The "club standard" CDJ. Lack of respect for controllerists. Why?

[mdcdesign]

Traktor has 8 cue/loop points, no way of skipping through different tracks, and no real institutionalized way to scrub through a track without using a mouse or a preset cue.

It's called the "Seek Position" function; mappable to any control or combination thereof. You could map it to a knob, an encoder, your jogwheel, etc etc. I personally have mine set up so that by holding the dedicated Track Search button, roughly a half-turn of the jogwheel will get me from the start of the track to the end, depending on the track length. You clearly know bugger all about MIDI controllers.

Oh look, a bunch of bars with no real event staff or budget, Ive seen tons of those before. I can point to tons of shitholes with aging hardware and clueless staff, it doesn't make them the prophets of the new DJing world.

The first three photos are from a 3-floor, 1200 capacity club, not a bar. The last photo is from a 600 capacity al fresco house music venue which pulls in customers from all over the midlands. Stop being so clueless.

[loverocket]

Traktor has 8 cue/loop points, no way of skipping through different tracks, and no real institutionalized way to scrub through a track without using a mouse or a preset cue.

CDJ's have, since 2001, had 10 cues/loops, and 3 completely separate ones that can be loaded absolutely, allowing you to jump between 3 different tracks on command. As well as the actual ability to rip through a track to make a new cue without having to resort to the mouse. Beyond those advantages, controllers somewhat see eye-to eye with CDJs, they dont really surpass it at all.

Who cares what the casing is made from? If your stuff isn't in a flight case, you deserve to have it broken. Every single stress point (pots and switches) on Pioneer gear is pure metal, designed to be segmented, protected, and as lightweight as possible, making it pretty much indestructible in use. I can't even recall how many budget controllers with snapped off plastic stems and sunken directly-mounted switches I've seen.



Oh look, a bunch of bars with no real event staff or budget, Ive seen tons of those before. I can point to tons of shitholes with aging hardware and clueless staff, it doesn't make them the prophets of the new DJing world.

Pioneer used to make mediocre stereo equipment. They haven't changed.

When mixers where hot Vestax and Rane use to make better mixers than Pioneer.

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[Jeff Scott]

If you asked the djs who you have taken photos of "If the club bought cdjs and decent mixers would you still bring controllers?"

I wonder what the answer would be?

I'v been a DJ and sound/lights guy actively working in a lot of different clubs for 13 year and you must live on a different planet to me!

[mdcdesign]

If you asked the djs who you have taken photos of "If the club bought cdjs and decent mixers would you still bring controllers?"

I wonder what the answer would be?

I'v been a DJ and sound/lights guy actively working in a lot of different clubs for 13 year and you must live on a different planet to me!

Of all the residents I know in my area, only ONE of them specifically prefers CDJs; he's got a pair of 2000s which he brings with him each night. The rest all prefer controllers, by far. Come to think of it, ALL the DJs I know - bar one - prefer controllers. The mix is pretty broad amongst brand of controllers used, but primarily they're Traktor fans, with a couple of Serato fanboys thrown in.

I'm the only Reloop whore, although mostly because nobody's upgraded their gear since seeing mine lol. Got a couple of friends looking at the Contour and TM2/4 as their next purchases, purely because they've had a go on mine and preferred it to their own gear.

[Jeff Scott]

He would have to specifically prefer them, to carry 3ks worth of stuff to a gig to risk some idiot causing him a lot of hassle and cash lol

I know obviously people are using laptops at gigs, myself included but they are usually out of the way of pissed twats!

[haze324]

Of all the residents I know in my area, only ONE of them specifically prefers CDJs; he's got a pair of 2000s which he brings with him each night. The rest all prefer controllers, by far. Come to think of it, ALL the DJs I know - bar one - prefer controllers. The mix is pretty broad amongst brand of controllers used, but primarily they're Traktor fans, with a couple of Serato fanboys thrown in.

I'm the only Reloop whore, although mostly because nobody's upgraded their gear since seeing mine lol. Got a couple of friends looking at the Contour and TM2/4 as their next purchases, purely because they've had a go on mine and preferred it to their own gear.

