Numark DJ 2 Go Ultra-Portable USB DJ Controller for Mac or PC

Numark DJ 2 Go Ultra-Portable USB DJ Controller for Mac or PC
Customer Ratings: 4 stars
List Price: Price Unavailable
Sale Price: $42.75
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  • Ultra-portable USB DJ controller lets you DJ and perform with the music on your computer
  • Compatible with virtually any MIDI-capable DJ application
  • Mouseless navigation keeps your attention on the mix, not the mouse
  • Single USB cable provides easy integration with your PC or Mac
  • Familiar A/B deck and crossfader make using DJ2GO a snap
  • Includes VirtualDJ LE Lite Software
  • Also works with VirtualDJ Pro, Traktor, djay and PCDJ (each sold separately); no drivers required...just play and play

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If you are new to the digital DJ scene or if you are an experienced DJ that needs a quick fix controller, the Numark DJ2GO MIDI controller is one excellent solution! For the price, it doesn't get any better than this!

PROS:

1) New Digital DJ:

Do you want to try digital DJ'ing out but don't want to invest in a big ticket controller? The Numark DJ2GO is just the perfect controller! It comes with an LE version of Virtual DJ, one of the most downloaded music programs out there! This version perfectly matches the DJ2GO controller in layout and functionality, while still giving you enough flexibility to learn the ropes. It allows you to go beyond the mouse n' click method and helps develop the true fashion of mixing on the 1's & 2's. The built in fader, jog wheels and pitch & pitch bends allow any budding DJ to learn the basics of beat matching, mixing and allows you to get the feel of fading between songs. The DJ2GO allows for a cue point, which is enough for the basics. The pitch controls are great and allow any DJ to learn the proper way to match beats. There are even built in sync buttons, which today is great (even though the hardcore may call this cheating!). But in the digital age, it helps and there are all kinds of new methods to develop (mash-ups, quick mix, double beats, etc.). The DJ2Go gives you that touch/feel interface that helps develop your skills to become better DJ!

2) Experienced DJ:

Hey, even the experienced DJ will appreciate having the DJ2GO in their arsenal. I have a Numark NS7FX, which is considered by many to be one of the top controllers available. However, there are times that I want to listen and mix new songs without hooking up. That's where the DJ2GO steps in. It has enough controlability to allow you to experiment and mix songs, testing proper cue points, listening for beats and vocal breaks all this while sitting outside on the patio enjoying the sun or anywhere you'd like! Since the DJ2GO is USB powered, you can plug it into your laptop and just mix away! Don't get me wrong I LOVE my NS7FX but if you own one you know full well it's "portability" is outweighed by its 75 lb. girth (Deck & Flight Case combined, also available at Amazon!)!!!! The DJ2GO is lightweight and tough enough to do any mini-gig, house party, or backyard bash you happen to do and with ease!

Being a full MIDI controller, the DJ2GO can be used with almost any program! As long as you can map it, it will work (I only use it with the supplied Virtual DJ, but I've read forums where people use it with Virtual DJ Pro, Traktor, and other DJ programs. I'll update you when I try it with ITCH). The DJ2GO will help you with your music arsenal, giving you a great tool for listening and learning your music library! Again, it beats the old mouse n' click approach any day!

Other Pros: super portable, compact, great build quality (it's soooo deceiving when it's in the packaging), solid controls, RUBBERIZED BUTTONS (feels like my NS7FX), headphone cue-ability (read on), master and individual track volume controls, +/pitch bends (though you can use the platters as well), scratch-ability (basic with the platters), and most important an affordable PRICE!!!

CONS:

1) No built in sound card: this means you'll need a USB compatible headphone (or adapter, many available here on Amazon) to properly CUE your songs while using headphones. This is important for budding DJ's to develop that skill, but for more experienced DJ's it's a minor point (I find that most experienced DJ's don't even use headphones they KNOW their music and KNOW all the cue points). You can also use a better built plug in sound card if you have one.

2) Only one CUE button: your standard CUE button is there, but if you are like me, those 5 CUEs on the NS7FX really spoil you!

3) No bells or whistles: okay, no loop features, no FX controls, but hey, if you are looking for those features, then the DJ2GO isn't really for you (note: if you use Virtual DJ Pro, those are all available to you with a simple click of your mouse, so all is not lost).

