ultra compact usb controller (small jog wheels, a few buttons and a cross fader)

[lsmith]

i usually have my audio2dj audio interface with me. frequently at ultimate frisbee tournaments i then end up DJing a bit. but DJing with the keyboard is a hassle and its just very error prone (just forgot to go into search mode and you end up fucking up everything if you rely on the keyboard to control your decks). also its just annoying to have to use the mouse to scroll through tracks. finally there is often not even a mixer with a cross fader.

so what i want is a simpler simple DJ controller that gives me 2 jog wheels a few buttons and a cross fader that is small and light enough that i don't mind throwing it in my backpack.

sort of a minified version of http://www.ionaudio.com/products/details/discover-dj
i found http://www.numark.com/product/dj2go but would wish for it to be even smaller.

[KS2]

Surely you can't get much smaller than those?

[synthet1c]

the novation nocturn is a pretty good candidate... It's small, light, strong and extremely versatile. The encoders can send a relative or absolute signal, because of this I have jogwheels mapped to the two outer encoders. as well as heaps of other stuff.

[MrPopinjay]

The Novation Nocturn and the Korg Nanokontrols would be my recommendations. You're not going to really get any smaller without making it yourself and even then you'll struggle.

Maybe you could use an iphone as a midi controller over an ad hoc wifi network with your laptop? That'd be the smallest by far- you carry nothing you wern't carrying already :P

[zimfella]

ICON+I+DJ+BLACK.JPG 79108_l.jpg

Icon Idj Dj

- Touch-sensitive scratch wheels with high resolution pulse sensor
- High resolution touch sensor scratch wheel platters offer you an analog feel when scratching and mixing your songs
- Adjustable touch wheels sensitivity
- Vertical volume control faders
- Vertical tempo control faders
- Horizontal cross fader control
- 2x3-band EQ control knobs - Hi, Mid and Low (reassignable)
- Balance control knobs (reassignable)
- Gain control knobs (reassignable)
- 8 reassignable backlit buttons including ""Vinyl Mode"", ""Sync"", ""Loop >"", ""Loop <"", ""Out"", ""Play/Pause"", ""In"" & ""Cue""
- 4 extra assignable knobs for effect control
- 8 extra assignable backlit buttons
- iMap™ MIDI mapping software included for reassigning MIDI mapping
- Extremely compact, matches perfectly with MacBook™
- Class-compliant with Windows XP, Vista (32 bit), and Mac OS X
- USB bus-powered


a couple of people on here have these and are quite happy with them. Actually I might just get one for fun and travelling

Review by Zestoi here

http://forum.djtechtools.com/showthr...t=34480&page=8

[synthet1c]

I have an idj, love it... you just need to transplant some larger knobs onto the eq and the volume sliders and it becomes quite usable. but the nocturn is quality construction and has some led feedback.

>>My VDJ Mapping<<

[zimfella]

nice one synthet1c

[lsmith]

thx for those recommendations .. Icon Idj Dj looks useful, similar to the numark dj2go .. but the novation nocturne looks more like what i was thinking in terms of size. and yeah the endless encoders should do the trick for scrolling. price-wise they both seem to be more or less the same.

[zestoi]

the icon idj literally has all the controls on that you'd need - and probably more besides. probably bigger and heavier than the dj2go by quite a bit. but it's the controller i'll use if travelling anywhere, just in case i need one

the novaton nocturn is a pretty sweet controller. often been tempted to get one myself. used to think that the odd placement of pots was... well... odd, but in reality it makes a lot of sense and gives you more space around them. the nocturn doesn't send midi itself tho, one reason i've been put off. it *has* to use automap to convert it's signals to midi, otherwise it's just a hid controller.

i think synthet1c was going to map it's hid natively in vdj tho? if i had one i'd create a native hid mapping for mixxx and midimasher. if you're using traktor then you're stuck using automap (or midimasher) to convert to midi tho.

just seen some on uk ebay for about 60quid, i'm sure that's cheaper than i saw them before. i may have to get one. damn i hate this forum

[MrPopinjay]

Same situation really. I hate middleware