Need help choosing a 4 channel mixer

[deevey]

Pioneer are all grunt and no go. Behringer bring out good quality desks on budget to suit real musicians who dont obsess about kit. It takes pioneer how many attempts to design the 'latest must have dj mixer', what model are they on now, Djm 8million? Oh, and ive been slammin tunes since b4 the m25 was built son!

<rant>

@the voice of truth - I smell a troll and i know I should not feed but anyhow...
Pioneer are and probably will for a long time be great mixers, no not the best in the world but reliable, tried and tested; personally I'm not a fan and prefer A&H or Formula Sound (who have been in the game alot longer than pioneer).

You are advocating that Behringer are great - sorry to disappoint but if you've been dj'ing for so long and know your stuff alot of it is complete crap! and your talking out yer arse!

Pioneer have not brought out "that' many model's they have discontinued many of them and presented ergonomic changes to the interface, and introduced new features on some of their range .. they have listened to the requirements of DJ's and innovated on ones that were never thought of. A&H also have many models flame them too ?

Their desks for the most part are crappy build, noisy and have as many downfalls as their DJ mixer range.

Behringer DJ mixers though known fall apart and be generally, unreliable and honestly would not touch any of their DJX, VJX, VX etc ... mixers with anyone elses.

Their compressors, gates, eq's, feedback killers however are great pieces of kit that are reliable sound decent a low fault rate at a bloody good price.

When the Pioneer DJM was first released it was a decent sounding MID range mixer which stood up to pro abuse, what sold it was its FX section which was previously not available on any "Club Class" mixer and alot of heavy marketing and rider requests by some top jocks and CDJ 500's were being installed and requested as a club standard making a nice lil uniform kit at a Prosumer price bracket with a USEABLE effects section.

BUT
The DDM does seem to be the exception to the rule in both features, build quality and reliability ... I've yet to read a review that has said it falls apart, sounds shite, does not perform etc ...

in fact the only "real" complaints seem to be on 3 real points and one general and snobby one.

1. Too many features - difficult to get head around "PEBKAC"
2. Headphone Positioning
3. Chris' observation that the headphone not loud enough.
4. Its Behringer - it must be crap

Every other review by Pro DJ's, and Engineers alike are glowing.

Behinger DDM = Decent Low end Mixer
Pioneer = Decent mid range club standard Mixer
A&H, RANE, Formula Sound, Ecler = Decent Pro/Studio club mixers.

@Chris

You've used the Behringer in a live situation ... and you are the only one who seems to have any genuine complaints about it.

Guys like you should spread the word about how crap you feel they REALLY are if they are, run some proper SN tests, usability tests, Dissassemble one get a loaner even for a week and put it though its (many) paces.

But try to disregard for 10 mins that "its Behringer it must be crap" .. thats mixer racism right there! .. and seems to be the basis of the entire "Dont buy behringer" argument, despite most anyone who have used/bought/reviewed a DDM saying otherwise.

Pioneers were not liked by everyone when they came out... "A DJ mixer from a company known for mid range hi-fi gear and car radios" .. Phulllleeeeease, what the hell do they know about DJ'ing.

IMHO Pioneer are still a mid range mixer BTW try stuffing the toys of the DJM2k into an A&H and see how much it'd cost :P


*PEBKAC - Problem Exists Between Kontroller & Chair

</rant>

Also even if you don't like the Behringer audio quality, as a standalone midi controller alone its still probably worth the money without feeling cheap and plastic like alot of the midi controllers out there (including their own)

[Filterkat]

i cant see anyone here having mentioned the Korg zero 4... there freakin awesome mixers... not nearly as expensive as the 800's... sound exellent unlike the berhinger... have full midi... a bucketload of effects... about a million switchable imputs... and built like a tank... what more could you want from a mixer... honestly?

If only it brushed my teeth in the morning... hmmm

[Filterkat]

p.s. ive had 2 mates who bought the berhinger ddm4000 as soon as it came out... one of them is already falling appart... wiggly knobs... couple knobs missing even... faders missing covers... build construction aint great... the other guy has reported that it wigs out in midi mode and is quite buggy... sometimes doesnt display the values according to the fader positions etc. etc. BOTH of them have reported that they have a static buzz sound starting to come out of at least one of the inputs... onr of them which i heard and its pretty freakin bad... and he tells me its getting worse...

Im not hating on berhinger... i love their midi controllers like the BCR and all that. and they make some great entry level products for people on a budget...

Im just sayin... you get what you pay for... dont expect it to last 5 years...

[dirkd]

i cant see anyone here having mentioned the Korg zero 4... there freakin awesome mixers... not nearly as expensive as the 800's... sound exellent unlike the berhinger... have full midi... a bucketload of effects... about a million switchable imputs... and built like a tank... what more could you want from a mixer... honestly?

If only it brushed my teeth in the morning... hmmm

I have to disagree with you on the sound quality and eqs of the Zero 4, while it is all-round quite a well built mixer and the effects are pretty well thought out with them being channel specific and giving you plenty of control over the parameters.

I just can't get into the cold flat sound of the Zero4, and no matter how much I fiddled with my friends EQ settings I could not get the EQ's to operate like how I expected them to. Perhaps I have been spoiled by the amazing EQs and pristine audio quality that A&H's Xone series has, but to say that the Zero 4 has amazing audio quality I find to be simply inaccurate.

[Filterkat]

id actually have to agree with that... they do sound a bit thin... not quite beefy enough for a full club setup unless it was running through an external compressor or external EQ unit...i wouldnt say they have amazing audio quality... but id say they fit the price tag quite well... undoubtably the A&H mixers, along with rane mixers have amazing EQ's/Filters... but youve gotta pay for them... The zero4 gives you an abundance of features, good build quality, and descent sound quality for a very honest price... otherwise i could have reccomended him an Xone4D or an Ecler nuo5... but that would be pointless... they cost just as much, and even more than the pioneer 800

P.s. from what ive heard aswel... the reloop mixers arent bad... have a descent sounding EQ, quite simmilar to the pioneers, and also have good build quality... you can get them pure analog, As usb/interface, or USB/interface with full midi functionality aswel...

... played at a club a few weeks ago that had a 4 chan Reloop mixer and for the first 2-3 minutes of playing... i thought i was playing on a pioneer... then after looking at the line faders and LED's i realised it wasnt... haha... mind you the EQ knobs look/feel EXACTLY the same... but yeah... good sounding EQ/build quality for the pricetag also... cheaper than the korg zero4 aswel

[ponyboy]

Tekki uses a reloop, looks like a very nice mixer for the price.