One of the hardest problems of DJing with vinyl is the setup…that or maybe pulling an index finger muscle during the first mix and missing half the season on the disabled list. Anyways, the setup, meaning all of the equipment needed is cumbersome. Just to rattle off some of the things needed - two turntables, minimum 2 channel mixer, sound system (which can include an amplifier and various speakers), cables galore, extension chords, etc. Sometimes there are various CD players, MIDI controllers, keyboards and effect units laying around as well. All of this stuff needs to be prepared and organized in some sort of fashion and is usually laying on top of a makeshift table…and most of the time, very unstable and leaning to one side because there’s always one leg longer than the rest.
Then the vinyl comes into play.
A single record’s weight is almost meaningless. Once you combine one record with about 40 others…it starts to weigh a ton. That’s a scientific fact. Try carrying two record bags, each with 40 to 50 records. ugh. By the way, if anyone is looking for quality bags, I have always had great experience with UDG bags.
Anyways, all of this means, I’m sick of not being able to Dj while traveling and I’m sick of lugging around 80 records. I always wanted something portable, but something that doesn’t sacrifice quality. That something seems to have finally arrived.
The unit above (VCI-300), is produced by Vestax. What makes this DJ controller so special is the engineering. All other controllers can be configured to work with the various DJ software out on the market. While this flexibility sounds optimal, it is not because the hardware and the software companies are working independently of each other and therefore the highest quality can not be achieved. The VCI-300 has been built to work with a single piece of software, called Itch. The collaboration between the companies and the creation of “one to one” hardware to software mapping has allowed for superior performance.
Itch is made by one of the DJ software industry leaders, Serato. The company is most famous for their Scratch Live application. I’m focusing on being mobile, this is important to remember because there’s another piece of hardware that has been developed in parallel (Numark NS7), but this unit it much larger and is basically replacing two turntables and a mixer with single the same size of all three….so below you will find the highlights of Itch and the VCI-300.
Serato ITCH is an integrated software and hardware system that provides complete control for music selectors and DJs.
Integrated “one to one” hardware to software mapping for instant control and minimum setup time.
Serato and ITCH partners have developed a professional standard that enables a simple, but serious performance DJ system that requires no CD players or turntables.
Serato ITCH software is perfectly simple to operate - forget about your mouse or keyboard as you operate all functions on the ITCH hardware. An ITCH system gives you the professional sound and control you need to DJ. What’s best is you only need to connect your headphones and a single USB cable to your computer. The ITCH hardware has audio outputs so you can easily connect to it your sound system when you want to play to the crowds.
If you’d like to read a thorough review, point your browser here.
I’m already on a few waiting lists for the VCI-300 at some shops. Supposedly demand is higher than output of the product. Nevertheless, I can’t wait for my greasy fingers to get a hold of one of these units.