Need Equipment Recommendations
Need Equipment Recommendations Posted on: 27.08.2012 by Isis Genwright Hey everyone, I'm new to DJ'ing and I got a couple questions.My goal is to do it for fun and occasional gigs at schools. I love entertaining people. Maybe if I get good, I'll do it for extra $$ I've played with virtual DJ and mixed some electronic music. But so far, VERY basic stuff. I need to know what my next step is. I've looked at gear (mp3 mixers, I don't want CD's) and seen everything from $100 USB Hercules mixers to $1000 Pioneer's... I want to buy something that I can learn on at home, and still use at small (emphasis on small) events to make people shake their asses. I don't want to buy something I'll outgrow in a month, but something decent I'll appreciate for a while... Please recommend some gear ... Also, is Traktor software better than Virtual DJ? I'm looking to mix electronic music (house, techno, etc.) Thanks in advance!! | |
| Tera Baragan 29.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by Saurus
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| Laurence Calisto 28.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by Lilac
I've absolutely trashed gear that couldn't stand up to the abuse of performing and moving about unintentionally, even in mundane ways. I've broken gear in transit, I've broken gear on stage... I have to say that while I want to be all sunshine and kittens about the S4, it just doesn't really feel like it holds up. It's already starting to show wear in a serious way, my sound card's getting noisy and the buttons are kinda getting gummy and loose (and sometimes not registering) from ~1 year on the road. Even from the day I got it, the faders have felt a little bit on the cheap side, the knobs were a little wobbly, and the platters don't inspire much confidence at all. You compare the feel and solidity of the S4 to a CDJ or pioneer/rane/A&H mixer and you'll see they're in a whole different world build quality wise. While I don't want to point fingers or discredit your experience, it's fine and good that you managed to take fantastic care of your Mixtrack that well over the time you had it but I believe that if the majority of working DJs toured on one they'd need to carry a stack of spares. Cock-ups and spilled drinks and dropped kit have been pretty much the norm in my experience and that thing is not built to withstand abuse. I love the S4 but I'm finding even in a flight case it's just not standing up to the abuse it should on the road. My point overall is that it's actually ridiculously easily to unintentionally trash things, particularly after you've just driven who knows many hours, had a few, played a gig and are packing up again |
| Ossie Pooley 28.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by Saurus
I've had my S2 and it's never broken. My Mixtrack Pro broke, but only after a good 15 months of battering. Build quality should always be taken into account but, unless you're Moby and throwing CDJ2000s off the stage, it's not easy to completely wipe out a piece of gear unless you're trying to. |
| Eloy Kiepke 28.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by AllDay
I HAVE an S4 that breaks all the goddamn time. The S2/S4 have terrible build quality, I'm not getting into this argument again. It's already been made clear in several threads that the newbies on this community don't recognize this, and the people who know what they're doing do recognize this. The mixtrack is even worse build quality. It feels like a toy when you use it, and it breaks all the time. The IDJ3 has the same parts s the mixtrack. Consider that YOUR idj3 still working is *anecdotal* evidence, and the percentage of broken ones in a large sampling of people is *statistical* evidence. Plus that doesn't even adress the fact that it's no fun to play with something that feels like a toy. |
| Tera Baragan 28.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by synthet1c
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| Tera Baragan 28.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by Nicky H
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| Ossie Pooley 27.08.2012 | Good question. Ask everything you can believe of. It's a gateway to learning. There's a headphone jack in the mixtrack pro on the bottom right side. Just plug in and set your settings accordingly. Keep in mind it's a 1/4 Jack so you might need an adapter. They're not more than |
| Janyce Henningson 27.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by Saurus
Originally Posted by Saurus
S2/S4 almost everyone is broke in some way... really?
Originally Posted by Lilac
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| Eloy Kiepke 28.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by Nicky H
Traktor being better for intermediate users is pretty obvious.
