I did not post that twice.

Oh I forgot to mention, I eventually did get into vinyl and am actually quite happy that my Axis 8 problems led me to eventually use both mediums. If you read the first review, I was incredibly resistant to buying records. Now I love it. Also, when Numark analog crossfaders begin to bleed, just use some Conair hairclipper oil on the contact strip deep inside. That seems to fix the problem. I should finally mention that the Matrix 2's phono inputs have a noise problem when you hook up the BNC lights. But Numark says they can fix it and considering it's one of their cheaper mixers and from before the recent boost in quality control, I suppose I can forgive it. That will have to be sent in soon before its warranty expires...at my expense. At least those con artists Mail Boxes Etc are now the UPS store with cheap prices. This whole time I shouldn’t have been paying more than $10 per unit for shipping. They told me double that was their cheapest ground price! Live and learn, I guess. The CD player can also be modded with a piece of thread to give it a slight torque to the scratch wheel. Yes I'm the guy that came up with this, and yes it makes a big difference. I also came up with the mouse pad doorstop everyone uses at my work, now. I'm reminded of Rodney Dangerfield "I get no respect!" Or credit, it seems. My MIDI capable Axis 8's, TT-200's, and Matrix 2 mixer work extremely well otherwise, and look incredibly sexy and are ergonomic as hell...if hell were full of design engineers obsessed with aesthetics, that is. I get nothing but compliments on them. All my friends are trying to get me to hit the clubs now and play at their parties. Personally, I still feel like I've only been doing this for 6 months, which is probably the combined length of time I've had everything working at once. I have been through the crucible and am now fired into stone. Benjamin G., a.k.a. DJ Reticuli

Oh I forgot to mention, I eventually did get into vinyl and am actually quite happy that my Axis 8 problems led me to eventually use both mediums. If you read the first review, I was incredibly resistant to buying records. Now I love it. Also, when Numark analog crossfaders begin to bleed, just use some Conair hairclipper oil on the contact strip deep inside. That seems to fix the problem. I should finally mention that the Matrix 2's phono inputs have a noise problem when you hook up the BNC lights. But Numark says they can fix it and considering it's one of their cheaper mixers and from before the recent boost in quality control, I suppose I can forgive it. That will have to be sent in soon before its warranty expires...at my expense. At least those con artists Mail Boxes Etc are now the UPS store with cheap prices. This whole time I shouldn’t have been paying more than $10 per unit for shipping. They told me double that was their cheapest ground price! Live and learn, I guess. The CD player can also be modded with a piece of thread to give it a slight torque to the scratch wheel. Yes I'm the guy that came up with this, and yes it makes a big difference. I also came up with the mouse pad doorstop everyone uses at my work, now. I'm reminded of Rodney Dangerfield "I get no respect!" Or credit, it seems. My MIDI capable Axis 8's, TT-200's, and Matrix 2 mixer work extremely well otherwise, and look incredibly sexy and are ergonomic as hell...if hell were full of design engineers obsessed with aesthetics, that is. I get nothing but compliments on them. All my friends are trying to get me to hit the clubs now and play at their parties. Personally, I still feel like I've only been doing this for 6 months, which is probably the combined length of time I've had everything working at once. I have been through the crucible and am now fired into stone. Benjamin G., a.k.a. DJ Reticuli

O.k. Nine and one half units and over a $150 in shipping costs later, and I can finally say that I've gone over two months without a single problem. They are working flawlessly now. The MIDI problem is fixed. The wow and flutter problem seems to be fixable under recalibration. And the CD read problem has been gone since the last older unit's drive mechanism was replaced. Unfortunately, all new Axis 8 and 9's no longer have MIDI or the lovely blue displays. Oh well. Version 35 of the the software also seems to be dumber than v.34 r7 was with MIDI and interlock, but I rarely use it anymore except for remixing with fixed loops or linking to a sequencer. For those of you who are interested, these are finally truly capable units with great features for an excellent price. And those of us who suffered through massive problems have paved the way for you to enjoy them without the same headaches. It looks like Numark's merging with Alesis has ramped its quality control up a few notches. They really need to quit with the fixation on price brackets and budget brandings (e.g. ION, etc) and concentrate on creating solid professional gear, though.

