Introduction
My love for Numark's all in one slab of nextlevelness aka the NS7 is well documented. And it was always screamingly obvious to me that at some point, Serato would decree that the one to one mapping principle of ITCH would be proven, and that separate units would slowly disseminate from various existing ITCH partners.
Thus the very logical Numark V7 was devised. It was probably always going to come out rather than be some spark of an idea based on NS7 usage. And rather nice it is too.
In a nutshell
The Numark V7 is a ITCH based deck. It is essentially the deck part hacked off an NS7 with an NSFX effects unit and a sound card grafted inside the industrial stylings of Numark new. Like the NS7 before it, it's a 2 speed high torque direct drive motor with a real 7" slice of control vinyl.
A real draw of the V7 is the 2 decks in one metaphor. Round the back you'll find heaps of ports, but most notable are the deck A and B outputs, as well as regular RJ45 ports to hook a pair of V7s together. Yes - you can use one V7 to control 2 decks in ITCH. More on this later.
Operation is dependant on having a laptop running ITCH. There's no audio inputs or CD - just a whopping great logo where a slot should be. That doesn't for a second mean that I feel that the V7 should have a CD slot of course - far from it. CDs are so last millenium as testified by the sheer volume of music that exists on laptop and HDs instead of physical media.
So without the computer, running the necessary version of ITCH (in this case v1.5), the V7 is nothing more than a good looking paperweight. Sooo...
TIP: Be sure to have some sort of audio backup to plug into your mixer should ITCH go belly up on you. An iPod with a mix on it for example would be good.
Not wishing to regurgitate half of the NS7 review verbatim, I'll give you the link to it here, will briefly cover the same features on the V7 but will focus on what's special to this unit over the NS7.
First Impressions
The new Numark style is lovely - throwing geometric shapes left, right and centre, and most definitely resigning curves to last decade's fashion statement. It's all about straight lines, sharp edges and minimal colour schemes, while using high quality tactile materials to top off the aesthetic. Adding to the quality feel is the the V7 are the relative rattle and wobble-free controls. The pots are remarkably solid and turn smoothly - the buttons are highly responsive and light up with great clarity.
One key difference to the NS7 is the layout. Being an all in one meant that Numark could have an entirely symmetrical layout. Some baulked at the thought, but the reality was that it worked really well. But now traditionalist can rejoice for the layout is in the more familiar pitch on the right format.
Sizewise, the V7 comes in at 363x323 - unsurprisingly almost the same as a CDJ-1000, thus getting a case for the V7 shouldn't be an issue. And no doubt, Numark will have something specific coming out in due course. Oh wait - they already have. One thing to note is that the height is a little less than the standard. This means that if you use a mixer with a lipped faceplate, it's going to interfere with controls. You'll need to put some spacers between your V7s and mixer or raise the V7s to stop this happening.
So overall, the V7 nails it in terms of quality and looks, plus it fits into existing booths and flightcases. Tick and tick.
Let's now break down the basics and then move to the more technical features.
The Platter
Just like the NS7, the V7 features a solid heavy platter and high torque motor, as well as a real 7" vinyl sat on top. The feel can be customised too with a choice of torque settings (full on finger ripping or a bit softer), as well being able to adjust the tension between the vinyl and slipmat, both of which can be swapped for ones of your choice - even those godawful Gold and Silver ones that people find popular. It's also switchable between 33 and 45 in the ITCH software.
TIP: Put some sort of marker on the vinyl. It helps eliminate the soul destroying waveform hypnotic state that many DJs suffer, and makes your performance a lot more fun for you and your audience.
Beyond the basic function, the V7 has start and stop rotary controls, giving 0-10 seconds for both. There's also a temporary bleep (for hiding potty mouth and suchlike) and reverse function that puts the platter and audio in full reverse. You can also switch the motor off completely - something I find especially handy when stuttering cues or doing cue point routines. That platter is really heavy and does take a short time to get up to speed - enough to cause a slight slur.
Pitch
The V7 does has a smooth but reasonably stiff 100mm pitch fader, with a small centre zero zone that lights up when activated. Software controls the ranges which are 8, 16 and 50%, each of which has an apparent resolution of 0.01%. The V7 also offers pitch bend buttons, which seem to offer an infinite amount of linear bend - way beyond that which you might need in your quest for beatmatching perfection.
The V7 also offers master tempo, locking the key while still allowing pitch change. It's a pretty solid time stretching algorithm, give good quality at all but the extremes i.e. it's better at speeding up than slowing down.
