First I would like to introduce myself. I’m a 21-year old student from Rijeka, Croatia (for those of you which don’t know where Croatia is, it’s a small country next to Italy, and also I would apologize for my english, I know it’s not perfect )
Me and my friend are reading and following this blog already a long time, and we’ve been thinking to start DJ-ing even a longer time.
We would play as a duo, mainly french electro, some drum’n’base and dupstep. Our software of choice is Traktor running on a MBP.
We have a few questions about the hardware, and hope we could get some help here.
We’ve been thinking of the following setup’s:
a) Traktor Kontrol S4
b) Kontrol X1 + Audio 2 DJ soundcard + a 3-channel mixer
c) VCI-100 + Audio 2 DJ soundcard
d) your suggestion
maybe a small MIDI controller? It would be perfect if you could suggest us something from AKAI or KORG, as those are available here in Croatia. If not we can order it from the internet.
As we are beginners it should be something not to complex to use, but it should be also something what we can use later as we advance. The price range is at the above listed setups. 100-200$ more or less doesn’t matter if the other setup is better. We would use the setup in a club when we get good enough, but also for doing some remixes at home.
get a good 4 channel mixer (i would go for the xone 42)
then a couple of xone 1d’s or x1’s
and a soundcard of your choice
i am not a fan really of all in one units,+having a standalone mixer you can add as many midi controllers as you want or if you out grow a bit of kit you can easy replace that part.and you would not have to carry a big unit to gigs just what you needed
Well as for a beginner i don’t see the s4 to be starting controller.
for start you can have X1+ Vci 100 + audio 4 dj. if you intend to mix internally then a2dj will suffice , but if you want to mix externally then the a4dj is a must bcoz you would require 3 outs ,a2dj has only two.
for doing some remixes at home i think you should have something which has more buttons and knobs. X1 + vci will be enough for club + launch pad for buttons or THE MIDIFIGHTER or an apc 40.
And will you be getting 2sets of each controller or one set??
Get one MIDI Mixer and learn that layout, learn traktor, start to develop your technique and how you want to and how you do move… THEN Remap your controls and/remove controllers
to option b.) why a 3 channel mixer? the audio 2 will only get you two channels of sound
you could buy an uc-33, audio 2 and the akai mentioned above. the uc-33 gives you control over 4 channel faders+EQ and 4 effects units, the akai can be used for the transport section (play, sync, hotcues etc). simple setup but still lots of options to map more comple stuff
edit: dont see why you’d need the audio 4 for external mixing over the audio 2? I use the audio 2 to mix externally, 3rd output of the audio 4 is a headphone out (?) but you can cue on an external mixer anyway
I actually started out with a UC-33e and an Akai LPD8, quite a capable setup for internal mixing (getting an X1 instead of the LPD8 would be a better option though).
Red link in my sig, replace controller with VCI 100,
Are you going to be working together on one laptop or two?
One is a bit crowded imo.
I would get a 4CH mixer, Behringer DDX4000 is cheap and decent for home use. Xone 42 if you have the $$$
A VCI100 each, you controll A&B and your mate can control C&D.
Im part of a DJ duo, i do the main mixing in traktor and my laptops synchd to my mates Ableton, he plays over live drumbeats on my maschine and drops in one-shots. usually helps with FX buildup/breakdown too.
Haven’t Daft Punk, which are kinda my heroes , used the lemur? It’s something like an iPad
I think the iPad has great potential, it just needs a decent software.
After all the comments, what do you guys say about this setup for the beginning: Kontrol x1 + audio 4 dj + a decent mixer + akai lpd8 as midi controller? we can add then later to the setup another x1 or any other component that suits our needs.
And another question. Why wouldn’t you suggest the s4? is it because it’s all-in-one, so it’s impossible to upgrade later or is there another reason?
And thanks to everyone for their help and suggestions and tipps!
We have decided to go for the beginning with this setup: DDM4000 like you guys suggested + Kontrol x1 + Audio2DJ, and it all shipped today, I’m really happy, and can’t wait to get home from work to set it all up.
That will suit us fine for the next one or two months until we get used to it and learn how to properly use it. Then we will look up for some MIDI controller.
Why would you need an additional MIDI controller (unless you want loads of control, then it’s fair enough).
On the DDM4000 you can assign nearly everything to MIDI and just leave 2 channels as a standard mixer. Then, mix externally, running Deck A/C through Audio2DJ Channel A and into one of the standard channels in the DDM4000, and Deck B/D through Audio2DJ Channel B and into the other DDM4000 standard channel.
Then, map the rest of the DDM4000 apart from them 2 standard channels. You can then control anything you need pretty much with plently of knobs, faders, buttons and rotaries on the DDM4000 that can be mapped, but still be able to mix externally with the 2 standard non-MIDI assigned channels.
You can then map the X1 as a specific effects and/or loop controller and you’d have a pretty full and useful setup.
However, 2 people over one mixer could get cramped, but the like of 2 Many DJ’s manage it happily.
You bought the DDM4000 without realising it has MIDI??? :eek:
Yeah. Get on Amazon and buy yourself a USB to MIDI cable. Only cost about £5 (UK sterling) on there and worked perfectly fine with my DDM4000 before I sold it.
Well, I (we) bought it because it’s great value for the money in first place, and we needed a mixer. And you guys suggested the DDM. The part that it can be used as a MIDI controller is just the extra on top of that
Well, thank you for the info very much, and I will look to buy the cable!
)
