Beta drivers are now available for the NS7 which offer support for Bit versions of Windows. You can always find the latest drivers for the NS7 here. Please note that running these applications in 64 bit mode will not afford any increases in speed or performance. Numark and Serato understand that DJs like to organize their record cases in a certain way. Serato ITCH software is available for free from serato.
Anyone can download it and use it as a media player and library organizer. Numark partnered with Serato on NS7 because we agree that DJs should not need to think about how the software and the hardware interact.
That's our job. When you use NS7 for the first time, you can be performing literally in minutes. There is no authorization, mapping, configuration, or set up to go through.
When you're performing on NS7, you never need to think about what a button on the hardware is going to do because everything is clearly labeled and does what it says it does. The hardware and the software are carefully engineered to match perfectly. In ITCH, mixing is done in the software, which takes advantage of the computer's powerful processor.
What is Strip Search and how does it work? Strip Search is a virtual needle-drop control that employs via a touch-sensitive, force-sensing resistor. This unique innovation enables you to search within a track with ease simply by pointing with your finger on the strip. What kind of crossfader does NS7 have? Are the crossfader and line faders replaceable? Can I adjust the motor torque and how will this help me?
We realize that every DJ has their personal preference when it comes to turntables so we have included two torque settings. In this high setting, the pitch fader responds very quickly. We designed the lighter "classic" setting to be very similar to another very popular turntable's feel. In the lower setting the pitch fader response is gentler. Can I replace the vinyl and slipmat? You can customize NS7 with your own vinyl and slipmat for the perfect look and feel.
You can also adjust slip pressure to your personal preference. Can I change computers during a gig without interrupting the audio? Yes, NS7 has an audio input that enables you to play from another device such as a portable MP3 player, CD player, or mic while changing laptops.
Will the input work without the computer connected? Can I connect a CD player? The music never stops and the transition is seamless. With a four-channel mixer, two DJs can play side-by-side with two computers using just a pair of V7s. This innovative communication technique yieldsextremely high-precision, low-latency control. We took that idea and developed our own modern take on it with Strip Search, the unique virtual-needle-drop touch strip.
You can locate a point instantly within the track using the on-screen waveform and Strip Search. Five hot-cue-assign buttons on each deck digitally mark your cues on the track. We developed an extensive loop-controls section for creative remix capabilities. You can choose between manual and auto-loop functions and an automatic BPM analyzer further assists loop makers.
Multiple loop banks make V7 a great choice for scratch and club DJs alike. Beat matching is straight ahead with mm, smooth, stiff pitch sliders and plus and minus buttons, by popular request, for bending. We took extraordinary care in selecting the components of the audio signal chain. V7 contains a multichannel, high-resolution bit USB digital-audio interface.
The high-definition analog audio output features a minimized circuit path with containing only one audiophile-grade bipolar capacitor. This optimized design maximizes phase coherence, ensuring that audio is tight and punchy. Thus when approaching the design of this ITCH based controller, Numark had a set of software imposed rules to work with, but what they did with those rules was up to them. So having a relatively clean blank canvas, Numark had some tough decisions to make.
Go small, go large or go crazy - well the DJ world has a plethora of A3 sized controllers that more or less work the same. Going crazy and making some wildly different controller is too much of a risk. So what Numark appear to have done is think really hard about what DJs might really want, and the middle ground between a regular analog setup and a laptop sized controller is where they've laid their hat. Thus a fairly controversial all in one design was drawn up - one that incorporated everything that DJs need as well as addressing the reasons why people don't buy the small controllers.
This couldn't be done in a small case so a larger and heavier unit is the result. Having the larger case means being able to adopt a much more DJ friendly workflow i. So straight away, DJs can step up and use the NS7 without having to relearn new controls. So having established that the NS7 is much bigger than the standard controller offering, it has to be housed in a substantial case. In terms of size, it's mm x mm x mm to the top of the spindle 76mm to the top of the flat surface.
