Hercules DJControl Instinct P8 User guide

User manual

1. Overview

2. Box contents

- Hercules DJControl Instinct P8

- USB cable (type A male/type B male), length: 4.9 feet / 1.5

meters

- Quick start guide

3. Product specifications

3.1. Mechanical specifications

- Dimensions: 10.4 x 7.4 x 1.9” / 26.5 x 18.7 x 4.8 cm

- Weight: 2.2 lb / 1 kg

3.2. Technical specifications

1. USB MIDI controller, featuring:

DECK

- 8 transport buttons: SHIFT / PLAY / CUE / SYNC

- 2 matrices of 4 pads each with multicolored backlighting and 1

associated mode button (LOOP, EFFECT, SAMPLE, HOTCUE)

- 2 rotary encoders with integrated switch to control loops (LOOP) and
filter (FILTER)

MIXER

- 1 rotary encoder with integrated switch to navigate through folders
and playlists and adjust MASTER volume

- 2 buttons to load songs onto decks (virtual turntables)

- 2 3-band EQs with respective potentiometers (HIGH, MID, LOW)

- 2 volume control buttons (Vol +/-) for headphones

- 2 buttons to enable/disable headphone monitoring (PFL A and B)

- 2 volume faders

- 1 crossfader

2. Built-in multi-channel audio interface

- Speaker output (= output 1-2) with RCA connector

o Maximum power = 5 dBU into 1 kΩ
o THD+N @1 kHz ~ -83 dB
o Resolution = 16-bit
o Sample rate = 48 kHz

- Headphones output (= output 3-4) with 1/8” (3.5 mm) connector

o Maximum power = 5 dBU into 32 Ω
o THD+N @1 kHz ~ -82 dB
o Resolution = 16-bit
o Sample rate = 48 kHz

4. Installation

4.1. Connection to a computer (USB)

Note: A LED illumination sequence, called Vegas Mode, starts up each
time you connect the device to your computer. This sequence starts again
after five minutes of inactivity on the controller, i.e. when the user has not
interacted with the product. Vegas Mode takes place in three phases,
allowing it to display the three possible colors of the two 4-pad matrices
(red/blue/purple).

4.2. Downloading DJUCED™ 40°

Go to: https://support.hercules.com/djcontrolinstinctP8

Download and install DJUCED™ 40°.

4.3. Starting up DJUCED™ 40°

A window appears, indicating that your product has been successfully
detected and is ready to use.

4.4. Tutorials to get started in DJUCED™ 40°

Follow the tutorials to help you get started in DJUCED™ 40° available
here:

https://www.youtube.com/user/Djucedsoftware/playlists

5. Description of features

5.1. Product description

1. Transport buttons: SYNC, CUE, play/pause

2. Performance pads

3. Transport button: SHIFT

4. Adjust loops/filter/effects amount

5. Browse within the library, load tracks, adjust master volume

6. 3-band equalization

7. Mixer: headphones volume, monitoring, volume faders, crossfader,
SCRATCH, MODE

8. Deck: Scratch, Pitch bend, Pitch Reset

9. Speakers output (1-2)

10. Bus-powered USB port

11. Headphones output (3-4)

5.2. Multi-channel sound card

The product includes a built-in multi-channel sound card, allowing you to
play your mix on speakers for the audience (speaker output) and monitor
the next track that you’re preparing on your headphones (headphones
output).

1. Speakers output (= output 1-2)

Your speakers should be connected to the speakers output
located at the back of your product.

2. Headphones output (= output 3-4)

Your headphones should be connected to the headphones output
located on the side of your product.

By default, each time your product is connected, the headphones output is
assigned to output 3-4 so that it can work with all DJing software available
on the market – including DJUCED™ 40°, in particular.

However, if you wish to use your product’s headphones output to listen to
music on your computer using iTunes, for example, you must route output
1-2 to the headphones output. To do this, simultaneously press SHIFT +

.

To return to the default setting, simply press SHIFT + .

5.3. Compatibility

1. USB Audio / USB MIDI This is a plug and play product and can work without drivers on any PC or Mac, as it complies with the USB Audio and USB MIDI standards.

2. ASIO ASIO drivers are available from the product page on the Hercules website, if required by a software application or if you wish to benefit from lower latency on your PC. The Hercules ASIO drivers include a control panel accessible via the corresponding icon in the taskbar on a PC, or in the application\Hercules\DJControl Instinct P8 directory on a Mac.

This control panel allows you to configure the different ASIO settings such
as the buffer sizes and latency.

The procedure for configuring the ASIO settings is as follows:

- Set the USB buffer size to “Standard (4 ms)”.

