DJ Controllers?

zerbaman · Post by **zerbaman** » Tue May 24, 2011 7:07 am

Can anyone recommend some good, fairly cheap?
Came into some birthday money yesterday

So far, looked at this one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hercules-Contro ... 131&sr=8-1
Seen mixed reviews, any of you tried it?

Any support advice suggestions would be wicked
Thanks in advance

nnny · Post by **nnny** » Tue May 24, 2011 7:52 am

Nothing to contribute sorry mate, but I've been looking at a few myself for wanting to get into it, so want to hear some opinions.

oprs · Post by **oprs** » Tue May 24, 2011 7:57 am

i picked up the numark mixtrack couple round 6 months ago to bullshit around with until i get the s4, my opinion with the numark is its half way decent i mean not all the bells and whistles as the s4 but for just starting out and wanting to learn a few things it works well. if your going that route pick up the pro though because i didn't and i wish i would have.

victor w · Post by **victor w** » Tue May 24, 2011 5:49 pm

You've been djing out, or planning to? I'm just curious because I really would like to dj but I wouldn't know how to go about it, especially where I live.

zerbaman · Post by **zerbaman** » Tue May 24, 2011 6:48 pm

victor w wrote:You've been djing out, or planning to? I'm just curious because I really would like to dj but I wouldn't know how to go about it, especially where I live.

Not really, only 2 or three times at house parties using borrowed equipment. Looking to get my own stuff so I can practise at home using more than my laptop mouse

Just do some parties, surely you have some mates round your ways that are into dubstep? Maybe send out some mixes to radio and some even promoters, see if they can get you on the bill?
Not too sure myself tbh, hope that helps a bit

I'll look into the numarks too, thanks for that pointer.

Fused Productions · Post by **Fused Productions** » Tue May 24, 2011 8:11 pm

Congratz on yer birthday mate!

I'm actually also looking in to this, I will soon turn 16 too so I'm hopefully stumbling over money for some DJ'ing equipment.
Would like to hear what yo guys have to say about the difference between the options of equipment? I'm mainly think of the difference between CDJ's and a hole set built into one.

lyons238 · Post by **lyons238** » Tue May 24, 2011 8:24 pm

Vestax VCI-100. Nuff said.

i painted my jog wheels and knobs but you get the idea. this thing is solid as fuck. and there is a whole website and forum dedicated to customizing and mapping this thing for the best performance, also custom firmware upgrades (raises the resolution of jogs n faders along with some other things as well). the site is djtechtools.com and there is a store for custom parts etc. Ean Golden runs the site and still uses this thing so that says something.

zerbaman · Post by **zerbaman** » Tue May 24, 2011 10:29 pm

Thanks I'll hit that one up too.
Maybe it'd be a nice idea to post prices? If not exact, rough estimates?

lyons238 · Post by **lyons238** » Tue May 24, 2011 10:45 pm

zerbaman wrote:Thanks I'll hit that one up too.
Maybe it'd be a nice idea to post prices? If not exact, rough estimates?

400 new from zzounds. theyl beat any price so what i do is find one on some random website for 420ish then they beat it. thats what i did.

or if you go on djtechtools you can buy used ones for much cheaper. just go to the forums and go to classfields or the for sale section. tons of people sell them on there. some of them have the arcade mods and firmware upgrades too...

the vci-100 is nice though because its so solid and all metal and everything can be replaced. and its very easy to customize/open up. its actually a good idea to buy one used for this exact reason. i looked into a lot of controllers out there and the only other ones that i would get over the vci-100 is the vci-300 or the kontrol s4...

edit: plus its nice and compact. you can see compared to my macbook..

i throw mine in one of those laptop carrying cases and it fits perfect. which is nice if your bringing it to a friends or a party or if your just storing it..

oh btw make sure you get the mk1 and not the mk2. the mk2 is not customizable like the mk1 and will be more expensive than the mk1.

AxeD · Post by **AxeD** » Tue May 24, 2011 11:45 pm

If you're even going with a controller (I wouldn't recommend it) then the Vestax and the one by Native Instruments
are your best bet.

Have fun and beatmatch with yr ears.

mks · Post by **mks** » Wed May 25, 2011 12:02 am

When I need to roll lightly in stealth mode, and am not going DVS, I use this:

+

You have to program the shit out those though, so if that's not for you and you want something that works right out of the box, go with some of the other suggestions, though you will probably pay more (maybe not for the hercules). This setup cost me $170 and does the job.

lyons238 · Post by **lyons238** » Wed May 25, 2011 12:17 am

AxeD wrote:If you're even going with a controller (I wouldn't recommend it) then the Vestax and the one by Native Instruments
are your best bet.

