ICON iDJ First Impressions
ICON iDJ First Impressions Posted on: 01.08.2011 by Chasidy Heckenbach i picked up one of these as i wanted a small, cheap controller with touch sensitive jogs. posting this info as i couldnt find too much on this controller on the interweb. it's slightly bigger than a nano or lpd8 but not by much as you can see from the photo below. the overall build quality seems much better tho - *feels* nice and solid. quite heavy for what it is - i even expected there to be some extra weight added inside but couldnt find anything when i pulled it apart not much extra space in there at all.the pads dont seem to light up via incoming midi messages - i tried firing notes on for all notes and midi channels but nothing happened. no biggie tho as they do light up when u press them and the 'scratch on' button does stay lit up when activated. faders seem fairly smooth (except for my right hand pitch one that doesnt work too well) but nothing special. cross fader is pretty light and should do the job ok. plenty of pots to midi map. personally i believe using the center 6 for eq's seems better than where they are labelled. it's a pretty cramped controller but i expected that - so the pots themselves are quite small - but not too small. the only bugger one is the ones right above the jogs - way too easy to nudge the jog by accident when using those ones. with basically 8 pads, 7 pots, 2 faders per deck + 8 pads in the center and cross fader i believe it should be quite fun to map. the jogs seem very responsive and have a nice midi implementation, but from what i can tell not very traktor-friendly. i'm using it in raw mode tho and i *believe* it came with some software that i don't have handy right now. nudging using the rubberised outside edge sends a different noteon when it starts moving and a noteoff when it stops - so doesnt matter how fast you move it - but seems to work ok. the scratch on/off toggle doesn't actually send out any midi itself, it just changes the jog wheel behaviour. in non-scratch mode it sends out a cc with value of 65 for every increment forwards and a value of 63 for every increment backwards. in scratch mode it sends two noteon's as soon as you touch the touch sensitive top, then behaves as for non scratch mode, but also sends out a noteoff as soon as you let go and another after the jog wheel also has stopped moving. all in all it seems like they put some thought into it. i'm just not quite sure how it can be effectively used in traktor without some software sitting between the two. i did try a few different options in traktor but couldn't make it work as i wanted. i do *believe* tho that it came with some software to sit in the middle if needed tho - if i can find that - not that i'll be using it as i'll use my own. all in all a solid little controller with a lot of possibilites for 100quid i reckon anyway edit: i stuck the coloured stickers on the pots - they're grey by default | |
| Seymour Tretheway 29.06.2012 |
Originally Posted by zestoi
I need a the mapping for VDJ 7. I thought synthet1c had developed the controllist mapping for VDJ 7?!! But maybe you can help indeed. |
| Chasidy Heckenbach 29.06.2012 | i don't believe he has an idj anyway. i may be able to help if its anything midi related |
| Seymour Tretheway 29.06.2012 |
Originally Posted by synthet1c
I have sent you a message also about the iDJ, but I didn't get a reply (yet). But maybe you are to busy ;-) |
| Chasidy Heckenbach 20.02.2012 |
Originally Posted by Jayboss
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| Danyel Bailly 20.02.2012 | Ok cool, thanks for your help still a couple things I don't quite understand though, on the audio 4 there is only ins + outs for 2 channels no master out or anything, m believeing it probably won't be much less hassle than using time code now. Also,how do you listen to a cued track ?! If the mixer is built in but there is nowhere for headphones to be plugged in ! Sorry for the newbish questions, the only controller I've ever used is an S4 and hat has a built in sound card as you probs know |
| Chasidy Heckenbach 20.02.2012 |
Originally Posted by Jayboss
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| Danyel Bailly 19.02.2012 | Ah cool how woulD I go about about actually setting it up though I would be a bit sceptical about using an aux from my laptop but can't believe how else I would get the audio from the laptop to the rig ?! I'm probably being pretty stupid |
| Wenona Karstens 19.02.2012 | Yes absolutely perfect for parties and clubs if you're not scratching or going too mental with the controllerism. |
