# Controllerist prejudice? **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [April 22, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://forum.djtechtools.com/t/controllerist-prejudice/41143 "2012-04-22T14:52:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![manchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@manchild](https://forum.djtechtools.com/u/manchild)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 12:09am UTC](https://forum.djtechtools.com/t/controllerist-prejudice/41143/21 "2012-04-23T00:09:00Z")
> [@rotebass](#): > > The thing that stuck out to me in the OP was the part about song selection, it was stated that people were playing “weird” tracks. IMO there is no relation between that and controllerism, the real issue is that someone is too lazy to do their research before they give joe schmoe a go on a prime club night. I think most DJs are pretty open about what they play, some play Top 40, some don’t, some play a mix. I don’t think any of us are shy about this preference, you can talk to a fellow DJ for 5 minutes and you’ll know his top 10 favourite songs, in order. Somebody needs to start thinking with their noodle. In his defense, he did say that he listened to a ton of demo mixes before picking people he booked, and to be honest it’s a popular bar you should be coming in w/ an idea of what style to play or at the least be able to adapt. In the Boston area there is a ton of DJ’s/wannabe’s. He was telling me how he listed it in craigslist and in 4 hours I think he said he got like 50 e-mails. As for the “weird” music, I’m not sure what he meant, I’m gonna guess they just played whatever they had on their playlist that had a tempo of 128, but I really don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![haze324](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@haze324](https://forum.djtechtools.com/u/haze324)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 1:28am UTC](https://forum.djtechtools.com/t/controllerist-prejudice/41143/22 "2012-04-23T01:28:32Z")
I think all gripes on this thread are vaild. 1. Controllers make it easy and cheap for any swinging charlie to call himself a DJ 2. The guy running the night put any dude off the street on a Saturday night in a major US city — you’d think he’d have some better connections 3. In large part “controllers” are used more by EDM Dj’s than Hip Hop, Rock, etc. Dj’s — the amount of Top 40 hate on this forum is evidence 4. He should ask for guys who use Serato 🙂 …the last one was a joke. ---
**Author:** ![dope](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/forum.djtechtools.com/dope/32/11514_2.png) [@dope](https://forum.djtechtools.com/u/dope)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 1:35am UTC](https://forum.djtechtools.com/t/controllerist-prejudice/41143/23 "2012-04-23T01:35:25Z")
> [@haze324](#): > > the amount of Top 40 hate on this forum is evidence Deserved hate imo, music shouldn’t be created to make money. But this is another debate, and I don’t see the connexion with the OP initial post. ---
**Author:** ![DjZzeless](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/forum.djtechtools.com/djzzeless/32/14435_2.png) [@DjZzeless](https://forum.djtechtools.com/u/DjZzeless)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 1:41am UTC](https://forum.djtechtools.com/t/controllerist-prejudice/41143/24 "2012-04-23T01:41:31Z")
> [@dope](#): > > Now, any kid can get a shitty controller, a pirated DJing software, and download youtube rips. And they are polluating the industry with their flanger-based sets. ^^maybe Im old school! ---
**Author:** ![haze324](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@haze324](https://forum.djtechtools.com/u/haze324)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:06am UTC](https://forum.djtechtools.com/t/controllerist-prejudice/41143/25 "2012-04-23T02:06:19Z")
> [@dope](#): > > Deserved hate imo, music shouldn’t be created to make money. But this is another debate, and I don’t see the connexion with the OP initial post. because he said folks with controllers played “weird” music. I assume that to be some EDM that is not too popular with the masses or the crowd that he attracts at his spot. And truth is there are more EDM (of any subgenre) DJ’s out there that use controllers than Hip Hop DJ’s…and this IS a controller dominant and focused forum. So if I was looking for a hip hop DJ – I would think the odds are in favor of the guy that shows up with some timecode vinyl vs. an S2. Just using Hip Hop as example. Check out the Serato forum and it’s the complete opposite – music and equipment. ---
**Author:** ![tads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ab992/32.png) [@tads](https://forum.djtechtools.com/u/tads)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://forum.djtechtools.com/t/controllerist-prejudice/41143/26 "2012-04-23T02:13:49Z")
> [@dope](#): > > Deserved hate imo, music shouldn’t be created to make money. But this is another debate, and I don’t see the connexion with the OP initial post. The top 40 argument has alot to do with the DJ scene, and is what will probably differentiate an unprepared new DJ from an experienced one. People at large being force fed all this corporate sponsored media think all a DJ has to do is recycle the same songs that are on the radio. By the time they figure out that they haven’t become David Guetta, all the parties involved would have received a nice helping of that person’s money (or their parents’ money). That said, there will probably be more to determining if a DJ is good or not than whether they have a controller. The recipe that alot of these new people use is to take the same top 40 songs that everybody else is playing, and slather them with effects. I’ve tried teaching kids to DJ a few times and they all just want to stop the track and the spin the platter backwards or mash two songs together poorly. It really has little to do with putting on the best music and more about making the most opportune jesus pose. At the end of the day the people who value the music will win out, and the kids who don’t want to take the time to dig through the records will get distracted and do something else. Once more people start to get sick of the big label music that gets put out (cause it will one day), the difficulty of finding good music will make the more music-focused dj in high demand. Your boy Deion is probably going to get away with ignoring the controllerists for now, but I find it really hard to think that the next generations “World Renown DJ” wouldn’t have started out with a controller. ---