Have fun and beatmatch with yr ears.

yup thats what i told him. i would only get the NI kontrol s4 over the vestax but thats like 600+

and yeah like mks said you can dj with some other midi controllers as well. iv seen many ppl dj with a mpk25..but its nice to have a dedicated controller.

amidoinitrite · Post by **amidoinitrite** » Wed May 25, 2011 12:54 am

any midi controller will do.
LPD8, Nocturn, those korg things, launchpad, etc

I had a mixtrack for awhile. I loved the touch sensitive platters. It was definitely more than enough to get by with. The main reason I got a DJ controller was because I was eventually planning on getting TTs, otherwise I would have gone with just some pads and knobs.

now, if I don't feel like playing vinyl, or if I'm just doing a house, brostep or top 40 set I'll just take my mixer, DNX 1600, which is everything I need. Sometimes I'll take my nocturn, but I don't really use it much because my mixer does everything

victor w · Post by **victor w** » Wed May 25, 2011 12:38 pm

zerbaman wrote:Not really, only 2 or three times at house parties using borrowed equipment. Looking to get my own stuff so I can practise at home using more than my laptop mouse
Just do some parties, surely you have some mates round your ways that are into dubstep? Maybe send out some mixes to radio and some even promoters, see if they can get you on the bill?
Not too sure myself tbh, hope that helps a bit

I'll look into the numarks too, thanks for that pointer.

Thanks for the advice, tons of people here are into it, I should've mentioned I want to play progressive, deep, and electro house out, since I produce those primarily. Which might make it harder to get a start because those genres aren't blooming or new really. I totally wouldn't mind playing dubstep out at first if that was my only option though.

Steve_French · Post by **Steve_French** » Wed May 25, 2011 5:55 pm

zerbaman wrote:Can anyone recommend some good, fairly cheap?
Came into some birthday money yesterday

So far, looked at this one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hercules-Contro ... 131&sr=8-1
Seen mixed reviews, any of you tried it?

Any support advice suggestions would be wicked
Thanks in advance

i have one of those to sell if you're interested, ace piece of kit, pm me

Redderious · Post by **Redderious** » Wed May 25, 2011 6:19 pm

I have the Vestax VCI-300, love it. The only thing that makes me mad is i purchased these about a year ago, and now all these new controllers are coming out that have a 4 deck mixer. One of my boys owns an S4(moved from a numark ns7) and he loves it too. If your new id definitly start out with 2 decks though, lets you get used to the concepts of mixing and what not. vci-300 runs around 800 when i bought it new, might of droppped now. S4 runs about 1g, ns7 runs around 12-14 hundred($). Check em out their all some really good controllers.

If your thinking about CDJs, you don't have a bad idea. But with the way Djing is evolving more towards software mixing, new, crazy things will be out soon. I feel like there going to be happening with controller units since thats the newest type of mixers out there.

lyons238 · Post by **lyons238** » Wed May 25, 2011 7:02 pm

id stay away from the toyish kits being recommended like the hercules mp3 one above, and the mixtrack. there ok but in 6 months you will be wishing you had bought a nicer one and it will end up wasting money in the long run. the hercules rmx isnt bad, but its not my style, anything from vestax is pretty damn good..

like i said before check out djtechtools.com in the for sale or classfields section of the forum. ppl sell vci-100's there all the time.

Redderious · Post by **Redderious** » Wed May 25, 2011 7:44 pm

lyons238 wrote:Vestax VCI-100. Nuff said.

i painted my jog wheels and knobs but you get the idea. this thing is solid as fuck. and there is a whole website and forum dedicated to customizing and mapping this thing for the best performance, also custom firmware upgrades (raises the resolution of jogs n faders along with some other things as well). the site is djtechtools.com and there is a store for custom parts etc. Ean Golden runs the site and still uses this thing so that says something.

Have you ever had crossfader problems with your VCI 100? my 300 has problems isolating deck b, tried looking at it but i have no idea what the problem could be. Didnt happen for atleast 6 or 7 months after i purchased it.

Steve_French · Post by **Steve_French** » Wed May 25, 2011 7:55 pm

lyons238 wrote:id stay away from the toyish kits being recommended like the hercules mp3 one above, and the mixtrack. there ok but in 6 months you will be wishing you had bought a nicer one and it will end up wasting money in the long run.

to true, but they're great if you're starting out and want something that isn't going to break the bank, i would definitely recommend the hercules dj mp3 controller as a starter bit of kit, or even an expansion, but you probably will want to upgrade later on

amidoinitrite · Post by **amidoinitrite** » Wed May 25, 2011 9:30 pm

goodeh wrote:
lyons238 wrote:id stay away from the toyish kits being recommended like the hercules mp3 one above, and the mixtrack. there ok but in 6 months you will be wishing you had bought a nicer one and it will end up wasting money in the long run.
to true, but they're great if you're starting out and want something that isn't going to break the bank, i would definitely recommend the hercules dj mp3 controller as a starter bit of kit, or even an expansion, but you probably will want to upgrade later on

I can not comment on the hercules dj mp3 thing.. but I can comment on the Mixtrack.. it is a solid controller for the price.
I liked my $150 mixtrack WAY more than I liked my previous $350 Hercules RMX. Just a matter of preference.. If you're not going to be banging the shit out of them, then they both will probably last the same.
Probably even the same as the $800+ S4
With the controllers out there it is more of a matter of features than durability, unless you are hard on your gear. Obviously the RMX is steel and not plastic, but if you're careless enough to break the plastic on the Mixtrack than its your own fault.
With typical wear they will last as long as you need them too..
I know a guy who tours internationally with a Numark Total Control, and has been doing so for years.

Also there is A LOT you can do with Midi now-a-days. You don' only have to use a controller for what the preset midi patch is in traktor. You can assign modifiers and stuff to have TOTAL control of your software.
I could map my mixer to FULLY control Traktor if I wanted/needed to.

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