Hi all
So im looking at buying a 4 channel DJ mixer to use with traktor.
Ive been pondering the Vestax VCI400 which is going for around the 400 quid price point. RRP was £630 I think.

anyway Vestax went belly up end of last year which means no firmware support and questions over warranty…

Ive owned their turntables before and they were ace! really solid build quality and great sound.

so should I risk it or not?

BTW running a macbook air 2011 with traktor so should be no problems with core audio compatability and Im not planning on keeping the OS updated really…

cheers
Jim

If a companies products were any good, would they have gone bust?

If you can afford to walk away from £400 should they break next week, go right ahead.

scruff9252 – Member

If a companies products were any good, would they have gone bust?Could do – prob loads of examples of companies with strong products making an abysmal decision that sinks everything. Cannondale are a good example of this in cycling – went bust 10 + years back after thinking they could get into motorcycling. The brand lives on because the bike products were good and got pulled from the wreckage and resuscitated.

No idea about 4-channel mixers, like – Are Vestax dead and buried, never to rise again? Or has someone picked over the remains and is going to keep their stuff going? If it’s the former then 33% off a relic doesn’t sound much like a bargain.

There was a company who made kayaking kit in Scotland who went bust a few years back. Kogg Caledonia – they went bust because their kit was so good that it rarely wore out and needed to be replaced….

It’s a difficult one.

I bought a new guitar synth box after the manufacturer went bust. The product had a good reputation, and there were a number of enthusiastic owners on a forum, but there’s always the risk that it turns out to be flaky, or that problems are encountered when it’s partnered with later systems.

A lot of audio interface products seem to be let down by badly written drivers, and you could buy it and find it doesn’t work reliably in your system, or that is has limited functionality, with no prospect of enhancement. However, my experience is that even respected manufacturers can be really poor at supporting these issues.

If you’re happy that it should be reliable, and will do what you want it to do now, and in the near future, then it might be worth it.

Are you able to buy it from a supplier with a good returns policy?

Are there any alternatives?

Got one of these, should be back on the road in next couple of days, parts are getting very difficult to source.

Reliant Scimitar SSTurbo, not everyone’s cup of tea, but kick’s the arse of many a hot hatch.

Thanks all for your thoughts…
It is available from major retailers who are dropping the price on an almost daily basis (amazon are the cheapest atm) the European distributor have said they will honour warranty claims in the next 2 years.

Veastax are really highly regarded for their audio equipment so quality is not really an issue IMO.
I think they basically have had macro economic problems due to the Japanese economy and competition from China.
The level of support from the community using a product is really important for things like driver updates if a company goes bust.
Ive been trying to find out how proprietary the firmware is with not much luck, If it is relatively open and there is a user base who are able/willing to develop drivers or workarounds the whole thing is very different.
There are similar devices in the price bracket, however the quality of the vestax unit is a level up from say the Traktor S4 which is plastiky in comparison.