**Author:** ![soundinmotiondj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@soundinmotiondj](https://forum.djtechtools.com/u/soundinmotiondj)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:51am UTC](https://forum.djtechtools.com/t/controllerist-prejudice/41143/27 "2012-04-23T02:51:55Z")
> [@Conall](#): > > This, the same thing can be said for production. Making it more accessible is a bit of a double edged sword +1 The democratization of tools has lead to a LOT of experimentation. When equipment (and music) was relatively expensive and hard to find…getting access meant making a HUGE investment in $$$$ and time. This meant that people who were willing to make that investment tended to stick (at least reasonably close) to the “established norms” of taste. Now that $1000 (or less) can get you a “full set” of equipment…and music is not only “freely” available on the internet…anyone who wants to can jump in on a dare and try their hand at DJing. Ze Frank covered this several years ago better than I ever could. [http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2006/07/071406.html](http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2006/07/071406.html) Oh…and if the club would hire Ean Golden…then their issue is NOT with the controller. 🕶 ---
**Author:** ![kamjongill](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/forum.djtechtools.com/kamjongill/32/15213_2.png) [@kamjongill](https://forum.djtechtools.com/u/kamjongill)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 3:09am UTC](https://forum.djtechtools.com/t/controllerist-prejudice/41143/28 "2012-04-23T03:09:13Z")
There’s big drama in my town with Controllers vs CDJ/DVS, all the old heads get their panties in a bunch when they see someone not using CDJ/DVS. I can keep a party rocking and a floor full with my controller, so I think it’s more the issue of picking shit DJ’s who play crappy music. If you have a DJ with average skill and great song selection, you’ll be able to keep a full floor IMO. ---
**Author:** ![rotebass](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/forum.djtechtools.com/rotebass/32/16332_2.png) [@rotebass](https://forum.djtechtools.com/u/rotebass)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 3:15am UTC](https://forum.djtechtools.com/t/controllerist-prejudice/41143/29 "2012-04-23T03:15:20Z")
> [@manchild](#): > > In his defense, he did say that he listened to a ton of demo mixes before picking people he booked, and to be honest it’s a popular bar you should be coming in w/ an idea of what style to play or at the least be able to adapt. In the Boston area there is a ton of DJ’s/wannabe’s. He was telling me how he listed it in craigslist and in 4 hours I think he said he got like 50 e-mails. As for the “weird” music, I’m not sure what he meant, I’m gonna guess they just played whatever they had on their playlist that had a tempo of 128, but I really don’t know. To bring my experience booking live bands back into this, I once booked a band based on some demos they had posted to Myspace. The night of the gig, they proceeded to clear the venue, found out later on that the tunes were ripped off from another band (the ensuing shit storm was quite entertaining to observe). The lesson here is, the guy needs to do more research, there are a lot of jokers out there, the ones that build themselves up are usually the ones that let everyone down. ---
**Author:** ![tads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ab992/32.png) [@tads](https://forum.djtechtools.com/u/tads)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://forum.djtechtools.com/t/controllerist-prejudice/41143/30 "2012-04-23T03:20:36Z")
> [@soundinmotiondj](#): > > +1 > > Ze Frank covered this several years ago better than I ever could. > > [http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2006/07/071406.html](http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2006/07/071406.html) That was a good 3 minutes of listening. ---
**Author:** ![dripstep](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/forum.djtechtools.com/dripstep/32/15184_2.png) [@dripstep](https://forum.djtechtools.com/u/dripstep)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 10:38am UTC](https://forum.djtechtools.com/t/controllerist-prejudice/41143/31 "2012-04-23T10:38:45Z")
This controllerist hate will either get better, or much worse when DJ X factor comes out. Guaranteed there will be people on the show rocking controllers, and this will either hook a whole new group of people with $400 to spend, who will think they are “ready” after 2 weeks, and this forum will be inundated with more “how do I book gigs” threads. Or, on the flipside, there will be DJs on there with controllers throwing down some serious mixing and performances, and it will give some legitimacy to the “toys” we are using. It all comes down to the club owner though, I recently spotted a twitch at one of my local clubs, and dude was running some pretty wild controllerism routines, and the crowd was eating it up. Best advice I can give, prove to the owners that you can perform with whatever is handed to you, and if you can’t, show them that you can do the same, or better, with your midifighter and an X1. ---
**Author:** ![Dj\_Noriddim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@Dj\_Noriddim](https://forum.djtechtools.com/u/Dj_Noriddim)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://forum.djtechtools.com/t/controllerist-prejudice/41143/32 "2012-04-23T20:32:35Z")
Well where I’m at the clubs have a controller standard. They only allow what they regard as pro standard controllers in. These are anything from NI A&H Denon and Pioneer APC series. You can only use traktor and serato or ableton. Your laptop has to be a MAC or at least a $700-1000 range PC that you have optimized for live audio production. Then your controller has to be inspected and the sound guy assigns you a channel on the mixer usually 3 or 4. Some clubs will not let you touch the in house mixer so you have to preset your levels with the sound guy and that is it. But what pisses me off is some prick who walks in the booth to use the cdjs with his usb drive and does not even use the DJM 2000 for what is worth let alone the CDJ 2000s to just play song A after song B. While I have to undergo a Club TSA strip search with my gear. Now I understand why because we have had guys come in with mixtracks and hercules plastic heaps of trash and train wreck because they using pre recorded mixes from better DJs to get gigs But this is my thing about it all if you are serious about DJing you should practice, spend money on Pro grade equipment and ensure your skills are up to par before even trying to step out onto the club scene. But the clubs are to blame in this controller hate because they book these guys as a cheap way out of paying better qualified DJ’s only to end up with buyers remorse. [Previous page](https://forum.djtechtools.com/t/controllerist-prejudice/41143.md?page=1)