WHY do so many people here use and suggest the S2/S4??

[Otacon]

Sure, it just goes to show the way of appreciating/respecting your gear.

If you cannot respect/appreciate your 900 dollars/euros worth gear(S4), that you'd rather keep on abusing it in stead of just handling it, then this will result in breaking down on you.
You will probably keep on encountering gear being wrecked.

Trust me if I say that switches and rotaries won't turn/switch any better when you flick them at full strength in stead of using appropriate strength.

This. You shouldn't have to abuse any of your equipment IMO, the only thing that build quality should have to defend from is accidents happening at gigs and such, and if you spend alot of money on equipment it should be protected in cases. No matter how hard you bash NI, they will keep making money off people who enjoy their products. And really, implying Numark making a better controller just because of the metal case? Lamest thing i've ever heard.

[Jack Bastard]

Regardless of how hard you treat your controller I don't think anyone could deny that the Vestax controllers are a lot better built than the S2/S4. Can't speak for the Numarks because I haven't seen them, but the 100/300/400/600 are built like proverbial tanks compared to the NI kit.

[Xonetacular]

When people talk about build quality they are not just talking about durability and how long it will last or if it will break. It's about the quality of construction and how it feels to operate during regular use- how it feels to rest your hand on the surface or what it feels like to turn a knob or fader and if it feels wobbly and cheap or like a solid machine.

[liam1895]

You've pretty much summed up why I went for the Twitch.

I had a play with the S4 in store and not only did its $900 AUD price tag turn me away from it but the Twitch did everything the S4 did and better in my opinion. Soundcard on the Twitch isnt great but what do you expect for $400? It's one of the best controllers on the market if you ask me.

In saying this the S4 aint no junk haha...

[Saurus]

I feel there's something wrong with the person standing behind your gear...

"Shitty buttons not pressing like they should"?! Never heard such a piece of s***!

Bullshit. Buttons should fucking press when you push them down. Those shitty recessed buttons don't work half the time. Are you really going to call out my skill on hitting a button...? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say I can press the Deck Switch button just fine. I shouldn't have to adopt some new *button pressing technique* to press the shitty buttons.

"Be careful crap"?

Sure, it just goes to show the way of appreciating/respecting your gear.

If you cannot respect/appreciate your 900 dollars/euros worth gear(S4), that you'd rather keep on abusing it in stead of just handling it, then this will result in breaking down on you.
You will probably keep on encountering gear being wrecked.

Trust me if I say that switches and rotaries won't turn/switch any better when you flick them at full strength in stead of using appropriate strength.

No... I'm saying you should be careful, but if something is billed as high-end gear, you shouldn't have to be MORE careful with it than you would ACTUAL high-end gear.

This. You shouldn't have to abuse any of your equipment IMO, the only thing that build quality should have to defend from is accidents happening at gigs and such, and if you spend alot of money on equipment it should be protected in cases. No matter how hard you bash NI, they will keep making money off people who enjoy their products. And really, implying Numark making a better controller just because of the metal case? Lamest thing i've ever heard.

No, build quality should feel good while you're using it. Nobody in the world can make a legitimate claim that the faders feel anywhere near as good as a good mixer's, the rubber buttons have as short a travel as they should, the jogwheel touch system isn't a complete joke, etc.

And I call bullshit, you've never touched a 4 track. It's got nothing to do with the case. I'm as surprised as you'd be if you played with one. The build quality isn't bad, especially for Numark. And I never said it was great, I just said it was better than the S4. I Just like it because it's got a design that would fit my workflow pretty well if I wasn't getting away from all-in-ones asap.

Honestly, there aren't any all-in-ones that I know of that I'd say the build quality of is even close to that of high-end mixers, except for a couple of Vestax's badasses, and maybe some of the smaller, specialty companies like faderfox and Livid etc.

[zestoi]

Lol okay guys, he get's the picture... He's wrong about HID vs midi. Poor guy made a simple mistake and we all jumped on him haha,

true... i just get a little narky each time someone makes a totally unfounded statement about hid verses midi. especially as it seems to be what most people seem to think. so nothing against him in particular.

If you want to use a controller to scratch with in traktor you have to use an S2/4... That is the way traktor was designed, It is unlikely that it would be optimised for any other controller without large kickbacks to NI... As always VDJ is better suited to controllerism anyway and you can use any controller in full resolution, even NHL protocol if you can figure it out...

this is true... for some reason that i can't fathom traktor does seem to work better in hid mode when it comes to jogs from what people say. ofc it's in their interest to keep it that way they just have more interest in optimizing and giving priority to their hid decode over midi. these days they do seem to want to sell a hardware+software package as opposed to just software that can work equally well with any controller.

if someone really wanted to map a hid device - and their are some reasons to do it, like waveforms on a cdj - then vdj or mixxx are the way to go...

[Emery]

No... I'm saying you should be careful, but if something is billed as high-end gear, you shouldn't have to be MORE careful with it than you would ACTUAL high-end gear.

My macbook pro was 2 grand and I baby it way more than I did my old dell....
(although my dell wasn't "high end" I think you get the point)

But are you saying that the S4 is billed as high end gear? I think anything less than $1000 (and again this includes the software) is not billed as high end gear, Its mid range and perfect for a DJ on the go. Also due to is "CHEAP" build I dont break my back carrying it to and from gig's.

Also I have never had any problems with my unit, but then again Im trying to imagine how hard you beat on your equipment to come to these conclusions.

[Otacon]

this has just turned into a pissing match between people who hate NI's gear and people who enjoy it. @Saurus, i have in fact played around with a 4 Track bro and wasn't too impressed. Like I said, people have different opinions. And as you think mine is bad, I think yours is too. No one here is going to say some miraculous statement that makes someone say "Well damn, good point. Im going to switch gear right now." So I "call bullshit" on this entire thread.

[zestoi]

their gear must be pretty good with so many people really liking it. personally i don't intend every buying an s2/s4 but i do want to buy a maschine sometime, even an S1 for the nice rgb lights... (not for it's remix deck capabilities as i don't use traktor any more)

this forum is quite biased towards traktor so it's also going to be fairly biased towards the NI controllers... they're certainly some of the better controllers around. not sure i'd call them "high end" kit, but certainly decent middle priced controllers.

[ksandvik]

You've pretty much summed up why I went for the Twitch.

I had a play with the S4 in store and not only did its $900 AUD price tag turn me away from it but the Twitch did everything the S4 did and better in my opinion. Soundcard on the Twitch isnt great but what do you expect for $400? It's one of the best controllers on the market if you ask me.

In saying this the S4 aint no junk haha...

Yes, I would go with either Twitch or S4 just now. Those are the two best designed controllers out there. The rest are me-too. I'm not that worry about durability to the point that if something is done properly and is not a tank, that's good enough for me.