Numark DDS80 - Discontinued?

[DJ Jules]

So are mine, and I agree with that ( though I'm a PC numpty) but Cortex recommend FAT32. Each system has pros and cons. You pays your money......................................

All of the HDC manufacturers (Cortex, Numark, Denon, Pioneer, etc) recommend FAT32 because while they all can read NTFS, none of them can write to it, which severely limits the players ability to store cue points, loop points, etc etc.

Anyway.... I've spent a few hours this afternoon playing with a DDS and comparing it with the Cortex it's not got a few features which I think I'll miss (bearing in mind I've got a HDC3000 which has a few more features than the 1000 anyway):

1. Hot cue points
2. Sampling/Special effects - ok, not going to miss these too much if I'm honest
3. Auto BPM detection and entry/exit point detection when setting up loops
4. The ability to save a playlist (or Cratelist if you prefer) back to disk
5. Waveform display (really good for working out volume levels of the next track and seeing when the track is ending) - admittedly, I can survive without this feature, but it is nice, especially when you have tracks with silence in the middle of them.

However, all in all I was pretty impressed with it. The LED's for beatmatching take a little bit of getting used to, as do the multitude of options hidden behind the mode buttons, but it's generally very responsive, especially to the jog wheels. Where I think it lets itself down is with the quality and responsiveness of the Cue/Pause/Play buttons - they feel pretty cheap and sometimes take a bit of hitting at the right angle to get to move, and the use of the nice big colour LCD screen. I think the two little windows at the top for the current track info and all the little symbols to indicate beat lock, play mode, etc are a poor use of screen real estate and they could have done better by giving over more of the screen to the current deck info when you're not actively searching for tracks or managing the contents of the crate.

However, I'm used to two big separate screens on the Cortex which can be individually used to search for tracks and manage separate playlists for each deck (which is annoying) so I would think that... I'm sure the colour screen design is a big improvement for anyone who is used to a single screen, dual deck HDC (as you have on the D2, HD2500, etc).

Now I really want to get my hands on a MEP7000.

Julian

[Adam_F]

Now I really want to get my hands on a MEP7000.

Doesn't Chemical Records have one on demo you could have a play with?

I do a bit down in Weston Super Mare now, but won't be back down this side of Xmas now I doubt, else you could of had a look over mine.

[DJ Jules]

Doesn't Chemical Records have one on demo you could have a play with?

Possibly... I hadn't found them yet! Thanks for the tip!

I do a bit down in Weston Super Mare now, but won't be back down this side of Xmas now I doubt, else you could of had a look over mine.

Thanks for the offer, it's appreciated. If I'm still looking the other side of Xmas I might be in touch

Julian

[samuelchristian]

After reading this thread I had a look around for a Numark DDS. I needed a new backup for my laptop based Virtual DJ setup. I fancied something with a nice big screen and the DDS looked spot on. Couldnt find a DDS but I did manage to pick up a D2 from Ebay for £120! It looks identical to the DDS, does anyone know what the differences are?

[Vectis]

In a nutshell, a lower-res mono screen.

I have a d2 and an iDJ2 (which is the same screen as the DDS80) and still prefer the d2 for most gigs.

Good choice ... and a good price!

[rob1963]

After reading this thread I had a look around for a Numark DDS. I needed a new backup for my laptop based Virtual DJ setup. I fancied something with a nice big screen and the DDS looked spot on. Couldnt find a DDS but I did manage to pick up a D2 from Ebay for £120! It looks identical to the DDS, does anyone know what the differences are?

In a nutshell, a lower-res mono screen.

From memory, the only other difference between the DDS & the D2 is that some of the illuminated buttons on the DDS are blue and some are white, whereas they are all white on the D2.

[samuelchristian]

In a nutshell, a lower-res mono screen.

I have a d2 and an iDJ2 (which is the same screen as the DDS80) and still prefer the d2 for most gigs.

Good choice ... and a good price!

Nice, looking forward to it arriving

[Sapphire Disco]

Nice, looking forward to it arriving

Looks like you did well , I got one a couple of weeks ago, paid a little more than you but it seems the ideal back up solution to me I don't think I would want to use it as my main play out.

I got a portable hard drive for it small & neat seems to work very well.

One of these..........