Discussion
Any advice on how to start? There seem to be so many options...
Ideally I guess I would love to go digital vinyl, but that seems expensive and unessential to start with, so assuming Im going USB/MIDI what am I looking for?
Got a decent budget - up to £400, 500, and are really only just wanting to play around.
Ideally I guess I would love to go digital vinyl, but that seems expensive and unessential to start with, so assuming Im going USB/MIDI what am I looking for?
Got a decent budget - up to £400, 500, and are really only just wanting to play around.
Theres several bits of software that are out there and hardware controllers tend to fit around one of them, you seriously need to have a play around with them before making a decision as they are quite different in the way they work and control the relavent hardware.
The two most popular with the club/scratch crowd are Traktor and Serato both work with timecoded vynil alowing you to use standard decks as well as controllers, but you also have Virtual DJ to a lesser extent as well. There are some pretty good controllers around the figure you're looking at but beware that most of them come with cut down versions of the above software, lacking some of the effects and tricks the full products have.
I've currently got a Numark NS6 which, although is designed to work with Serato, I prefer Traktor so have frigged the driver file that comes with it to 99% work with Traktor 2. This is probably a little over your budget at £800 but as I say there are some good cheaper controllers. Dont however underestimate the resources the DJ software needs, it wont work on any old cheapo laptop. You may even need a clean install or separate operating system partition specifically to DJ with as it doesn't seem to like antivirus or security software that takes up resources. These can cause the software to stutter or stall completely.
I'd suggest having a look at a Numark N4 or Traktor Kontrol S2
http://www.djstore.com/group/usbcontrollers/page/3...
The two most popular with the club/scratch crowd are Traktor and Serato both work with timecoded vynil alowing you to use standard decks as well as controllers, but you also have Virtual DJ to a lesser extent as well. There are some pretty good controllers around the figure you're looking at but beware that most of them come with cut down versions of the above software, lacking some of the effects and tricks the full products have.
I've currently got a Numark NS6 which, although is designed to work with Serato, I prefer Traktor so have frigged the driver file that comes with it to 99% work with Traktor 2. This is probably a little over your budget at £800 but as I say there are some good cheaper controllers. Dont however underestimate the resources the DJ software needs, it wont work on any old cheapo laptop. You may even need a clean install or separate operating system partition specifically to DJ with as it doesn't seem to like antivirus or security software that takes up resources. These can cause the software to stutter or stall completely.
I'd suggest having a look at a Numark N4 or Traktor Kontrol S2
http://www.djstore.com/group/usbcontrollers/page/3...
Cupramax talks a great deal of sense there.
Just to add my two cents;
The Traktor control S2 is a good shout, generally comes very highly regarded and ships with the full version of their software (I.e. not the 'LE' version). Have a quick search for some reviews on it and you likely won't be disappointed.
Saying that, I used a budget controller (Behringer BCD3000) with the old LE version of Traktor for a fair while and it enabled me to do pretty much everything I wanted, for my own use and the odd house party. So much so I never even considered buying the full version. I only stopped as I was getting fed up of staring at a laptop while DJing, so sold my Integra and went back to a computer/software-less setup. But if you are only looking to see if DJ-ing is up your street or not for the time being, don't be afraid to check out something like the Numark Mixtrack Pro (the non-pro verison doesn't come with a built in soundcard)- think it's about £170 all in and seems to be regarded as one of, if not the best entry level controller available.
This could be a cheaper in the long term if you subsequently decide you want to get a pair of turntables and go the DVS route.
I'd also check out 'Digital DJ tips' website, has a wealth of info- particularly for those starting out. They even did a pdf file listing most of the controllers out there, along with a brief review and rating of each.
Cupramax also made a good point about the laptop, some of the software can be fairly system intensive- particularly if it's an older/'busy' laptop/computer. Latency, or any other slowdowns resulting from a stressed computer running at it's limit will REALLY ruin your day when you are trying to get to grips with the basics!
This is part of the reason I'd always recommend starting out on tradtional gear, but good CD decks arn't cheap and turntables arn't much use if you don't already have vinyl! Good luck with the search though, if you've got any other questions along the way I'll do my best to help!
Just to add my two cents;
The Traktor control S2 is a good shout, generally comes very highly regarded and ships with the full version of their software (I.e. not the 'LE' version). Have a quick search for some reviews on it and you likely won't be disappointed.
Saying that, I used a budget controller (Behringer BCD3000) with the old LE version of Traktor for a fair while and it enabled me to do pretty much everything I wanted, for my own use and the odd house party. So much so I never even considered buying the full version. I only stopped as I was getting fed up of staring at a laptop while DJing, so sold my Integra and went back to a computer/software-less setup. But if you are only looking to see if DJ-ing is up your street or not for the time being, don't be afraid to check out something like the Numark Mixtrack Pro (the non-pro verison doesn't come with a built in soundcard)- think it's about £170 all in and seems to be regarded as one of, if not the best entry level controller available.
This could be a cheaper in the long term if you subsequently decide you want to get a pair of turntables and go the DVS route.
I'd also check out 'Digital DJ tips' website, has a wealth of info- particularly for those starting out. They even did a pdf file listing most of the controllers out there, along with a brief review and rating of each.
Cupramax also made a good point about the laptop, some of the software can be fairly system intensive- particularly if it's an older/'busy' laptop/computer. Latency, or any other slowdowns resulting from a stressed computer running at it's limit will REALLY ruin your day when you are trying to get to grips with the basics!
This is part of the reason I'd always recommend starting out on tradtional gear, but good CD decks arn't cheap and turntables arn't much use if you don't already have vinyl! Good luck with the search though, if you've got any other questions along the way I'll do my best to help!
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