I don’t know how I managed to miss the release of the CodaNova VMX VJ, but thanks to Grigori for bringing it to my attention:

Now this is more like it. The NuVJ is on the right track, but without having had a go my initial impression is that it doesn’t have quite enough controls and is too tied to the DJ-style layout. It may be perfect for Arkaos, the ReACT may be perfect for Resolume, but unfortunately I’m not buying my midi controllers to use in one single program.

The VMX VJ seems to be addressing these concerns: Plenty of trigger buttons, multiple jog wheels and cross faders (who decided that a single crossfader was enough for VJing?)

• 99 fully assignable controllers
• Plug & Play Windows XP & MAC OS X, Linux support with USB drivers
• 2 jogs and 2 cross fader for live video scratching
• 8 tracks with soft touch fader
• 20 knobs
• 28 switches (loops, play, pause, replay etc …)
• 39 radio buttons (special FX…)
• dim. 29×41 cm - same as a 17″ laptop 
• white steel

Has anyone managed to get their hands on one of them? A little steep at 500 euro, but the build quality looks great from those photos, if only the same thing could be said for the photos themselves. Perhaps the VMX guys could swing one my way in exchange for some extremely professional looking product shots.

Numark launched their NuVJ VJ product, a combination of a DJ-style MIDI controller with software from Arkaos, back at Musikmesse in April. The hardware is now nearing release, and it’s priced at only US$300.

The gear is aimed at DJs, but it may appeal to anyone who wants a hardware controller well-suited to live electronic music and VJing. With driver support for both Mac and Windows and full MIDI support, it has the compatibility apparently lacking in Behringer’s BCD-2000, as reviewed here on CDM.

Numark NuVJ

The control surface itself looks terrific: two banks of 9 trigger pads each (for a total of 18) for triggering clips, big, solid-looking DJ mixer-style faders, knobs (which appear to be endless encoders) that should be useful for effects, and most importantly, two large wheels for scratching, speed control, or other effects.

The software side is a Numark-branded version of ArKaos VJ, the tried-and-true VJ software for Mac and Windows. No word yet on if or how this might differ from the full release, but there are a number of reasons why ArKaos may be a good choice on Numark’s part. Unlike motion dive .tokyo, the software bundled with Edirol’s competing hardware/software combination, recent versions of ArKaos support graphics card GPU acceleration, which is essentially for getting higher resolutions and framerates. ArKaos isn’t the only software to do this (Livid Union is one example), but it is to me an essential feature. ArKaos has gotten a bad rap among some VJs because it’s been used for a lot of really cheezy effects over the years, but if that were the standard, I don’t think we could talk about any software. With full support for FreeFrame effects (the open source effects standard) and Core Image plug-ins, this could be a strong VJ software choice, and US$300 is a new low in cost for software/hardware bundles. Good news for Intel Mac users: this app is already Universal.

Of course, there’s nothing saying you have to use ArKaos; this is still a competitively-priced controller even if you throw away the software and just use MIDI to control something else.

You might be confused by Numark’s product site; many of the features mentioned (camera input, BPM sync, effects) are in fact features of the ArKaos software, not the hardware itself. The NuVJ hardware is just a MIDI interface; there’s no onboard video processing of any kind. But no complaints here: the price is right, and this hardware could be a fantastic controller for both music and visuals alike.

I hope to test this hardware so we can see if it lives up to its claims; stay tuned.

Updated: Here’s a closer view and a complete list of controls, a number of which you could easily reassign if you don’t want these particular functions or if you use other software: