Hercules DJ Control Starlight

About the controller it self. It is an outstanding value and a very fun controller to DJ. It has native integration with Serato, Virtual DJ and DJUCED. In all those platforms it is highly mappable and can be adjusted to your liking. I settled on Virtual DJ and I will come back to this topic. I need to talk about controller + DJ platform as a system, because it is a system, not a controller alone. The out-of-the box Virtual DJ mapping and Virtual DJ automation features are ridiculous. Especially the automation in Virtual DJ. I wasn't able to DJ normaly because I felt like the software is cotrolling me, not me controlling the music. I had to remove auto bear grid, auto sync, auto everything. There is just a load of automations, which not only don't help but also create a lot of limitations. Comming originally form vinyl DJing I couldn't play freely. I spent several hours tweeking the software until I finaly felt free to do what I want while mixing.
Now the biggest issue with this controller is it's built in sound card (and it's drivers). I fighted this controller for a week trying to get rid of the crackling sound, which happend randomly, and especially, when the SSD was writing something. Yes, I did read all the required Windows tweaks that need to be done, as according to Hercules' website. I did much more. I used this controller with two computers of mine. One, which is built in 2025 and has i7 and 32GB RAM. I did not manage to get rid of it no matter what I did. So I went to my old entry level ASUS. DJUCED and SERATO crashed all the time on this computer but Virtual DJ was working fine.
I give you three tweaks that need to be done, to get rid of the crackle: 1. Read Hercules website on how to prepare Windows, 2. THIS IS THE MAJOR ONE: install Hercules DJ ASIO driver and in the backgroud icons choose ADVANCED SETTINGS. And in the advanced settings you need to choose USB Latency from 1ms to at 8ms. This is crucial and is the main source of the crackling sound. 3. Pause OneDrive sync. OneDrive appeared to be noutorious crackle source as well. While DJing use PLANE mode in Windows.
When I use the inbuilt Realtek or an outboard Volt 4 soundcard - crackle is not an issue. But with Hercules sound card - crackle is a big issue.
All in all - horrible experience with setting up the system and make it work properly. It took me one week and still with no success on my new laptop.
But in terms of the controller - it is fantastic. The form factor is the best of all. When you place it in front of a 15" laptop, its sits flush with the laptop's width and only takes 10cm upfront, making it very easy to use on a narrower table. The tactile experience with this controller is great, the feature set is great, stems work perfectly. A lot of mapping and tunning is needed but when you get what you want - a fantastic little controller. It has a perctly matching Flyht Pro EVA Slim Case and I recommend you get it.