But this is where the beauty of the link between the decks first comes into play. See that huge SYNC button under the platter? This effectively ties the pitch of both decks together. When you press SYNC on one deck, its pitch slider becomes locked and control is handed over to the other deck, and at the same time makes the BPM the same as the second deck.
This however goes one step further. Assuming ITCH has analysed your tracks properly, it can be used to sync the beats as well. Press shift and SYNC will see ITCH align the beats as well. It's not always right first time, but you can press it successively as it steps in beat measures until you get that locked beat.
You also get visual feedback from the BPM meter - that's the row of LEDs just above the V7 logo. It shows a mismatch between the BPMs on the decks. Having no real numerical value or scale, I find this to be merely a bit useful rather than having any kind of accuracy. I'm sure it's more a matter getting used to it though.
Working in one deck mode however was nothing short of a mindmelt as I attempted to get my head around using 1 real deck to control 2 virtual ones. The syncing and beat locking seems to work just the same though. The success of it comes down to your own mental dexterity.
Yes people - it's auto sync. You may feel that it's the very end of DJ civilisation, but I find it extremely useful.
Loops and Hot Cues
No change here from the NS7 as far as I can see - the V7 has the same 5 hot cue buttons as the NS7 and work in just the same way. Pressing a hot cue at the required point (static or spinning) defines the cue point. Once set, you can play them as a stutter with a static platter and also while spinning too. Pressing the delete turns the white button red and allows you to delete a defined point, or with shift you can delete multiple points. You cannot however overwrite a cue point.
What I do like is the link function. Having a pair of these V7s hooked up together means that defining a hot cue on one deck applies it to the same track on the other deck. Oh the joys of sharing a single source of music.
IDEA: I think I'd have preferred to be able to redefine rather than delete and define. Perhaps the shift/cue button could be a software selection to redefine a hot cue? I feel it's a more immediate method of working.
Again, no real changes here from the NS7's looping either. While the manual looping works in much the same way as most other digital systems, it's the auto method that will probably find most favour. Assuming that ITCH has sorted the BPM properly, you can instantly enable loops, as well as crunch them and extend them in beat based measures. You can also skip the beat measure around the track as well.
IDEA: I'd STILL like to see defined loops on the small waveform!
Track Navigation
Having no actual media to stuff inside a slot, you do need a way to load up your digital collection into the V7. That's where ITCH comes in. While its main function (invisible to you of course) is to drive the hardware, as far as you're concerned it's all about managing your library.
But the striking thing about ITCH is that your focus is on your gear rather than adopting the hated laptop trance. Thus Serato and their partners devised a very intuitive way to navigate your way around your crates and files without having to resort to touching the keyboard.
The difference here is that you get one complete set of controls per deck. So if you have a pair linked up, you can load tracks into A or B from either V7, thus you can use just one deck for track loading or either - it's really up to you. Once you get past the learning curve of loading into the correct deck you'll be fine.
And of course, having made a huge splash with the wonderfully named strip search, it's also included on the V7 too. Still works the same, but because of the link you can switch to the other deck and use it on there too. Seems that you could pretty much work from just one deck for all your navigation needs.
So having covered off the basics, let's see what the V7 has to offer that we haven't seen before.
That Shift Button
While ITCH's 1 to 1 button mapping is admirable, there's always going to be a time when there's just not enough buttons - which is where the V7's (NOT your keyboard's) shift button comes in handy. This adds extra functionality to the navigation and loop controls:
Navigation:
SHIFT + CRATE = sort current view by Song
SHIFT + PREPARE = sort current view by Artist
SHIFT + FILES = sort current view by BPM
SHIFT + FWD - Sort current view by album
SHIFT + BACK - Sort current view by track number
Looping:
SHIFT + 1, 2, 4, 8 = Loop Roll 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1
SHIFT + SYNC = beat sync
SHIFT + 1/2, 2x, L, R = Selects Stored Loops 1-4 and Reloops them instantly
SHIFT + Track Next / Prev = fast forward/fast rewind
Good work Serato. It'll be interesting to see just how much extra juice they can squeeze out of the V7 and NS7 with future ITCH tweaks. No doubt additional lumps of hardware will unlock extra features too.
Effects
The ITCH architecture means that with 1 to 1 mapping, you have to add on extra bits of hardware to enable certain features. Thus while effects technically exist when you install ITCH, you need something like a Numark NSFX or Vestax VFX to make them come alive.
But the V7 has an NSFX built right into it… well not a whole one - 33-50% of one really. Instead of the multiple effects to multiple sources fun and games of the NSFX, you get to add one effect at a time.
