Cortex HDTT-5000

[mdcdesign]

Numark is usually the way to go for cheaper CDJs that aren't complete junk. Check out the NDX series.

Otherwise have a browse around for some used Pioneers.

We got a pair of NDX400s for the DJ society I'm a part of a few weeks ago, and there aren't words to describe just how nasty they are, although the terms of "plasticky" and "rattly" certainly help. The NDX800 might be better although I haven't seen a pair of those in the flesh yet.

[makar1]

The NDX 400 is only $111 now so it's hardly a surprise about the quality. The NDX 800/900 costs over twice the price of the 400 so they should be somewhat better.

[Toast]

Check out the Gemini CDJ-650's. Basically stripped down, smaller CDJ-700's. You can find them for relatively cheap and they handle USB and MIDI no problem. Like someone else said, if you want effects you're going to want to use Traktor's or your mixers effects.

[Reticuli]

Haha, I was actually part of the design of those-the hardware was frozen long before I got there, but the user interface/workflow was re-done as one of my first "big" projects. So, some things to know-

1. There are a lot of confusing things about the user interface. This is because the hardware was made to work with the software in a way that made no sense. What we did was a band-aid. It worked way better post-changes, but it was never as good as it could have been if we had the time to work on it right from the start.

2. It was painfully slow analyzing. Like, out of control slow. The librarian was Windows only, and I'm pretty sure it has not been updated since 2008.

3. When testing, I settled on the equivalent of 45rpm for the scratch speed. The wheel was not the most responsive, and it was mostly a way of compensating in a way that felt best for cutting. Some might not like it. That said, you should have felt 33rpm......

4. The effects were straight up bad.

5. We had a bug with the media link/drive share. Basically, whatever you were sharing with was always frustratingly slow compared to the master deck. It got better, but I was personally never happy with it.

6. The jog pressure sensitivity had a tendency to get pretty wooly over time. Be aware.

7. It should have done MIDI, but didn't. In retrospect, we totally were dumb in guessing which way the market would go.

At the end of the day, its one of those projects that I'm glad to have under my belt, but I left feeling more let down that it was not better. Working on SCS.4DJ at Stanton, I was left mostly feeling like we did everything we wanted to do back then with the HDTT, and Gemini's CDJ-700 is also a much better representation of what we were dreaming of doing back then. I guess what I'm saying is that either would be a much better choice. (And I've moved on from both companies, so I have zero interest either way in what way you go.

Too bad the CDJ-700 didn't go the route of having linking between multiple units. It seems to do everything else right... well, other than the screen being vertical, I guess. They could always make the waveform vertical or vinyl-like.