I've been lurking for a few weeks and I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on my first controller(s). I'm looking to start playing at a few local bars in clubs in the burbs that mainly play top 40, I will not be catering to the norm and marketing my set as such. I know the bar owners and they're cool with me doing my thing as I'm trying to turn "off" nights into something new. My "crates" are deeply vested in hip hop of all kinds from Atmosphere to Jeezy. I've got plenty of classic rock, disco, grunge, radio rock. Recently I've really been digging the mash-up party sounds of Girl Talk and A-Trak. I like some dub step sounds that I've heard, although it does tend to be a bit repetitive. I might pay some tribute to the city in which I was raised and reside (Chicago) by expanding my crates to include some vintage ghetto house. I've been very inspired by some of the things I've seen in the last few weeks while researching controllerism and I'd like to think I'm going to be getting into some cue-point juggling/mixing fairly quickly. Point is I won't be mixing and blending tracks all nights as some house or techno dj's would.
Anyhow on to some of the items I'm considering.
VCI-100, obviously the choice of the masses, especially here at DJTT. Tried and true. It doesn't enough buttons by itself. I'm considering a padKontrol (got one lined up cheap) on the side. I can get into all of the above for around $500 may need another hundo for an interface. This seems like it would give me more than enough to learn/experiment with.
SC system 3. Love the multiple modes layout (Is that similar to different scenes on padKontrol?). I like the size and the fact it would look good underneath my TouchSmart 600XT that I will be using. A friend about disowned me when I told him I was thinking about one. He recommended a NS7. I've got one lined up w/ a interface for $250.
Software wise I've been familarizing myself with Traktor and Virtual DJ (as I may want to add video here and there). I'm already having problems with the video/audio not being in sync. Anyone know common fixes for this? Also is there an interface that also has a video out? My all in one TouchSmart600 has a HDMI in, but not out. So I've been looking at usb external video cards but I'm curious if one of the higher end interfaces has this? I do have a seperate laptop I could bring to set up for a generic video montage, but I'd like to have it in sync with audio. One of the venues has multiple projectors that are already linked so I'm meeting with the sound guy to see what I'd need to hook up.
My last question is in regard to track prep, track key, and bpm matching. How important is this in hip hop dj sets? I personally freak out when I hear rap vocals out of pitch. Key? Wtf is key? Does this apply to hip-hop?
Anyone got a book or video to recommend to a noob that teaches the basics?
Why/how do I justify spending double to get the vci? What will better suite someone who wants to mix primarily hip-hop and maybe learn to mash up some random shit? Seems like the scs3 will give me what I want. A lot of cue points, and decent control over loops/effects.
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