Serato Video General Discussion

Forum
 Serato Video General Discussion
I modded a DDM4000 over the weekend
Talk about Serato Video and Video-SL.

I modded a DDM4000 over the weekend

danielrockwell 4:17 PM - 10 October, 2011
I wanted to find a cheap midi mixer to try out video mixing. I found a DDM4000 on craigslist for CHEAP and picked it up. The only mod I could find to make the crossfader both midi/audio was to remove one of the upfaders, and I really did not want to do that. I really just wanted to take the midi from the sampler pot and route it to the crossfader. So I took my meter to find out the pinout for the sampler pot and the crossfader:


BACK OF BOARD
*5+ DC
*SIGNAL
*GND
FRONT OF BOARD

CROSSFADER (FACING BOTTOM OF FADER)

TOP LEFT = GND
TOP RIGHT = 5+ DC
BOTTOM RIGHT = SIGNAL

I routed (soldered wire connecting the points above) the midi from the sample pot (volume/mix adjust) to the crossfader, then engaged midi for the sampler in the main menu. BAM! Now I have audio and mid without the loss of any upfader. Also a added bonus is the sampler pot can be used as a "cut" adjustment for the midi side of the crossfader.

While I had the mixer apart I relocated the head phone jack off the faceplate and moved it to front of the mixer. Just took a unibit and drilled the hole out, then soldered wires to the connectors.


Thought I would share this cause this was simple and a great way to mod the cheap DDM4000 to be used with serato video sl. At some point I would like to find a better crossfader, but it can wait.
djnak 1:16 AM - 11 October, 2011
hope you got that peice of junk for damn near free......lol

But good work on fixing the crossfader midi issue !! I tried that hunk of trash the week it hit the stores here and returned it the same week and bought a 57 lol
Thug Smasher 3:03 AM - 12 January, 2012
Why do you say it's a piece of junk? Is it because it's not a Rane? The Rane costs 4 times as much, of course it's better.
tomatoslice 3:56 AM - 12 January, 2012
behringer mixers are not known for quality.
about 7 years ago a club i worked at bought the pioneer600 ripoff. it lasted about a week.
djnak 8:23 PM - 12 January, 2012
Quote:
Why do you say it's a piece of junk? Is it because it's not a Rane? The Rane costs 4 times as much, of course it's better.

really you have to ask.....

1. sound quality is shit
2. fader suck
3. effects are garbage
4. midi is on some retarded shit.....

now you wanna get into behringer as a whole or just the ddm

Quote:
behringer mixers are not known for quality.
about 7 years ago a club i worked at bought the pioneer600 ripoff. it lasted about a week.


hahaha I used that junk for a week or so then put it back in the box til i finally found some sucker to take it off my hands....(for FREE)
phatbob 6:56 AM - 13 January, 2012
In cycling Keith Bontrager said:

Light, durable, cheap. Pick two.

In DJ equipment the phrase is:

Feature-packed, durable, cheap. Pick two.

Behringer gear is indeed feature-packed, and cheap.
danielrockwell 8:28 PM - 13 January, 2012
Thought I would chime in...

My experience with the mixer has been positive. I also had negative impression of this mixer when I first got it, beside it was just something to mess around with. Like I said I got it for cheap and was not worried about damaging it while modding. Since the mod, I use it for 2 of my nights and durability I have been pleased. I purchased a tool case / briefcase from Harbor Freight for it to take to the gigs and that helps. Here are my impressions of the mixer:

1. I can not get it to hold a user program, from the stand point of when I assign FX to a channel or side it will not hold after you unplug the mixer

2. The low is not as full as other mixers, but I can compensate on the house mixer.

3. The midi/audio thing still frustrates me because to release a product that can not offer both features simultaneously is just odd.

4. The eqs are good. They don't have the range as the DJM800 though, but its easy to get to used to.

I can say I would have NEVER sought for the mixer brand new, but if you can find it for CHEAP and can use a soldering gun then go for it! Its defentley worth having as a back up.
Darku J 11:17 AM - 16 January, 2012
but it did let you mix both audio and video to close to a 1000 people in a club this weekend. lol.
but like you said and told me last week, why on earth would you release a product that can't do midi and audio at the same time.
DJTREND 4:50 PM - 4 June, 2012
Saw this setup in a fairly large nightclub this weekend with the DDM4000 running MixEmergency/Serato and it was flawless and it sounded great. I asked them how they did it and they pretty much said what Daniel said, they had to pull out the crossfader and reverse engineer it and rewire it so midi and crossfader flowed together. This mixer works flawlessly with mix emergency, serato etc and the video and sound was spot on. At the price its an absolute win.
Culprit 10:26 PM - 5 June, 2012
anyone modded this mixer and added the innofader to it?
phatbob 10:34 PM - 5 June, 2012
By the time you've bought the mixer, bought an Innofader, and costed your time pissing about making it all work, you might as well have bought a decent mixer in the first place, surely?
Culprit 10:49 PM - 5 June, 2012
i have decent mixers currently but I am willing to learn on this guy. A project for me, like gardening i guess.

Innofader Brand New - $150.00
DDM4000 Guitar Center Used - $199
Serato SL2 Used (Ebay) - $230
Video SL - $149

Still not bad for a budget project mixer. In my case I would only need the innofader and mixer.
dj mike cina 8:01 PM - 12 April, 2013
which xfaders will work for the audion/midi mod?
dj mike cina 8:02 PM - 12 April, 2013
audio*