Well, I finally got the Axis 8 back and it's been working fine. A very crisp unit, if I may say so. The sound almost seems better and more responsive, but that might be my imagination. There is a power supply hum that the other unit lacks, but it is extremely low in the noise floor. It should still conform to the rated S/N specs even with it. The BPM button has a completely different feel than the other unit I just sent in and is light and crisp, though I must say I prefer the stiff but still responsive clickable feel of my other current unit's button. That's nitpicking, though. Numark may have simply switched to a new button contact and new power supply design. Assuming everything continues to work, my only complaint left on these units is the previously mentioned sub par Wow and Flutter, or as they call it in the CD world, Jitter. Even if you get two identical tracks exactly in phase down to the beats sucking themselves out slightly, and with pitch slider off, the two tracks will suddenly jump out of alignment very slightly. The longer the two tracks go, the more of these random temporal quirks occur and the worse it gets. These units cannot go an entire track without the beats eventually becoming noticeably out of alignment. I don't know if it's a slight software bug, a problem with physical skipping, or just poor internal clock jitter. You don't really notice that anything happened unless you're actually mixing...well, I think I did notice it once in a single track where it seemed to jump forward a fraction of a second during an electronic sample. I knew the already brief sample sounded unusually truncated. Not sure what to make of this phenomenon. Perhaps it’s a slight problem of all complex CD DJ units. It's easy to correct with a little pitch bend, but is annoying and could make mixing randomly problematic.

Well, I received my Axis 8 back, supposedly repaired. First thing I did is hook everything up and try to play a CD-R that works fine on the other unit. It took about five times longer to read. Then I put in a mint store-bought early Prodigy album, which again took a long time. The unit then froze when I tried to advance past track five. I had to restart it. Now the unit appears to be reading every disk, but some are still taking an extreme amount of time to load, while the unit makes light internal clicking noises. Furthermore, the MIDI system doesn't appear to be working on this one at all now. It just stays in slave mode. I am pissed.

