With the release of the Hercules DJ Controller Impulse 500, one can see how far these entry line DJ controllers have come.
The first thing you will notice is how much larger this DJ controller is but with that big, you want to see that you are getting your money’s worth, considering this unit costs under $300.
A quick run down as you have your play/pause, RGB pads on both sides (Hot Cue, Loop, Slicer, Sampler, Mode 5, Mode 6, Mode 7, Mode 8), jog wheel and modes, controls for inputs, deck mix and browser and controls for outputs.
So you get 2 x 3 Loop Controls, Loop in and out buttons, 1 loop size rotary encoder on each deck and a built-in push button reloop (exit the loop), the 2 x 3 mode buttons (vinyl, slip, quantize), 2 jog wheels with capacitive touch detection, 2 pitch faders, 2 x 2 light guides.
Mixer has the navigation controls, 1 rotary encoder, 1 backlit ring, 2 buttons to load tracks onto the decks, 1 assistant button, 1 beatmatch guide button.
Deck mixing controls features 2 three-band equalizers with high, mid and low frequency knobs, 2 deck gain knobs, 2 deck volume faders, 2 deck volume VU-meters with 9 levels each, 2 buttons to enable/disable monitoring of the decks on headphones, 1 button enable/disable monitoring.
1 cross fader, plus 1 switch to select between the three different crossfader curves. Filter/FX controls which is 2 filter/effects knobs, 4 effect buttons to enable an effect, mixing controls for inputs and outputs via hardware.
Rear features master out, mic in, aux in, USB and Hercules Add-On (Reserved). There is 1 mic volume knob, 2 mic equalizer knobs for high and low frequences, 1 two-color VU-meter.
The unit comes with the Serato DJ Lite and DJUCED software. In my opinion, you will definitely want to upgrade to Serato DJ Pro.
Hook up the USB to your computer and you get the LED illumination ala Vegas Mode.The unit runs via USB, no external power supply. I wish it did have an external power supply, so have a powered USB hub if you don’t have enough USB ports on your laptop/computer.
But I feel this is a fantastic, sturdy unit, a unit that gives you more for your money at the under $300 pricepoint. You get a bigger, professional and more with the Impulse 500. I am having a lot of fun learning EJ’ing with the Hercules DJ Controller Impulse 500. I’m very impressed!
Highly recommended!
