Numark DJ2GO Review & Video Mixing Demo

Many DJs are now digital DJs. Gone are the days of going down to the local record store and picking up some vinyl. Now it’s all about laptops and mp3s. If you are one of the many DJs out there who uses a laptop to mix you’ve probably tried Stantons Final Scratch or similar. Whilst they are far from perfect they allowed vinyl DJs to become digital djs over the course of a few weeks or months, ditch their vinyl and only having to carry their turntables and mixer with them. The DJ2GO goes one step further and will get anyone djing within minutes.

Numarks DJ2GO is probably one of the smallest, most light weight controllers we’ve ever had the pleasure of testing. So small and compact we found it would fit into our ruck sack with plenty of room and no worries about getting a bad back compared to other controllers out there.

It’s also tough too, there is never any feeling that the knobs or buttons are fragile and the unit is built well enough that it could take a bit of punishment. Perfect for mobile DJs who move their equipment around a lot or if you like being able to set up your DJ equipment around a friends house.

The DJ2GO comes complete with a USB cable and a copy of Virtual DJ LE made especially for it. After a couple of minutes installing the software the DJ2GO was ready to erm go. With other controllers we’ve found in the past it can take a few hours to set everything up to work how you want but because this is an essentials only controller everything was set up right after it installed. Even if you use programs like Traktor you’ll have it set up in less than 15 minutes and learning it is just as easy.

Whilst it does lack more advance functions for higher priced controllers it comes with all the basics you need, allowing you to select tracks on the fly, cue points and pitch benders. It comes with two jog wheels which whilst not touch sensitive get the job done and everything is right at your finger tips. Thanks to the supplied software beatmatching is super easy with wave forms helping you line up beats and we found the pitch bend buttons a joy to use. Scratching does take a bit of time getting used to but this is as much a fault of mP3s as it is the jog wheels. The buttons also light up which is a nice touch on such a cheap device.

One thing we really loved about the DJ2GO and its software was the amount of sound card settings you can use out of the box. If you are using a laptop you now doubt have a usb sound card of some description as well as the internal laptop sound card. It finds it all and just works. Same if you are using a dedicated external soundcard. We never had any trouble setting this up on a number of different machines which makes it great for mobile djing or house parties. As soon as it’s installed and the song library loaded you are ready to go.

Because of it’s simplicity and price you may be thinking its entry level or a toy. Not so, whilst this will never be your main controller, it is built solid, is small and light to carry around and easy to set up. Perfect for a backup controller or if you don’t have a lot of space to carry/store a controller.

If you are new to DJing we recommend picking one up, it won’t break the bank, will stand up to a bit of punishment and offers all the basics you’ll need to get going. For the more advanced DJ out there it’s still worth picking up for them times you really don’t fancy lugging two cd decks, a mixer and a box of cds with you.

You can buy the Numark DJ2Go direct from Juno. Click Here to buy yours.

Check out our alternative look of the Numark DJ2Go in our video below.