Ok no offense, this is meant in a constructive manner and after seeing those pictures it puts many things in perspective......but if that was the "club" that I had available to me in my area to play at, I would probably prefer one of my midi controllers over that equipment as well.

To put things in another perspective I live in Miami, even the crappiest smallest bar I know has CDJ800's and a DJM800, another small bar has a TTM-57 and CDJ 850's. The place I'm playing at Saturday has available a DJM900 and two CDJ2000's or two 1200's, just tell the sound guy and he hooks it up. NO ONE in Miami going to a major club would tell the sound guy not to set that up because he's bringing a midi controller. The few times I've seen "local" guys on a controller is with X1's and the house mixer, and that's just the handful that I see using Traktor. Around here Serato and house set up is the weapon of choice and the night life isnt' too bad around here.

[padi_04]

Eating popcorn

It hasn't gotten that out of hand has it?

Not yet, but it's closing in. No need to mention names.

[mdcdesign]

Ok no offense, this is meant in a constructive manner and after seeing those pictures it puts many things in perspective......but if that was the "club" that I had available to me in my area to play at, I would probably prefer one of my midi controllers over that equipment as well.

To put things in another perspective I live in Miami, even the crappiest smallest bar I know has CDJ800's and a DJM800, another small bar has a TTM-57 and CDJ 850's. The place I'm playing at Saturday has available a DJM900 and two CDJ2000's or two 1200's, just tell the sound guy and he hooks it up. NO ONE in Miami going to a major club would tell the sound guy not to set that up because he's bringing a midi controller. The few times I've seen "local" guys on a controller is with X1's and the house mixer, and that's just the handful that I see using Traktor. Around here Serato and house set up is the weapon of choice and the night life isnt' too bad around here.

That's crazy ... I just can't imagine that. I know I'm in a city and everything, but in some situations - like this one - it just feels like a tiny bloody town sometimes lol. We've got 2 MAJOR clubs (capacities of over 1000), and the rest are either bars or hybrid bar/restaurants (food from midday-->8, then the furniture gets moved, the lights off, and the music on until 3am) with a capacity of around 500. And with the exception of that outdoor venue I posted a photo of the booth, I haven't seen a pair of CDJs being used in ANY of them in the 18 months I've been doing photography in this area (and I've covered pretty much every venue in this city at one time or another).

I don't know if it's specifically something with this city, or if it's due to the ingress of "bar culture" on the clubs, but EVERY DJ who plays a venue here brings their own kit with them, and typically it's an all-in-one controller of some sort.

Saying that, there IS one venue (a kinda niche dubstep/"underground house" [whatever the hell that is]) venue where I saw a pair of turntables in their outdoor section, although I have no idea if they were provided by the venue or owned by the DJ performing that night.

All I can say for certain is, after seeing the gear which IS usually in place (mixer, and if you're lucky those rackmount Denon CDJs - or something worse) and the condition its usually in, I would never dream of not bringing my own kit with me, whatever that kit may be.

[LoopCat]

I think allot of DJ's don't understand the need to bring a controller into the booth when there's everything you need to mix tracks in the booth already and in some ways I agree with them.

Personally unless I was planing on performing in a way that really required a controller and software and I couldn't do it with CDJ's and TT's I don't think I would bother especially if I was mixing internally in Traktor when there's an external 4 channel mixer already there.. that really baffles me why people would do that. The chances of things going wrong increase when you're plugging/unplugging things adding and laptop in the mix adds another whole element unpredictability.

Obviously depending on the environment different equipment is more viable - Something like a lounge bar gig once a week with no real booth would lend it's self more towards something like an S2 and laptop.

Basically I think if you aren't bringing anything creative in your mixes that you can't do with the equipment in a decked out booth you are sharing with others leave the controller at home and learn to adapt. If your playing a live set bring your laptop and launch pad or if you really want to use Trakor try HID on the CDJ's.

[haze324]

Now having said that....I do see midi controllers often (not all the time) at places like restaurants that play music late at night where the DJ has to bring his own equipment and no one bats an eye at what he's using. If it was me playing at spot like that, i'd do the same.