Is it worth buying?

[MaxOne]

If you're going to look into getting an S4 I HIGHLY recommend you go into a local shop and test one out for yourself.
Don't rely on the hype..

Agreed. Personally i wouldn't want one. But i'd kind of rather an S4 than spend nearly the same just for scratch pro package with audio 10

[cyberninjitsu]

Edit: on second thought, offer the dude 8 just to see what he says.

That's what I plan on doing. I seem to be the only person responding to him in a few months of him having it up. He wanted a grand but If I can lowball him to 800 than I would jump on it in a second. I didn't realize how quickly all the small things added up.

I really don't understand all the DJ's who complain about form factor. Being in the Catering business for a year I've gotten to talk to many party DJ's who think that bringing just a mixer or "Don't feel like lugging my tables around" is a legit excuse for not bringing their A game. Just having a paid job is enough reason to "lug out" the coffin and throw a big smile on your face. The equipment you use has a lot to do with what you can and cannot do during a party. I can't do hip hop/rap if my life depended on it with my little Total Control - hence the main reason I plan to step up to a DVS system (to play outside my comfort zone and play more gigs).

[MuzicFreq]

the twitch threads are getting to be as common as the "what should i get" ones...

I know how you feel.

[mostapha]

@OP, it's all about what you want, but the Empath is a really great mixer.

Technology has changed since it was released, but I don't think anything has actually improved unless you really need your mixer to work as a control surface. I'm in the minority that believes wholeheartedly in digital summing, but that's almost entirely because I can't hear a real difference between a digital mixer run correctly and an analog mixer run correctly…unless something is wrong with one of them or one of them sounds distinctive for some reason.

As for the setup differences…there's a huge difference in price and feel…and, to some lesser extent, capabilities. Decide that first, IMHO. Owning an Empath might convince me to switch to Serato (with a controller) just because it's more convenient to mix with exactly 3 decks…which I always preferred to 2 and 4 anyway.