VSTs are working great for me, thanks !

I am having a Ball with DD2. Being able to use my own VSTs is Tremendous. Stability of DD2 has been good for me. (Windows 7, NI Audio 8 Audio Interface).

I have all the VSTs Slots set for Master Output, which allows me to "chain" 4 VSTS.

In case anyone is interested, here is how I have things setup:

VST Slot A - PSP Audioware Lexicon PSP42 for odd timing delays, such as 5/16, 9/8 etc. for "instant" buildups that I can ride with the Wet / Dry. This is set as a SEND.

VST Slot B - Scuffham S-Gear 2 which is the best Amp / Cab emulations I have heard, never crashes on me and allows Amp Distortion and Room Ambience. This is set as a SEND (to taste). I roll off the Low End on the Amps / Cabs to not muddy up the mix.

VST Slot C - IL Maximus to get great punch and warm limiter. So much in Maximus. Secret Sauce for me. Punchy. Set as an INSERT 100% Wet to avoid phasing with the Dry Signal.

VST Slot D - Crysonic NewB 4 Bass Booster. I know, Crysonic can be "iffy" with their products, but NewB 4 is Monster Bass and Sub Harmonics.

Of course I can mix these up in different orders and other VSTs.

I recently purchased the full VST version of IL Edison and so far it looks promising as a way to capture loops, segments and stems and easily playback, edit and re-use. In-line editing. I think Edison has crashed on me a couple of times, but sometimes it stays stable. I know I am pushing things here, but these are things that Can Not be done with other DJ software. Having VSTs really lets the DJ sound different than all those same Traktor effects. I can't stand that "Traktor sound" with those NI effects (toys IMHO).

I was very surprised to see / hear that the built in DD2 FXs all sounded quite "musical" to me and there are some cool winners with the Smart Knobs presets. I have one Smart Knob setup (on each Deck) to be a simple Channel Mute (Volume 0).

The 3 things that come to my mind for future improvements:

- Option in Settings for a Filter that has less or very little Resonance. The current filter sounds good, but sounds a bit "gimmicky" after awhile. Would be nice for a regular less rez filter used to: roll off Lo and Hi when mixing with other tracks without hearing that steep Rez all the time.

- A Shift choice in Midi. Currently each function can only have 1 Midi Controller / Channel / CC. Thus we need lots of knobs, buttons, faders to map DD2. The Shift button will significantly cut down on the vast number of knobs. buttons, faders. Also, puzzling that a particular function can only have one controller assignment. Would be nice if can assign multiple controllers for the same function.

- Lastly, option for Soft Takeover on Midi assignments. Check out the Novation LP Mini and Launch Control with 16 knobs and 8 x 8 user buttons. Without Soft Takeover, Shift and Multiple assignments per function -- it really underutilizes the potential.

Overall - thanks IL (Luis) for doing an amazing job on DD2. I hope more people discover DD2. I was into MixVibes Cross for a while, but (even with their new 3.0) I love the feel, layout, reliability, VSTS, SmartKnobs and sound of DD2 better. IL has so much experience with FL, Synths, FX, Routing, plus programming-in-general that they were able to look at DD2 from a producers point of view with their vast experience. DD2 is different from the others.

(Argu would be proud).

Thanks for listening.

iwaiwa

San Jose, CA USA