| Danyel Bailly 19.02.2012 | Oh okay, sorry once again but does this mean that it is not useable in a club/party Even if somehow I connected my laptop to something ? If I'm wrong how would I do it ? I'm not really looking to scratch on it to be honest, only wanting to mix/eq/use some of traktors effects y'know. Thanks for the quick response though top! |
| Wenona Karstens 19.02.2012 | This is just a MIDI controller, with no audio interface, so would not be linked to anything in the club, just your laptop. If you are intending to scratch then this isn't accurate enough and on my setup at least, seems to introduce a noticable latency. If you just need to use the jogs to navigate the track, nudge the tunes along, and pre-record some scratching then this is good enough. That said you get what you pay for - the buttons etc aren't pro quality so you can't be too aggressive with what you do with it and you have to press the buttons firmly to ensure they register. |
| Danyel Bailly 19.02.2012 | Hi, Was wondering how I would go about setting this up to a typical club set up, (if its even possible) have traktor scratch pro and an audio 4 Dj, would I need to use that ? Sorry to ask potentially simple questions but I've recently moved from vinyl to traktor scratch and planning to move onto this as playing live with time code proves to be slightly inconvenient at times. If you don't ask you won't know! Been scouring the Internet for as much info as possible and this peice of kit seems like a right grab!! Thanks, Jay |
| Harris Hohman 15.01.2012 | ok, based on your answers, i understand that icon support is not very good. i'm going to check the existing video on youtube |
| Jonathan Chiuchiolo 15.01.2012 | don't bother contacting icon support, I have sent them 6 emails in relation to my idj and istage and not one reply, I was mapping my istage to as 2 midi fighters (instant grat and deckalized combined) and a mixer and was having issues with duplicate midi messages for the led note on commands. I first contacted their suppliers for answers, was told simply "i don't know" then emailed their support gave them as much info as I could which was a lot and got nothing back after repeat requests! /rant |
| Chasidy Heckenbach 15.01.2012 |
Originally Posted by malafuti
only thing i'd really want to check if buying a 2nd one is what state the pots and faders are in. they're not the best quality ever and will get a bit loose/wobbly over time. mine is still mostly fine apart from one fader that was broken when i first got it tho and one pot that is only a bit loose due to me trying to change the caps |
| Harris Hohman 15.01.2012 | Hi guys, I have the possibility to buy this controller brand new for 30 dollars, but before buy it, i'd like to know if it works very well with tractor pro ? Thank you in advance for your help |
| Wenona Karstens 02.01.2012 |
Originally Posted by zestoi
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| Chasidy Heckenbach 02.01.2012 |
Originally Posted by technicaltitch
what i was missing was touch sensitive jogs to add to whatever other mini controllers i fancied mapping/combining. i almost bought a gemini firstmix. more toylike and less useful controls apart from the jogs but they look slightly bigger than the idj's ones. |
| Wenona Karstens 02.01.2012 |
Originally Posted by zestoi
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| Chasidy Heckenbach 02.01.2012 |
Originally Posted by technicaltitch
My grumble would be it needs a decoder or two, ie, knobs that click as they go round.
I'd say another strong point of this controller is its functionality crammed into such a compact size. It makes some of the knobs a little fiddly, but I've not had a problem as the jog sensitivity is alterable, and it means I can easily fit a touch-sensitive and pretty comprehensive controller in my rucksack while travelling. If I had a netbook I could fit a full DJ rig in a handbag!
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| Wenona Karstens 02.01.2012 |
Originally Posted by thictool
I've not had any robustness issues, errant knobs or faders, but I'll bear your comments in mind when packing thanks thictool. My grumble would be it needs a decoder or two, ie, knobs that click as they go round. I'd say another strong point of this controller is its functionality crammed into such a compact size. It makes some of the knobs a little fiddly, but I've not had a problem as the jog sensitivity is alterable, and it means I can easily fit a touch-sensitive and pretty comprehensive controller in my rucksack while travelling. If I had a netbook I could fit a full DJ rig in a handbag! |