Effects are handled with 4 controls - an on/off button, a wet/dry control, a parameter adjust knob and an effects selector knob. The effects are echo, delay, reverb, high pass filter (HPF), low pass filter (LPF), phaser, flanger, tremolo, repeater, reverser, braker and crusher. Each one is beat based with the effects parameter changing the signature from 1/16th up to 8 beats.
Quality wise, I'd say you were looking at DJ quality rather than recording quality. And based on the effects themselves, I class that as more than good enough for the task at hand - especially as they're prefader anyway. If you want better effects, buy an effects unit and route them post fader.
I find the effect selection to be somewhat fiddly. Onscreen, you're presented with a next effect and current effect box. Using the FX Select knob scrolls through the available selection, and pressing it down makes it the current selection.
I think I would have liked there to be some sort of graphical difference between next and current selection. Being used to the VCI-300 and xone-dx's abilities to apply 2 effects, at first glance it feels like you get 2 effects to play with - but you don't.
The big caveat here is that unlike all in one ITCH units, the effects are all pre-fader - well that's obvious really. For mix DJs, it's not so much of a problem, but for the scratchier DJs out there, having delays, echos and reverbs cut off with fader dexterity may prove an issue. It's not Numark or Serato's fault - just a symptom of anything that plugs into a mixer.
Using V7s with other ITCH devices
While ITCH units are largely self contained boxes, some wacky types with deep pockets might want to mix 'n' match said units to make an ideal setup. My advice - don't. While I did have some success using the V7s as truly scratchable platters with a VCI-300 inside a single instance of ITCH, it was a less than solid performance. And with the xone:DX, it would barely run without crashing out or freezing.
I know some of you will gnash teeth at what you feel is an oversight on Serato's part, but it really isn't. The 1 to 1 mapping principle means that if a jogwheel is assigned, it's not going to be too happy if another comes along. So face facts - it's not supported and will leave you very disappointed.
1 or 2 decks?
As previously mentioned, the V7 is 2 decks in one. You can run it entirely on its own as a single deck or controlling both decks in ITCH. There are controls to define decks A and B as well as a master button which defines which deck controls the computer.
Linking 2 decks together is as simple as plugging the supplied RJ45 cable from one deck to another. Firing up ITCH and switching on the decks will see them auto-configure themselves accordingly. No ridiculous DVS style cable jumble - just a pair of RCAs, a USB cable and a link cable.
It does get somewhat confusing when dealing with just one deck though. If you take the EKS OTUS for example - switching decks means that all the lights change colour. On the V7, it's a manual switch with one small letter A or B to tell you which deck you're one. These quick very obvious markers reinforce the 2 decks in one principle, but this isn't quite the case with the V7. You really do need to spend quite a bit of time getting used to the mindset of having 2 tracks running happily on one set of controls.
The problem arises when trying to keep 2 complete decks in your head and keep track of pitch, cues and effects all sharing the same controls. You do get a degree of help from the V7 with takeover lights showing you where pitch should be.
It's certainly clever that the V7 can achieve the most complex of tasks. Don't get me wrong - for regular A to B mixing, it's very capable. But I wouldn't recommend it to anyone for busy work. That is unless you take the time to condition your brain into a split process way of thinking.
4 decks?
When the V7 first hit, the internet was agog with speculation (including yours truly) that this 2 in 1 functionality would mean you could run 4 decks from a pair of V7s. Sadly, this is not to be. The problem it seems is ITCH's ability to differentiate 2 different audio interfaces in one setup. When running with 2 decks, the audio output is from just one of the V7s, which does rather back up the single interface issue.
So for now, a pair of V7s will only control 2 decks in ITCH. And having tried to use one V7 for 2 decks, I'm quite happy about that. Perhaps the 4 channel X7 mixer with its dual USB and dual links may mean something. And equally the more mentally adept amongst you might be able to juggle 4 hugely similar virtual decks when on 2 real ones exist.
DJ Changeover
The hot topic right now is making the changeover from one digital DJ to another as smooth as humanly possible. Computers are lovely and all that, but they do make the booth an unnecessarily complex place.
But the V7 aims to make that transition a whole lot easier. Because each deck has its own outputs and USB, it's quite possible to have an extremely efficient switchover, simply by plugging the second laptop into the spare USB port and hitting the MASTER button. This then hands over control to the new laptop, leaving the original DJ to unplug and leave. Nice.
Mystery Switch
Having already covered off all the stuff round the back, we're left to ponder on the use of the "deck location switch". All the manual says is that it's "reserved for future use". I can only assume the Numark are hedging their bets that 4 decks might be possible at some point and the location switch will relate to the screen position of decks in ITCH or something. Watch this space.
