Introduction and request for advice
Introduction and request for advice Posted on: 06.06.2012 by Chante Arick Hello everyone,I'm glad to discover a serious community on Digital DJing. After some lurking I am convinced that there is a lot of knowhow here! My name is Peter and I have been DJing for a few years now. I own a pioneer set (2x cdj 800mk2 and djm 400) and I'm considering buying a set to use with traktor. The past few years I've played on a lot of different kinds of parties, playing house and unfortunately a lot of mainstream crap but it brings in some money. I'm pretty sure a lot of us here have been forced to sell our souls on that account. Currently I'm very interested in playing techno and tech house which is really upcoming in the Netherlands. I'm convinced that within these genres the use of digital DJing can really step up the creative process (although the purists will fully disagree). Therefore I am in need of some advice with regard to buying new digital DJ gear and I greatly appreciate any comments! I already own a macbook pro. A summary what I intend to do: - Use 2 controllers to control 4 decks in Traktor (considering the Xone K2 or Native's X1). But I don't believe that I'm very good at customizing the midi commands. Are there any good templates for the K2 that do not have an extremely difficult learning curve? From what I've read, it is the new controller to go for. - Use a 4 channel mixer. I'm considering the xone:92, the db2 and the djm 900. Do you have any other recommendations? Furthermore I'm interested in the added value of effects on a mixer if you already have a lot of effects you can use from within traktor. Is it true that DJs like the 92 because of its filters and use effects like echo/delay/etc in traktor? - This is more of a secondary wish. But I would really like to use a piece of gear to sample kicks/hi-hats/vocals/etc. Is the "maschine" the way to go? Or would it be possible to use a less pricey controller (traktor F1)? I believe that you will some kind of plug in within Traktor to play these samples? I will probably have a budget of around 1500 euros. This will mean that it's probably not possible to buy the aforementioned gear all new, but the budget can get more flexible if needed. Again I would greatly appreciate all comments/advice! Thanks in advance | |
| Hipolito Scionti 08.06.2012 |
Originally Posted by Infernity
But I believe "better" is going to be a matter of opinion. The thing about having a djm900 with built in SC is you have one less chain of ad/da conversion, so should be cleaner. Also obviously analogue can add nice colour but a high quality digital mixer should have a lower noise floor. I'd go 2 x X1s and DJM900. That's a sick set up. |
| Chante Arick 06.06.2012 | Hello everyone, I'm glad to discover a serious community on Digital DJing. After some lurking I am convinced that there is a lot of knowhow here! My name is Peter and I have been DJing for a few years now. I own a pioneer set (2x cdj 800mk2 and djm 400) and I'm considering buying a set to use with traktor. The past few years I've played on a lot of different kinds of parties, playing house and unfortunately a lot of mainstream crap but it brings in some money. I'm pretty sure a lot of us here have been forced to sell our souls on that account. Currently I'm very interested in playing techno and tech house which is really upcoming in the Netherlands. I'm convinced that within these genres the use of digital DJing can really step up the creative process (although the purists will fully disagree). Therefore I am in need of some advice with regard to buying new digital DJ gear and I greatly appreciate any comments! I already own a macbook pro. A summary what I intend to do: - Use 2 controllers to control 4 decks in Traktor (considering the Xone K2 or Native's X1). But I don't believe that I'm very good at customizing the midi commands. Are there any good templates for the K2 that do not have an extremely difficult learning curve? From what I've read, it is the new controller to go for. - Use a 4 channel mixer. I'm considering the xone:92, the db2 and the djm 900. Do you have any other recommendations? Furthermore I'm interested in the added value of effects on a mixer if you already have a lot of effects you can use from within traktor. Is it true that DJs like the 92 because of its filters and use effects like echo/delay/etc in traktor? - This is more of a secondary wish. But I would really like to use a piece of gear to sample kicks/hi-hats/vocals/etc. Is the "maschine" the way to go? Or would it be possible to use a less pricey controller (traktor F1)? I believe that you will some kind of plug in within Traktor to play these samples? I will probably have a budget of around 1500 euros. This will mean that it's probably not possible to buy the aforementioned gear all new, but the budget can get more flexible if needed. Again I would greatly appreciate all comments/advice! Thanks in advance |
| Dorie Scelzo 08.06.2012 | All digital mixers have a lower noise floor and can easily have lower THD if they didn't totally skimp on the converters. And the db2 and db4 are good mixers. I just don't believe they're worth the price difference considering how quiet the xone 62 and 92 are anyway. Others could easily decide differently. And as far as analog warmth goes……uhh…xones have an exaggerated midrange that sounds like xones…but it's really subtle. IMHO, digital mixers sound better…and I've heard some of the best analog gear money can buy (2 SSL consoles, neve and API preamps, urei, neve, tectronix, etc. compressors, tube-tech and other eqs, etc.…plus, I used to own a xone:62). There are a few things analog stuff does well (tape saturation, tube distortion) but mostly people are just used to hearing the types of distortion that come from running analog gear too hot and the distortion that comes from running a digital signal too hot doesn't sound the same. And I'm not even talking about clipping…just too hot for the math behind the processing that's happening. Part of the reason is that people don't get digital audio. 32 bit floating point audio has like 1700 dB dynamic range…which is what Pro Tools, Ableton, and Traktor use…and that's with full-spectrum white noise, not real audio…so in practice, it's probably even more. The DB4 isn't quite that ridiculous, but its noise floor is still quieter than any analog gear that's ever been made. And people are still pegging the fuck out of clip lights for no reason, which screws up the math behind the processing, since a lot of it still needs head room to operate. |
| Eleonor Janski 08.06.2012 | In my oppinion yes, just because I have been using pioneer for such a long time that it hasn't failed me yet. Both Xone and Pioneer are high quality mixers, just depends on what you want to do. Do you want better sound quality and more control over your eq's? Then go with Xone. Unless you want more bang in your mix and have more control over your efxs and more control of the mix in general, the go with the DJm 900 just because of the way the whole SC set up is with the added effects, there are endless posibilities. |
| Hipolito Scionti 08.06.2012 |
Originally Posted by Infernity
But I believe "better" is going to be a matter of opinion. The thing about having a djm900 with built in SC is you have one less chain of ad/da conversion, so should be cleaner. Also obviously analogue can add nice colour but a high quality digital mixer should have a lower noise floor. I'd go 2 x X1s and DJM900. That's a sick set up. |
| Joetta Zhuk 08.06.2012 | It's indeed a great line-up, but a not so great timetable. Carl Cox, Adam Beyer and Joris Voorn are all closing their respective stages. I would have liked to see them all individually. I'm not really complaining, I can still see Ricardo Villalobos and Nicole Moudaber. And you are right btw about another group entering the techno scene: Recreative drug users. Taking XTC is almost just as common as smoking marihuana. I see more and more of these people. The kind of people that goes to festivals for about 2-4 times a year and takes a pill. Usually in the ages 25-40. Or do you mean something else?? But techno remains to be a niche in the Netherlands. It's not played on mainstream radio. Even EDM-specialized radio shows like Dance Department only play like 2 or 3 techno songs a evening . Nightclubs mostly play house-top40, not techno. |
| Eleonor Janski 08.06.2012 | The thing is if you get the xone 92 you are going to have to map the Traktor effects to the mixer. Or if you would like to keep the mixer effects and use traktor effects at the same time I say buy the x1 for launching effects. Also you can buy the f1 which comes with Traktor 2.5 and it's remix decks so you can spin on 2 decks and at the same time launch off sound effects, drum kits, claps, acaplleas w/e into your set from deck c and d. I would go with xone 92 just because it's sound quality is better. |
| Chante Arick 07.06.2012 | @Hermes Thanks Hermes for your input on the controllers. A combination of the two controllers doesn't sound bad at all. And yes, I'm a university student going to Awakefest (great line-up btw). Good call hehe! But I still believe university students are not the only group of people getting more into the techno scene. Would be an interesting discussion though. @MaxOne Thanks! I believe it is true I should just have to put time and effort into the mapping. So never mind my remark on the template thing in my starting post. Now I'm still interested in some considerations for the mixers. I'm leaning towards the 92 because it has good external filters, good sound quality and the other effects (like the echo/delay/roll etc etc) can be used in Traktor... Or am I missing something? |
| Hipolito Scionti 07.06.2012 | You going to have to learn map commands. It's not that difficult honestly and when you get stuck for specific commands you can ask on here. The mixer really is personal preference and a lot of people will have strong opinions. My opinion djm900 > db2 > xone 92 |
| Joetta Zhuk 07.06.2012 | First of all you don't necessrily need 2 controllers to control 4 decks. With the lay-out of the k2 you could create a fine 4 deck workflow. Of course you"ll need to map it to your likings. Which is not that difficult. Mapping mainly transportfunctions to buttons is childsplay. It only gets difficult whenever you want to map multiple functions to 1 control or have really flashing LEDs. But since you want 2 controllers i should get a k2 and a x1. Mainly because the x1 does not have any faders (what could be used for pitch or samples) the x1 is great for traktor fx flow because of the four aligned knobs. The k2 has pretty much the same, i know, but the encoders at top are just not the same. But maybe the best reason to get a k2 and a x1 is that you would acquire a pretty damn good mobile setup, because there both small controllers. I don't have much experience with pro mixers, but i really like the the 4 band eq on the xone92 as well as the filters. On a side note: what do you mean by techno is upcoming in the Netherlands? It's has been the same niche for years now. Only difference I see is that suddenly university students tend to like it. Btw, are you also going to Awakefest? |
| Chante Arick 06.06.2012 | I was hoping to know more on why I should pick one of the two controllers and one of the mixers I mentioned. But thanks for your comment! With sampling I meant that I would be able to sample on the fly with sounds that have already been loaded in (and that have been assigned to one of the buttons for example) and sequencing would something I would like to do as well. Maybe the maschine or F1 is something for later, budget wise. But mostly I'm interested in the considerations with regard to the mixers and controllers. Anyone? |
| Dorie Scelzo 07.06.2012 | I'd pick the X1 over the K2 unless you had a reason to go the other way. I kind of just like it better. I have no real comment on the mixer except that I'd get the xone 92……i don't really like the db2, and I don't like pioneer mixers……but that makes it more expensive because you need a sound card. What do you mean by sampling? If you mean sampling out of tracks while they're playing……Traktor can do that about as well as anything. Maschine is an awesome sampler, drum machine, and groove box……but sampling live off an audio feed from Traktor isn't the most straightforward thing. If you just want to program drum patterns live, yes…Maschine is awesome. But if you just want to play them instead of sequencing them, Traktor can do that by itself using the sample or remix decks. But it can't sequence them. The best you can do is record your playing with the loop recorder. |
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