Serato gets Itch’y with Vestax VCi300
By Paul Dakeyne
| Posted in DJ
It seems quite a digital DJ flavour this week. My recent blog about the Vestax Spin reminded me to have a shout about the manufacturers VCi300 pro-DJ controller. Optimised and bullseye focused on Serato’s (free and bundled) superb ‘Itch’ digi-DJ software, this hands-on beauty is already on my wants list.
As is well documented here on this very blog, for gigging and mixtapes, my personal preference is N.I.’s Traktor software, but there’s a ton of Pro DJ’s I know who are loyal to the Serato Scratch format with ‘Itch’ being the latest sibling to appear. Don’t be put off considering the VCi300 if you are a Traktor user however, it rocks the funky beat just as well.
One of the things that makes the VCi300 so darn good as a scratch DJ’s controller is the jog wheels (or platters) which are very sensitive to both subtle or enthusiastic hand manipulation due to co-engineering allowing data to move very quickly between hardware and software. This is enhanced by the adjustable platter torque mechanism, designed to avoid vibration from low frequency feedback which otherwise could affect the Itch software’s performance accuracy.
Connectivity and power for the Vestax VCi300 is via the standard USB port for computer chat and, with its built-in audio interface, the expected 4in/4outs plus headphone connection are present and correct. To actually translate how these feature descriptions manifest into the real world, it’s really best to check some YouTube videos which really confirm the true potential of the VCi300 and Serato Itch working together.
And on that note, I’ll leave you with one such video and wish you all a very Happy Christmas..
Tags: digital DJ, itch, serato, traktor, vestax VCi300