Alright so i turn 18 soon and i still havnt told my parents what i want yet as im trying to decide on the best equipment i could get away with asking for ($500-ish tops, theyre already getting me a car soon and i wouldnt wanna be too harsh on em lol) so basically what its boiled down to choosing betwen these:
(fyi the only stuff i have right now is an xponent, torq, traktor, and ableton live 8, FL 9,)

DDM 4000: for its price, getting a 4 channel mixer chock full with all the features (nice fx, mic imputs, kill switches, yadadada all that good stuff) looks like a really reallly reallllllyy great deal (and it just looks cool)

DJM 400: its pioneer so i already know its good, but along with the fact i probably wanna get CDJ 400s in the future (because of the MIDI control) would make them all go nicely together (ive seen pple use CDJs with DDMs though so im kinda stuck when it comes to that lol) only thing is its a 2 channel, and i assume 4 channel would be preferred

APC 40: i realized when i had my xponent that i learned a lot more about producing and music in general from doing live mixing (while many others learn vice-versa) and so this i believe would be a great way to help me learn about ableton (i just got it and im pretty lost on how to do anything lol) so i find that this would be practical both live and to produce with (at least to help me foray into producing)

FYI: if you think theres anything else i should consider, PLEASE lemme know about it

So basically thats what it comes down to, 2 mixers and a contoller, all useful in the long run, & all really good in their own respects. if you got any questons, tips, information, or advice on what i should probably lean towards, go ahead and just say it