- Set the ASIO buffer size to 512 to begin with.

- Start your application (e.g.: DJUCED™ 40°) and select the DJControl

Instinct P8 ASIO driver.

Once the software begins using the ASIO driver, the ASIO settings can no
longer be modified in the control panel. This is perfectly normal, and
indicates that the ASIO driver is in use.

- Use your software and listen out for any artifacts, audio glitches (clicks,

pops) and latency problems: should any of these issues arise, you will
need to adjust the buffer sizes accordingly.

- Close your software and adjust your ASIO buffer by one value at a time:

- Reduce the buffer size to reduce latency.

- Increase the buffer size if you notice glitches or artifacts in the

audio.

You will need to repeat this procedure until you find the optimal buffer
size for your system.

The drivers are available here: https://support.hercules.com

3. Firmware update Your product features an automatic firmware update mode. This requires installing the Hercules drivers and following the on-screen instructions. The firmware update will occur automatically.

The drivers are available here: https://support.hercules.com

The control panel also allows you to access this information and display
the driver versions installed on your computer in the ABOUT tab. Have this
information ready if you need to contact Hercules’ technical support.

6. Demo Mode

This mode is available when you connect your product to a USB power
supply. In this case, the product is not operational but is in demonstration
mode and the start-up Vegas Mode sequence keeps repeating itself.

7. FAQ

7.1. No sound is coming out of my headphones.

Make sure that you have connected your headphones to the right-hand
side of the product, as your product is equipped with a multi-channel
sound card preconfigured to work with DJUCED™ 40°.

By default, the 2 monitoring buttons are enabled when the software is first
launched. You can then select either deck that you want to listen to on
your headphones.

7.2. No sound is coming out of my speakers.

Make sure that you have connected your speakers to the RCA connectors
at the back of the product, as your product is equipped with a multi­channel sound card preconfigured to work with DJUCED™ 40°.

7.3. No sound is coming out of my laptop computer speakers.

Your product is equipped with a multi-channel sound card preconfigured to
work with DJUCED™ 40°. If you want to use your laptop computer’s built­in speakers, you need to change the default sound card in DJUCED™ 40°’s
settings.

7.4. No sound is coming out of my headphones, or my laptop computer speakers.

If you have changed the default sound card in DJUCED™ 40° and selected
your laptop’s sound card by default, you must also connect your
headphones to your computer. This is because DJUCED™ 40° operates on

only one sound card for the speakers and headphones outputs. If your
built-in sound card only has one output (1-2) as in the example below,
you will not be able to use your headphones for monitoring.

In that case, connect your headphones and speakers directly to the
product.

7.5. I can’t connect my multimedia speakers to my DJControl Instinct P8.

If your speakers’ connectors differ from the connectors on the DJControl
Instinct P8, you can use a dual RCA to 1/8” (3.5 mm) mini-jack adapter
(not included) or any other adapter format corresponding to your
speakers.

You can also connect your speakers to the headphones output and

duplicate output 1-2 on output 3-4 by pressing SHIFT + : however,
please be aware that in this mode, you will not be able to use the
monitoring function.

To return to the default mode, simply press SHIFT + .

8. Trademarks

Intel® and Pentium® are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation.

Microsoft® Windows® 7, 8 and 10 are registered trademarks or
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or in other
countries.

Mac and Mac OS are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and
other countries.

The DJUCED brand and DJUCED’s graphic elements are the property of
Guillemot Corporation.

All other trademarks and trade names are hereby acknowledged in this
document and are the property of their respective owners. Illustrations
not binding. Contents, designs and specifications in this document are
subject to change without notice and may vary from one country to
another.

9. Copyright

No part of this manual may be reproduced, summarized, transmitted,
transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language
or computer language, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, magnetic, manual, via photocopying, recording, or other,
without the express written consent of Guillemot Corporation S.A.

10. DJUCED™ 40° End User License Agreement

Please read the License Agreement displayed during installation of
DJUCED™ 40° carefully.

APPENDIX: FUNCTIONS OVERVIEW

EQUALIZER (EQ)

The ROTARY KNOB controls the EQ intensity in
DJUCED™ 40°. One knob is associated with each band:
HIGH / MID / LOW.

These knobs work the same way on decks A and B.
Use SHIFT + EQ knobs to control decks C and D.

Easily browse UP/DOWN through your music library by
turning the encoder to the LEFT/RIGHT.
PRESS the encoder to SELECT FOLDERS/FILES.
Press SHIFT and press the encoder to start recording.
Press SHIFT and turn the encoder to adjust the master
volume.

