Although CD players for DJs have been around since the 1990s, they have faced considerable opposition from spinners throughout the years, mainly because they didn't offer the tactile feel and control of a conventional turntable. Even up until the latter part of the decade, many vinyl aficionados resisted the advantages that CDs offered. It wasn't until CD burners and software became widely available that the digital format really started to take off, propelled further by the dawn of CD players with touch-sensitive jog wheels or platters.

Although CD players for DJs have been around since the 1990s, they have faced considerable opposition from spinners throughout the years, mainly because they didn't offer the tactile feel and control of a conventional turntable. Even up until the latter part of the decade, many vinyl aficionados resisted the advantages that CDs offered. It wasn't until CD burners and software became widely available that the digital format really started to take off, propelled further by the dawn of CD players with touch-sensitive jog wheels or platters.

Face it: CDs and MP3 files offer irrefutable advantages to vinyl records, the most obvious of which is the ability to store a massive collection of music in a book of CDs or on a hard drive instead of having to lug around heavy crates of records. Despite all of the technological advancements, a totally familiar and inexpensive interface for playing CDs like vinyl had yet to be brought to market. Stanton's FinalScratch 2 and Rane/Serato's Scratch Live require fairly powerful computers, making it financially out of reach for many, and although touch-sensitive and motorized CD platters come close, it's just not the same. Enter the Numark CDX.

Cleverly combining the electronics of a CD player with the mechanics of a traditional turntable, the Numark CDX allows DJs to play, control and scratch CDs with an actual piece of 12-inch vinyl on a direct-drive platter while still offering the digital features that CD DJs have become accustomed to. Similar in size and weight to a professional turntable, the CDX is styled after Numark's flagship TTX turntable, using a direct-drive motor that provides a whopping 5.0 kg of torque for ultraquick startups. But how does it do it? Does a laser detect the motion of the record? Does it have a trackball under the hood somewhere? Neither of these is correct. The heart of the CDX is the motor and spindle. The unit responds to the motion of the record via the spindle itself and to any force applied to the platter.

After aligning the platter, the cap and the vinyl record and screwing on the spindle, the CDX is ready to go. You can even use your own vinyl record by drilling three alignment holes into the label with the included template. Connections-located around the back and bottom of the unit in an angled area that's hidden when the unit is placed flat-include RCA line outputs, digital S/PDIF output, relay play and remote connections, MIDI In and Out, grounded AC power and a switch for operating the unit in 115 or 230V. Solid rubber feet and plenty of vents to prevent overheating are located on the bottom, and the unit has a sturdy feel at 22 pounds and sharp looks with its dark-gray paint job and silver controls.

The front of the unit houses the slot-loading CD transport that supports audio CDs, CD-R (for MP3 discs) and CD-RW. The platter is right up-front, with most of the controls logically placed toward the rear of the unit. Large start/stop buttons are placed in both front corners, with a brake adjustment dial on the left and a startup adjustment dial on the right, allowing for a variety of start/stop settings from immediate all the way through to a slow crawl. A large and bright VFD (vacuum fluorescent display) shows bpm, time, status and menu options in a cool blue light on a black background that's easy on the eyes. Five buttons just above offer the main set of controls for the CDX. The Display button toggles between elapsed time, track time remaining and total time remaining with a secondary function as a back button when using menu options. Store/Recall is used to save cue points. The Menu button accesses additional options for the CDX-for instance, a sequence of tracks can be programmed; relay play between two units can be toggled on or off; interlock mode can be activated (which synchronizes the beats of two connected units); the default speed of the platter can be set to either 33 or 45 rpm to suit your preference; dead space at the end of tracks (gaps) can be eliminated (a great idea when you're playing a CD from beginning to end); and reverse mode can be toggled between digital or platter dependent modes. In addition, the Utility submenu controls sleep mode, remote type operation for fader start, digital output select, calibration and a full reset. The Single button switches between single play or continuous play modes, and the Pitch button toggles the unit between ±6, ±12, ±25 and ±100 percent. The full-size pitch slider is to the right, and just below the screen is a large rotary encoder knob; use it to select tracks and then push it in to confirm selections.

The top center of the CDX contains controls for the many loop and cue functions. Although similar to the looping functions of most CD decks, the CDX's built-in Beatkeeper technology accurately detects the bpm of a track and uses this information to automatically make perfect loops, or Smart Loops. Users can make loop points on the fly or by pausing or holding the record at the desired location and pressing the appropriate button. The Reloop button retriggers the loop from the in point. Now, as anyone who's tried to create a precise loops knows, hitting the in and out points at just the right moment can be quite tricky, even with a lot of practice. With Smart Loops engaged, the timing of your loop points is automatically adjusted to fit within the detected bpm, meaning that your timing can be a little bit off, and the CDX will interpolate the correct timing for you-most excellent! The Trim button allows for further precision by letting you edit the loop points manually. Furthermore, the entire length of the loop can be retained but shifted forward or back in the timeline. In addition, the length of the loop can be instantly adjusted in incremental units without having to redo the loop points. For example, say you grab a one-measure (four-count) loop. By using the two Shift buttons, you can shorten the size of the loop to two counts or one count, as well as two or four measures. Looping is also facilitated by a four LED bar graph and a Tap button. The red lights mark the beat location with the measure, and you can reset the start of the measure by hitting the Tap button, which you can also use to manually input bpm. These looping features alone make the CDX stand out from the competition.