Button layout. Loops. Beatmatched effects. Scratching. Intuitive design. Interlock. Bigger than it looks in the photos. Onboard software is easily upgradable through CD-R. Reasonably priced.

No sampling. No dedicated interlock button (prog + bpm). Requires you to update the software as soon as you buy it to get the most out of the units.

This is simply the best scratchable tabletop DJ CD player on the market for anywhere near this price. The Pro Scratch 1 doesn't have key correction. The Gemini 1800X doesn't have beatmatched effects or interlock capability. The Pro Scratch 2 is expensive and doesn't have interlock, either. Unless you're a rap artist and want to do on-the-fly sampling, this is the one to get. Version 34 of the firmware adds two additional scratch modes, Interlocking of two Axis 8's with MIDI cables, the ability to store cue points on up to 1024 CD's, and a refinement of the operation and sound of the units. The scratch modes are: Mode 1 - Scratch and automatically return to previous pause/play mode; Mode 2 - Scratch and allow you to spin into play mode regardless of previous pause/play mode; Mode 3 - Scratch and return to previous pause/play mode where you'd now be if you hadn't scratched; Mode 4 - Scratch from last cue/hot point. Each of these can be instantly put into hold mode, which essentially is like scratching on a powered off turntable, but is very useful for finding a new scatch sample or setting a hot point in Mode 4. This Mode 4 has been designed particularly well, allowing you to scratch immediately from the last hot point you cued up, even play's cue point. This is extremely cool, and they've even allowed you to resume playing the loop or track from where you already are in the scratch by simply pressing play, without setting a new play cue point since you've just hit play after being in pause. Thus you have to tap play/stutter twice to get to the play cue point, which shows they definitely were using the product during this feature's development. By far the best new feature is Interlock. With two Axis 8's linked by MIDI's, you can instantly sinc the two as Master/Slave. This way, all you have to do is monitor both sources to make sure Beatkeeper is tracking the correct beats, sinc the two, and fade over. It's instant beatmatching, which has never been an easy thing to do on any DJ CD player except when using really simple tracks. With Numark, you can do it all in under 10 seconds, which means even the most complicated, beat dynamic tracks can now be transitioned between. I'm using my Axis 8's with a Matrix 2 mixer and an Ixos Ministry of Sound DJ1001 Headphone.