Midi Controller Owners, Please Help!

[smoez]

Hi,
Be for warned this post will be a little long!

So basicly, I've always want to try DJing and recently before christmas decided I would try it, and decided to buy the ION Audio Discover DJ midi controller. I tried it and liked it alot, for the first couple weeks. However, if you've ever seen the Discover DJ you'd know its a very limitted controller as well as the software, Mixvibes LE, its packaged with. So, bored with the program I decided to search for a new one and came across Virtual DJ, which is a pretty great program, but what I was looking for was a program which would allow me to sample and use effects and then stumbled upon Traktor Demo version which I've become very found of!

SO onto the question!

I've recently been searching for a new Midi Controller to play around with, I like to mix the Danceish genre and have a price range capped at about $400. I'd like a controller that's packaged with Traktor LE hopefully but I could settle for VDJ as well. I'd also hopefully like the controller to have a built in Audio Interface & Touch Sensitive Jog Wheels. Also I'd like it to be brand new hopefully. If you have or have tried any of the controllers in the list below that I'm thinking about, could you please tell me, is the controller diverse (i.e lots of knobs faders buttons), rate the controller on a scale of 1-10, problems with the controller/support, etc. I dont plan to do gigs as I'm not that great but your help is much appreciated!

List of Controllers:
MixTrack Pro
Reloop Digital Jockey 2 Interface Edition
I-Mix Reload: MKII
Gemini Ctrl-Six

AND Possiably
Vestax Vci-100 MKII
THANKS

[mattcheau]

I-Mix Reload: 9

just search the forum for it. there's not very many threads about it, but i've posted a somewhat lengthy review here:

http://www.djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25456

i definitely recommend getting just the I-Mix Reload (not the MKII), and picking yourself up an external sound card to go with it.

[photojojo]

If you're patient you can find a used VCI-100 and an Audio 2 pretty close to your price range.

[Quendo]

Well i'm familiar with the Vestax VCI-100 and the Reloop DJ2 IE. Because i had the same problem that you have. I was really doubting between the Vestax and the Reloop.

At the end i chose the Vestax because of the DTT support and the great build quality.

The only thing that i can say about the reloop that is bad, is that the build in soundcard is not that great and that the support is very low.

[fullenglishpint]

The modern reloop controllers are pretty solidly built, but don't suit my style. Have you been to try any of these out at a shop? If there's one you can get to, I really recommend it.

Apart from that I second photojojo's suggestion, the VCI-100 (try and find an SE) and Audio 2 DJ soundcard is a great combo.

[fullenglishpint]

OH AND!

A word of warning. If you think you'll be taking this very far, DON'T waste money buying mediocre gear that you then want to upgrade after 2 months (I'm sure you know what I mean having had the ion).

better to spend money once and get something of quality than have to upgrade and lose money on selling something second hand.

That's the mistake I made!

[smoez]

thanks for the advice everyone appreciated, I'm still deciding though!

And as for the post above me, I don't know if i'll be taking this very far its more of just a hobby to be honest, I dont think i'd ever be up to par to play house parties or anything

[DjNecro]

I dont think i'd ever be up to par to play house parties or anything

HEY!

Don't ever sell yourself short! You can do anything you want to do! (well, I suppose walking through a revolving door with a pair of skis over your shoulders would be fairly impossible)

I don't think there is a better feeling than when you realize the power you (as the dj) have over the crowd you're playing for...

[Paka Ono]

I was in a similar position as you a couple of months ago and I ended up getting a Numark Mixtrack + Traktor Pro. And its a great controller at a great price. I didn't want to drop a lot of $$$ only to find I wasn't interested.

But after a couple of months of messing around, I found that I love Traktor so much I bought a S4.

[michaeldunne109]

I was in a similar position as you a couple of months ago and I ended up getting a Numark Mixtrack + Traktor Pro. And its a great controller at a great price. I didn't want to drop a lot of $$$ only to find I wasn't interested.

But after a couple of months of messing around, I found that I love Traktor so much I bought a S4.

I know its not on your list. But from reading around here i see people are very happy with the mixtrack and i believe its within your budget?

But like others id advice the vci 100 + audio 2. Will do you for a long time to come