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View Full Version : The story of my American Audio VMS4



Defiance
02-27-2012, 10:39 AM
This story has been posted on twitter, ADJs facebook, and ADJs forums.

Purchase VMS4 First week of October 2011

Day 1:Lines on cross fader started to disappear

Day 5: Bottom half of lines on crossfader completely gone

Day 10:VSM4 settings figured out 100%, find out mousepad is 100% useless, a laptop from 1995 has a better trackpad on it.

Day 11:After a day of diagnosing and resarch, find out output on VMS4 just requires a 75% increase on amplifier gains to reach levels of industrial standard. (Overall output decreased by ~3-6db).

Day 20: First gig using VMS4 (Halloween), zero problems.

Day 28: First round of competition, can't hear my cue in headphones because of a Eon Monitor providing 98db towards me. Sound guy confirms my setup produces lowest output out of the 7 other DJs competing that night.

Day 37: 3rd Gig, Venue has RGB lights on DJ, dimness of VSM4 lights, creates issues seeing what lights are actually on VMS4, again monitor causes issues cuing music in headphones (ADJ sent HP-500s basically to shut me up these produced less DB then my Sonys, but are much more comfy).

Day 59: 4th Gig Wedding, jog wheel gives erratic readings throughout the night. Cue Channel 3 requires to be pushed multiple times before working, vinyl/keylock follows suit later that evening.

Day 60: 5th Gig New Years Eve. Right three buttons lower buttons (Cue/Play/Pause) sink below case. Using VDJ I was able to use channel A/B while I worked on the buttons. Something everyone should try at 11:30pm on NYE. Took about 5-6 minutes.

Stashes VSM4 away, speaks with support, 2-4 week turn around $25 to ship + shipping back + labor + parts to "maybe" fix it.

Fast forward to last night Feb 15th, small bar gig, using VMS4 first time since NYE in a gig. Channel 2 plays at about -10db LOWER than the rest, even cloning the deck, I can reverse crossfader same results. Buttons continuously get stuck under the case, other buttons require multiple hits to work.


I'd bet for me to get this unit fixed, it would be about $100 round trip and I'd still be far below industry standard.

Channel 2 ouput now has just ruined it for me. I was so close to purchasing a 4.1

Oct 2011- Feb 2012, 6 gigs (36 hours of gig time approx.) and I have a mixer ready to be replaced. Beware.

Original link:http://forums.americandj.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/727105965/m/3800080446

This was my response on Feb 19th 2012 after I had a chat with the marketing director of ADJ.


I appreciate your support, I know you have tried hard to keep up with complaints and issues that pop up on the forums.

Brian the marketing director got a hold of after I posted this and gave me the number to the service manager, who I called left a message with. This was on Thursday and never got a call back.

This is just what I have come to expect from ADJ. I am sure plenty of people have good experiences with ADJ but I have not. When I have to pass up 'high-profile' gigs because I don't trust my gear to give me a flawless 6 hours, its a huge issue.

I just deleted a huge story, just no need to keep this going. I will be selling the vms4 to the first person who offers me some cash and take my business (which BTW is probably looking to be another 15-25 years) to one of their competitors. Of course when the gear conversation comes up, this is the story I will tell of my American Audio saga. No happy ending here

I ended up solving my problem by purchasing a Numark NS6

ampnation
02-27-2012, 10:59 AM
Thanks for posting this. I had wondered about the VMS4. It looks superficially a little like the MC6000 from Denon but I've learned to pay once, cry once. When I can afford it, I'll replace my very good Denon mixer with a Rane or Allen & Heath mixer at significant cost for the sole purpose of increasing reliability. Having equipment go south during a gig is one of the worst feelings in the world.

MeowMix
02-27-2012, 11:13 AM
If any piece of gear gave me that much trouble id have posted a youtube video of me dropping it from the 8th floor then going to work on it with ha sledge hammer.

Defiance
02-27-2012, 11:20 AM
Thanks for posting this. I had wondered about the VMS4. It looks superficially a little like the MC6000 from Denon but I've learned to pay once, cry once. When I can afford it, I'll replace my very good Denon mixer with a Rane or Allen & Heath mixer at significant cost for the sole purpose of increasing reliability. Having equipment go south during a gig is one of the worst feelings in the world.

Don't get me wrong I LOVE the design and outline of it. The case is sturdy and I loved having two mic inputs + 4 channels, plus being able to put it in a single turntable case with all the cords I'd need for a small gig. But for all that I listed, it was just time to move on. If they would of treated me right this month I probably would of purchased the vms4.1 and gave them another shot, but after this no way.

ampnation
02-27-2012, 12:17 PM
Don't get me wrong I LOVE the design and outline of it. The case is sturdy and I loved having two mic inputs + 4 channels, plus being able to put it in a single turntable case with all the cords I'd need for a small gig. But for all that I listed, it was just time to move on. If they would of treated me right this month I probably would of purchased the vms4.1 and gave them another shot, but after this no way.

When you say you love the design you're only partially correct. You like the look and the things you see on first blush like a sturdy case. However, buttons mounted in such a way that they get stuck under the case surface is a mark of bad design. It's the part of design you only see once you start using the product.

For me, Denon seems to have products with the right balance of price and reliability until you can afford to pay a lot more for a little gain. Some of Numark's other products seem to be as bad or worse than Behringer equipment or even Gemini, but I haven't heard any negs on the NS controller line yet. Since the Denon controllers and the Numark controllers occupy about the same price range space, I would personally chose the Denon MC3000 or MC6000. But then, I'm not a scratch artist and if you are, I understand the feedback and feel on the NS7 platters are very sweet. I also like the fact that the MC6000 (not sure on the 3000) can be used as a standalone analog mixer if need be.

No matter what better alternative you choose though, your VMS4 experience is the type of thing we learn from and once you've been through that, you understand that cheaper isn't always cheaper when it costs you time, repairs and lost business.

VjQue
02-27-2012, 12:45 PM
What you expect from American Audio. Did you really expect that pos to last. if you buy Bs gear you get Bs support and performance.

If You cant afford better gear then save up. Dont waste time and money on junk.

Defiance
02-27-2012, 05:15 PM
What you expect from American Audio. Did you really expect that pos to last. if you buy Bs gear you get Bs support and performance.

If You cant afford better gear then save up. Dont waste time and money on junk.

It fit my budget, needs and made sense. I don't rely much on peoples single review of products. However I did take a chance with this product from them (only ADJ product I've had issues with) and I lost. So I decided to share my thoughts, in every social media platform.

l0ckd0wn
02-27-2012, 06:50 PM
What you expect from American Audio. Did you really expect that pos to last. if you buy Bs gear you get Bs support and performance.

If You cant afford better gear then save up. Dont waste time and money on junk.


It fit my budget, needs and made sense. I don't rely much on peoples single review of products. However I did take a chance with this product from them (only ADJ product I've had issues with) and I lost. So I decided to share my thoughts, in every social media platform.

This was my thoughts too. Having brand prejudice because of a single experience is just bad practice. Not every company get's every single product they produce perfect every time, so holding a company to that standard is not practical or intuitive.