Why DJs choose Midi controllers poll

[buddha131]

cuz i cant afford cdjs...

[Steve Zorilow]

Not for the price, that's for sure, but customization, flexibility... and because some club/event's CD player AND/OR turntables suck OR are hard to trust... not to mention the time CD/TT skipped because of xyz environmental reason

No real maintenance to do on them either... no laser pickup to change/calibrate, no needle to change etc etc.

[Zaniac]

I think If price is your reason for using Midi Controllers that is a very poor attitude. You might as well have saved your coin and gotten cdj's or tt's...

I dont have a poor attitude, I have a Mortgage, a Wife (kids in the plans) Animals and Bills to pay + We like to Travel as often as possible

So unless you want to send me some of your disposible cash

I think price is a big factor

[Zaniac]

I had a Numark omni control, I really wanted an S4. I now have what I want lol

I really want coloured Knobs, new speakers, a midifighter pro, and my receding hairline to grow back.

a few of the above im sure I will have one day

Edit: just read popinjays post below.

True that, It is a very affordable way to begin with, & once you realise you are invested in the hobbie it becomes more of an investment with your money. digital is my instrument now

[MrPopinjay]

Price is why they choose it and those that stick with them do it for the other options.

[DJBambii]

agreed, thats what got me in it XD

[mostapha]

Originally, it was because I thought Ableton was the future. Now, I stay on controllers entirely because of price.

All prices are in USD, and the setups have almost identical capabilities:

CDJ-2000 - $1900 (x2)
Rane Empath Rotary - $1050
Elektron Ocatrack - $1450

Total: $6,300

NI Kontrol X1 - $200 (x2)
Rane Empath Rotary - $1050
NI Maschine - $600
Audio 10 - $300
13" Macbook Pro - $1200
Mercury Extreme Pro 6G 120GB SSD - $250

Total: $3,800

So, $2500 extra for not having to rely on a laptop when working live…both are capable of 2 track decks + mangling samples either with Trkator's sample decks or a groovbox that's capable of on-the-fly sampling, and the empath rotary can more than handle the IO requirements, though the digital setup would be slightly more complicated in terms of audio routing.

…or for the same price, add all this stuff to start a very capable recording/production rig:

Logic Pro - $500
Avid Mbox 3 Pro - $650
M-Audio Axiom 49 - $240
KRK RP8 (pair) - $500
Mogami XLR cables (10', 6x) - $200
Shure SM7b - $350
Shure SM57 - $75

Okay, I liked…that's an extra $15. But it's also a more expensive audio interface than you really need and extra cables…and really nice cables too.

hell…you could afford a reasonable Pro Tools 10 rig if you replace the 13" MBP with a 15" (because Avid still hasn't certified the 13" MBPs for some stupid reason).

[DJSigma]

The poll's not much use cos you can only choose one option. Generalising, I think 3 and 4 are the primary reasons and 1 is an advantage too, obviously. I don't think many people are buying MIDI controllers for creativity reasons primarily - but that is not me saying "nobody that uses a MIDI controller is creative" before anyone says anything, lol.

[buddha131]

I think If price is your reason for using Midi Controllers that is a very poor attitude. You might as well have saved your coin and gotten cdj's or tt's...

I mean a proper midi controller setup is not that cheap...

MBP = $2500
S4 = $1000
MidiFighter = $400
Korg padkontrol = $300
Traktor pro = $229

summary = $4429 At this point I cant see the difference in spending another $3000 or so. already to deep to back out ^^ and those controllers are pretty baseline there are a lot more expensive controllers out there

ummm i own a hercules rmx (370) and pirated vdj pro (free)

so I dont see what your talking about. were not all ean golden/NI fanboys and buy whatever were told to.

I do it for fun.


I think bragging about how much you spend on gear is a poor attitude.

[mostapha]

I think bragging about how much you spend on gear is a poor attitude.

I think that bragging about software piracy and cheap gear implies that you have no respect whatsoever for the craft, the tools, the people who make it possible, or the people who do it.

I think that's a much worse attitude than admitting that doing something right still costs money.

If I get a warn/ban for this, too damn bad. But you are the reason people in the industry hate controller DJs. Congratulations. You make life harder for all of us.