Noob with some questions :]

[lazerlemon]

Hey guys I am new to dj'ing, I was just wondering if you know of any good tutorials on traktor pro. All i can find is stuff on looping. I was also wondering whats a good controller to think about investing in for someone just learning how all this stuff works. I was looking at the typhoon and the VCI-100 SE by vestax. I was hoping you guys could point me in the right direction.
Thanks in advance :]

[Karlos Santos]

Welcome..!

For tutorials on Traktor check out the DJTTs You Tube page. Eans tuts are excellent. His Beatgrid tutorial video is the best there is.

Check the Free tutorials at : http://www.traktorbible.com/en/traktorbible.aspx
If you want an all-in-one reference on Traktor (after reading the Official Manual) then check out the Traktor Bible book. Its excellent. (im biased as i worked on it).

Personally i would save a little more money and get the VCI 100 not the Typhoon if your gonna be serious about controllerism. The SE version is specific to DJ Tech Tools you dont actually need an SE although they are nice, you could just get a standard VCI 100.

Thats a start. Im sure the guys will come in with more advice.


Karlos

[pilmat]

+1 on what Karlos said.

As the DJTT community is well versed in the VCI-100, I went in that direction and am really pleased with my choice. As Karlos pointed out a regular VCI is OK, but for the same price (depending on where you live), yo can get an SE with the latest overlay and firmware 1.3. The next piece of equipment you will need is a good audio interface (i.e. soundcard). This is important for two reasons, sound quality and most important to be able to hear your cues. The sound card choice is really vast, but if you know basically what you want to do (just mix, DVS, do some production, play real instruments, add a mic, etc.) we can point you in the direction of what will suit your need and budget.

Phil.

[lazerlemon]

Okay, so once I get some money and get a decent budget going for that i would want to get a controller and a sound card? I would also like to ask your opinions on abletons launchpad: http://www.ableton.com/launchpad
It doesnt look like the other controllers ive seen and its cheaper then most as well. I dont know much about it at all or any controllers really so anything you could tell me would be usefull. From what ive seen abletons launchpad runs on a different program but still looks like it would be a great controller even though its set up is very different.

[bigandy2310]

hi there lazerlemon,

i started going digital with the demo version of traktor back in october. to be honest the software is really user friendly and just getting to grips with the demo before even buying a controller is advisable. you should be pick it up in a couple of days and be mixing tunes pretty well.

carlos is right though, the dj tech tools tutorials are the best ones out there and should answer all the question you might have.

i was originally going to do it budget aswell so i bought the numark omni with the built in soundcard. you should be able to pick up a second hand one pretty cheap. iv been using it most weekends and its a very good controller. dont have any complaints with it.

my mate bought the djjt vci and the main difference is the dedicated effects on it compared to the omni, which do add to the fun of the whole thing. the other main difference is the price, mainly becuse you would have to buy a separate soundcard for vci. i would recommend the djjt vci because i think the original vci without the new djjt overlays is disappointing.

iv just ordered my vci from djtt and im awaiting delivery (assuming this volcanic ash over europe buggers off).

hope this helps.

[lazerlemon]

The numark omni looks like it would be perfect for what I am looking for. Adn i am currently scrolling through those tutorials right now. Thank you for the ideas! :]

[eastcoastams]

I think you'll find the numark omni is a bit small and the knobs area is a bit congested, also I know there are videos on youtube of this, but if you want to fool around with any kind of scratching you'll want to find something with nice touch sensitive jog wheels...It's really worth it to just wait and save the little extra for a better controller than to get one right away that you'll outgrow soon. Goodluck and welcome to the forum!

[rt24]

Hi there,

I just started this DJing thing recently as well, in fact posted a thread just like yours not too long ago.

My initial thought was to just go out and buy an VCI-100, but unless you are absolutely loaded, that is kind of risky imo. It's not just 550...you will want to upgrade to Traktor Pro from Traktor LE that comes with the VCI, which costs $150 USD. That plus other little things such as maybe new headphones, a sound card (you will need one of those too), all of that. It really adds up. I was advised to start slow so I bought an Akai LPD8, which I am finally learning how to use properly but works fine. It's very good quality and isn't very expensive: only about 75$ depending on where you get it. You can do quite a lot with that thing without doing the full investment into a full out controller. For me, it does the job right now as I have so much to learn. While I want to still buy a VCI-100 in the future, this is more than I can comprehend at the moment.

Anyway that is my recommendation, it definitely is working for me.

[pilmat]

OMG, Traktor LE to PRO upgrade is $139 now! Didn't it used to be $99?

Phil.

[Jaiden]

Agree with all of you above:

I tried the Traktor Demo till i finally dicided to buy a dedicated controller. I went for the djtt VCI100SE (you won't regret). But you have to think that the headphones and the external sound card (in case of using headphone cueing) adds up to the budget. In my case i stick to my computer sound system (Creative 5.1) to save some money. Anyway i'm saving to get some PA monitor speakers.

Talking about some tutorials, the stuff in djtt is great. In my case (totally noob in mixing), i had to look for some other BASIC videos or reading on the inet.

In conclusion, it's more fun than i actually expected to be. It's a whole new world in music. It is worth the money.