The base is a one piece formed aluminium base, shaped, drilled and formed to take the decks and mixer. Supporting the whole unit are 8 thick stuck on rubber feet, that combined with the weight keeps the NS7 completely still. I cannot underline enough the solidity of this unit. The NS7 has not one bit of hollowness about it at all. Hitting it all over with my knuckles yielded no empty noises at all - just a dense thud of reassuring quality. One extra where the case is concerned - it comes with a seriously heavy built-in laptop stand that sits right in front of the NS7 into some heavyweight fittings screwed to the underside of the NS7.
It can all be removed it you want and breaks down into nothing for neat stashing in your DJ bag or case. I could argue that a laptop sat in front of you isn't especially crowd friendly, so you might choose to bring along your own stand and place it at the side.
IDEA: Use a flat screen laid on the stand running from the laptop instead of hiding behind the open laptop. Let the crowd see you! Numark however aren't tied by supplying individual decks so can apply the same symmetrical thinking to the NS7. I'm sure it was a tough decision for them but one that I feel works incredibly well. I have no doubt that some will complain about pitch being in the wrong place etc but your brain soon adapts.
The quality extends to the controls as well. Numark have always had a certain house style - rubber and plastic buttons that have felt good but not wow good. The NS7 controls however are in a whole new league of quality for Numark. The knobs turn very smoothly with a solid centre click where necessary, and the buttons have a reassuring but subtle click and don't suffer from squishy wobbliness that often happens.
They are firm, and you need to get used to giving them a firmer press than you might expect. The pitch faders feel better than those usually found on CD decks and controllers as well.
While I've never known of a stem breaking, I wish they'd been metal. Firstly the layout - these are a curious mixture of merging CD deck and controller layouts into one workable format. CD decks tend to have play controls bottom left and stacked on top of each other. The NS7 takes the lead from controllers and puts them under the platter, with a row of 5 hot cue buttons just above. I've read some complaints about this but to me it's the ideal place - right by your hands rather than having to let go of the platter, which allows you to get quite creative with your thumb and triggering multiple hot cues while scratching for example.
The one thing you expect to see on a CD deck is a display - usually top dead centre. But because of the laptop being your display, it's not necessary and instead is replaced by neatly organised loop controls. I like the location of these as it's not something as immediate as hot cues. You're more likely to let go of the platter to set up loops.
More on those later. Just above these is the hilarious but perfectly named Strip Search control. One of the biggest issues for vinyl DJs inflicted onto non-vinyl systems is the total lack of needle drop.
Hot cues kind of go some way towards this but it's not the same. Strip is a touch sensitive strip that effectively allows you to virtually needle drop inside the playing track.
Imagine that the whole waveform is loaded into the strip search control - touching your finger anywhere on the strip is like a needle drop. You can also touch and drag up and down the strip too. And with a little bit of practice, it can act as a cue for the start of the track as well.
This has changed from previous version in that the metal bezel surrounding it is now polished metal so that it's easier to see in the dark IDEA: The next version of this should be at the side of the platter, twice as big and have an LCD behind it for a very visual virtual needle drop. But even as it stands, this is a genius feature.
If I wore one, I'd take my hat off to Numark and Serato for this. Perhaps if a number of tracks were lined up, a simulation of vinyl tracks could be cool for enhanced digital needle dropping. The most obvious feature to get DJs interested is the platter.
Yes, a real platter - none of your 4" plastic jog wheel nonsense here, but an actual high torque direct drive motor just like the TTX, with a really heavyweight aluminium 7" platter - just as if the TTX had been in a hot wash and shrunk. And it has a low classic and high modern torque setting for added feel tweaking too. I don't know the numbers but in term of feel we're talking strong finger pressure and harder hand pressure to stop the platter spinning.
IDEA: Add 45rpm mode. It only spins at 33rpm. To give the NS7 a more realistic feel, it comes with a custom 7" vinyl controller. At first, I thought this was a custom moulded plastic disk, but it turns out to be actual real heavyweight vinyl sourced from a pressing plant.