| Madlyn Trocino 02.01.2012 | The Jogs on the IDJ always seem off set at first. All you have to do is get a torc screw driver (very small) and remove the three screws that keep the aluminum plate attached to the top. Once the plate is removed, There are three more (Phillips Head) screws to remove, or loosen. You can set the Jogs to be even by adjusting the wheel once the three Phillips Head screws are loose. Once you get the Jogs straightened to your liking, simply tighten the phillips head screws and your good to go. I have two of these units and both arrived with seemingly off centered Jogs. Only required me to loosen the screws and center the Jogs manually and they are pretty much perfectly centered. No LED feedback for this unit. IDJ American Rep said they had no plans of incorperating LED feedback at the moment. He wasnt even sure if it was a hardware or software issue (?). I dont believe the IDJ will ever see a release in the AMerican market. The buttons on IDJ have a huge amount of travel and the rubber buttons sometimes get stuck in the square plasitic that they sit in. The Pitch faders will break if you look at it the wrong way. And the Knobs seems to want to Jump off the unit with a vengence. The Jogs are stellar though.....the Jogs are the strong point of this unit. |
| Wenona Karstens 02.01.2012 | I'd recommend you get to grips with Traktor's mapping - it is pretty straightforward once you get the hang of it - find your function (eg select_set_store_hotcue value 1), press learn, then press the iDJ button you want to trigger it. That's it! (Well, almost - you'll probably want to delete the previous use for that button from the default iDJ mapping.) I haven't played with iMap properly yet, but if you rely on iMap you won't be able to access any functions not already mapped (like cues) in the default iDJ mapping. Also, if you use iMap layers, you'll have to remember your iMap layer settings when creating (and using) your Traktor mapping - it is probably simpler to do layers in the Traktor mappings instead so it is all in once place. You can have any number of layers (called Modifiers in Traktor) and you can control them however you wish. For advanced mapping, check out the recent article on this site that tells you how to make a button store a cue in the next available slot. I'd like to also map a button that selects each cue in turn each time you press it, if I can find a way. That way you could get pretty good cue functionality from a couple buttons. I'll post back if I manage it. |
| Chasidy Heckenbach 02.01.2012 |
Originally Posted by areskz
main (only) reason i wouldn't use the idj for hotcues is that they don't have led feedback - so traktor can't light up any that have hot cues stored in them. the idj buttons just light up when u press them. with the pretty great midi implementation the idj has i still find it very odd that it doesn't support led feedback over midi. you'd just want to map a "select_set_store_hotcue" for each button to make them work as hotcues, optionally adding a modifier of value=0 so you can then add a 2nd mapping of "delete_hotcue" to the same button when the modifier value=1 |
| Felecia Marcellino 02.01.2012 | Thanks for reply, zestoi Looks lke I don't really know how to map something in Traktor... And what about hotcues? Have you ever used any of iDJ's controls to set and use hotcues? |
| Chasidy Heckenbach 02.01.2012 |
Originally Posted by areskz
the imap software seems ok - tho u don't really need to use it if you're using it with traktor. more for when u need to adjust what midi the idj sends out. with learn in traktor there's no real need for that. i haven't used layers yet with it - certainly not via the builtin layers anyway. i believe there's a lot of controls in a very small space, so if i added extra layers i'd bound to use the wrong one... |
| Felecia Marcellino 02.01.2012 | Mapping for Traktor, that I found on iCon official website. Guys, did you find a way to set and use hotcues with iDJ? iMapTM software (that also can be found on official website) seems not very user-friendly (to me though) for remapping... Are you using layers? It provides 4 layers of bindings, so seems like you can have as many as 64 buttons in total. But how to map them properly? Any help is highly appreciated! Unit itself is very cool, btw. I like it |
| Chasidy Heckenbach 14.12.2011 |
Originally Posted by technicaltitch
Not a lot about, very odd as it is a brilliant little gadget - I suppose not the high margin gear that attracts journalists. That said, not many controllers have such a detailed dissection available on the internet!
