Best controller for scratching

[Shaun.Solo]

Whatsup yal. I recently moved from San Diego from a house to a tiny apartment in Los Angeles. I love my Technics but I just don't have the room for them and I'm tired of lugging them around. My question is this:

1) What is the best controller for emulating Technics?

When I say emulating, I really mean, what will give me the most authentic vinyl feel for scratching? I produce hip hop instrumentals for independent artist and I like to scratch samples over my hooks. I won't be doing much mixing or performing live, this will primarily just be sitting in home studio and used to scratch over choruses.

I know technology has come a long way in the last 10 years, but as a producer I do not do much in the DJ realm. Any direction/ or guidance in this area would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.

-Shaun Solo
http://soundcloud.com/solo-shaun
http://Shaunsolo.Blogspot.Com

[BFLY]

Why not just use 1 deck and get a small mixer - Vestax do nice narrow ones.

[Shaun.Solo]

Well I did see the Serato integrated mixer, all I would need is the control record and the mixer. I have considered that. But seriously, my personal opinion is Serato is not as good as Traktor, I have worked with traktor a prefer the software more. It's just that space really is an issue now, and honestly I see everything going digital now. I want to get with the times, but if I find out that controllers are still not up to par with the response of a actual table I may just go that route, but to me I feel like a controller opens way more possibilities.

[BFLY]

Have a look at this, discontinued but i sure you could pick one up on ebay

http://www.vestax.com/v/products/detail.php?cate_id=162

[oneapemob]

Use only one of your technics because the closest thing is either a cdj or a numark v7 (which is the only controller with a motor inside ). But those are still in the same ballpark as a technics (1) plus a mixer size wise. You can pull a lot of the turntable tricks with a normal controller tho, but it will take practice and it's not as rewarding, because hey it's not vinyl ( or record control ).

[Shaun.Solo]

Your right but those damn mixers are so expensive! 1200 bucks! geez.. Thanks for the input, but you basically said what I expected lol but thanks tho..

[oneapemob]

Or maybe take a look at something like a denon dns 3700, it's a cdj, with a motor (and a good torq), plays mp3 from flash drives, and also has a "direct" control of traktor or serato. I'm just pointing you to this because i know of it's existence, but i've never used one, so youtube it, search forum it to see if it works as advertised.
If you really want to go controller route, then you have to select something that has a "direct" or proprietary to the software solution, like an ni s2 or s4, only because it has the best resolution for traktor, or vci300 for itch.
Else it's vinyl/control vinyl.
cheers

[souldancer]

wait a bit it seems denon is bringing out a new midi controller denon sc3900, there some leaked pictures from a russian music fair. if it's true that will be a nice option.

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/3504/denonmc3000.jpg

[oneapemob]

Nice catch ! And yeah with the way denon names its products this would be a midi controller (at least) and a big brother to the dn sc 2000.

[JSM]

personally i'd choose the SC-2000/MC-6000 over the NI S4 for scratching. I love both the Denon and the NI unit's, but the SC's jogs are in a different league to the NI's.

Now if the S4 had the SC's jogs ... that would be the solution. Those 3700's are great to work with too, so if the 3900 is a MIDI only version ...i'd have a look at that ..