This sits neatly on a regular 7" felt slipmat, which obviously you could swap out for your own to customise the feel. I see no reason why you couldn't change the vinyl and slipmat to suit your needs - picture disks or coloured vinyl for example. Hell I nearly drilled holes in 12" vinyl for a laugh. Maybe before it goes back to Numark HQ The spindle connection method also works as a kind of tension adjustment control as well. The more you push it down to tighten it, the harder it grips the slipmats.
We're talking about a safe 2 rotation backspin without feeling wobbly down to a half spin super grippy feel. And yes, you can use the spindle or the platter edge to bend the pitch, although the pitch bend buttons do a better job. On the subject of pitch, the faders have a rubberised low profile knob and are much smoother than those on my TTXs.
I tried mixing full tracks end to end at a variety of pitches and they stayed locked, even at the biggest pitch shift. I had suspected that ITCH was doing the work internally rather that depending on platter rotation, but it seems Numark and Serato did a lot of work to ensure that the motor design and software was as good as it possibly could be. The pitch bend is interesting - usually it's a few percent either way, but the NS7's pitch shift appears to be infinite.
The longer you hold it, the more it shifts - even down to stopping dead. It's interesting that this is software based, whereas regular pitch is handled on a hardware level. I found it best to drop it on and without pressure, tighten it up. And I feel that the fixing mechanism could be made a little smaller. With such a small area to work with, every millimetre counts. The platters also come with a start and stop adjust controls too, from instant to an estimated 10 seconds.
I see the need for a stop speed, but has anyone ever used startup speed adjust on any deck? And like all other Numark decks, you get reverse spin and bleep for those instant moments of editing live profanity.
So if you're a Hip Hop DJ, expect heavy use. So I guess you really want to know how it stacks up against real vinyl and other established devices. Well this scratch happy hack says extremely well indeed. Obviously being 7" vinyl effects the feel, but it's simply a matter of adapting. It's not quite vinyl, but easily outclasses all other 7" models, and does begin to feel very natural. It certainly feels a hell of a lot better than mixing and scratching with 7" vinyl, and with practice becomes as natural as 12".
You may struggle to adapt, but I didn't at all. A related but important feature of the NS7 is the fan. Normally when you fire up your beloved chunks of hardware, they largely sit there silently waiting to be abused. But the NS7 has a couple of cooling fans in the back.
For those with any experience of Numark's TTX turntables, you'll know about the initial problems on the original TTX1s and overheating. This was fixed pretty quickly, but try to imagine the amount of heat that could be generated by 2 x full sized high torque motors shoehorned inside a snug case. Now you see the need for additional cooling. In a normal environment, you'd never notice it, but sat next to me in my humble office as I type this, the hum in my left ear is a tad noisier than I care for in an otherwise silent environment.
For the record, even when left running and spinning for hours, the NS7 barely got even lukewarm. Perhaps the solid subframe acts as a big heaksink too. An important factor of making an all in one unit is to make sure that one part doesn't let down the whole unit. The crossfader has that potential and indeed has on some otherwise great mixers. The NS7 however is fitted out with uprated faders all round - Numark's own 45mm CP-Pro fader as well as 45mm DT45 line faders which are usually reserved for crossfaders.
How do I know this? Well I feel that it's my civic and moral responsibility to lift the lid on any mixer that comes my way to have a peek inside It won't take the battering metered out by your average scratch DJ, but less punishing DJs should be quite happy with it. It's certainly smooth and suffers no bounce, but you're certainly in noisy clicky territory with this one. You do get the regulatory selection of controls - curve and reverse on the crossfader, giving you a pin sharp curve and minimal lag.
It's a dream for scratchers no doubt. The D-Type linefaders however are a little less smooth but don't click at all. Not really a problem though as the line faders are bereft of any fader controls at all - no curves or reverses here, although you could pop the faders out and physically reverse them yourself.
Shame that Numark didn't feel it necessary to add these couple of controls. And I would have liked the line faders a little closer together as well. These little things do make a difference. It's worth pointing out that during my unwanted intrusion into the guts of the NS7, I could physically fit Innofaders into all 3 slots. I didn't plug one in though - not about to possibly fry this stunning lump of DJ gear.
Audio Innovate tell me it's not quite plug and play though.
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