Hi there y’all! This is my first post (sorry for my bad english, I’m from Québec) and although I know some of the things I’m wondering about have been mentionned in many threads, I haven’t found a specific answer to what I’m looking for really…if I’m off the bat as to where I posted this or anything, please mention it and I’ll fix it. So here it goes: I have been a musician for quite a few years (mainly guitar player) and have been playing with an electro/funk/jazz band for a year now (www.xrayzebras.bandcamp.com if you’re interested), which really has widened my range of musical activities.. . I am currently learning to work in a 100% Ableton Live environment producing hip-hop, dubstep, hard electro, and sheer soft and hardware synth madness. Here’s where you all come in handy: I’m looking to start up in digital Djing, to remix my tracks live and everything, and also want to incorporate digital scratching( now don’t start I know it’s nothing compared to vinyl and bla bla bla but I really wish to get a midi controller for it, since our band’s setup is already freakin massive and fullfledged tt-mixer-tt setup is out of the question) into both live performances and studio recordings. So my two real questions are as follow: which, of all controllers under 1000$ would be the best for ‘‘scratching’’? I’ve read a lot of reviews and everything, but nowhere have I seen a true ‘‘scratch’’ comparison of them all. So more precisely, which one has the best feeling for scratch, the greatest response between soft and hardware, etcc… I don’t need a built-in soundcard, but if the best one has an integrated sound card it’s not a problem (still less stuff to haul around). Also, I don’t necessarily need 4 deck control since it will be mainly used for minor scratching and mixing my beats 2 at a time…
And also, do you know if it is possible to use such a controller to actually RECORD scratching into ableton? If yes, how would you do it?
Thanks a lot for your help, I’m really helpless since this will be my first controller and I want to get it right the first time! And sorry if I ask some stupid stuff, I’m really new to all this; and since english is’t my language, I don’t understand 100% of the terms in a domain that I must know of about 10% so…
You want to look at the Numark NS7 and the Vestax VCI-300.
I think the NS7 would be a bit over your budget.
To record the scratching in Live, you just run Itch and Live on the same computer and use a virtual sound card (like soundflower on OS X) to send it’s audio to Live…monitor with live’s output sound card, and record it like you would any other source.
That might be your best bet, because Serato/Ableton’s Bridge is going to be incorporated to Itch at some point (if it’s not already).
For what you want, I think those are the best options. If I were in your position, I’d buy one of them without thinking about anything else.
They’re kinda cool, but you do need a fader (in a mixer) to be able to scratch well. So, if you go that route, you also have to get a mixer, which is getting close to the 2-decks + mixer setup you wanted to avoid…except that you have less control with only 1 v7 and the setup depends on a computer.
If you were going that way, I’d advise you to find a good-quality, used CDJ-800 or CDJ-1000 (possibly mk2…the mk3 probably won’t add much for you) and a used vestax battle mixer. It wouldn’t be dependent on the computer and would be about as portable. But, it would also be over your budget.
Scratching on a Vci can be tough though in comparison to real TT’s. An Otus is a really good option too. Can always map a button on that to transform like mike did.
Edit: nice catch, I habit played with a nocturn or x-session, just knew of it
I assume you are not going to scratch like crazy but just adding some scratch sound to your mix right? If that’s the case many controllers can do the trick. Tho like what others mentioned above, the VCI-300 with itch is probably your best option.
However, if you wish to use traktor then I’d say get the kontrol s2.