Originally Posted by Nicky H
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| Tera Baragan 29.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by Saurus
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| Ossie Pooley 28.08.2012 | I agree that clubs are a rough environment for gear
, but I disagree that it's that easy to break. This is based on my personal experience and that of the people I play with in London so perhaps we're just a little luckier. Wear and tear is to be expected, things like spills are easily avoided. I guess it depends on how much hell one puts their gear through during use. God knows I'm going to need a new Launchpad soon. |
| Celine Surico 28.08.2012 | I have not taken the S4 to many gigs, I believe 10 so far, no problems. Then again I tend to take care of gear when I go to gigs. Like using decent bags and so forth. |
| Dione Haimes 29.08.2012 | -1 on the build quality of the S4, one gig a week i've got to take my S4 because the kit there is terrible, its been sent back to NI twice, one for a broken line fader the other because the soundcard went wonky, and i've only had it 8 months, im careful with gear but when im playing, it does get abused, faders get slammed, the jogs get slapped about the place and the xf gets scratched with. Wear and tear on gear. I havent seen the Reloop TM before but i know its DJ angelo's (the turntablist) controller of choice because of the build quality. |
| Laurence Calisto 28.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by Lilac
I've absolutely trashed gear that couldn't stand up to the abuse of performing and moving about unintentionally, even in mundane ways. I've broken gear in transit, I've broken gear on stage... I have to say that while I want to be all sunshine and kittens about the S4, it just doesn't really feel like it holds up. It's already starting to show wear in a serious way, my sound card's getting noisy and the buttons are kinda getting gummy and loose (and sometimes not registering) from ~1 year on the road. Even from the day I got it, the faders have felt a little bit on the cheap side, the knobs were a little wobbly, and the platters don't inspire much confidence at all. You compare the feel and solidity of the S4 to a CDJ or pioneer/rane/A&H mixer and you'll see they're in a whole different world build quality wise. While I don't want to point fingers or discredit your experience, it's fine and good that you managed to take fantastic care of your Mixtrack that well over the time you had it but I believe that if the majority of working DJs toured on one they'd need to carry a stack of spares. Cock-ups and spilled drinks and dropped kit have been pretty much the norm in my experience and that thing is not built to withstand abuse. I love the S4 but I'm finding even in a flight case it's just not standing up to the abuse it should on the road. My point overall is that it's actually ridiculously easily to unintentionally trash things, particularly after you've just driven who knows many hours, had a few, played a gig and are packing up again |
| Ossie Pooley 28.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by Saurus
I've had my S2 and it's never broken. My Mixtrack Pro broke, but only after a good 15 months of battering. Build quality should always be taken into account but, unless you're Moby and throwing CDJ2000s off the stage, it's not easy to completely wipe out a piece of gear unless you're trying to. |
| Eloy Kiepke 28.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by AllDay
I HAVE an S4 that breaks all the goddamn time. The S2/S4 have terrible build quality, I'm not getting into this argument again. It's already been made clear in several threads that the newbies on this community don't recognize this, and the people who know what they're doing do recognize this. The mixtrack is even worse build quality. It feels like a toy when you use it, and it breaks all the time. The IDJ3 has the same parts s the mixtrack. Consider that YOUR idj3 still working is *anecdotal* evidence, and the percentage of broken ones in a large sampling of people is *statistical* evidence. Plus that doesn't even adress the fact that it's no fun to play with something that feels like a toy. |
| Jonathan Chiuchiolo 28.08.2012 | How many noobs don't attempt to scratch when they realise mixing music well is harder to grasp than basic scratching? But the pitch faders should be the deal maker or breaker for anyone wanting to learn to beatmatch, which should be everyone as you cant use CDJ's without beatmatching... |
| Tera Baragan 28.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by synthet1c
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| Jonathan Chiuchiolo 28.08.2012 | !t's more in regard to the faders and knobs, the jogs and buttons don't get raped as much... well traditionally they shouldn't anyway lol. Ask yourself whether any budding scratch dj's have destroyed their faders (making them sent random messages), the answer will either be "yeah it died just as I was learning to crab" or "nah fuck scratching on that! I replaced that peice of shit with a rane ttm after a couple of months" that's what my mates said lol... You won't have that issue with the Reloop, you will have that issue with an S2, mixtrack, N4, pioneer ergo etc... all lower end gear accept the Reloop TM series and the Stanton DJC.4 because they are of superior construction. I didn't say the DJC.4 because it has a lower resolution jog at 128tpr whereas the TM has 800tpr. MTP has 600tpr if your keeping score. If you want to use traktor with jogs you have to buy the S2, otherwise the TM series will probably offer an upgrade path to a better version of Serato Itch or you could always continue using the other software it comes with. IMO the mixtrack is a great christmas present if your kid likes dance music, but not serious gear if you want to dj professionally. |
| Tera Baragan 28.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by Nicky H
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| Ossie Pooley 27.08.2012 | Good question. Ask everything you can believe of. It's a gateway to learning. There's a headphone jack in the mixtrack pro on the bottom right side. Just plug in and set your settings accordingly. Keep in mind it's a 1/4 Jack so you might need an adapter. They're not more than |
| Jonathan Chiuchiolo 27.08.2012 | No, it has 2 stereo outputs, one for the master and one for the headphones. |
| Isis Genwright 27.08.2012 | Thanks all for the tips!! I read all the responses, looked around the site and learned a lot. VDJ is fine, so I'll stick with it. I will probably go with the Mixtrack Pro. It's got great reviews. The new behringer coming out looks nice, and I'll check it out when it comes out. One more question... Since the Mixtrack Pro has a soundcard, would I use the one in my computer for headphones? Thanks. |
| Janyce Henningson 27.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by Saurus
Originally Posted by Saurus
S2/S4 almost everyone is broke in some way... really?