In Use
If you're used to using a laptop in your DJ life (most are these days) then stepping up to a pair of V7s is going to be a familiar experience. But for me, this is better than using a DVS system. Why? Well I despise constantly referring to my laptop to do even the most basic of tasks. So being able to scratch, juggle, loop, fire hot cues and use effects and only have to LOOK at my screen is my idea of digital DJ heaven.
And all this hands-on turntable trickery is as close to spinning real vinyl as you can expect from a 7" unit. It certainly puts all other 7" units to shame. I can pull off 99% of my scratch repertoire and find juggling to be way more entertaining than using 12" vinyl, and without the needle skips too. See - I'm focussed on creating a great set instead of worrying about technical issues. I DJ because it's fun, rather than surmounting obstacles.
The V7 also comes with fader start. So if your mixer is so enabled, you'll be able to trigger cue point start from your mixer. And because of the syncing, you'll still be able to pull off my favourite NS7 trick too.
I expect that most potential customers will be looking at buying a pair rather than just one, and in this respect the V7s rock. Granted - they're tied to a laptop and should it crash, you're left high and dry. That said, I've never had ITCH crash while using the V7s - or any other ITCH device for that matter. Both the software and hardware have performed flawlessly in the time I've had them.
But working with just a single V7 has a lot going for it as well. While it is a space saver, I did find it to be a lot of fun for scratching over a beat - on the same unit. We can only hope that Numark and Serato can make the whole 4 deck scenario happen. This will make a great many people very happy and doubtlessly generate a greater number of sales. Please don't shout at them - I'm sure they're working hard on overcoming the obvious technical issues associated with addressing 2 interfaces at once.
MIDI
Obviously, the V7 is designed from the ground up to work seamlessly with Serato's ITCH. And even though that's a high speed protocol, the V7 is still a MIDI controller. Obviously, being so new, support from other applications will come, but is very much in the realm of third party manufacturers to provide the support rather than Numark.
DJ Quartz has done some sterling work in getting the NS7 to work with Traktor, amd seemingly entirely off his own back too. So hopefully full support for the V7 is just around the corner.
Summary
So finally ITCH aims itself at the CDJ market. And it does it with style, as a pair of V7s comes in at half the price of the CDJ-900s and offers a few more features as well. No longer will you have to burn and feed a hungry CD deck with music you had in your laptop - just let ITCH do all the hard work of managing your music for you without a piece of media in sight.
You may like to scream "industry standard in clubs" at me when I speak of CDJs, but not everyone works in clubs. In fact, there's a big wide world of DJs out there who never set foot in a booth, making the V7 an ideal potential purchase for a great many people. And having Serato's pedigree and equally industry standard name, the V7 is a very safe bet in my book.
But the acid test is playing with them. And having played with the V7s at length, this is the closest I've come to considering a full time switch from vinyl - and that's some testament from someone who still doesn't use a DVS on a regular basis either. The ability to do all the hot cue trickery, as well as the pure joy of mixing and juggling on these units with my choice of mixer is highly compelling. The simplicity and stability of Serato's ITCH is highly compelling too. I simply love the fact that my laptop keyboard never gets touched - except to quit ITCH.
The form factor should be a seller for people who were put off by the all in oneness of the NS7. Now you can have your choice of mixer, be it 2 channel scratch mixer or multi-channel effects laden monster. The added beauty is that if one deck breaks, you still have 2 decks to play with and can send one away for repair with only minor inconvenience. Touch wood that doesn't happen though.
There's something of interest for all types of DJs. I urge you all to take a long hard look at the Numark V7, especially if you're in the single CD unit market too. It's time to wake up and smell the coffee - media is dead.
Ratings
Build Quality
This is Numark at premium level. One word - tank.
Sound Quality
Audio quality is only as good as the input. But the output keeps my ears happy. The effects however are DJ quality rather than studio quality. The crowd will dance though and that's what counts.
Features and Implementation
As a single unit, it hits many nails on many heads. Loops, cues, track navigation, effects and real platter all sit happily together in a cohesive unit.
Value For Money
Given that this comes in considerably cheaper that other high quality single units, and offers such an array of features, the bang for buck ratio is high.
Bottom Line
If you're looking for a media-free DJ experience without feeling like a controller rocker, the V7s are perfect for you, and are a truly viable alternative to CDJs.
Gallery
What would a skratchworx review be without a set of cool photos? Well here they are.
