Buy Korg Zero 4 or not?

[WastedYouth]

Hi all,

I'm kinda stuck here,
I've been searching for a Richie-hawtin-alike setup for weeks, thinking of what I should get for my minimal setup.
I was thinking about an all-in-one mixer for Traktor Scratch (I want soundcard + mixer in one).

I've had the Xone 4D, but didn't like the midi layout, way too small for sweeping and useless faders for traktor.

A few days ago, one contacted me for his Korg Zero 4.
It looks fucking awesome, but is it?
Didn't read all too good stuff about it.

I hope I get some feedback about this mixer from you guys.

Cheers!

[Patch]

There are definitely worse mixers out there:

http://www.djworx.com/skratchworx/reviews/zero4.php

[DjLiquitATL]

I just bought a korg zero 4 locally for....$325!... There's not a lot of documentation or videos out there that are current or relevant. My main concern was does it work with windows 7 64-bit...after a couple hours of research I found a response from Korg to someone with the same question... Korg said it does...

however, on their compatible list is states otherwise. I'm going to pick the mixer up and test it tonight then I'll let you know if its still f'in amazing... The best thing about it is its a 12" mixer, the worst thing about it is...its a 12" mixer, haha.... i'm excited to try it out

[ApplianceTyrant]

Yeah if you can get it for the price LiquitATL got it for and its in full operational condition, then I say go for it. I like how it has 1/4" ins on each channel, not too many DJ mixers do that. If their asking even like $500 I would just save up a little more and get the Pioneer DJM-T1 which can be had for less than $700. There's also the Z2 as well...

[the_bastet]

Ill be straight with you man. After I played with the zero 4. I fell in love. I have no comment on the build quality (since it was in af light case), but everything was smooth. The eq knobs felt comfortable, the crossfader was super smooth (no bounceback, but IM spoiled by my innofader), and the levels were just right. My only beef were the channel faders. They felt real cheap like they were fragile. THis could have been due to heavy use tho.

[beisi]

mods of this universe

merge this thread!!!

[DjLiquitATL]

Mixer is f'in amazing... I've got to mess with midi later but everything worked fine with windows 7. Drivers are compatible even though Korg site says it doesn't support it

[WastedYouth]

Mixer is f'in amazing... I've got to mess with midi later but everything worked fine with windows 7. Drivers are compatible even though Korg site says it doesn't support it

Thanks a lot man! Might consider buying it

[DjLiquitATL]

UPDATE:

I had a lot of time this weekend to map this baby out for my style of mixing. Here are a couple things I found that I do not like:

- audio outputs are limited in both traktor and mixvibes...i'm not sure if this is a DVS thing or not b/c I have heard that there are no issues with audio outputs when using abelton...I don't own abelton but may download a demo just to test the theory

- FX choose button is useless to assign midi to b/c it has multiple notes assigned to it and does not work like the normal pots

- Firewire interface settings...they seem ok but i'm running TSP on latency setting of 22, which normally is insanely high BUT I have a older dell laptop and the response is better then what I experienced with the audio 4/6/8....weird... sounds much better and less digital when scratching... imitates real vinyl...I don't get it but hey...it works

- when in midi/internal mode via TSP2 there are no meters on the channels... I have my master output set to channel 1 and monitor out to channel 4 so the only meters I get on mixer are channel 1/4 and main out on the mixer... you can however read the channel meters with TSP but would be nice if they were routed to mixer... They work perfectly fine in external mode

- when running in external mode there is an option to set your eq to BOOST but it doesn't activate the boost option until you adjust the high on the channel past the "click"...this is not an issue when running in complete midi mode BUT could be an issue when playing live...what I did to work around the issue is I leave this mixer on standard 12 o'clock settings and adjust the volume and pots within TSP... I have a knob assigned to the gain of each channel and the main output of the program.

here's what i LIKE:

- plenty of in/outputs available on back of mixer

- LIGHTS, no longer will there be an issue of not being able to see in the dark

- latency response/ sound quality...even though its weird and shows my latency in TSP as 22...it sounds better then any of the NI audio interfaces I have used and responds better

- cross-fader, made by the same company as pro-xfade but sounds nice and crisp... no need to replace the cross-fader at this time

- FX, plenty of options with the onboard FXs... I particular like how you can assign FX independently on each channel and over the main mix... so basically you can have fx on fx...my favorite FX is the pitch adjustment fx...you can use this fx to fine tune your key when mixing or even chop and screw on the spot

If I had paid any more then I did I may not be as satisfied BUT so far I am still pleased. I haven't mapped out my dicer and lpd8 yet or even got into abelton live... i'm a turntable DJ, I don't even use the remix decks... I may just download an older version of TSP with the sample decks for my style of mixing

[WastedYouth]

UPDATE:

I had a lot of time this weekend to map this baby out for my style of mixing. Here are a couple things I found that I do not like:

- audio outputs are limited in both traktor and mixvibes...i'm not sure if this is a DVS thing or not b/c I have heard that there are no issues with audio outputs when using abelton...I don't own abelton but may download a demo just to test the theory

- FX choose button is useless to assign midi to b/c it has multiple notes assigned to it and does not work like the normal pots

- Firewire interface settings...they seem ok but i'm running TSP on latency setting of 22, which normally is insanely high BUT I have a older dell laptop and the response is better then what I experienced with the audio 4/6/8....weird... sounds much better and less digital when scratching... imitates real vinyl...I don't get it but hey...it works

- when in midi/internal mode via TSP2 there are no meters on the channels... I have my master output set to channel 1 and monitor out to channel 4 so the only meters I get on mixer are channel 1/4 and main out on the mixer... you can however read the channel meters with TSP but would be nice if they were routed to mixer... They work perfectly fine in external mode

- when running in external mode there is an option to set your eq to BOOST but it doesn't activate the boost option until you adjust the high on the channel past the "click"...this is not an issue when running in complete midi mode BUT could be an issue when playing live...what I did to work around the issue is I leave this mixer on standard 12 o'clock settings and adjust the volume and pots within TSP... I have a knob assigned to the gain of each channel and the main output of the program.

here's what i LIKE:

- plenty of in/outputs available on back of mixer

- LIGHTS, no longer will there be an issue of not being able to see in the dark

- latency response/ sound quality...even though its weird and shows my latency in TSP as 22...it sounds better then any of the NI audio interfaces I have used and responds better

- cross-fader, made by the same company as pro-xfade but sounds nice and crisp... no need to replace the cross-fader at this time

- FX, plenty of options with the onboard FXs... I particular like how you can assign FX independently on each channel and over the main mix... so basically you can have fx on fx...my favorite FX is the pitch adjustment fx...you can use this fx to fine tune your key when mixing or even chop and screw on the spot

If I had paid any more then I did I may not be as satisfied BUT so far I am still pleased. I haven't mapped out my dicer and lpd8 yet or even got into abelton live... i'm a turntable DJ, I don't even use the remix decks... I may just download an older version of TSP with the sample decks for my style of mixing

Thanks a lot man, Great post.
I've chosen for 2 F1's and a Maschine, I didn't trust the guy who sold it..

But big thanks