Customer Reviews

CD-DJ-DUAL W/MIXER CONSOLE

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When I first came across this piece, I marveled at the amazing combination of sleek design and affordability. Seemed a little too good to be true, so I gave it a test drive while it was on display at my local dj shop.

Everything was great! EQs working well and crisp on the turn, headphones sounding good, great sound out of the store speakers, and the cds played back on cue once I pressed play (no lag).

Once I started to use the "seamless loop" function however, I realized why the console might be so affordable.

Get this: When you press "in" to set your input, the playback stops for half a second and then resumes play. Now, imagine doing that on a live, packed dancefloor. Can't you just see everyone turning to you like you committed a crime? It basically sounds like your cd is skipping! Then, when you set your out point, from what I remember, it does the same but maybe for a tenth of a second. The loop goes on to work seamlessly, but getting out of it is even worse then setting the loop itself. I'm not going to even explain that debacle.

In this day and age of virtual djing and cdj 1000s, why would you waste your time creating a cd player, for djs, with the ablity to loop, when setting the loop causes the cd to skip??? I literally started laughing when this happened. I suggest that Gemini hire a class dj for testing all products before they go on sale, because this is an embarrassment.

All that being said, I will be making my purchase this week.

Why?

Well firstly, I dj off of my laptop, so I don't need the looping feature since I have it in my program. I do intend to make my mobile djs setup much smaller this year, and what makes the CDM3600 a good buy for me is the compact nature of the piece. It is small enough to fit in my briefcase or even my dj bag, yet it's a cd player and mixer all in one. Perfect for my mobile djs jobs where I sometimes get cds (i.e., weddings, birthdays) at the last minute. No more lugging around a coffin with mixer and dual cd deck for me!

Depending on who you ask, bigger can be better. But as anyone knows, bigger is not always better, and for mobile djing I have subscribed to that notion. All that being said, I'm going to put a big piece of black tape with my logo over the in/out buttons because I want to save myself the embarrassment of a fellow dj trying to use it 1 day.

Oh yeah, you can only hear 1 side or the other in your headphones, never both channels at the same time. Doesn't affect me, so I don't mind that much.

Hope this post helps!

What can I say? This is a basic unit with two CD players and a mixer all integrated into one machine. No, you cannot "scratch" on it, the only effects it has are the basic equalizer settings (which are still very nice).

There are people who have been saying that the loop function is not seamless. Just to let you know: After testing the the loop function various times, I can honestly say that this is not completely true. Read the manual, guys. It says that the very first loop will have a short pause, then the rest will be seamless. I've found the documentation to be correct. The only thing I would worry about is when you exit the loop, there actually is a small pause when continuing. Other than that, and the first loop, there are NO pauses (at least, no pauses that are immediately noticeable to the human ear).

So anyway, this is a very nice all-in-one unit that's great for portability and hosting parties with. It feels solidly built, and the controls feel solid and responsive as well. I plan to take extremely good care of this unit so it stays that way.

The Gemini CDM3600 works very well. It does not have BPM counter, which i love it because it makes it more real to mix. Also you do not count with effects but the clearance of the equalizer is very good.

I just finished a long session with my new CDM3600...And what a great unit this is. Fader is super smooth, as are the jog wheels. CD tracks will start playing the instant you hit play. The direct access is a very nice feature, along with the MIC inputs and the ability to plug in your turntable(s) / external CD players. Good mixer. The unit is very easy to use and a great all-in-one machine for practice or small to mid-sized gigs. For house parties, small-mid sized dance party gigs, or even weddings, this is THE unit to own.

If you are starting out this is a decent machine I have a few problems with this mixer one cd channel is louder than the other one, the pitch control is not that accurate I've placed two identical CD's in the same position and same ptich control level it does not match the beats. The EQ is great if you are looking to scratch with this mixer this cannot do it! the LED lights are great. If I had to do it again I would buy me a more advanced mixer. Also the seamless loop is not that great to many skips....

Best thing about this product is getting 2 CD players and a mixer for such a low price. Pitch adjusting and frame search on CD are accurate and precise. The range of the equalizer on the mixer is nice and wide. The crossfader and volume control glides are smooth. This device is perfect for basic beat matching, 2-song real-time mixing and fading from one song to another.

Play and Cue buttons are responsive. Immediate start works well. The player can cue the song back to the cue point within 1 beat of the song, but not really any much faster. So, punching the cue point in to the mix is not quite possible at 1/4 of a beat. But it works well for punching at every beat.

The jog wheels and pitch bends are very responsive. One comment about pitch-adjust glider is that it jumps to +-0.7 when moved away from the center because of the center-return notch. Other than that, pitch can be well adjusted by 0.1 increments. The +-0.7 concern can be overcome by starting the first song at +-1% or so and making that your "center".

The seamless loop is seamless during looping only and there IS an audible pause when you enter in a loop and leave a loop. Thus, the loop function is only good for continuously adding an extra "sample" into another song that is being played, after you set the loop on the headphone.

I gave 4 stars only because the "seamless loop" function isn't perfect. Otherwise, this is a 5-star device for the price and functionality. I would say its work environment extends from entertaining yourself at home to hosting parties at home or on your yard.. to playing at a local cafe/bar.

The performance of the system was very good and things went down after 9-10 month. I used it no more than 50 hours when one of the cd player quit playing. I tried cleaning it with cd cleaner and air compresor but no luck. Their main number does not work. There is no option for tech support and if you press the US sales it will tell you invalid. Very frustraed and wasted $300.00. Will never purchase this brand ever again.

Revising my review, both the product and customer service were excellent with this company. My small issue was resolved easily, and I'm currently in the process of reciving my replacement.


During my time with the product though, was also excellent, and it is highly recommended for aspiring Djs and musiclovers alike.

So I'm not a professional Dj but more of a bedroom dj. That being said, if you are remotely serious about becoming better, this console gets boring quickly. There is no beat counter, so matching beats is done the old fashioned way. Playing two tracks together for any length is a miraculous event. So, doing any type of mixing besides quick crossfading between tracks is next to impossible. The seamless loop feature is not seamless either. It's a great console for fooling around but if you want to do any thing more advanced or fun you should level up.

I bought this mixer about 3 months ago just to get into a little djing. I immediately starting booking gigs and performing well.There is no beat counter so you have to be able to mix on your own, like a real dj. You also cannot scratch. I purchased a Behringer sound effects processor and I run the mixer through it. I now scratch like Jazzy Jeff and Grandmaster Flash with this Unit. Its all about maximizing resources. If you are looking to get started in DJing this is a excellent piece to start with. I'll probably be moving to serato within the next 6months, but this mixer is definitely worth the money.Easy