LOAD A/LOAD B BUTTONS

These buttons have two functions:

- Collapse/expand folders.

- Load the selected track on the destination deck.

PRE-FADER LISTENING (PFL)

Enable/disable the buttons to enable/disable the
sound of each deck on your headphones.

The and buttons control the volume +/­function for your headphones.

Pressing SHIFT + lets you duplicate the Mix output
on the headphones output.

Pressing SHIFT + lets you return to the default
mode.

SCRATCH BUTTON

This button lets you enable/disable SCRATCH mode (to
be used in conjunction with the jog wheels).
Pressing SHIFT + SCRATCH lets you launch an automix
of a predefined playlist.

MODE BUTTON

In conjunction with the pads, this button lets you select
the mode (LOOP/FX/SAMPLE/CUE) independently on
each deck:
MODE+Pad 1 = LOOP MODE+Pad 2 = FX
MODE+Pad 3 = SAMPLE MODE+Pad 4 = CUE

VOLUME FADERS

These faders (one per deck) control the volume for each
deck.

Use SHIFT + volume fader to control the volume for
decks C and D.

CROSSFADER

This fader lets you mix the sound of the different decks.

PLAY/PAUSE BUTTON
PLAY/PAUSE the track on decks A and B (press

to control

CUE BUTTON

- If a track is NOT being played, insert a Cue point at
the current PLAYHEAD position.

- If a track IS being played, the playhead goes to the
last Cue point used and stops playback of the track.

- Press and hold down the CUE button to start
playback of the track; when you release the button, the
track returns to the Cue point.

- Press the CUE button and the PLAY/PAUSE button
to do a CUE-PLAY (CUP).

-

SHIFT + CUE = return to the start of the track.

SYNC BUTTON

- Press the SYNC button to synchronize the deck’s
BPM with the Master Tempo.

- Press

Master Tempo.

LOOP/FILTER ROTARY ENCODER

- Lets you manually adjust the size of the loop (by turning
the encoder to the left or right) and enable the loop (by
pressing the encoder).

- In conjunction with the SHIFT button, this button lets
you enable/disable the FILTER and adjust the filter’s
frequency.

decks C and D).

SHIFT + SYNC to force the current deck as the

SHIFT

In LOOP mode (MODE + PAD 1)

Makes a temporary loop of 1/2/4 or 8 beats, depending
on the pad.
In conjunction with the SHIFT button:
SHIFT + pad 1 = enables the start of the loop.
SHIFT + pad 2 = validates the end of the loop.
SHIFT + pad 3 = divides the loop size by 2.
SHIFT + pad 4 = multiplies the loop size by 2.

In FX mode (MODE + PAD 2)

Pad 1 enables effect 1 in DJUCED™ 40°.
Pad 2 enables effect 2 in DJUCED™ 40°.
Pad 3 enables effect 3 in DJUCED™ 40°.
Pad 4 enables Macro mode in DJUCED™ 40° (3 effects
at the same time).
You can always adjust the amount of the corresponding
effect by turning the LOOP rotary encoder at the same
time that you enable the effect.

In conjunction with the SHIFT button:
You can change the corresponding effect.

In SAMPLE mode (MODE + PAD 3)

The pads let you play the 4 samples indicated on the first
line of the DJUCED™ 40° multilayer sampler.

Pad not lit up = no sample in the sampler slot.

Pad lit up in red = the sample is loaded, but is not being
played.

Pad lit up in purple = playback of the sample will start at
the next quantized beat.

You can also use the sample editor in DJUCED™ 40° to
interchange the samples, and create your own sample
packs.

In conjunction with the SHIFT button:
You can stop playback of the corresponding sample.

In CUE mode (MODE + PAD 4)

ADD or DELETE up to 4 HOTCUES on the fly.

ADD a HotCue at the current playhead position by
pressing a pad.
The pad lights up in purple when a HotCue is defined.
Press a purple pad to position the playhead at the
corresponding HotCue.
To delete a HotCue, press SHIFT + a pad.

JOG WHEEL

The jog wheels are pressure-detecting, and can react to
the lightest touches of your fingers. With the jog wheels,
you can:

- move within tracks (when playback is stopped).

- control the pitch bend of a track (during playback).

- scratch (when Vinyl (Scratch) mode is enabled), by
touching the upper part of the jog wheel and turning the
jog wheel to the right and to the left.

In conjunction with the SHIFT button, you can also speed
up or slow down the track’s speed (or pitch) by turning
the jog wheel.
To return to the track’s original speed, press the SHIFT
button while pressing on the jog wheel.