Hercules Pc Dj Console

Drivers / Supportability / Recommendation FAQ

Preface - As a vendor, Hercules has been good about supporting the Mixxx project through donations of their hardware. We'd like to thank them for that support and encourage you to consider their goodwill towards Mixxx when you are weighing your options. ;-)

Now onto the meat... On 2/16/2009, Hercules released Linux MIDI drivers for all of their DJ product. Download them here Hercules Technical Support

Drivers / Supportability

What is the state of Hercules device support for the different Hercules DJ Consoles?

• On Windows/OSX you can use any of Mk1, Control MP3, Mk2, or RMX via MIDI. These devices are remappable via the XML config files that correspond to their names. LED support doesn't work all that reliably though (this is a Mixxx problem not a driver or hardware problem).
• On Linux, you can use the MK1/MK2/MP3/RMX/Steel via the official MIDI driver for Linux. Download it at Hercules Technical Support.

Are Hercules devices USB-MIDI class compliant?

• Nope, none of the Hercules devices from Mk1 to RMX are USB-MIDI class compliant. They all require OS MIDI drivers to do MIDI.

My Hercules RMX doesn't work with Mixxx on Linux

• If you are using Mixxx 1.6.1 or older, you need to have libDJConsole 0.1.3 (which as of Aug 2008 is only available from the bzr source repo on launchpad). This is a workaround that we were forced to use while Hercules was preparing their Linux driver.

My Hercules device only works as root

• Check that you have the correct udev rules for the DJ Console devices (these are part of libDJConsole or libdjconsole-data on Ubuntu).

Does the Joystick on the Mk1/Control MP3/Mk2 work in Mixxx?

• No and it never will. The hercules joysticks are very imprecise mice that overshoot all the time, they are in no way helpful because of that and have been superseded by direction buttons (which are supported by Mixxx/libDJConsole), these work much better and are used to navigate library and playlists.
• If you load the joystick driver you may get an error message that libDJConsole can not communicate with your DJ Console, because the kernel sees it as one device you can only use either the joystick OR the rest of the console via libDJConsole, to fix it ditch the joystick driver.

Recommendation

Which one should I buy?

• On Windows or OSX: cost and function should drive your decision. They all work pretty well, the RMX has a better sound output at low volume but is heavier then the others by quite bit (it's solid metal vs. the others which are plastic).
• On Linux: Unless Hercules releases a MIDI driver I can not recommend the Control MP3 as it can only be used via the legacy hack (you will have to build Mixxx from source and turn it on). The Mk1 is quite old and though it works via the libDJConsole hack, it seems the least likely to have a MIDI driver written for it by Hercules. That leaves the Mk2 and the RMX which are both decently supported by libDJConsole and seem to have the best chance at this point of their product lifetime of seeing a vendor MIDI driver.

General Info

The Hercules PC DJ Consoles are a series of USB DJ controllers for use with software such as Mixxx.

Link to website: http://www.hercules.com/us/

Hardware Models

Currently, there are 5 different models:

• Hercules DJ Console MK2 - Very popular controller with a built in 4x4 soundcard. (Two inputs, two outputs.)
• Hercules DJ Console MK1 - Same as the MK2, but much older.
• Hercules DJ Control MP3 - Very similar to the MK2, but without the built-in soundcard. It's also significantly cheaper.
• Hercules DJ Console Mac Edition - Same as the MK2, slightly different MIDI mapping file in Mixxx.
• Hercules DJ Console RMX - Next-generation Hercules controller, release date is April 2008. Will be supported in Mixxx if we can get our hands on one. Supported, Thanks Francois @ Hercules!

Mixxx's support for the Hercules controllers is described on our hardware compatibility page.

Pictures

The Hercules DJ Console MK2. The Mac Edition and Control MP3 versions are very similar.

The Hercules DJ Console RMX. Release date is April 2008.