a big deal, but the FS2 amp and a laptop. Depending on you needs and tastes, you’re looking at a $1500 to $2500 laptop to take to a club. That’s a lot of money to risk getting stolen of damaged. Ultimately I just want to be able to create my own samples, sounds, beats and manipulate them at will. For now I’m using a CDX but will very soon be moving to FS2 or Serato, I’m just not sure which. But in my fair opinion I’m really feeling Serato. djxman Click for a page: |
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