I don’t care about the big all-in-one controllers. If I want the feel and space of vinyl, I use vinyl, aka timecode. For the button pressing stuff, I usually have a faderfox DX2 with me. This combo is really nice for someone like me who still likes to use a turntable.
Some people here wrote that they still haven’t found a controller that’s exactly what they want, and I feel the same way. I love the Faderfox concept, which is kind of modular. A separate controller for the mixer section, one that is focused on transport, one that is focused more on the FX side of things. Carry and hook up what you want for any given night. On the downside, they’re tiny and while that’s often useful, it’s not that great all the time. Also, without illumination, they can be hard to use. Get me something like a Faderfox XL series, a little bit bigger and with illuminated buttons, and I’m there. Compact when I want it, full-fledged button and fader overkill when I want that. And always flexible enough to be set up in tiny DJ booths. Alternatively, the NI X1 needs some brothers and sisters, like an M1 (mixer section), an FX1 (FX 
) etc.
Controller-wise, I went through a few already. Never liked the VCI-style ones for some reason, they just don’t seem to, well, know what they really want to be. Jogs and a tiny pitch fader on a button-centric controller - I mean, why? Ditched a Numark Total control because of that (it also was pretty crappy).
I had an Otus, and at first I loved it. I still kinda like it, but to be honest, especially the huge jog wheel could not fulfill my expectations. They just can’t give you vinyl feeling, and if they can’t, why bother about them? Take away the wheel, and you have something resonably sized and portable with plenty of buttons and encoders. For less money.
I used a Radius 1000 as a controller. Still have it, and it came closer to what I wanted, but in the end, It’s a CD-focused device with extra midi, and you can tell.
I took a very quick look at the S4 and the Denon MC6000 at a music store, and both sure seemed nice, but I personally don’t like the fact that controllers of that type are one relatively big chunk of hardware that’s hard to find space for in DJ booths.
I like controllers like the V7, and I still don’t understand why pioneer went for an all-in-one solution for their debut in the controller market instead of doing some kind of CDJ900-like controller, maybe develop a new version of their four channel mixers with a sophisticated midi implementation. Would have been the logical step in my opinion.
This weekend I have my regular bar gig, and I usually brought two turntables, my Macbook, Soundcard, Faderfox etc. with me. Unbelievable squeeze and a hassle to set up. This time I’ll just leave the turntables at home and give my new DN-SC 2000 a proper test run. Don’t feel like carrying all the other stuff this time. Let’s see how it will work out. Less can be more, you know.
(Sorry for the lengthy story of my life here, I just can’t write anything short 
).
