Minimalistic Digital DJ Setup

[Jane Doe]

Minimalistic in physical footprint, features, and price point.

So I'm looking at going with a Traktor controller, and am really wishing the Traktor Kontrol Z1 had juuuuust a couple additional features.

1. One pitch fader per track, (so, y'know, the standard 2, for those of us who don't just play house all night)
2. A play button, because I don't trust the press+hold of the 'mode' button
3. A sync button, and any cues what-so-ever.

Oh, just get an X1 you say? Spend $400 you say? The cost of a Kontrol S2, you say? Yes, yes it is. And the Kontrol S2 (new) comes with Traktor, and X1 and Z1 don't. It makes no economic sense, plus the S2 has more features than the X1+Z1 combo.

So what's a girl to do?

Welp, I haven't come up with a pitch fader stand-in yet aside from some DIY Arduino nonsense or something, which I also would not trust, (especially with my shoddy soldering hands... I shake like a leaf in the breeze) and that's an extra USB port now being used. Boo. So I guess we'll just use our pro sync buttin pressin skilz insted, guys.

Edit: Now that I think about it, if you wanted, you could map it so that when you hold Mode and press an Effect on button on the Z1, instead of turning on an effect, it makes the 'Filter' knob control the pitch fader. Not that practical for beatmatching, but hey; make due with what'cha got, yo.

Novation Dicers, enter stage Right;

Ta-da? Not yet.



That's better! This lovely gent came up with a mapping to mimic the Dicers' behavior with Serato, in Traktor, instead! What a brilliant idea!~ Get the man a cookie! <3 (please?)

His cue point setting and deleting works fine, latency is zero because Novation and Traktor know their business, and his looping works exactly like Serato, (And Traktor, ofc) which is precisely what he's going for. So yay!

One problem though, (and it's possible one of you lovely geniuses or the man himself will figure this'n out) the beatmasher+flux mode does not appear to entirely work properly.

Simple fix for me; ditch it! I'm not a beatmasher fan, anywho! So, remap that section, entirely!

Map 1 to Play/Pause, 2 to Sync, 3 to Tap Tempo (invaluable for swapping up the tempos with limited faders on expensive CDJs in your festival sets, OR a stand-in for easy blending with a pitch fader. Sorry beatmix/beatmatch DJ's. Anyway, 4 and 5 get mapped to scrubbing through the track to find that perfect spot; allowing for mixing techniques like double drops and such without the need for that teensy tiny strip thingy on the X1, (or spending $199 on an X1 btw~ )

Sounds great right? This setup gives you;

Kontrol Z1;
Control of 2 Decks of Gain, Treb, Mid, Bass, Filter+1 FX/deck, cue select, cue/mix, cue volume, master out, deck level control, traditional crossfader for those of us who don't scratch but also don't just drop mix. (Style variety, baby~)
Dicers: Control of 2 decks of 5 cues each, Beatmasher/BM+Flux, Play/Pause, Sync, Tap tempo, track search/scrub/FF+RW/whatever you wanna call 'searching' the track

If you're eBay/Guitar Center savvy, and already own a copy of Traktor, this setup will cost you less than $300 USD. A lot less if you're lucky to boot. TBH if you're main thing is an S2 this'd be the BEST backup I could think of that'd be cheaper/lighter than just getting a second S2. Don't need a flight-case, either, the Dicer's'd probably fit squeezed into the hard zipper case of the Z1.

I really like the idea of a mobile, simple DJ setup like this, except for 3 things;

1) Mouse-less browsing/track selection/deck loading. Could you map a shift key to change the function of the Cue Dicer preset whilst it is held to do this? 5 keys oughta be enough, Up, Down, Left, Right, Select? Idunno. Possibly map the mode-select buttons into a shift when they're both pressed together? can you even do that?

---- Edit 2: I guess actually if you didn't already re-map your hold-mode-and-press-something or hold-mode actions on the Z1 to something else I already suggested, you could hold it, and use the Cue/Mix control to scroll through your library and the cue buttons to load the tracks. I bet you that you can't do both the pitch thing I suggested above with Mode and also this. Prove me wrong and I'll eat my shorts, straight up.

