[m00dawg]

I've been a casual DJ for a few years now with relatively modest gear - an NI Audio 4 DJ (it sounds fantastic, by the way) and a Korg NanoKontrol. The setup works well enough mostly. In fact, for my last set I even had 4 FX racks going in Traktor

But I may have an opportunity to be a bit more direct than I have since. I used to do shows on an internal radio station at my former job and now mostly just do it for LAN parties. That may soon change and, if it does, I want to upgrade a bit.

I still plan on using my NanoKontrol, probably as an effect board or something, with the main mixing being on a DJ controller. I'm trying to find a MIDI only controller because my Audio 4 sounds great and is portable enough. If it has on-board, no biggie as long as I'm not paying for it in the price.

I've been looking at Allen & Heath, Novation (Mmm...Twitch...), NI, Hercules, Vestax, basically all the bigger guys in the field. Curious what other DJs are using for purchaseable controllers?

Yes, of course I want to eventually build my own controller - probably a small 4x4 effect box with knobs and buttons to control my software FX stuff. But until then, I need something in as early as a few weeks which means practically I'll be ordering it sometime next week.

Would love to hear your opinions! So far, it's either a Twitch (if I can justify the cost) or a Reloop Mixage.

[J Martins]

Hello
Since the last year I have been DJing in few gigs too.

In the software side I have tested all DJ softwares and best choice for me was Traktor Pro 2

In the controller side I like the modular way and sincerely hate all-in-the-same-box MIDI DJ contollers, (such as Vestax VCI 100, Kontrol S4, Hercules, etc) so I´m using a nanokontrol as well, only for the FX rack + Decks Volume + Pitch control.

For the Sample Decks + EQ I´m using other small controller: the Novation Nocturn

Recently got a Ipad (+ TouchOSC) specially for music production & live performances, so basicaly my TouchOSC layout for DJing consists in buttons for browsing the tracks quickly, faders for seek track postion in each deck, tempo controls, play/pause + cue point buttons and 2 encoders as jogwheels. Didn´t have time to stick deeply in TouchOSC yet, so my layout for DJIng is quite simple. I´m planning more control over FX and other random stuff in a bigger and multipage layout

Anyway I´m not happy 100% with this setup, and I´m planning to build a modular dj controller for Traktor 2 Pro, if I have some free time . Not a monster project but mainly for FX and Deck controls (I´m planning to mix with an external mixer in soon)

In your case, as you mentioned you may build your own controller for DJing, I would suggest the Numark DJ2Go, it is very cheap and is not a big investment. They look like a toy, but everyone I know who owns one of that tiny controller have no complains about it, and in every review I read have said it is strong. Also I think it fits nicely together with a nanokontrol, phisically speaking. In fact I almost bought one of those, but had my choice with the iPad.

Cheers

[m00dawg]

Rock on, thanks for the helpful info! I'll check out the DJ2Go. It looks like a potential option, though I don't think I could completely relegate FX to my NanoKontrol with just that. I was thinking of the step up (the Total Control) but that then gets me on a slippery slope of getting conventional DJ mixers with more an more features.

For the higher end stuff, the Twitch looks fantastic. Apparently it's on-board sound-card isn't loud enough for club use, but I think my Audio 4 would do just fine in those cases. Just a shame something so close to perfect is flawed by that - I wish they made a version that was simply void of a sound-card so I didn't have to pay for something I wouldn't likely use.

[m00dawg]

As an update, I went ahead and sprung for a Reloop Digital Jockey 2. Seems like it has good build quality for the price and I was able to score a used for a pretty good deal. Thought about the super lightweight offerings like the DJ2Go but I actually wanted to use my NanoKontrol a bit less and have a bit more room. It was feeling awfully cramped.

Still want to make my own SFX box though at some point. Since I use Traktor, it was going to be basically just a 4x4 Button/Knob matrix thing perhaps plus the effect enable buttons for the decks. Have a ways to go before I'll get to that though.

[ssp]

I am currently building a clone of the allen&heath xone 4d but a purely midi controller based one, i am intergrating it into one large system along with the new touch control setup i have invested in. we are already prepping for the festival season this year.

[m00dawg]

OOOH that sound intriguing! Have any things to show for it to this point I could look at (pics, designs, etc.)?

