Vestax Typhoon Midi Controller

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List Price: $429.00
Sale Price: $197.98
Today's Bonus: 54% Off

• Built in sound card
• Bus powered
• Vestax quality Input fader/Cross fader curve control
• Simple plug & play activation with Macintosh and Windows OS
• Headphone output and Mic input

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This is one of the two videos that I also uploaded online on Youtube, I have been using this unit for about 2 weeks on a Windows 7 64 bit Intel I7 laptop. Its made by Vestax, a company known for making solid High End DJ gear, just do a web search for all the top DJs using Vestax gear (DJ Qbert, Craze, tons of radio/ party djs) so I don't have too many doubts about its solid build quality, that being said the unit is almost completely plastic, and the faders don't have the rugged feel like some of Vestax's more expensive gear. The reason I chose this unit over the less expensive Midi-Only Controller units by Numark, Hercules, and others is because the Typhoon is currently the only one I liked in this price range with its own built in soundcard. For anybody new to laptop djing this means that the Typhoon works as a standalone mixing unit connected to your laptop, you don't have to go purchase a seperate DJ soundcard.

Now for some of the cons of the Typhoon:

When I first got it I wasn't able to get the audio output to work correctly, in fact I was running Traktor LE through another soundcard of mine the Saffire LE (see my other reviews for info). This was very disappointing and as someone with pretty good experience working with audio soundcards, I was using the ASIO drivers (under Audio settings), which are ALWAYS better than the Windows Direct X or even WDM drivers, and still the audio was distorted or would freeze up altogether. I looked online at the Vestax site and read some complaints about Traktor and the Typhoon running on some Intel I series laptops and 64 Bit setups, and thought "Damn I love the feel of this unit, but am probably going to have to return it". I'm glad before returning it I went to the VESTAX ASIO Typhoon control panel that installs as a seperate program when you set up the Typhoon on my laptop, and changed the driver setting from WASAPI mode to KERNEL Streaming and set them to exclusive mode (meaning not shared w other programs), once I did that the RCA audio outputs on the Typhoon worked fine, and I am able to get the audio latency down low (about 15 ms or milleseconds so far), this improved the scratching and responsiveness of the platter, but the crossfader I have to say isn't designed for heavy scratching in my opinion. . Also as a side note you shouldn't use your dj or mixing soundcard as your default WINODWS soundcard, that what the cheap ones in your laptop are for, keep your pro soundcards for your mixing or audio programs. Anway sorry for the very long review, but I know from years of experience with audio gear how frustrating it can be having problems setting up a unit you buy and having to figure out everything on your own, so hopefully I answered a couple questions in my review for other people having similiar issues. Couple more things, if you are going to use this for a club environment then you definitely need RCA to XLR, or RCA to 1/4 adapter cables, as most clubs don't use amps with RCA inputs Pyle PPRC-X05 Dual 5ft. Professional Audio Link Cable XLR Female to RCA Male, Amazon has some of these sold through other vendors.

This video uploaded of me doing a very basic juggling of Amerie's "More than Love" In Love & War is only after about a day before of using the Typhoon and getting used to the way the platter feels, so its not gonna win any DJ Battles competition, I know that already so don't waste your time typing text, just wanted to show some of what you can beyond alot of other videos I've seen on it. I plan to add some more vids of using the unit on my blog (see profile) or youtube soon. All that being said, I think that if you are trying to learn how to be the "next" DJ Craze or Qbert, etc, then your best bet is going with a vinyl alone (like I and tons of other djs started with) set up or Vinyl Tables with Serato Scratch or Traktor Pro, or at least a higher end DJ controller like the Vestax VCI-300 Dedicated USB MIDI DJ Controller for Serato ITCH (Black) or the Numark NS7 DJ Turntable Controller with Serato ITCH Software. If you aren't sure and just want to get your feet wet, or are looking for an affordable and portable unit, then in my opinion the Typhoon is the way to go. Don't get into the hype of thinking you need a DJ controller or software with 10,000 effects buttons and some super motorized faders, I still remember the dayz when the even most of the best DJs just had 2 Technics TECHNICS SL-1200MK2 Turntable and a cheap Gemini mixer.