Overall, the Numark DJ2GO is an excellent controller for any new or experienced DJ. Giving you hands-on control, the DJ2GO will provide you with the power to get the party started! I recommend this controller to everyone!

UPDATE (07/20/2011): just tried it with Serato ITCH the program does not recognize the DJ2GO. That's probably because ITCH is propriatory to the controllers it is sold with (my Numark NS7FX for example). Well, I tried... would have been nice though...

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Who am II'm a pro, I made a living off of making people dance for several years before moving on to other things (that don't involve divorce and poverty). My old rig was a pair of Stanton STR8-150's, a crap Behringer 7-channel that wouldn't die, and final scratch. I know my ish. I sold all my gear after a divorce and major career/life/everything change, and I've been dying to get back into some tables to blow off stress for really, really cheap. So I spent many hours researching this little guy, and all of the other USB MIDI controllers in the neighborhood of $0-$100, and wound up with this one.

Ok. The good: It's a sturdy device with rubber feet that fits the width of my laptop perfectly (though I'm currently running it on a desktop in my evil man cave lair). Install was cake. I'm running XP Pro on a Pentium 4 (x86) 3GHz, with 2Gb RAM. I strongly recommend getting a stronger sound card than what comes stock in your machine for thisit will really tax your processor. Loading songs, and scanning them for BPM, etc. puts my proc at 100% for 10+ seconds. But, even only with the stock sound card (my Asus Xonar DG is still in the mail, I'll make an update when it arrives....) it doesn't lag, pop or glitch when the proc is running at full blast/overrunning, which is awesome. The screen directly mirrors the controller, so you'll be very hard pressed to mess it up. I think the install took 3 minutes, and I was into my second bass drop in under 5.

Another feature not seen in this price range generally is that you don't need to use the keyboard on your computer at all. There's a rotary switch top center of the controller, and back/enter buttons that take you one level into or out of a folder. It's very quick, and behaves appropriately. You will probably need the mouse though, for fun things like jumping quickly to the drop of a song, for instance. Because bass drops are proof that God loves us.

The pitch bendwhen you click on it, it goes from 6%-8%-10%-12%-20%-25%-33%-50%-100%, which means you can do limited vinyl emulation like motor on/off, etc., by setting it to 100% and sliding it from the middle to the end of the fader/potentiometer. When you change the pitch bend factor on either deck, it changes for both decks, so you can't have 100% on A and 6% on B. The jog wheels also pitch up/down per this setting. So. Here's what you CAN do. You can set your 12% BPM on A, adjust it, get it playing, and then adjust your pitch bend factor to 100%, get B in sync, and so long as you don't cross from to + on A, it will hold the original value of 12%, fully adjustable within 12%, again, so long as you don't cross the threshold from slow to fast. At 0% it adopts the current setting. It doesn't jump to 100% like what you're running on side B.

The settings for outputs are a little wonky, but you'll figure them out quick. You can either select everything to go out a stereo headphone jack (for instance, though any output on your selected sound card) and have the left be headphone and right be mains, but then of course you lose stereo. You can also select multiple sound cards (I strongly recommend) and pick sound card 1 from the drop down, and then pick headphones from the next drop down, and repeat for the mains with sound card 2. Just get one (or several, safety first!!) of the cheap USB sound cards and you're set.

There are no inputs or outputs on this device, just a USB cable in, just like a camera (USB-Mini USB???). It's just a controller. It doesn't have ANYTHING else. Numark also makes a pair of USB headphones with an internal soundcard, for something like $50. You could go that route too. Keep in mind that for the price of this thing, and still how indestructible it feels, you're not going to get a software-rich controller that you're going to take to your next club gig. Although you probably could....

If you're a sync-dj, the sync buttons work great to get you very close, but you'll still have to massage it just a bit to get it right. As you should.

The jog wheels on mine spin freely (there were other complaints of them sticking in some of the other posts), and the buttons are standard issue Numark rubber. And the rubber lights up, which I wasn't necessarily expecting for this price. The jog wheels are light, but solid, and very responsive. They don't wobble free or self-adjust forward/backward if you go for a scratch and go back and forth really fast. They do stay true, although without touch sensitivity, in scratch mode the wheels grab whenever they sense movement, and release when the wheel stops moving. So if you're going to scratch, pause the music, do your scratching, hit play>cue really quick to catch your groove wherever you want. Slightly clunky, but I had it running seamlessly after just a few tries.

