VirtualDJ 8 proudly proclaims itself “the most powerful and extensive hardware support on the market”. With the way both Serato and Traktor close their systems, it’s easy to see why VDJ8 succeeds in capitalising on how broad their support is. In fact, you can see the extensive list on their ‘VDJpedia”.
With the rate at which new hardware comes out these days, it’s pretty impressive that Atomix are able to keep up with making sure their software works with the latest and greatest. But they do, and here’s the most recent additions to the software’s plug’n’play family:
- Reloop Neon: Jared reviewed the Neon not that long ago and really liked it
- Reloop Beatpad: iPad compatible DJ controller
- Native Instruments Traktor Kontrol Z2: Two channel scratch-friendly mixer
- Akai AMX and AFX: designed for Serato, works with VDJ8!
- Rane Sixty-Two: professional scratch mixer
- Hercules Universal DJ: budget two-channel MIDI controller
All the mappings!
The Virtual DJ software model lives and dies by the breadth of controllers they support, so it’s no surprise they are constantly updating their list. For me, the most interesting things are whether the AMX has support for VDJ’s DVS, if anyone with a Z2 would be likely to use VDJ8, and that they support something like the Neon, which is most useful for DJ performances.
For the first question, The AMX supports DVS within Virtual DJ 8, much like it does for Serato. As for supporting the Neon and the Rane Sixty-Two, this suggests a further move by Atomix into the “pro”/club DJ market. The Sixty-Two in particular is a serious piece of scratch DJ gear, and something that has traditionally been very Serato-centric.
The DJWORX team talked through the idea of using a Z2 with Virtual DJ, considering it comes with Traktor Scratch and the point was made that a key feature VDJ8 offers is video mixing, but how many people will choose that? There’s also the chance that someone might buy a second hand Z2 without a copy of Traktor.
I’m interested in seeing how the Traktor and Serato crowds react to VDJ8 going forward. Either way, VDJ8 has got an uphill battle ahead.
Head on over to their site to download and try Virtual DJ 8
Will you be using any of these controllers with Virtual DJ 8? What hardware do you think is missing from the supported list?