The Lowdown
The Hercules DJControl Inpulse T7 is that rarest of things – an intermediate DJ controller that offers head-turning innovation. With motorised platters, excellent control over Serato, and the choice of its own software (DJUCED) if you don’t want to spend the extra on the full version of Serato, it is an intriguing proposition for DJs wanting something a little bit more than beginner, and who also want motorised platters at a hitherto unheard-of price.
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Video Review
First Impressions / Setting up
The Hercules DJControl inpulse T7 is a medium-sized controller, and the first thing you notice on unpacking it are its weight (surprisingly light), and then the excellent-looking platters, which appear like shrunken Technics turntables, without the tone arm of course – real slipmats, real “vinyl” on top.
Look further and you’ll see the multi-coloured high-quality performance pads, the big, hard cue and play buttons, the long pitch faders, separate controls for looping on top of the usual pad controls, big per-deck loading knobs, and both channel and master VU meters. In other words, it appears to be a pretty decent all-round Serato controller, albeit with consumer build quality, quite apart from being a motorised platter controller.
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It’s quite limited around the back as far as inputs and outputs go (there are balanced and unbalanced master outs, but no aux in or booth out, and only a basic thru mic socket), but that’s to be expected at this price point, especially with the money that’s been spent on those platters.
Surprise time: Flick a little door up top-left of each platter, and you reveal one of the unit’s secrets: the platters are belt-drive! You wouldn’t know, though – they feel great to use, as we’re about to find out.
Finally, another nice surprise: You can raise the height of the whole thing to “standard” DJ gear height with four fold-out feet, a feature borrowed from the company’s Inpulse 500 controller.
In Use
So, let’s move on to how the Inpulse T7 is to use. Firstly, the platters. They feel great, they’re easy to scratch on, there’s very little of any discernible “drift” when scratching, and really, they’d be a revelation at any price, never mind this one.
There were only two small ways I could fault them. First, in the software there doesn’t appear to be an “instant start” option. Right now, the music takes a small amount of time to come up to speed when you press play – just like real turntables mind, but it can be switched out for instant start with other motorised-platter units. Maybe this will be added.
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Secondly, one of the two platters on our review unit made a small humming noise when spinning – it didn’t affect performance, but was audible when no or low music was playing.
Moving to the crossfader and upfaders, they’re good for the money, but of course, scratch DJs often famously abuse their gear, so pros might find they wear out sooner rather than later. (Update: Hercules sells a drop-in replacement faders module that ups the quality of these.) For everyone else, though, I guess they’ll be fine. They’re soldered on so would be a bit of a job to change I’d imagine. As I say though, unless you’re DJ QBert, probably not an issue.
As far as the rest of the controls go, it’s good news for features: Deep and thoughtful control over Serato is on offer here, with full colour pads controlling all important modes as well as stems. I liked the acapella/instrumental hardware buttons (let’s face it, the main use of modern stems tech is to get instant acapellas), I appreciated the VU meters, and I enjoyed the long pitch faders.
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I did find myself missing a Slip button for each deck, and over time I would probably find a way to map easier-than-pads pitch shifting, but by and large it’s all there. Just bear in mind that it is all reather plasticky, as befits a controller at this price.
A word about effects: There are two paddles (which is good), but the six buttons that turn on and off Serato’s effects are “universal”, ie the first three are NOT mapped to the left deck, the second three are NOT mapped to the right deck – they all affect both channels. This is neither good nor bad, but it is different to how some gear works, and worth knowing.
The controller sounds find for the price, and it has that most important intangible: It is fun to use! It just feels good, and everything is laid out where it is easy to figure out, fast. It doesn’t feel quite as solid or sure as a pro unit, but I guess corners do have to be cut somewhere at this price.
What’s more, this being Hercules, beginners will love the subtle but massively useful lights that show you the beats and bars of your songs by flashing two colours, and also which way to move the pitch faders to get your songs to match in tempo. Of course, there’s a sync button too for when you just want to DJ without the manual stuff.
Conclusion
This is a great controller for the money, bringing utterly competent and convincing motorised platter DJing down to a completely new price point. No, it isn’t built like and it doesn’t have the features of the Rane One or the Pioneer DJ DDJ-REV7, but it costs a fraction of the price and gives you nearly as much as far as feel goes. It’s a bargain in that respect.
One area where it is definitely not a bargain though: if you want to use it with Serato (as I suspect nearly everyone will) you’ll need to subscribe to or buy outright Serato DJ Pro or Suite to unlock the features you’ll want, as the supplied Serato DJ Lite won’t be enough. That can be a considerable extra expense, which takes the shine off the price somewhat.
Alternatives? There is really very little at this price point. Probably the Pioneer DJ DDJ-FLX6 is closest: Same size, same consumer build quality, but in that instance, the “second” software – first, really – you get with it is Rekordbox, and a good version at that, making it better value (it also works with Serato, but you’d need to buy it just the same).
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Instead of motorised platters, the FLX6 has pretty good full-sized CDJ-style jogs, which some will prefer, and it is also four channel, although again completely in software (ie you can’t plug decks/CDs into it for those extra channels). The FLX6 disappointing also has single-colour pads and no balanced output.
I guess another controller to look at for a completely different platform would be the Traktor Kontrol S4 Mk3, which also has motorised jogwheels, although they’re completely different in feel, and it costs quite a bit more.
Overall, if motorised jogwheels are what you really, really want, and budget is a concern, nothing currently comes close to the Hercules DJControl Inpulse T7. Factor in the subscription or purchase price of the software, then go for it.
