Reply to VCI-400 vs. MC-3000+LPD-8

Hi, all!

A while back, I learned to spin on two CDJ-200's and actually got pretty good at it. My thing was creating on-the-fly mashups with loops and using the decks kind of as samplers, if you will. I had to move overseas and leave my gear behind, and I've been aching to get back into it. These controllers sound like great all-in-one options to resurrect my previous workflow...

I already own an Akai LPD-8, so do you believe getting an MC-3000 and using both would roughly get me the functionality of the VCI-400? (ignoring the number of channels, of course, given that I'm used to only 2 chans anyway)

A few extra remarks:

• I favor flexibility in terms of which software can be used with the controller
• I'm a bedroom DJ
• I would appreciate nice platters, especially for scratching
• I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty with mappings, or having to tweak stuff beyond OOB functionality