[ssp]

will put the usual solid renders up as soon as i have finished the faceplate schematics.

[J Martins]

m00dawg, on 04 January 2012 - 04:36, said:

As an update, I went ahead and sprung for a Reloop Digital Jockey 2. Seems like it has good build quality for the price and I was able to score a used for a pretty good deal. Thought about the super lightweight offerings like the DJ2Go but I actually wanted to use my NanoKontrol a bit less and have a bit more room. It was feeling awfully cramped.

Still want to make my own SFX box though at some point. Since I use Traktor, it was going to be basically just a 4x4 Button/Knob matrix thing perhaps plus the effect enable buttons for the decks. Have a ways to go before I'll get to that though.

Hi

Ah, never heard about reloop dj2. Cool design.

The Twitchy I had seen some previews but missed completely the release. The touchstrip concept is nice. That´s exactly why I got a ipad, to have something similar to seek track positions in traktor. Before to have the tablet, I was doing that function with a old pocketpc and Theresa(not so cool but functional). But doesn´t matter that cool concept and a deficient audio output.

Keep us posted about your Traktor FX box. Mine should be a bit complicated. at least for me. Planning to use 2x20 LCDs, encoders and ledrings. Never did a MB project before with such features.

Cheers

[m00dawg]

KnoBall, on 04 January 2012 - 20:39, said:

Hi

Ah, never heard about reloop dj2. Cool design.

The Twitchy I had seen some previews but missed completely the release. The touchstrip concept is nice. That´s exactly why I got a ipad, to have something similar to seek track positions in traktor. Before to have the tablet, I was doing that function with a old pocketpc and Theresa(not so cool but functional). But doesn´t matter that cool concept and a deficient audio output.

Keep us posted about your Traktor FX box. Mine should be a bit complicated. at least for me. Planning to use 2x20 LCDs, encoders and ledrings. Never did a MB project before with such features.

Cheers

Probably good you waited on Twitch as the on-board soundcard has issues with volume such that it's not suitable for open venues (clubs, or perhaps even larger LAN parties and things). I wouldn't have used the on-board sound very often, but since it was being offered, I'd rather have a working one I could use as a backup. I suspect that will be fixed in either a hardware revision or a Twitch 2. Otherwise, yeah man it looks rather fantastic! Although I've never had jogwheels so it will be interesting to see how I like them. Eventually I want to get into real vinyl so it will be nice to have something that at least lets me fake a backspin

My FX box would be uber-simple. Probably an LCD if it was easy to add but really all the mappings I can change in Traktor so I won't have much of a need to change the configuration once setup, although if I used it for other things then having patch support (and thus likely an LCD) would be useful. I haven't progressed too far with the design beyond a mock-up idea. But when I do I'll be sure to keep MidiBox informed (will probably have a section for it on the Wiki and such).

[J Martins]

J Martins, on 31 December 2011 - 20:34, said:

In the controller side I like the modular way and sincerely hate all-in-the-same-box MIDI DJ contollers, (such as Vestax VCI 100, Kontrol S4, Hercules, etc)

Heh

Behringer beats me on the running to build the ´´first worldwide modular dj controller´´

I wish I had some chinese guys to build me my projects in just few weeks

Behringer’s CMD Line: Modular DJ Controllers On A Budget

This post has been edited by J Martins: 23 January 2012 - 14:48

[m00dawg]

Ah yes, looks pretty intriguing. My Reloop + NanoKontrol setup seems to work pretty well, although I need to setup a scene on my Nano for cueing so I can more easily do loops and things (I suppose a NanoPad would be better there). Since I'm trying to do the whole vinyl thing, I'm thinking of getting something like a DJM-500 (when I can afford it, hah) so I can have 4 physical decks, two being for Traktor; and two for Analog. Numark also makes a simple (no effects) 4-channel DJ mixer that is fairly economical. I occasionally find myself using 4 decks in Traktor but I do like that this setup is more raw this way. I could run my TTs through Traktor as well (which I will do until I can get a DJM or similar mixer) which works well enough for the interim.

Even though that setup is rather analog, since I'm hoping to use both Traktor and TTs, I rather like the idea of some of the new interfaces coming out, like Native Instruments' new pad thing (looks similar to the Behringer, at a vastly increased cost obviously . I think on those fronts, making some MidiBox gear would be a bit more rewarding.

