Convince me to not go from CDJs back to Traktor

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Originally Posted by PartyMcFly

Laptops are annoying and risky to gig out with, and for some people who come from CDJs it's not as fun or comfortable having to spend a lot of your workflow looking at the screen.

I go back and forth between Traktor and CDJs depending on what style I'm playing and everytime I use CDJs I feel this ineffable sense of freedom and enjoyment since the laptop's not there and I'm mostly looking at my hands on the controls. This is a massively subjective and personal thing but I have a lot less anxiety with the CDJs. Maybe it's just that it's more rote than using the laptop, I don't know.

On the other hand I feel like the farther my music gets from four on the floor, straightforward dance tracks the more enjoyable it is to mix with Traktor. The entire CDJ paradigm is has evolved around very straightforward quantized kick drums on every quarter beat with a 8, 16, 32 bar structure and they are really not useful to me for modern future beat and netlabel type stuff with a lot of syncopation, lead-ins, and unconventional bar phrasing.

Anyway, $4000 of gear sitting around in the house and not earning gig money is kind of a sunk investment unless you're wealthy, especially when there are things like the XDJ-RX out there that are a great at-home simulacra of club gear. Resale value on Pio gear is great, but still, you know.

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Actually at this crossroads. Getting rid of my Z2 and debating going all out or sticking with a DDJ-SZ. I understand laptops are a liability and i feel much freer doing the whole CDJ thing.. The question is that whether the freedom of the 8 pads on a NXS2 setup is worth the extra 4 grand y'know.

I've used the XDJS, DDJs, and all the traktor hardware and CDJs just work. Just an absolutely bonkers investment.

Yea. I am still completely baffled by how Pioneer gets away charging so much. It seems like prices are only going up too unfortunately.

I was really hoping Denon would make headway on their CDJ platform. Engine certainly seems to have improved, but it's not close to rekordbox yet.

I honestly don't see why you would keep those expensive freakin' CDJ's when you can have everything and more in Traktor..

Forget CDJs, get traktor and go modular.

do whatever you want

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Originally Posted by Clangor

I honestly don't see why you would keep those expensive freakin' CDJ's when you can have everything and more in Traktor..

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A few posts in this thread answer that question for you in case you're actually curious

I think the biggest question is, are you using your CDJs to their fullest? Many people would kill for that setup, but if you're only doing simple transitions it's probably overkill, especially if you don't really care to go any further.

If you do switch over, you'll miss certain features for sure. I'd love to sugar coat it but if you drive a Ferrari and then grab a Camry, you're going to miss things. It's not that there's anything wrong with the Camry, it still does what you need it do, but that's essentially how I view this question.

Let's be real, you don't even really need a controller. You could easily add TouchOSC to DJ software. DJ from your phone at parties. You could do it, but you know you're going to miss the sound. The FX. Cueing FX in your headphones. Fader start. No one is going to be able to tell you one way or the other there's pros and cons all the way around. Best thing to do is try things out, don't make any quick decisions, but as for me I'd keep them.

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Originally Posted by thi3ves

I think the biggest question is, are you using your CDJs to their fullest? Many people would kill for that setup, but if you're only doing simple transitions it's probably overkill, especially if you don't really care to go any further.

If you do switch over, you'll miss certain features for sure. I'd love to sugar coat it but if you drive a Ferrari and then grab a Camry, you're going to miss things. It's not that there's anything wrong with the Camry, it still does what you need it do, but that's essentially how I view this question.

Let's be real, you don't even really need a controller. You could easily add TouchOSC to DJ software. DJ from your phone at parties. You could do it, but you know you're going to miss the sound. The FX. Cueing FX in your headphones. Fader start. No one is going to be able to tell you one way or the other there's pros and cons all the way around. Best thing to do is try things out, don't make any quick decisions, but as for me I'd keep them.

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I think though with the introduction of the DDJ-SX and DDJ-SZ, these controllers are pretty much able to do everything the CDJs are able to. The only thing I will certainly miss will be the color FX and easy FX access on the DJM (though the SZ does have those!).

Before I switched to the CDJ/DJM setup, the SX and SZ controllers weren't out yet so I didn't feel any other controller really matched the CDJ very well.

The SX comes in tomorrow so I am pretty excited to give it a shot! I think the SZ looks real good if I can snag it for a bit cheaper (~1200) as well.

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Originally Posted by Clangor

I honestly don't see why you would keep those expensive freakin' CDJ's when you can have everything and more in Traktor..

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Originally Posted by PartyMcFly

A few posts in this thread answer that question for you in case you're actually curious

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A quite big amount of posts in this forum created questions like this one, in case you didn't notice :D

I've had a XDJ-RX for about 6 months now and find that it is great for a home set up, I haven't noticed anything wrong with the build quality at all. If you want to scale down and can make the finances work (selling the CDJ's etc to get enough for the XDJ and still be happy with whats left over) then I can't recommend it enough. Has everything you need for a home set up and is easy to move around if you do find yourself wanting to jump outside the bedroom.

Plus if you have already done all of the work to get things set up via rekordbox then there's not issues at all, if you move back to Traktor there will be that change over situation (not a biggy but still a consideration) to deal with.