PROS:

All in one Controller (soundcard + midi), Compact, portable, works well with Traktor LE, works with Windows 7 64 bit, also MAC compatible (I've read online), Vestax has good track record, control platters are responsive

CONS:

Audio Drivers (software) may take some additional setup with Windows 64 bit or Intel I series laptops, faders have a very light feel, made mostly of plastic

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Very Nice Machine, comes with Tractor Le software you just have to register the software after loading. I was mixing using cd's for years, this cuts out cd's skipping, not being able to enjoy a party becuz i have to listen every darn second to make sure im not skipping. Very user friendly, I actually scouted the Typhoon for about 6months prior to purchasing, I saw clips on YouTube and could not find it anywhere in the U.S.A. I ended up getting one from EBay it came from Canada. Ive had mine about 2months now and im darn near a professional. I can play any club,bar,restaurant in the city. Im from Philly so I dj quite frequently, I do bars and parties every weekend. If ur a seasoned pro like myself or a beginner and need something not too complicated but good enuf to get u goin this is definitely the machine. The only downside I would say is, its not really set up to plug a mic and go live through the house. I do it anyway and get a slight delay but i work through it. I scratch, mix, crossfade everything. Im slowly but surely learning all the scratching tricks. This is the REaldeal, and is wayyyyyy more affordable than the serato itch whatever u call it. It does the exact same thing. Ive workd with Serato, and this is just as good if you have skills.I couldnt wait to leave a review on here,Typhoon Rocks!!

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i am a DJ of 12yrs i started out on records now i am one of the many laptop DJ this player is nice an compact now i own a mix track pro that is also a good player but the big difference is size works great this product is a good buy for party an club DJ

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I am an amateur DJ, but I have tried several different qualities of equipments, from the most pro to the very cheap stuff. The Vestax Typhoon is just a perfect machine for the 99% of the time of a DJ performance. Unlike other cheap machines similar to this one(I am referring mostly to the Hercules ones), the Typhoon has the most common buttons for DJing where you need them, they are big enough, the feel when you touch them is good enough, and the jog wheel quality is just much above than all its competitors. That is important if you pretend to mix songs and adjust the tempo manually and not just relying on the software (basically, what a Dj is supposed to do). They are good enough for scratching too, and this is something that most of the similar machines cannot handle decently.

It comes with Tracktor LE, what is one of the best programs available (I can't stand the horrible virtual dj). Ok, now I have to thanks DJ Exquiz who wrote another review and solved the main problem I found with the Typhoon: with my windows 7 64 bits the jog wheels were not working properly (the music was distorted). Follow his guidelines about changing the driver to Kernel and it will be solved, because in the Vestax website I didn't find anything related with this problem. But now that everything works fine, I am really pleased with this purchase (after returning an Hercules), because the quality is better than I expected for the price. Actually I think they are increasing the price of the Typhoon (I bought it for 279), so that means that they are realising that the machine is being re-valuating. Check other places than Amazon before, just in case.

In conclusion, it is the first Vestax product that I buy, but now I trust in their quality, and I am very happy with this portable machine, I dont need to buy anything else to do great parties everywhere!

Well, actually one thing you need to buy apart is the audio cable to use its RCA connections. I recommend to buy it at the same time, but check first about the length (buy it quite long to use it everywhere), and the type of connection you will need for your audio equipment (jack, RCA, minijack, etc.)

cheers!

Very good device. I used to play some years ago and just wanted to have Typhoon for home parties. After test I understood that it can be used even in big clubs. It is possible to record samples and use that during mixes, use different effect and mixing became very easy.

I can recomend that for everyone.