The Numark NV II For Serato DJ: Upgraded For 2016

The original Numark NV was the first DJ controller (besides CDJs in HID mode) to come out with integrated screens that showed a wealth of information from Serato DJ. Now, Numark has done an incremental upgrade to improve the controller based on feedback from their users and the DJ community at large. Keep reading for the details on the Numark NV II.

Numark NV II

• The Numark NV II will retail for $699 in the US
• Available Summer 2016
• Compatible with and includes Serato DJ
• The on-screen browsing, track displays, etc have been updated
• The unit has a visual design makeover – which apparently reflects future designs that we’ll see from the company in the future
• The jog wheels now are touch-capacitive

Better Browsing + Sorting

There are some basic improvements to the experience of browsing and playing tracks on the Numark NV II, including:

• The NV II adds gridlines to the waveform display “so DJs can visualize the beat of their tracks more accurately.”
• Improved new navigation control with push-to-load tracks via the selection knob, sorting by metadata in browse mode (album, artist, title, key, BPM), and build in controls for beat jump and quantize on/off

However, we’re wondering why all Numark NV users can’t get these two improvements – surely a firmware update is warranted?

Touch-Capacitive Jog Wheels

In addition to improving the on-screen experience, Numark has made the jog wheels on the unit touch-capacitive. Numark has been adding touch-sensitive controls on their DJ controllers for a while now – but mainly focusing on knobs for touch-to-activate filters, FX, etc.

It seems like these jogwheels are touch-sensitive in order to improve the experience of the user. Numark’s press release notes that the jog wheels have an “adaptive learning platter technology” that adjusts based on their use – similar to how some cars adjust their acceleration styles to the driver:

“Touch- capacitive means that the platters actually sense the DJ’s ‘style’ of use and they adapt themselves to that individual user. They “remember” how fast or slow, subtle or hard the DJ uses the platters and they provide the exact amount of adjustment based on past usage.”

So far we have limited details on how the jogs’ touch technology is actually used on the unit – will it be something that users can adjust, or is it completely under-the-hood? We’re interested to find out more soon once we get our hands on a unit.

There’s not too much different on this controller versus the original Numark NV – perhaps Numark has put all of their powers of innovation into the standalone MCX8000 setup. That being said, the controller looks a bit nicer than the original with the new darker jogwheels – so if you’ve been considering an NV, the NV II seems like the way to go.