i believe the jogs are great and it packs a whole bunch of controls into a very small size. some of the pots are fiddly to use - but would still be useful if that's all i had at the time - tho i find it easier to just not map the ones that are too close to the jogs. i did attach some taller caps but couldn't *quite* get them to fit properly, so until i file out the insides a bit of those new caps i'm stuck with the stock ones. having slightly taller/thinner/more-rubbery caps on really helped a lot tho. i find it very odd that the numark dj2go has had some fairly decent reviews as a portable control surface but not the idj. there again has it had *any* reviews?? edit: i also still really like it's midi (apart from the lack of led feedback) like: * each pot sends out a sep noteon message at the center spot as well as the usual cc's - good for resetting a filter etc * in scratch mode the jogs send out a note off when u release as well as another after u release and it stops spinning... handy for vinyl emulation type stuff. spin backs etc. plus u have the more normal relative mode jog stuff for pitch bend when using the outside of the jogs. all very coo.... they really put some decent thought into the midi anyway, which is an area you'd believe they'd skimp on for a budget controller. |
| Wenona Karstens 14.12.2011 | Hey Zestoi thank you again!! Yours sounds exactly the same as mine: Nothing that would affect use, just noticable when playing about and admiring a shiny new Christmas-present-to-self! Not a lot about, very odd as it is a brilliant little gadget - I suppose not the high margin gear that attracts journalists. That said, not many controllers have such a detailed dissection available on the internet! |
| Chasidy Heckenbach 14.12.2011 |
Originally Posted by technicaltitch
just tried mine and if i actually grab onto each side of a jog and try to move it i guess it moves by about 1 to 2mm. never noticed before and it doesn't move when using them normally. |
| Wenona Karstens 14.12.2011 | Not sure if anyone's still listening but just in case. I have just bought an Icon iDJ, and the jog wheels are slightly loose - they wobble so that the side of each wheel moves up and down by 1-2mm. Is this normal and OK? I'm going to travel to Addis Ababa with it in 8 days so if it is faulty I need to get it exchanged promptly! Thanks hugely EDIT: Thanks hugely for all this information - was the main factor in my choosing it. Edit 2: Has anyone seen the lid/cover for sale? The iDJ seems to have grooves along the top and bottom for a lid, but I can't find one for sale. |
| Chasidy Heckenbach 11.10.2011 |
Originally Posted by Erick
the jog wheels do send out quite a bit of data and are different depending on whether u have scratch mode enabled or not. i don't have any kind of full mapping for it at the moment. seems they renamed a few things in this new version of traktor but what i do have in my mapping are these (will plug in my idj later and have a proper look/edit): * Ch01.Note.A#2/jog touch/button/hold * Ch01.CC.016/scratch/encoder/relative/3Fh * Ch01.CC.018/seek position/encoder/relative/3Fh (modifier... deck play=off) * Ch01.CC.018/jog turn/encoder/relative/4Fh (modifier... deck play=on) * Ch01.Note.A#3/tempo bend/up * Ch01.Note.B3/tempo bend/down don't believe i changed any of the midi notes being sent out etc by my idj but am not sure at all what state the tsi was in last time i played with it those settings are for deck A btw. the jogs work really nicely when mapped properly - i should have time to plug mine in later and check. then i can attach whatever mini tsi i have that works etc. |
| Merilyn Sellards 11.10.2011 | hey, nice to find this online, thx for posting! big question, do you have the tsi file for traktor? I don't know how to map the jog wheels, yeah I'm kind of retarded with midi mapping :P but I would like to learn and if I see the file I'm sure I will figure it out! ;D |
| Chasidy Heckenbach 02.10.2011 | had to pull the thing apart as i got fed up of the right hand side pitch fader that was fault when u got it - so here's some pics in case they are any use. click on the thumbs for fullsize versions... |
| Jan Manzoni 13.08.2011 |
Originally Posted by nem0nic
I sent you a PM so that I don't jack this thread, if you want I can transfer it to my other thread. |
| Bertie Metro 13.08.2011 | Thanks nemOnic ! Yea i figured it must have been something like that or like the xp-5/10, with an encoder. I'm pondering the possibility of getting one of these or the dn-sc 2000 and modding it to add a bigger plater in a new case ( actually to put in a modded mpd 24 ). But i'm not about to buy something and discover it cannot be done. And since we are not far away from a number of controlled leaks about the next round of dj stuff, well i'll have to wait and see whats comming |
| Diogo Dj Dragão 13.08.2011 | That's SketchUp. And the chips used to do the capacitive touch sensing are able to auto calibrate and reject noise very well. Several manufacturers make them (Cypress has the best documentation). Unfortunately, I'm a big idiot and posted that in the wrong thread. |
| Jan Manzoni 13.08.2011 |
Originally Posted by nem0nic
Isn't there any noise in the signal due to that kind of connection? |
| Diogo Dj Dragão 13.08.2011 | Here's a quick diagram of what's going on... Sometimes the slotted disc is actually part of the patter itself, and molded into the non-conductive platter piece, but the principal is the same. |
| Chasidy Heckenbach 13.08.2011 |
Originally Posted by kostis12345
14 pots, 5 faders, 24 buttons and 2 touch sensitive jogs (that actually respond really well) with a pretty cool midi implementation for about 100quid is pretty cool... the only thing i dont like about it is the lack of led feedback over midi - or at least i can't get it to respond to anything. you can download firmware from their website (tho they have v1 for download and mine is at v1.01 atm) so maybe they'll implement that later? it is pretty new i guess. |
| Chasidy Heckenbach 13.08.2011 |
Originally Posted by oneapemob
there's nothing in the bottom plastic that fits around the jogs assembly - the bottom half of the shell is just a cover, nothing more. |
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