Most Reliable/Highest Build Quality Controller
Most Reliable/Highest Build Quality Controller Posted on: 12.05.2011 by Orville Guckian Hello all, first time poster, long time reader of DJTT and the community
s. Thanks for making this a great resource!I've come to you because I'm looking to replace my year-old Numark Stealth Control. Some of the buttons are beginning to die out on me, and since I'm getting more serious about DJing I'll be looking for something that won't let me down with some hard use. I'm controlling Traktor and I also have an Audio DJ 4 and a Midi Fighter. I'm satisfied with the controls offered on the Stealth Control, so something along those lines would be great. I really don't need touch-sensitive jogs or anything but I'm not necessarily opposed to them. I tried searching for "reliable controller" and such but only specific examples came up and I wanted to get an idea of the broader picture. Do you have any recommendations? Or own a controller that's lasted forever? Thanks, David | |
| Alla Bluemke 19.12.2011 |
Originally Posted by MrPopinjay
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| Delmar Swamy 10.12.2011 |
Originally Posted by exokinetic
Yeah , they work fine til a certain Deadma5 gets mad at them and smashed the same one twice in one evening XD |
| Alla Bluemke 19.12.2011 |
Originally Posted by MrPopinjay
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| Kiyoko Wellisch 18.12.2011 | Too old, they are turned up dead. The pots on the X1 are pretty crappy too. |
| Peggy Gabrielson 10.12.2011 | i like the build quality of the x1 too, really nice unit. |
| Delmar Swamy 10.12.2011 |
Originally Posted by exokinetic
Yeah , they work fine til a certain Deadma5 gets mad at them and smashed the same one twice in one evening XD |
| Peggy Gabrielson 10.12.2011 | On the s4 - mine the build quality is pretty good but not perfect. The channel b volume fader is offset and it leaks a little (even after recalibrating). |
| Orville Guckian 18.05.2011 | Sorry for the sporadic responses, my internet has been down for a couple of days. @herenow: Thanks for the suggestions I'll check out the Reloop Contour! I already have a sound card with my current setup so that's not an issue. @DjWindzOne: I'm in Ontario Canada. Thanks for the heads up I checked it out and may end up grabbing it. |
| Vernie Beharry 16.05.2011 | @David Schonborn Where are you located? I may have found a restock VCi-100 on MF (Musicians Friend). |
| Mozella Vay 16.05.2011 | To add to the list of Controllers that have good build quality... I picked up a pair of Reloop Contours a couple weeks ago and I believe they have the best build quality I have seen in midi gear. Obviously havent had them long so can't say for certain that they will last for ever, but they are built like they should. All metal construction and all the controls (encoders/buttons/faders/platter) are all top quality. Seems like there arent a lot of them out there, maybe because of no pitch fader, but that really is a non-issue since the platter has 5 states that can be programmed. (with shift modifier) I've been building a T2 mapping from scratch and the controller is amazing for everything except for triggers for effects. (tried to map a Instant Gratification map in there but decided to just get a midifighter instead.) Quite honestly I believe a pair of these are perfect controllers for Traktor. I do not recommend getting the ones with the built in sound cards (and it might be hard to find them available without) but saving the money for a Audio 8 or 10 is a better solution. (the Native Instruments have line in's which are handy and it appears that the soundcard builtin to the Contours is set too "hot" leaving little headroom. If this can be adjusted at some point I will update, but as of now they are about 6db louder than an Audio 8 so the built in Traktor limiter kicks in... 6db too late... ) Other than that though these things are awesome so far... |
| Orville Guckian 15.05.2011 | DJKeyWee: Well, one of the reasons I started this is to find out how much it really costs to get a controller that may not have a ton of features but will stand up to hard use none the less. Since it seems like the VCI-100 is the most recommended so far, I'm going to set my budget around $550. My controller isn't unusable now so I'd rather save a little longer and get what I really need. (ADDED IN EDIT: Oops, I forgot to say something haha... But yeah I'm not worried about mapping, I mapped my whole control scheme from scratch before so I should be fine, I just meant the number of knobs on the physical controller.) exokinetic: Interesting, maybe I could pair that up with a Xone 1D... That would be a much bigger adjustment for me coming from a Numark Stealth Control than a VCI-100 would though. This might be the choice I end up having to make, interestingly enough they come out to about the same price. Thanks for the ideas all! |
| Homer Selgado 15.05.2011 | I realize the controls might be limited for your uses but... As far as build quality and reliability, my Kontrol X1 is the most solid piece of controller gear I have ever owned. Me and my room-mate both have one, his is about a year old now, still feels like the day we bought it. |
| Randal Biza 15.05.2011 | Another vote for the VCI 100. Its metal enclosure and high quality Vestax line faders make it feel pretty durable. Plus, the amazing VCI 100 support from DJTT is free! |
| Rolanda Clodfelder 15.05.2011 | *Cough* Hercules RMX Cheap as chips but you could drop a nuke on it and it'll still work nicely, there is a limitation of the number of buttons/rotaries though and lack of touch jogs (if you need them). After long awaiting trying the VMS4 I played around with it and it reminded me a bit of an AK47 build quality in comparison, I wanted one for a long time but it let me down in person... it just felt cheap. havent heard anything bad about the Denon at all at all, if its in your budget its the one i'd go for, if just for the analogue mixer alone. |
| Lisa Lochotzki 15.05.2011 | What's your target budget?!? A couple of my fellows have an VMS4, despite to the sound quality, it's a really fair controller. Don't be afraid of the mapping duties, it seems complicated, but not that much. There's also a couple of "ready to use" mapping all round the place too. |
