Ive tried VDJ, found the user interface cluttered and annoying to set up… they also dont have a good/any 3 deck GUI, it’s either 2 or 4 which doesnt suit me.
Its a bit like the Android vs Apple debate, or Windows vs Apple… some of us dont want to have a degree in computer science to use software, we just want to turn it on and use it.
The advantage of VDJ is that it’s 100% customisable, including the graphical interface, and there are even serato skins for VDJ (unofficial but easy to find on the internet). So if you have a bit of xml knowledge, you can create your own skin or use skins created by others.
Some of these skins are extremely user-friendly. Personally, I use the Haunting Pro skin in the ‘touch’ version (even though I don’t have a touch screen), and I’ve set it up so that it totally meets my needs. And it radically changes the look and feel of VDJ to the point where people say to me “wow what is the software are you using” and when I tell them it’s virtual DJ they don’t believe me.
For example, on the haunting pro touch you can activate the option so that the browser only appears when you touch the browser wheel on your equipment, and then it disappears after a few seconds to leave only the decks… There are so many subtleties like this on VDJ that most people don’t know about…
without browser
When you move browser encoder (automatic)
The interface can be whatever you want with VDJ. Lots and lots of skins for it. I’ve got 3 deck skins, 6 deck skins, and a bunch of skins in between. There are even skins that look like Serato, Traktor, etc. Hardware manufacturers sometimes bundle their own skins to match the hardware. That’s the easy part. Drag the skin you want into the skins folder. I also often ‘edit’ the XML skins to remove stuff I don’t want on them in a way that, I’ll admit, is easier to do with Traktor settings. VDJ has far and away the best mapping and scripting available for mapping, though. IMO, VDJ was way ahead of the competition already a couple generations of the software back.
And that’s my whole point, the hours spent faffing around with all that, I could be on the decks mixing. I connect my laptop to some hardware and Serato sorts out the GUI for me, so on my flux it’s got the 3 deck stack ready to roll. No unnecessary clutter, no virtual mixer etc etc.
As far as I’m concerned, I didn’t spend hours on it, I tried out a few skins, then I stopped on this one, navigated a few menus to activate or deactivate the interface options I wanted, which took me 10/15 minutes. And once I’d configured it the way I wanted, I didn’t touch it again and now I get my graphical interface every time when I open the software.
You don’t have to be particularly geeky to use VDJ (although it can give you that feeling when you’re doing advanced mapping, but it’s not compulsory).
It’s not that different from the first time you turned on your denon equipment, you probably took 10/15 minutes to customise which options in the user preferences. And once you’ve done that, you never go back.
It still doesn’t solve the lack of 3 deck skins though. The 3 deck stack in Serato works well on a 13” screen. I like to see a good amount of library and all I’ve managed so far is a cluttered 4 deck layout with about 4/5 lines of a library.
Traktor seemed a bit nicer layout when I tried that, more room when the compact decks were active.
I’ve just had another play on VDJ there, will give it some more time tomorrow and see if I can get something close to what I’d like.
I haven’t explored all the vdj skins but you will inevitably find a skin that suits you which will allow you to have 3 decks, maybe even stacked, and to deactivate the mixer on the screen, because most of the vdj skins VDJ is based on modular elements called panels that you can choose to display or not display skin preferences.
Personally I like having a return to the screen of the mixer buttons especially since the browser does not take up any space when I do not touch the navigation encoder.
Not all skins allow you to hide the mixer or display only 3 decks but some certainly do if that is your need.
For example, you can obtain this type of arrangement
the skin I use only allows the choice between two or 4 decks but I am convinced that there is the same type of skin allowing 3 decks
It only took me a few seconds to get this view with just a few clicks
I’ll have a dig around with it. See what I can do. I am leaning more towards Algoriddim as an alternative to Serato though.
The downloading and dragging of a skin zip into the skins folder isn’t difficult, but yes, doing complicated MIDI mappings and editing XML skins is harder. I’m not aware of complicated custom mappings or XML skin editing being possible at all in Serato, though. I agree no one should be required to do that elaborate stuff.