Now the bad:

I almost subtracted a star for two reasons-

1: There are no instructions that come with this unit, and there are shortcuts like, "push and hold the load track button to toggle scratching/jogging on the wheel" that aren't documented anywhere. And that's pretty effing important. Also, the left and right mouse buttons do not behave the same, or as expected across the interface. The version that ships with the controller is a one-off version of VDJ, and no amount of searching the intarwebs rendered any help with the scratch/jog issue. I spent an hour trying to figure out if my unit had gone TU when it randomly started scratching in the middle of my first set. It turns out I'd just pressed the load button too long, but it wasn't anywhere in the docs. The supplied instructions are generic instructions for the Pro version of VDJ, not this _very_ customized version.

2: You cannot remap the buttons in the version that comes with the hardware, nor can you reskin it. To me those are cosmetic things, but still, it isn't mentioned much of anywhere. I did find an XML file that appears to have the color layouts, and if I get cocky I might tweak it a little and see what happens (and if I succeed, I'll post it here). I'm about to map this controller in Fruity Loops 9, however, and when I do, I'll supply my commentary on that. I'm pretty excited about having a device I can DJ off of, and use for tactile feedback on my knob tweaks. More to follow.....

Also the provided layout is a bit buggy, but it's all in the minutia, not the bones. For instance, when you mouse-over the controls, there's the actual name of the XML control tag along with the text that was supposed to show. Not sure if that was intentional, but geeks will find it sloppy. Though I certainly can't take a star for that.

But yeah. I left it at 5-stars because this is the most rock-solid device you can buy, IMHO. Bang-for-buck wise, this thing is absolutely the best. Get one, if you hate itthrow it out, or donate it to a lonely, starving child in Africa or something. But it's cheap enough that you can use it as a vehicle chock, or watch it get thrown from a jet and not cry. I sure hope this helps you guys.

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This midi controller is really a great piece of equip for the price. While its not loaded with features and the jog wheels are a lil too touchy for my liking, what it does it does very well. I actually just dj'd a wedding with this lil bad boy and it went off with out a hitch. its nice because you can throw it in your bag with a laptop, headphones and the numark dj i/o (which is basically a must if you want to actually listen to the music you're queuing up) and as long as you have an amp and some speakers to tap into you're a fully functioning dj.

Comes with "Virtual dj lite" which works perfectly with the controller. I would also suggest anybody new to dj'ing grab this set up which is just over $100 (again with the DJ I/O) before you go nuts and dump a ton of cash into tt's and a mixer, to make sure this is something you want to keep doing and not just a brief fling.

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This controller is fantastic for starters.

Within 2 days I was spinning and getting creative with these decks. I'll share with you some of the features that make this thing so great:

1. The pitch bend buttons and switch always baffled me but after trial-and-error I learned that the bend buttons are used to minutely speed or slow the track down. I mix EDM and you can hear it clearly when the kicks are off time.

2. The slider is very smooth and sensitive but will only move when you will it to. You've got to learn to keep your hands above these decks and not level like you would a laptop.

3. The "cue" button is used to set a cue point for songs that VirtualDJ SAVES so you have it later! You have to get to know each of your tracks.

4. "Sync" button is a no-brainer, but when pressed with the play button simultaneously, syncs the tracks on beat if you mess it up.

Only downsides:

1. There is no headphone jack, the only wire in this thing is the USB.

2. Load buttons need to be pressed twice, or once unnaturally firmly.

3. The tiny "plates" are inaccurate but good for quick spinning forward or back if you really boned up the last change

Basically,

5/5

Buy it and get cracking

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the Good :

it's very portable, easy to use, plug-n-play and perfect for a beginner or experienced DJ wanting to do basic blends.

the Bad:

So small that sometimes my finger would accidentally hit the jog wheel causing my beat to throw off. The biggest downside was the software. VirtualDj LE lite is about as basic as you can get. There are more features on the free Home version, so this was about the only real dissapointment. Since I only paid $35 for it, I would still say it's worth the money and I'm having fun with it.

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