Hercules Impulse 500 & T7 mappings

Device model: HP Laptop
Version of operating system: Windows 11 24H2
Version of djay: 5.2.11033
Hardware/controllers used: Hercules Impulse 500

Hello,

I recently switched to djay Pro to use it with a Hercules Impulse 500, after I checked the latest gear compatibility list. In general, mapping is ok but there are a few things that currently cannot be mapped, even with custom mapping:

  • Both Impulse 500 and T7 have a crossfader curve switch with three positions (off, mix, scratch). Since I’m not into scratching, I prefer to use the channel faders and don’t use the crossfader at all. Currently there’s no way to map the off position of the switch. The MIDI command transmitted for that position is not recognized by djay but even if it was, there’s no “crossfader off” setting in djay.

  • It would be nice for Master volume, headphones volume and cue/master mix to be mapped to corresponding djay functions.

  • It would also be nice if the Assistant button would open the match songs list.

Regards,
Apos

Hi @Apos, thanks for the feedback.

  1. I don’t have access to either of these controllers so I can’t check myself, so can you first please confirm if any of the controls in question send MIDI messages inside djay’s MIDI Learn tool? If not, then this is a hardware limitation.
  2. Regarding the Crossfader, if you switch to 4 Deck Mode in djay, you can set the Crossfader Assignment for each deck to Thru at the bottom of the screen.
  3. Alternatively, in the djay Settings>MIDI Devices>SCRATCH SETTINGS> you can turn on Crossfader Cutting Mode. While this doesn’t entirely disable the Crossfader it does essentially turn it into an On/Off switch. So, as long as it isn’t positioned to the far Left or Right, it will be fully On.

I hope that helps!

Hi @Slak_Jaw , thanks for the quick response.

  1. All these controls send MIDI messages, I have checked using a MIDI monitor tool.
  2. It’s a workaround but I never use 4 deck setups, I like it as simple as possible :slightly_smiling_face:
  3. This is what I’ve actually done for now. It’s not perfect but it’s the best I could find.

If it helps, here is the link for the Impulse 500 MIDI commands:
Impulse 500 MIDI commands

You’re welcome @Apos. Thanks for confirming. I will pass this onto the dev team for further review, but I suspect they have disabled MIDI on these controls for a good reason. I’ll report back when I have news. Thanks!

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I’m returning to the Main and Monitor volume mapping issue.

Going through the built-in mapping for the Inpulse 500, I can see there are entries for CC 3 for Main Volume and CC 4 for Monitor Volume. However, when I move the corresponding knobs on the controller, nothing happens, it’s not picked up by djay Pro and not highlighted in the mappings list. Checking with a 3rd party MIDI monitor tool, these knobs correctly send CC 3 and CC 4 messages.

Please pass this on to the dev team to be fixed.

Thanks.

Thanks for the follow up @Apos. I will pass this onto the engineering for further review and consideration.

Hi again @Apos, the main volume, headphone and cue/mix are applied to the audio signals inside the Inpulse 500 audio interface. MIDI Mapping them in djay would result in them being applied twice.

Hi @Slak_Jaw , yes I see what you mean.
Thanks anyway for getting back so quickly.

You’re welcome @Apos. No problem!

Hello @Apos, I’m happy to report that this has been addressed in djay 5.3.

  • Improved support for Hercules controllers with assist lights: Inpulse 200, Inpulse 200 MK2, Inpulse 300, Inpulse 300 MK2, Inpulse 500, Inpulse T7

For the full 5.3 release notes, please refer to the topic below. Thanks!

Hello @Slak_Jaw, thanks for following up.

The new release has certainly improved and fixed many issues but I’m not sure what has been addressed in reference to this thread. If you’re referring to my initial request about the Assistant button, that has not been addressed.
Please clarify.

Thanks,
Apos

You’re welcome @Apos, here are the release notes:

  • Improved support for Hercules controllers with assist lights: Inpulse 200, Inpulse 200 MK2, Inpulse 300, Inpulse 300 MK2, Inpulse 500, Inpulse T7

I will follow up with engineering to confirm if the assistant button was addressed in this release or not.