If you want the exact layout of Serato and without any effort at all, then that’s a hurdle. Ditto with selecting Performance skin to get something that might better match your needs. It takes some effort. You obviously don’t have to do much to use a lite version of VDJ bundled with a controller that has already been pre-mapped and has its own skin. After you buy the full software, you just go to the VDJ website and start browsing if you don’t like the default adjustable skin & on-screen options immediately present. My personal favorite is probably GROM.
Probably the clunkiest thing about VDJ now in the latest versions is the settings / options system, which is so massive and highly customizable that it has its own search. That’s for things like the virtual stems stuff or trying to optimize the scratch algorithm sound and advanced key correction based on the CPU power you have. Most users leave the defaults where they are, though.
Having tested DJay with my LC6000 I spent more time in the DJay settings making the midi assignments of my mixer and adjusting the LC6000 so that they respond as close as I wanted than in VDJ which detected my equipment immediately and it didn’t take me long to refine certain settings like the bending sensitivity for example.
And I find that the LC6000 are much more responsive on VDJ than on Djay
I never really managed to configure DJay to have the same feeling.
The problem with VDJ is that they are ultimately so customizable and there are so many parameters that you can refine that you can end up getting lost.
But it’s worth it because once you’ve found your settings it’s a treat.
I admit I spent some time doing custom mappings on my Z2 because I wanted certain keys to perform specific actions for the workflow I had in mind.
For example, as I use a lot of stems on the pads, I wanted when I cut the vocal stems to cut the vocals with an echo out effect.
So I had to schedule an action on the vocal pad so that it would trigger an echo out only on the vocal on this pad.
But that’s because I’m a big geek 
I’m waiting on the flux being properly supported in Djay. DVS is a bit flaky atm with it, slow to respond.
VDJ is also capable of true 14-bit pitch fader resolution if you have the capable hardware… and whatever number of decimal places on the pitch readout you want. I stick with two, but three works like on Deckadance 1. Anything beyond that’s basically a random number generator to the further right.
I had exactly the same feeling on Djay with the LC6000. Like a certain latency compared to VDJ
But I think it’s because DJay only uses the LC6000 in Midi and not in HID while VDJ uses HID which is much more responsive
Does the VDJ HID work with the Prime player separates and sends stuff back to the screen? It does that on the MDJs.
For most recent Denon/Numark equipment yes
I’m also curious about how the M’s moving platter is handled. Whenever I tried the old DN-HS5500, it appeared to want a very old version of VDJ that allowed multiple 5500s to be recognized at the same time. With two or more units connected on the newer VDJ versions, I found it got confused. One unit at a time was fine, though, even switching between layers. I think VDJ 6 was the version the 5500’s HID stuff was mapped for. I also noticed that the player’s onboard sound card worked, including I think the SPDIF, which was very cool. The MDJ SPDIF does not work when it’s acting as a soundcard.
I can only speak about what I know.
With the LC6000 jogs adjusted as I set, with the value of bending sensitivity that I entered in the parameters, it is even more precise than when I use the LC as a second layer controller on Engine OS.
I have a feeling in terms of scratching that is very close to what you can get natively on a CDJ 2000nxs with my settings (apart from the heaviness of the platter obviously). If you close your eyes you wouldn’t even be able to tell that you are using software because it is so reactive.
I was also able to adjust the pitch bend + and minus keys so that they were more progressive than on Engine OS which I find far too fast.
So I think that if I was able to do it on the LC you could also do it on any equipment in the prime range with the same result
I can even use both my LC6000 and Phase on a turntable to control the same Deck,
Phase serves me in this case more for scratching and the LC controls for the rest (loops / beatjump / pads etc.)
There are no conflicts between the two
The sc6000M platters are rather well managed on VDJ
For some reason I have the impression that they are more sensitive than on EngineOS
The slightest bending, braking or acceleration seems slightly amplified compared to Engine OS. You eventually get used to it but I still can’t explain why.
That said it may be due to the values that I entered for the LC6000 in the parameters because I am sharing computer between the LC and the SC6000M
