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OK, been testing it for 2 hours straight and have some info for you all. Before I go any further, let me give you my system specs (I only installed it on my desktop - I'll get it on the laptop after this weekend).
Dell XPS400
Intel CoreDuo 2.8ghz
1GB RAM
XP MCE SP2
250GB SATA HD
THE BAD STUFF
The documentation does indeed suck. You get a stupid little quick start guide that's 4 pages long that mostly just covers the driver installation. NOT GOOD ENOUGH. So I figured that if there wasn't any hardcopy, they must have installed a PDF into the program goup with the application. NOPE. You have to browse the CD before you'll get to read any of the documentation. Yes, it tells you this in the little 4 page flyer, but would it be so hard to install a shortcut in the program group at the very least?
Also, NO CABLES! Come on guys. Hope you have some RCA cables lying around, cause it comes with 1 cable, and thats the USB cable. That's pretty weak. While we're on the "not included" kick, it doesn't come with a power adapter either. Not as big an issue since it's bus powered, but I think that if it's got an option for external power it should come with it's own adapter.
I also have a small gripe about the interface. this might just be because I don't fully know it yet, but it looks to me like if you have the app set for external mixer, you have no choice but to see the unnecessary crossfader and deck faders. I would really like to get rid of those and reclaim that on screen real estate. Maybe I just don't know how yet.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Here are the sys reqs as stated on the sticker on the box (they obviously were considering what to recommend well after the box art went to press).
Windows Minimum
XP SP2
Pentuim III 500mhz
256 MB RAM
Windows Recommended
XP SP2
Pentium III 933mhz
256 MB RAM
Mac Minimum
OSX 10.3.9
G3 500mhz
256 MB RAM
Mac Recommended
OSX 10.4.6
G4 1.25ghz
512 MB RAM
IN THE PACKAGE
The box contains 2 timecoded vinyl that are thick and feel substantial. Some of you scratch oriented DJs aren't going to like them, but there it is. There's also 2 timecode CDs, the documentation of suck, the USB cable, and the Conectiv interface. the interface is heavier and more substantial than I thought it would be, but not the tank of the FS2 Scratchamp (this isn't a bad thing). It's got TT ins and outs, power and USB ins, and on the front a 1/4" headphone and 1/4" mic input. The 2 large knobs on the top control the USB to source ratio. Remember the headphone jack? It's there because there's full monitoring controls on the top for source selection, level, and a split cue switch. The third small knob is a mic level control.
Hooking it up is pretty straightforward. There is an updated driver for it on their website, so I installed that instead of the one on the CD (following the instructions in the quickstart guide). It's a very similar installation to the Firewire 410's. One reboot later and I was in business. I set my buffer to 256 samples and installed the Torq software off the CD.
Having used TDJS for a while, the interface didn't strike me as cluttered as it might for other folks. It's more organized and logical than the TDJS3 interface, and MUCH easier to read. Going into preferences, I saw that my channel assignments weren't set by default. No biggie. I set mixer mode to external, selected my ins and outs, and checked out the other settings. In the vinyl tab, I selected external and made a note to learn about the info on this page (but not before I rip into it for a while). I also checked to make sure it found my VST directory (it did). FS2 and SSL users will note that there isn't a "scopes" view on the timecode page, just some data.
I then closed preferences and checked out the browser. I didn't bother adding files to the database just yet, so I picked my main music directory and let her rip.
HANDS ON TIME
I dropped the control vinyl on the turntables and dragged songs to each of the decks. each one sprung to life and started scrolling the waveform. The waveform view is split in half and is like a horizontal version of SSL's waveform view. I like it.
You have a small representation of the full waveform in the info block on each deck as well. The waveform view has an interesting feature I really like. If you are spinning the platter fast, the waveform for that deck "zooms out" so you can see more of the waveform. It does this smoothly, and zooms back in when the platter returns to a more normal speed. Very cool.
Looks like 5 hot cues and 2 "scratch points" per song. There is also BPM based looping ala TDJS in 1/2/4/ and 8 bar values. I noticed that repeatedly hitting a value gave me half of that value. You can also set loop ins and outs manually. Each deck also features independant key and pitch (sweet!), 3 built in effects at a time, and from what I can tell one VST effect (I only tried one and didn't explore this any further).
The effects section is what TDJS 3 effects SHOULD have been. For instance, when using the STROBE effect, the second knob scrolls through musically logical values instead of being an arbitrary numeric value. This means that when using a BPM based effect, it ALWAYS effects the song in a way that sounds pleasing to the ear. The effects are all useable, and can be saved into effect presets if you find a combination of effects that you like the sound of. These presets can be recalled at any time.
I only dabbled in sample playback, but it works like should. I made a loop and a one shot and they fired off correctly. The loops also sync to the master clock value if you have it selected, so they will play in time with the mix if you want them to. More on this later
PERFORMANCE
I'm not a turntablist, but I tried everything I could to shake the timecode pointer and make it lose track of the position. Seemed to be really stable and fast on things like needle drops. Just like all the other vinyl control packages, it has both relative and absolute modes.
But here's the thing that makes me feel all funny in the pants...
http://www.nem0nic.com/torq.JPG - for a larger view
See that? That's 2 decks running timecode, with 3 effects each, altered pitch, AND A VST EFFECT ON ONE OF THEM! So what you ask? Look in the bottom right corner of my screen and look at the CPU usage. Yes, you saw it right - it's 28%. WTF?! I was getting this kind of performance the whole 2 hours, with it hovering at around 11% when just playing 2 tracks without any extras. It dinged around 20% on deck loads because it had to build an overview (I didn't bother to analyze my tracks yet). This performance was verified in the Task Manager performance tab. Also, it's using both processors (I shouldn't be suprised, but thought I would mention it).
Sick stuff. I can't wait to delve deeper.
The next few days are going to be hell for me at work, so you won't hear much from me until around Monday. I'll resume my testing then and bring you another installment.
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http://www.nem0nic.com
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