Denon HS5500 for Scratching???

[jz416]

Update:
HS5500's are one hell of a unit.
Well built, Play USBs sticks well, Platter is good, Overall, Great deck for someone that wants the convenience of usb media players, and wants to scratch.

Im looking to further my scratching skills, and im not really loving learning to scratch on CDJ 400's due to the platters (love em for mixing though).

Considering picking up two Denon HS5500 at a pretty good price.

Originally, my plan was to buy one turntable to scratch on, but i couldnt justify the cost of a dvs soundcard for one turntable.

Ultimately, if i like the Denon HS5500, i will probably sell my CDJ 400s.

Is regular mixing harder on spinning platters; The only thing ive always wondered is how do you jog forward on spinning platters (or should i just ride the pitch?)

Anyone have any experience with this deck?

[fatcatdj]

I like my HS5500, although now I only have one--sold the others because its a dual out unit.
To jog forward, there are arrows on deck or use the pitch bend button though that way isn't as fast.
Pictures: Cake, my cat is fading in channel one on the old Numark. The HS5500 is supported by
Virtual Dj 7 , never tried it on Traktor.

[jz416]

Nice setup fatcat.
Do you scratch on your HS5500's?

[djpenguin]

Scratching on small platters is harder because you have to make much smaller movements. It's easier to transition to a small platter if you already know how to scratch on a standard 12" platter. My recommendation is to buy the turntable, one or two skipless battle records (e.g. something from the Super Seal/Scratchy Seal series from Dirt Style), and learn from there. When you're ready to move to DVS or a CD/HID setup, you'll have a pretty good idea of what kind of gear will work best for what you want to do.

[jz416]

Scratching on small platters is harder because you have to make much smaller movements. It's easier to transition to a small platter if you already know how to scratch on a standard 12" platter. My recommendation is to buy the turntable, one or two skipless battle records (e.g. something from the Super Seal/Scratchy Seal series from Dirt Style), and learn from there. When you're ready to move to DVS or a CD/HID setup, you'll have a pretty good idea of what kind of gear will work best for what you want to do.

You are probably right, TTs are probably the best for learning to scratch, but for the following reasons i might just make do with the hS5500s.

The move will cost me zero dollars (My CDjs will sell for more than im buying the HS5500's) whereas i dont really have the money for even one technics 1200.
I could wait until i have enough, but even then i might as well buy the spinning platters because the hs5500 are overall better than my CDJ 400s anyway.

The HS5500 will give me spinning platters, hot cues, cue point storage (i think, its really hard to find solid info on these units), a better file broswer (this is for sure), and the safety of the dual output (that way i can do mobile gigs without a second pair of players) and all i will lose is the ability to play cds, but if i have to i will be able to add CD capability to the hS5500.

Quick question for anyone familiar with the HS5500 and CDJ400. Is there anything im missing that will make this a downgrade and not an upgrade?

Sorry for the ridiculously fragmented train of thought...

[contra]

USB capability??

[jz416]

USB capability??

Ya.. It plays music from external hard drives/USB sticks, internal hard drive (optional), CD drive (optional) and has full midi capabilities, though apparently its hid with all the major software sorta sucks, mostly because the unit was discontinued shortly after it was released due to the recession.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[fatcatdj]

Its easy to scratch on the HS5500. Though it doesn't say its hardware on Virtual Dj's site anymore, its supported. I have the optional CD player. It sucks because it only plays
regular cds not MP3 ones. You also have to "recognize" each mp3 you play on your stick, which is a hassle. Press time/utility and press update by using the parameters knob.

Email me if you have any other questions about the unit. Each question will be 75c US. You have to
remember its 2007 technology, which is dinosauric with todays standards. However the 5500 still does more than any CDJ out there because of the dual outs, no one CDJ can be used
with just a scratch mixer at a small gig. Also its Made in Japan with some parts made of brushed alloy not plastic like most the JUNK made by Pioneer and Denon today. Both my SC3900's and CDJ850's are all plastic pieces of crap compared to the 5500. More info:

http://www.djbooth.net/index/dj-equi...0-media-player

[jz416]

Its easy to scratch on the HS5500. Though it doesn't say its hardware on Virtual Dj's site anymore, its supported. I have the optional CD player. It sucks because it only plays
regular cds not MP3 ones. You also have to "recognize" each mp3 you play on your stick, which is a hassle. Press time/utility and press update by using the parameters knob.

Email me if you have any other questions about the unit. Each question will be 75c US. You have to
remember its 2007 technology, which is dinosauric with todays standards. However the 5500 still does more than any CDJ out there because of the dual outs, no one CDJ can be used
with just a scratch mixer at a small gig. Also its Made in Japan with some parts made of brushed alloy not plastic like most the JUNK made by Pioneer and Denon today. Both my SC3900's and CDJ850's are all plastic pieces of crap compared to the 5500. More info:

http://www.djbooth.net/index/dj-equi...0-media-player

Thanks for the info... I actually already bought them.

Night and Day from pios.

They are way better built than my pios, they have wayyyyy more features, the USB capability is way better.

On my CDJ 400s it would take 2 minutes to load a USB and it didnt analyze anything. No ID3 Tags, BPM, could only navigate by folder. This takes the same amount of time and it gives me everything.

....Id rather read the manual than pay you 75 cents thank you very much.

[fatcatdj]

Thanks for the info... I actually already bought them.

Night and Day from pios.

They are way better built than my pios, they have wayyyyy more features, the USB capability is way better.

On my CDJ 400s it would take 2 minutes to load a USB and it didnt analyze anything. No ID3 Tags, BPM, could only navigate by folder. This takes the same amount of time and it gives me everything.

....Id rather read the manual than pay you 75 cents thank you very much.

LOL I need the money!!!!! Anyways congratulations on a great purchase. And again, I've done EL CHEAPO events ( $300) I just brought ONE 5500 a Numark scratch mixer, mic
and ONE effects light w/ powered speakers to theses gigs NO LAPTOP and played off one thumbdrive for 4 hours. The 5500 plays up to a 32G Fat32 formatted thumbdrive which can hold a sh*tload of songs.