| Orville Guckian 15.05.2011 | The MC6000, the 4midiloop, and the Xone 4D are all a little excessive for my needs right now but thanks for the suggestions DJKeyWee MrPopinjay and XplodeHD:I'm intrigued by the Xone 1D, but I'm not sure I'd be able to map all of my knobs with it. How do you guys have your EQs set up? Looks like it would be a little hard to keep track of. |
| Kiyoko Wellisch 15.05.2011 | The xone 1D always seemed to be near indestructible to me, though I'd not really been in a position where I could or would want to try and break it. |
| Lisa Lochotzki 15.05.2011 | I'm confident of the Denon MC6000, 4MIDILoop & XONE:4D. I have an S4, I really like it, it quite good assuming the price you pay for, but yeah, it's not going to "last forever". On the other hand, it's already paid, it will last enough 'till the next new & Shinny "OH!!! NOW WE TALK... I WANT THAT ONE" Once there... the software will have changed... and so may need better "dedicated" or "Made to fit" controllers... |
| Orville Guckian 15.05.2011 | Thank you all for the responses so far! fullenglishpint: I saw a few posts on this board about the S4 specifically where people had some buttons that were losing their pop etc. and it hasn't even been out for very long, so I'd be wary about going that route. DennisHuiberts: I would love a 4D, but for now it's out of my price range and well into the realm of "excessive for my needs." I've used one before and it was great but I'm going to be connecting only with MIDI and I already have a sound card, so I'd be wasting a lot of the functionality of the controller. josh@firestorm: It's for that reason though that I didn't ask what the best controller is, I'm primarily concerned with reliability/build quality as I mentioned before which is really not that subjective when it comes down to it. It's either likely to stand up to long hard use or it's not. I'm not concerned with features as much precisely because I'm trying to focus on my abilities and grow. That is to say I have more than enough knobs, faders, and buttons to grow on for a long time already. The thing is that some of them aren't working properly after a year and that's going to be an issue. Seems like the VCI-100 mk1 is a popular option. From poking around other threads I had already heard good things, and this isn't a huge step up price-wise from where I am now so that's also a good thing. I'm still going to look around for a while before I make my decisions and would love any more opinions you all might have! |
| Neal Rayome 13.05.2011 | The Xone 4D is a best of a controller. Don't know if it's out of your price range... |
| Jacque Divinity 13.05.2011 |
Originally Posted by photojojo
the djtt community did 100x more than vestax ever could have in p.r and promotion for the product. they do have a nice solid feel to them too which helps unfortunately your topic question is a bit like the old statement 'how long is a piece of string'. what one person sees as the best controller on the market, theres another person that doesn't like it. the best advice i can give you personally is to work out where your mixing is now in terms of skill, creativity etc and also where you wish to take it in the future. personally i believe you are better off growing into a controller than buying a controller that suits you now. then work out your budget and decide how much you are willing to part with - then hit all the gear stores in your area and get hands on with their display models! if you can't get to stores, hit up as many community s, reviews, and youtube videos as you can and try to answer as many questions as you can yourself about the product based on that information (and ask any specific questions you may believe of on the community s AFTER searching yourself for it first) at the end of the day you want to end up with a product the YOU are happy with. you only need to impress yourself NOT others. impress everyone with your music choice and skill, not your gear |
| Lilliana Perris 13.05.2011 |
Originally Posted by sidetrakd
mmmmmI love my VCI.....but she is DEAD...for no apparent reason! Don;t let this put you off....I have gone NUTS on the thing! |
| Leeanna Ayla 13.05.2011 | None of them come without their own problems though. I believe one reason the VCI-100 MKI was so successful and considered bomb proof was because of DJTT and the tech support you could get here. |
| Hyman Bordenkircher 13.05.2011 | yea i have a vmx300 behringer dj mixer almost 2 years and its starting to loose precision and the faders and knobs are going crazy.. the behringer controllers are all plastic..maybe only good for home use but thats why the price is low |
| Tatum Ansaldo 13.05.2011 | The original VCI-100 mk1 (the one you can make an SE from) is bomb proof, can't vouch for the mk 2. I've heard its built in sound card is pretty average. The S4 is a beast of a controller and good build quality from what I've heard. Felt really good when i tried it out. Reloop's controllers tend to have metal casings and seem to be quite good, not really heard any bad reviews of them except the DJTT complaint about the jogwheels on the new Digital Jockey 3. Denon's controller range in general is very well made, everything from the brilliant DNSC2000 up to the really big units like the one featured on the blog. The new novation twitch, coming out in a few weeks, has a metal casing and looks very well built. I'll be picking one up! Don't buy behringer. Their build quality is unreliable (with a few exceptions, such as the DDM4000, but that's not the kind of thing you're after). |
| Hyman Bordenkircher 13.05.2011 | i own one xone 1D and its all metal and hard knobs faders top quality etc.. really good bulid but i dont know if your looking for a traktor mixer controller then go for something else |
| Hunter Renslow 13.05.2011 | Word has it the vci is near indestructible!! Have heard endless good reports!The s4 is getting so many good reports and I haven't heard many people that bought one complain.Hasn't been out long enough to tell whether it withstands the test of time! I don't own either so can only tell you what I've heard! |
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