A warning for prospective Vestax VCI-380 customers: CAVEAT EMPTOR!

[[O/][iii][O/]]

Just a quick heads up for anyone who may be considering purchasing the new Vestax VCI-380. This unit does NOT have traditional looping functions. I repeat, it does NOT have traditional looping functions. Instead, when you go to simply turn on a stored loop the track is forced to automatically JUMP to where the loop is as if it was a hot cue. This surprising behavior is inconsistent with the way operating stored loops has always been with SSL or ITCH and there is NO option for the user to select how the stored loops behave. I only bring this to your attention because this info was not disclosed when I just purchased my new VCI-380 so it now sits in box useless to me and I don't want any other fellow DJs to get blindsided by this unexpected news if traditional looping is critical to the way you perform.

CAVEAT EMPTOR!

More info and discussion for anyone who may be interested:
http://serato.com/forum/discussion/732289
http://serato.com/forum/discussion/698613

[DJNR]

Traktor works the same way. Just curious, what happened before when you would trigger a stored loop?

[[O/][iii][O/]]

In both Serato Scratch Live and ITCH you normally are able to just select a stored loop you want to turn on and when the playhead reaches the stored loop it begins looping and stays looped until you turn that loop off. The VCI-380 (and Twitch for that matter) forces the user to experience something completely different when activating stored loops and that is when you turn on a stored loop the playhead automatically jumps to the stored loop rather than waiting for the playhead to reach it so it behaves like a hot cue and then a loop. Not good if you've got years and years of thousands of stored loops built up in your Serato library that are now rendered useless because they now behave like hot cues. Particularly problematic if you play a lot of non-quantized tracks and use pre-stored loops to create in/out points while mixing.

[mrkleen]

In both Serato Scratch Live and ITCH you normally are able to just select a stored loop you want to turn on and when the playhead reaches the stored loop it begins looping and stays looped until you turn that loop off.

If you engage your active button on Traktor...that is exactly what happens...it rolls into the loop and then stays looped until you hit "out"

If you hit a cue / loop button on your controller, it will jump to that loop at the next full beat.

Two different behaviors based on how you switch your loops on.

[[O/][iii][O/]]

If you engage your active button on Traktor...that is exactly what happens...it rolls into the loop and then stays looped until you hit "out"

If you hit a cue / loop button on your controller, it will jump to that loop at the next full beat.

Two different behaviors based on how you switch your loops on.

Yep, that's how it's always worked in SSL/ITCH... that is until Vestax have now decided to throw us an unexpected curveball with the VCI-380 and deleted basic looping functionality. LOTS of users didn't know they were going to do this (why would they?) and are now very upset. That's why I'm sharing the news here so no one else gets blindsided by this if they decide to buy one.

[VjQue]

i would return it

[DJWORX]

I love the idea of having 8 loops predefined and being able to engage them at any time. I also love how you can make an auto loop and then make it into a saved loop too. Couldn't you just adjust your technique a little to get the full benefit of the VCI-380?

[[O/][iii][O/]]

I love the idea of having 8 loops predefined and being able to engage them at any time. I also love how you can make an auto loop and then make it into a saved loop too. Couldn't you just adjust your technique a little to get the full benefit of the VCI-380?

You are missing the point. Of course techniques can be adjusted, but doing so does not equate to getting "full benefit" of ITCH. It's not that we are opposed to having an optional behavior where activating stored automatically jumps the playhead to the loop like a hot cue behaves, what we are opposed to is not having the ability to simply turn on/off stored loops like they behave in SSL and every other ITCH controller we use (including the 380's predecessor the 300/300MKII). Being able to rely on consistent behavior with features such as this when moving between SSL and ITCH is very important and Vestax/Serato seem to not understanding this. There are countless performance scenarios where we need to be able to simply turn a stored loop on so when the playhead reaches it the loop starts (just like SSL, NS6, NS7, V7, VCI-300). This way we can continue mixing and doing other layering techniques knowing that when the playhead reaches the loop it will do it's thing. This is especially important when dealing with non-quantized tracks. Jumping the playhead to the loop when turning a stored loop on destroys this tried and true workflow that's been used for years. If we wanted the playhead to automatically jump to a stored loop all we would do is simply store a hot cue at the beginning of the loop and engage it that way (which is what we've always done).

[MixxWizard]

I haven't had any probelms yet, learning, & using the new loop functions on the VCI-380. It took a little getting use too. Here's a quick video of me messing around with the VCI 380

http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edi...id=Ewkhlm7FXx0

[[O/][iii][O/]]

I haven't had any probelms yet, learning, & using the new loop functions on the VCI-380. It took a little getting use too. Here's a quick video of me messing around with the VCI 380

http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edi...id=Ewkhlm7FXx0

We haven't hadn't problems using the new jumping loops either, but we can't use them for STORED LOOPS, especially when dealing with NON-QUANTIZED tracks. This is where we need normal, traditional looping behavior where the playhead doesn't jump to the loop when simply turning a stored loop on. Completely different playing style than what you showed in that video.