Numark NS7

Pros: Believe the hype. It's that great.

Cons: Serato Itch...worst piece of overrated audio bloatware on the market.

Summary: Believe the hype. It's that great. This is coming from a guy with 7 touchscreen kiosks, 8 desktops, 2 laptops and a projector phone. Okay I lied about having the projector phone (waiting for Samsung's version). The Numark NS7 has everything that the Hercules RMX (yes I have one) and Vestax VCI-300 were lacking. The main attraction are the motorized 7 inch platters that actually have true turntable feel and torque. I won't go into depth about any of the other physical features, since they have already been written about extensively. What I will say is that I can scratch on these like a DMX champ and loop a piece of audio quicker than you can say my name: Michael-Jared Collins. The NS7 is a better than perfect implementation of all the necessary tools a 'classically trained' dj needs to perform his or her duties. The software, though not my cup of tea, holds up well and compliments the product. Serato Itch is what keeps this product from getting 5 stars. It is the perfect size and weight with a modernistic look that screams professional, technological genius, and fashion icon all in one breath. The price is right and costs LESS than what you would pay for comparable CD/mixer or turntable/mixer hardware. All you need is a dual-core laptop and some XLR or phono plugs running out to your external sound source. If you're mobile, I suggest a pair of Behringer B415DSP 415 DSP 15" powered PA speakers.

Serato Itch...worst piece of audio bloatware on the market. That fact that you need a dual-core processor to run it smacks of laziness. On top of that, they had to update the firmware to run on 64 bit! How and the hell can you create software that needs dual-core power and not support 64 bit BEFORE release! As innovative as the Numark hardware is, the software is woefully the total opposite. The browse feature still sucks and any software such as Serato that files by id tags and not the file name itself, will always suck in my opinion. Serato brags about stability, but what noteworthy software manufacturer can't provide stability when they only have to be compatible with one freakin' piece of dedicated hardware. Atomix Virtual DJ is stiil the best dj software on the market. Period. What's funny is that Numark uses a variant of Atomix Virtual DJ called CUE for some of it's other midi products. They obviously chose Serato since that's the software company lucky enough to have the most prominent dj supporters. I can tell you from personal experience that disc jockeys are some of the most stubborn people when it comes to innovation and only latch on to new products that get the label 'industry standard'- lol. Hello deejays, Technic 1200s are NOT the best DJ turntables on the market, even though they are industry standard. One more thing to factor into the cost is a hard case. The Numark NS7 heavy-duty flight case costs $299. You can also get a sleeker looking Odyssey FZGSNS7W-BL Black Label Glide Style Case for $349.

In conclusion, The Numark NS7 is my favorite 'toy' for 2009, and I gotta' lotta' toys. Buy it. Whatever you do, DON'T LISTEN to people who haven't seen one, don't own one or haven't used one for at least an hour or two. This is a $1300 product, so I wouldn't recommend it, if it was anything other than what I said it was. - www.djmjc.com. I'll post some video when time permits...