Then again, I /still/ have to finish my rackmount MidiBox SID

[J Martins]

just thinking loud in my previous reply, sorry to ressurect the topic

m00dawg, on 23 January 2012 - 14:56, said:

Then again, I /still/ have to finish my rackmount MidiBox SID

How about to get your bunch of chinese guys as well? So you could have the help

hehe just a bad joke. In fact I know nothing about politics and globalization or worldwide market. I barely turn on the TV to watch the news. Actually I turn on this thing only to watch DVDs for kids with my son

Yes, all announcements and releases were made at NAMM, at least for me, better than expected, perhaps because it was the first year that I followed the event with more attention.

On the subject of old analog DJing I don´t know. I was djing in a public party this last weekend, where the emphasis was playing the music from the vinyl. That caught the attention of a cult audience, but much of the public does not care to be vinyl or not, just want a song to dance.

Besides being a thing that isn´t cheap (that accidental scratch on the surface of that rare vinyl, how to replace the vinyl? Where you can find another?) Is time-consuming transportation. My setup of midicontrolhers for that party fit in a backpack. And the setup of the tt´s occupied the entire back of a car.

There is always an audience for this type of analog DJing, DJs and some are even trying to resurrect the the vinyl scene on my country, but I don´t see a promising future for this, based in what I said above. Although this opnion is based on the reality that I see in my country it have a little bit of opinion coming from the world scene that I can follow. I have not seen much news on analog DJing at NAMM. Maybe I´m very wrong and probaly missed something

No way I´m trying to be negative about what vinyl is. A better feeling to find a cue point with this artifact spinning on a turntable, I think no jogwheel can emulate

[m00dawg]

Hah well most everything is made in China I'd be wildly surprised if the Pioneer was fully made in the US. The difference there is that the Pioneers are built like absolute tanks.

The vinyl versus digital argument for DJing, while a bit different than it is for just listening to records (I'm in the vinyl is better camp there too), there's some similarities. For me, it's not quite as much about the audience. As a member of an audience, I'm far more impressed if I see a DJ bust out a real (not timecoded) record. But, you're ultimately right, usually it's about the music and party and not about what the DJ uses.

Having said that, one big plus for vinyl, and to a lesser extend things like CDJs - what happens when your hard-drive crashes, you drop your laptop, spill something on it, etc.? Did you bring two computers with one already setup and ready to go? Few people do that, but if you're using TTs or CDJs and the like, you can keep on going.

For me, the tactile feedback and sound of vinyl does it for me. Even when it comes from a digital source, the sound of vinyl I find more pleasing and it's fun to see how components influence the sound. Digital is a cold bitch, frankly. If you don't warm her up, she's going to stay cold. And even when you do warm her up, don't expect anything kinky. That's why good mastering shops run digital through an analog process (even tape) and back in. And it's why, I think, the sound of modular synthesizers pleases me more than, say, my Virus and certainly soft-synths.

The tactile feedback of vinyl is huge. Using auto-sync is largely thought of as a crutch by many DJs and after doing without for some time, I tend to agree. You can be MUCH more flexible and creative when you're the one that has to think of beats. Consider how to sync something in 3/4 with 4/4 and the BPMs to do so all with sync.

You don't need a turntable to beat match, but as you pointed out, jogwheels suck. At least mine do unless I'm searching through a track or using them as a big effect knobs. And, either way, I just don't feel as intimately tied to the music.

That's why I'm going to do both. Best of both worlds. If I want to cut up a track to bits, I can easily do that. Though modern mixers and CDJs and things can do similar things, I do find that such things are certainly easier with software. My favorite tracks I have and will continue to try and collect on vinyl and spin those unless I want to do crazy things with them. And perhaps after that I'll move to CDJs if the hobby takes off in more places than my bedroom and an occasional small show when we're doing a party at work.

All that said (and it was a lot, sorry - I'm bored as my main Internet connection is down and am on my slow tethered cell connection ;) ), DJing is a diverse art so ultimately whatever you use is up to you and that's the way it should be. I find DJs online (such as places like /r/djs) have way to much hubris about the whole thing. Use whatever makes you, and your audience happy. Just keep pushing the envelope.