Well, it all began several months ago with two Axis 8's from 123dj.com for around $750. It seemed like a good idea. I'd bought a Matrix 2 mixer through djmart.com for $160. The CD players seemed to be working ok initially. They were noisier than I thought pro gear should be, especially with the MIDI cables connected. Then one of the units started producing a nasty digital distortion that was in no way related to the effect of the same name. It progressively got worse, until it became virtually unusable. The unit would not let me update the software, as well. I had to send it back to 123dj.com, at my expense, of course...about $20. They finally received it and then sat on it for an extra week or two saying they couldn't find anything wrong with it. I finally convinced them to send me a replacement. With the new Axis 8 I became quite proficient and wrote a glowing review for the product on audioreview.com, which Numark actually has on their site. Later I discovered that the hum coming from the Axis 8's appeared to be out of phase between the two units. When the crossfader was in the middle, the noise was greatly reduced. Elliot, Numark's chief design engineer worked out that the problem was from the newly activated MIDI feature...a problem with the plug's grounding. It was later decided that I'd get two new units from the newest production line. So I sent the two in at my expense again, because Numark doesn't send for defective products at its expense...another $50 or so bucks. I received the two new units, but alas they'd sent me two with the same MIDI grounding problem, not from the newest line. Mike Caparco, one of Numark's head people (not sure what his title is) apologized and said it'd be about a month before the new ones arrived by boat. That ended up being about a month and a half due to homeland security port searches. I finally was able to send my Axis 8's in...another $50 or so. Actually, $80, but that's my fault -- don't ever let Mailboxes Etc package anything for you -- scam artists. To make matters worse, Numark was in the process of moving, so they were about two weeks behind in returns. Eventually I did get two crisp, hum-free units from a California warehouse that Numark uses. One of the unit's BPM button seemed a little odd feeling to me, not crisp like the others have been, but it still seemed to respond. I tried to shrug off the possibility of quality control problems on that unit. Now that the Axis 8's sounded clean and lovely, I could become more acquainted with my Matrix 2 mixer. Using a variety of source gear I did some tests and discovered that the left channel is slightly louder than the right, and this was not a problem with my hearing since I compared mono test signals in stereo to the mono switch on my Ixos headphones (with L and R cups swapped too of course). Hooking up a separate headphone amp to each of the outputs determined that this was a system wide problem on the Matrix 2. Not a critical problem, but possibly indicative of larger quality issues. In the course of these tests, I also discovered that every output and headphone channel, except PFL headphone "cue" monitoring, had what appeared to be a power supply hum above the unit's stated noise floor. The fact that PFL monitoring is extremely clean makes me think this is a problem with the vertical volume faders or output stages not being properly isolated from the power supply. Again, not totally critical, but obviously another sign of quality and design oversights on Numark's part. However, in recent days a slight scratchy sound in the crossfader (especially in the left side) has revealed itself to actually be bleed from the opposite channel. If you wiggle it or aren't lucky it will bleed in the other channel's feed when the other unit is also playing. Numark's warranty does not cover the crossfader and I've not yet caught their parts department when they're not at lunch, or wherever they were. O.k., then we come to yesterday. I hadn't used my gear in a few days. I set everything up. The Axis 8 with the unique-feeling BPM button now will not play any CD's at all and is making a weird noise when the tray opens after trying to do so. I believe that's only one truly "premium quality" Axis 8 for every seven I've tried. Robert at Numark says they will simply do a quick repair and everything should be fine. I've sent that unit in for another $18. That still doesn't address the mixer, of course. Maybe this is fate. Maybe I'm meant to get into vinyl. Maybe I should sell all this gear and get some turntables. I have a few mix demos recorded to VHS that I plan to master to CD today at the UNLV media lab. Perhaps it's simply futile. Maybe I'm fooling myself into thinking I've even got a shot at DJing. Regardless, Numark has some serious quality control and design issues. Numark's staff has been incredibly friendly and helpful, but the company's warranties and return policies obviously need work in light of the

The MIDI problem has supposedly been fixed on all units starting at serial number 0212 25351 07251 and on. I'll give the Axis 8 a 4/4 so as not to skew the ratings further.