Originally Posted by Lilac
|
| Jonathan Chiuchiolo 28.08.2012 | war! war! war! LOL |
| Ossie Pooley 28.08.2012 | Let's not start another flame here people. We just had 15 pages of this exact thing a few days ago. I believe your best bet might be to just go to a DJ store and check out the gear yourself. Everyone believes they know what's best and it may be for them, but certainly not across the board. |
| Eloy Kiepke 28.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by Nicky H
Traktor being better for intermediate users is pretty obvious.
Originally Posted by Nicky H
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| Janyce Henningson 28.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by synthet1c
Originally Posted by synthet1c
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| Eloy Kiepke 28.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by synthet1c
Although I dunno if beginner, intermediate, advanced is the right way of explaining it. Simply because it's not a progression, like it should be. Most DJs decide to stay at the "intermediate" level, and are happy to just spend their lives doing 64-128 beat transitions on two decks, and pride themselves on how well they use filters.... Only about 10% of DJs, even on this community , are advanced enough, or even want to be advanced enough, to benefit from VDJ. Also I believe the difference between picking up the basics on VDJ VS Traktor are negligable... Honestly I'd skip VDJ until Although I'd say the differences in learning traktor VS VDJ are close to negligible. Honestly I'd say just learn on Traktor. If you have interest in doing performance stuff, rather than just transitioning, get good at it on traktor, then switch to VDJ.... probably 5 years later. As far as hardware goes. do your own research... fuck. http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/CMD-STUDIO-4A.aspx You get one suggestion from me. If you're willing to way, that comes out in november, is $200, and looks like it'll be better than just about any 2 channel controller on the market. (despite being made by behringer, lawl) |
| Jonathan Chiuchiolo 27.08.2012 | the other threads title was Traktor Vs. VDJ there was no hijacking... that question was asked by the OP, I just responded with knowledge based on my experience... I wouldn't recommend the mixtrack pro, it's plastic, breakable, small 7bit pitchfader, the effects knobs are encoders and worst of all the soundcard is not low latency ASIO. The OP asked for a controller that he would not grow out of immediately... the reloop is a solid construction, has more buttons and knobs than the mixtrack, has large 14bit pitchfaders, better jogs, awesome crossfader a 4in 4out ASIO Soundcard "line/phone in & mic in" that you can route through "some" software, and it's not much more expensive than the mixtrack pro... That sounds like something that he will not grow tired of or break very quickly. |
| Ossie Pooley 27.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by synthet1c
Try out all the software, see what you like. As for gear , I recommend using the search function to find the in-depth threads already made about this, but personally I recommend the Mixtrack Pro. Cheap, cheerful and everything you need to get started. |
| Jonathan Chiuchiolo 27.08.2012 | nope that's fact |
| Roseanna Signorini 27.08.2012 | There are a gazillion videos on youtube for every controller and for every software program. Figure out what it is you want to do as a DJ, do your research, do comparisons and pick what you feel will be the best fit for you. None of us here can tell you what you want to do nor will we do the research for you, all your answers are out there, do the research. |
| Janyce Henningson 27.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by synthet1c
If you're already using VDJ then stick with it, unless there's a reason you don't like it? As for a controller - they all do similar stuff so it's personal choice really, the reloop looks ok, S2 is good value, mixtrack pro gets good reviews here |
| Geri Jarra 27.08.2012 | Regardless, I would try out both VDJ and Traktor's demos before buying. Same goes for controllers. If you can, go to a shop and test out all the different controllers. Get something with a built in soundcard too |
| Jonathan Chiuchiolo 27.08.2012 |
Originally Posted by locksmith
Traktor is easier at an intermediate level VDJ is better at an advanced level The best controller in price, construction and controls IMO is the Reloop TM2/4 |
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