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Anyone can sound like A Pro DJ
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by BBalNYC
(bbalnyc@yahoo.com)
12/6/2005 3:45:42 PM
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Musical Experience:
4 yrs DJ'n
Style of music:
hip hop, reggae, trance, R&B
Hometown
Boston, MA
Numark CDX Direct Drive CD Turntable
First of all, I want to apologize for my first review, I didn’t have enough time to create a review, but now I will make up for it. I know it may be long, but it is worth reading, for such a big investment.
First Impressions:
The turntable is modeled after Numark’s flagship TTX turntable. It comes In a black finish, with a silver platter and details. The CDX maintains a definite shape, well still adding curves to the edges and buttons. Right from the start, you can tell it is more than just a turntable. The various buttons and wheels and lights, may appeal to some, but be a weakness for those looking for simplicity. You can still see the features of an original turntable in the CDX like the platter and the pitch fader.
What’s in the Box?:
The box includes the Numark CDX, an imix “battlemaster” CD, a Numark products poster, a manual, a fader start cable, a mini wrench, a safety manual and a quick start setup guide.
Setup:
Assembling the CDX Is a breeze, the unit comes fully assembled, with the exception of the platter. But a few screws later, the CDX is fully functional.
Getting to know the CDX:
Within the first month that I had the CDX, I learned a new feature almost everyday. Anyone with some DJ experience would easily understand the manual, which explains all of the features and hardware. The CDX has many features, ranging from Looping, to effects, and even utilities. With a little time, you can master all of the effects.
Performance:
Because the CDX’s platter is real Vinyl, it feels like real Vinyl. Scratching on a CDX is as real as it gets to real Vinyl. The turntable will handle even the most advanced scratches. Sound quality is great. The Vinyl reacts to any movement, and is rotated by 5 Kg, direct drive motor.
Durability:
The CDX weighs around 30 pounds, and all of the buttons seem to be very sturdy. The basic hardware of the CDX will last long, but software, unfortunately is not a durable. Although it has never happened to me, people report the CDX shutting off or malfunctioning, A way to prevent this, is to update the software frequently, and recalibrate the machine every once in a while.
Portability: Read my other review.
Features: ok, I’m getting tired, so I’ll try to do this quick:
The CDX has many different features, but for now we will start with the effects. The CDX has 8 different effects, Sonar, Slide, Filter, Echo, Chop, Kill, Pan, and Audio Decimation. Most off the effects you will find on any digital mixer, or effects module. The only bad thing is that they can only be used 1 at a time. Another feature of the CDX is looping. To make a loop, you simply press loop in, and then loop out. To start the loop over, press reloop. Now you know what I meant when I said anyone can sound like a pro DJ. One more feature of the CDX is its MIDI capabilities, using two standard MIDI cables; you can use the CDX’s Interlock function. Interlock assigns one CDX as a master, and another CDX as the slave. The slave changes it tempo, to match the master. As a result, if you play an Acappella on one, and an instrumental on another, you will get a near perfect remix. No beat matching involved, no BPM, not even any touching of the pitch fader. Another feature of the CDX, is Cueing, you can Cue a song, by finding a certain position in the song, and pressing CUE. Yet another feature of the CDX is scratch modes. The CDX has 4 different modes for scratching: Scratch, Scratch + Cue, Scratch + Forward, and Scratch + Cue + Forward. Which means you can set a CUE point and scratch, and the music will instantly return to the CUE point. Another is the Bleep function, which temporarily reverses the audio, but not the platter, to sort of bleep out unwanted words, like they do on the radio sometimes. I will just list some other feature and functions and meanings.
Stutter – Returns audio to last point where pause and play were pressed.
Motor off –turns off the motor, but still plays the sound
BPM keeper – Calculates the BPM or tempo of the song.
33/45 – Play music at two default speeds, 33 or 45
Fader start – When the fader reaches a certain spot the music plays.
Key lock – Adjust the tempo, but not the pitch
Tap – Adjust the BPM
Store – Stores saved CUE points (up to 3000)
Some common misconceptions:
Yes, it does play MP3 CDs
Yes, the platter does move
No, it does not play Vinyl records
Faults / Flaws:
Many people seem to jump on this topic, with all sorts of ideas, but it is usually a misconception of how to use a feature. One that I have encountered is a stuck tempo. Sometimes, when you adjust the tempo, you won’t be able to change it back without changing the track, but I’m sure I just don’t know exactly how to change it. Another is with interlock, sometimes, it will make the pitch so low, that the music will not play.
Conclusion:
The CDX is in my opinion the best CD turntable on the market. All the effects and features just add to good performance, and capability. If you are interested in buying a CDX or two, download the manual from Numark’s website. It will show you all of the features and more and when you decide to buy it, buy it from Music 123. They have excellent customer service, and fast shipping. Plus the price of $799.95, is right up their with all of the other sites.
Hope you have found this review helpful. Thank you for reading, BBalNYC
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