1.5) Pitch change; what about us harmonic mixing kids? :c How did I leave myself out?! Oh gawsh x.x

2) There's no Mic input on the Z1's soundcard. At all. Big bummer for me since I sing/rap over my sets, (I play the instrumentals of my productions where there are vocals... it's a thing I do, 'cause I can I guess) and do some really, really light MC'ing/hype work. Guess I could just do a USB in or go straight into the computer's soundcard, (LOL) .... or now that I'm thinking more level headedly, mic it straight into my PA where there is FX-sends on each channel including reverb/delay/etc >.>

You could, of course, circumvent this by doing something sensible, like grabbing a Kontrol S2 instead of the z1 and making your cost, (with bundled Traktor Pro 2, mind you) $470~ with the dicers. Though the necessity of the dicers is gone with built in play/pause, unless you REALLY like Beatmasher and tons of cues, (might be your thing, Idunno; lookin' at you, Controllerism kids) and if ease of mobility was your issue, before, or an overload of features; welllll, now that idea is toast.

I guess I'd be clicking around on my screen a lot. No biggie, since everyone thinks I'm just checking Facebook, anyway, since I'm just some chick DJ who obv has a ghost producer, (amirite, ladies? Who else deals with'at? Eh?) but w/e it was cheaper/lighter/creatively thought out?

It's 10 minutes to midnight, (IE 10 minutes to July 3rd) haven't slept since July 1st; this is what you lot get when I'm shopping for DJ controllers and sleepy. Innovative, completely useless ideas.

So, in essence, here is a slightly-cheaper-than-an-S2 setup that is totally perfect except for no pitch shift, no mic input or controls of any kind, and no way to browse for tracks without your face right up against that screen for that classic 'Checkin mah twitter' look during your set.

Love you.

P.S. If you wanted to be really weird and modular about your set, and didn't care about cost/weight/logic, you could just throw in some F1's with it and be like, "WHATAMIEVENDOINUPHEREGUYSOMG!~" pressing buttons and slapping faders until you realize there are too many, the endless combinations and possibilities with the cues and remixes is [Insert DBZ meme or some other junk like that] and you explode or somethin'

P.S.S. On the plus side, I'm now decided; I'm either going to do this crazy arse setup and mouse-select tracks, forever, or I'm gonna give up and get an S2... or I'm gonna save another $100 for the S4, though tbh juggling 4 modern EDM Drum and Bass/Dubstep/Trap tracks on four decks sounds like it'd either be awesome or awful, given the nature of the tunes. I dunno. I'm goin' to bed though.

Sorry if this was hard to follow, haha. Let me know what you think? Help me troubleshoot this setup? Help convince me it'd be at all worth it compared to just buying an all-rounder with jog wheels I'll never touch except to cue up.... again?

[colinmono]

It wouldn't solve all of your issues, but you might want to look at the Reloop Mixtour; it has play / cue / sync buttons, and the added advantage over the Z1 that it can be used with any DJ software.

I have a Z1, but I'm tempted by the Mixtour because I'd like a super minimal iOS setup and the Traktor DJ app is just too limited for the way I play.

[deevey]

So what's a girl to do?

If you need the features of the S2 to use a setup the way you need to, bite the bullet and get one

OR

Get one secondhand.

OR

Write ridiculously long winded posts after 3 days of no sleep and come up with the same conclusion you originally came to.

[keithace]

I like to keep things small and simple also. I use an X1 mk1, tons of buttons and knobs. I can browse and load without touch the mouse. My goal is to touch the computer as little as possible.

You'd either be diggin in your record box, flipping through your CD cases, searching through the usb key on CDJs, or mouse clicking for tracks...Don't sweat the looking at the computer thing. If you are rocking the place no one cares what you are doing up there (unless you are playing ghost DJ). I could care less if I "look busy" or not.

[nem0nic]

How about this...
CMD MM-1 - https://www.amazon.com/Behringer-CMD.../dp/B00DW5NCAU
CMD PL-1 - https://www.amazon.com/Behringer-CMD...dp/B00DW5NCN2/
U-Phoria UMC204HD - https://www.amazon.com/Behringer-UMC.../dp/B00QHURLCW

Retail the package would be just under $300, but you can also easily find the CMD controllers for less if you look around. Mixer controller has a USB 2.0 hub built in, and you could map out 2 to your mic input (or just route it to a channel if you don't mix 4 decks). The PL-1 has a touch platter, pitch control, 8 hotcue buttons, and pages through 4 decks. And the PL-1 and MM-1 can connect together to create a 12" x 12" square that will fit in any record bag.

The audio interface is a solid and low priced option, and will do your master and cue out + mic in all day long.

[thisisian]

If i wanted to travel light, i'd probably take the soundcard that Nemonic's linked to plus one of these;

http://faderfox.de/dj44.html