The Lowdown
The Hercules DJ Control Inpulse 300 Mk2 is an entry-level DJ controller for Serato DJ Lite, which has a couple of uniques up its sleeve. It works with DJUCED too, a free and excellent alternative bundled DJ platform; it has built-in mixing aids to help beginner DJs learn manual beatmixing; and it is cheap compared to some of the competition at this end of the market. Yes it’s basic, no it’s not perfect, but for learning on it’s worth considering.
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Video Review
First Impressions / Setting up
The Hercules DJ Control Inpulse 300 Mk2 is, like its predecessor, a basic, entry level DJ controller, from a company known for such devices. Thus it is a lightweight, relatively small plastic box, with a whole host of basic controls for both the supplied DJUCED software, and – new for the Mk2 of this controller – the Serato platform, one of the most popular DJ software choices in the world.
You get pretty much exactly what you’d expect at this low price point: reasonable jogwheels; a two-channel software-only mixer with EQ and per-channel filters; basic transport, loop and effects controls; headphones cue buttons; one-colour backlit performance pads; library navigation and loading controls; and the usual outputs (RCA master and 1/8″ headphones).
We tested it with Serato DJ Lite (the free version of Serato), and as with all Serato devices, it was easy to set up, recognising the software as soon as it was plugged in. Newcomers to DJing should note that you’re meant to provide your own wired, powered speakers to DJ with such units, so budget for those. At this price point, you could do far worse than a cheap, loud 2.1 gaming speaker system.
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In Use
Hercules is unashamedly a beginner brand, and so the company has added a few features to help beginners learn the tricks, specifically beatmixing.
Underneath the jogwheels are two little lights that show you if the track playing on that deck is a bit behind or ahead of the one on the other deck, so you can nudge the jogwheel in the correct direction to get the beats lined up. Also, the tempo faders have similar lights, indicating whether the track on the given deck is playing faster or slower than the one on the other deck, allowing you to speed it up or slow it down accordingly.
While modern DJ software has a “sync” feature to stop new DJs worrying about getting tracks in time with each other, it’s important in the end to know how to do these things manually, even if it is not something you use all the time in your DJing. So it’s good to see a beginner controller maker incorporating such learning aids into its devices, and they work well.
As far as the rest of the features go, we enjoyed having slightly better-than-some control over Serato’s effects. We also liked having a button for Slip mode, a fun performance feature ignored by many manufacturers, even on much bigger devices. And a big tick from us for the proper VU metering, unheard of at this price point and also important for learning.
However, we did miss a cue/master knob often found to help DJs wanting to spin with just their headphones, and found the tempo controls to be pretty short, too. There’s no microphone input at all. There are always trade-offs at this end of the market as to what is included or not, but do bear these things in mind.
The audio quality is acceptable for the price bracket, although there was a buzz on one channel, which we’ll put down to a one-off with this review unit. That said, don’t expect a pro-grade sound card – it’s fine for home use, small parties and so on, but not big venues. It’s not as if this is the kind of DJ unit you’d take to a professional club anyway.
Conclusion
For picking up the basics of DJing, the Hercules DJControl Inpulse 300 Mk2 is a good choice. It covers most bases, is cheaply but reliably built, and has some unique points. Particularly, if you’d like help with learning to manually beatmix, it has special appeal.
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The Mk2 adds Serato compatibility over the original as well as nicer jogwheels, the former being a big leap forward, although the DJUCED software (which again, is unique to Hercules controllers) is free and very good (if non-standard).
Serato DJ Lite, on the other hand, although also free, is quite limited, because Serato wants you to upgrade to its Pro software – a prohibitively expensive proposition to buy outright, meaning you’d probably be tempted to go for the $15/month subscription option.
So overall, for the Hercules DJ Control Inpulse 300 Mk2, the plus points are: the alternative software platform, the mixing aids, the decent VU metering, and the price.
There are many controllers at this end of the market, but if you find any of these features particularly important, this may just be the right one for you.
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