I wanted to give a bit more of a balanced assessment than what I previously said. First of all, the Axis 8 has some reliability and design flaws. In the first two brand new units I bought, one was producing distortion and would not accept software upgrades. I had to send it back to the online retailer at my expense for a replacement. The retailer then delayed shipment an extra week and I had to call them to find out what was going on. They didn’t hear the distortion, supposedly. Maybe they were deaf. Shortly after the replacement unit finally arrived, the other working unit that I'd been practicing on extensively showed signs of wear in one of the loop-in buttons. If that wasn’t bad enough, when the MIDI feature is activated there's a design flaw in the connector ports. One of the pins is supposedly not grounded properly, producing an out-of-phaze midrange hum on both units at approximately twice the volume as the normal noise floor and cancels itself out when the fader on my mixer is centered. Unplug the MIDI cables and it disappears. I emailed Numark and their head design engineer contacted me saying it turns out there's a design flaw and my units would be replaced with corrected ones. I had to send them in at my expense and they simply sent two new units back with the exact same problem, though I'd been very clear to their people to not simply grab two new units without checking for the flaw. The design engineer is again looking into the MIDI problem and their return center's mistake. If it turns out there is a newer production line without the problem I'll have to send both back again. If not, I'm not sure if they'll mod my units or tell me I'm sh-- out of luck. I’m not sure if they’ll even reimburse me for the shipping charges from last month. The $220 discount I received on these two Axis 8’s is beginning to evaporate with all these damn shipping charges. In addition, I've been noticing that the sound quality is more digital-sounding than I'd previously noticed, especially when key lock and tempo alteration is used. The pickup lag after scratching also seems worse after upgrade and calibration than when at its factory settings. It was surprisingly quick when the units first returned. The beatkeeper is also not as effective as I once believed. The relay-button-triggered downbeat interlock function often produces beats that are not completely overlapped, though they do appear to be at the same bpm. The longer you wait before fading over, the less likely it is to sound right. Every once in a while it’s flawless, but it often isn’t, even when I’ve carefully set beatkeeper…sounding more like when someone bumps the DJ table at a rave. I'm also still worried about the buttons wearing out too soon. One month of use seems a bit short for button life. Combine that with the lack of sampling, and I'd have say the Axis 8 is not blowing the competition out of the water. For the price, it's a pretty good buy and you can do some amazing things on-the-fly with it. But the reliability and sound quality issues should be taken into account. The Pro Scratch 1 is probably in the same price range and boasts sampling and stacked effects. Interlock might be nice for use with a drum machine, but beatmixing manually might be more accurate for an experience DJ. American DJ also has buttons that appear designed for live performance and long life. Numark’s are soft and difficult to really drum with, and if you do try snaps, you are probably going to lose their responsiveness within weeks. The only thing the Pro Scratch 1 needs is key lock, and the Scratch 2 for a few hundred more has this. Anyway, I just hope Numark finds a solution to the design problems, because I'm sort of stuck with my purchase choice.

Easy to use, software upgradable, midi clock in/out, cue point storage and recall, good built in effects including scratching,

Hardly any, but if being picky... no touch sensitive jog wheel (see axis9), could do with menu system to navigate programming features rather than remembering button press combinations, digital out doesn't operate in all modes

The axis8 cd player is highly recommended... it out performs CD players at more than twice its price, it is well designed and eye-catching, and has unique features available nowhere else. To fully appreciate this CD player you need to update to the latest software (another Numark first), an easy procedure available on numark.com. Once you have done that, the list of useful features is unmatched by any other CD player on the market, and continues to grow with each new software release. The automated beat counter section is very accurate and responsive. This is used to beat-sync certain effects, and to automatically trim the hot loops you make, to loop exactly as you intended. This completely eliminates any trial and error involved with setting seamless loops on the fly. Most exciting is the ability to synchronise external devices with the axis8 using the midi clock output. This can be anything from a drum machine or sequencer to another axis 8. I have tried it with several music production units such as the KORG EM1, with excellent results. This feature vastly increases the arsenal of the DJ allowing you to mix in your own loops and patterns flawlessly. When used to synchronise two axis8 players you can execute automatic beatmatching with ease. All you need to do is check the axis8 is locked on to the correct beat pattern (which is very likely), and you are away. The effects are very useable, and fully controllable with the jog wheel. The scratching effect is good, and shows little latency, though this is improved on the new axis9 with a touch sensitive jog wheel. The new software provides several useful modes, including the ability to scratch a ‘sample’ set by your hot start point. All the other industry standard features are present, such as true instant start, controllable start up and stop times, brake effect, and master tempo control with +/- 100% range. As expected, these come with a few extras, such as the ability to store over a thousand cue and hot start points (transferable via midi to another machine), and the pitch lock control which allows you to lock the pitch level, even if it is not at 0%. Probably most importantly, this machine is easy to use and intuitive. Its layout has been carefully designed so that all important buttons are present and other facilities can be programmed with reference to the manual. It is common for the top end cd players to have a complicated interface, but Numark have got it right – the axis8 is easy for anyone to use, but advanced users will get a lot out of it.

Similar Products Used:

American dj PROSCRATCH2, pioneer CDJ1000,