[Review] Native Instruments Audio 2 DJ USB Interface

This is intended to be another short review. This time I’m giving a short overview/review of the Audio 2 DJ USB Interface by Native Instruments.

What’s in the box?

Audio 2 DJ USB Interface

USB Data cable

Beatport giftcard

Driver DVD with Traktor Pro Demo version, KORE player & Guitar Rig 3Go

CD with Ableton Live Demo

Product manual/Warranty Info

Design

Although encased in plastic, the design is pretty solid and it looks like it could take somewhat of a beating. This is probably the one of the lightest audio interfaces ever made. The weight is comparable to that of an IPod Touch.

Pictures

Design

The Audio 2 is design is solid although being encased in plastic instead of aluminum like its bigger brothers.  The channel output LEDs are very bright.

Using the Audio 2 DJ

So far everything went well. Installation was straight-forward and configuration as well. The ASIO control panel is simplistic but is perfectly fine and has a number of latency presets for tuning the performance of your computer/DJ software. Channel A is output 1 & 2 & Channel B is output 3&4.

The good

Solid construction

Portable

DJ software included

Beatport.com gift card included

USB 2.0 bus powered

Channel output LEDs

Channel level control

The Bad

Intentionally left black

The Other Stuff

Extremely lightweight

Conclusion

In conclusion, for the money, this is without a doubt one of the best USB audio interfaces on the market now.

[Review] Numark Stealth Control Midi Controller

To kick things off, I thought I would post a short review of my midi controller.

This post is intended to be a short introduction/review for the Numark Stealth Control Professional Computer-DJ Performance Deck

It should be noted that this unit is purely a Midi controller and therefore a multi-channel sound card/audio interface will be required.

What’s in the box?

Numark Stealth Control Midi Controller

USB Data cable

Beatport gift card

Traktor 3 LE software CD

Product Manual/Warranty Info

Pictures

Still in boxes

Outer boxes removed

The actual box

Unboxed

Design

Overall, the design is pretty solid and the components are well laid out. The knobs and faders were fairly smooth. The unit is encased in metal but the weight is not that much.

Using the Stealth Control

So far everything seems to be going well for the Stealth until it was time to actually use it. Since I already had Traktor 3 installed I downloaded the .tks (it’s really an xml file with traktor-specific tags) file from the Numark Website and loaded it. Somehow, I did not really like the way the controls were mapped. As a result I had to go in search of a solution and I was able to get help from a member of the DjTechtools forum. In the end, I decided to just map all the functions myself which is fairly easy.

*More on using the Stealth Control in another article.

The Good

Solid construction

Portable

DJ software included

Beatport.com gift card

Pretty cheap (around $210 on Amazon.com)

USB 2.0 bus powered

The Bad

Midi mappings file from Numark’s Website is lacking

Buttons have different midi notes from their corresponding LEDs

The Other Stuff

Some may find the jog wheels to be a little too sensitive.

Conclusion

When all is said and done, this midi controller is a solid choice for a computer-based DJ.