Numark iDJ2 iPod Mixing Console Review

Another fantastic aspect of the IDJ2 console is the Crate feature that supports various file formats including MP3, WAV, and unprotected AAC formats. Just above the left hand side of the LCD monitor's interface is a button labeled Crate, which allows you to set aside music of your choosing from either your iPod and/or USB (thumb) drive(s) to incorporate sooner or later into your set. This has saved me both time and sweat pooling on my brow.

I have but two gripes. The first is in regards to uploading the songs to a certain specification and the second is the use of either thumb drives OR an external hard drive per the USB drives located in the rear of the console.

Being that I'm a bit of an iPod and music whore, unless each track on your iPod has the title of the song as well as the artist both on the same line, you better have one killer memory because otherwise you just won't know what title corresponds to what artist. There are actually two solutions to this.

(1) Numark offers a small USB keyboard that's smaller than any one keyboard that's currently out in the marketplace. The only thing is that repeated calls to their tech department have come up with goose egg to see where I might be able to order one of these puppies.

(2) Customization. You know how songs in iTunes can be customizable—Name, Artist, Album, Year, etcetera? Well, I type the artist's name preceding the song title. And yes, I did this, so far, for all 5,500 songs—then loaded up everything onto my iPod but segregated into various folders marked either Rock/Pop, Dance, Acid Jazz, etc. Granted this custom set-up is both laborious and exceptionally time consuming but well worth it—at least it has been for me.

My second gripe concerns the use of mass storage devices. I've attempted to use my SeaGate 160-Gig external hard-drive but with lackluster results. In fact the results were slower than pouring maple syrup out of any one bottle. In short: it just doesn't work as well as utilizing a flash/thumb drive in excess of 1-Gig. I had been using two 2-Gig Memorex flash drives and they worked fantastically well. I'm now going to upgrade to a 4-Gig drive or perhaps an 8-Gig drive, so as to really optimize and customize the music I play.

What I will also say is that I need to buy the USB keyboard because as I was readying to play a New Year's gig at the wine bar, although I haven't had issues finding the songs that I'd like to play, as I usually either think of songs that I'd like to play ahead of time or, and in most cases, I think up songs on the fly, but I bet that having that keyboard and being able to key in the letter 'A' or type "Axwell" would be infinitely easier than using the console's 360-degree scroll knob to search, which is what I've been doing, perhaps zanily.

Other than that, though, I'm really both impressed and in love with this console. Priced at or around $600, I chose the optional 2-year warranty thatcovers any of the twist or slide knobs on the face of the console that may wear out or some other involuntary mishap. But the warranty doesn't cover anything spilled on the console or, heaven forbid, the IDJ2 is dropped—basically any kind of dumb-a** thing(s) like that.

If you're tech-savvy, you really shouldn't have a problem understanding what is what on the IDJ2 console, but there is the downloadable PDF instruction manual/file (via Numark's website) that is well laid out and covers just about every facet and/or problem should you encounter any.

Pros
- Small, portable, easy to use
- Your music—available, literally at your fingertips
- Price

Cons
- Lack of effects such as Flanger
- Lack of keyboard (unit should come with the IDJ2 as a packaged deal)
- Color-coding songs played vs. songs not yet played (say, red and yellow)

Originally posted - January 14, 2007