Help decide: Denon S3700; S3900; CDJ 900 with Traktor

DJ Gear & Hardware CDJ & Vinyl DJing
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Help decide: Denon S3700; S3900; CDJ 900 with Traktor

I recently picked up dj’ing again.. Have been on and off for years.

I mix drum and bass.. but have a real love too for 90’s hip hop.

Just got a Denon SC2000 controller. It really is awesome for controls… so many mapping possibilities.

However, been playing around with scratching and really enjoying it… to add to dnB sets and just for battle fun. I am looking for a good scratching controller/player solution to use with traktor. I have no plans to get rid of Traktor as I put good use to bpm sample loops and will probably pick up an F1 controller for a remix deck.

I have a few questions and know nothing about using time code or midi control with these decks.

If using midi control with traktor and not timecode… (assuming these can do this) can you set up any of these decks to switch and control 2 traktor decks? I like to play two decks for tracks + set one dedicated scratch deck + one sample deck. Would I be able to switch between controlling a main deck + my scratch deck with any of these?

Another reason down the line I would like any of these is practice mixing and beat matching without a computer and sync. Not knowing how the CDJ 900 compares for scratching.. Advantage to the CDJ is that I would be familiar with if I ever play clubs + would not be having to do a set using decks I am not used to playing/ scratching on..

I have vagely heard of some reliability issues with the S3700… what and how bad? I could pick up a used pair of S3700’s way cheaper than the rest of the options..

BTW, not looking for turntables. Have owned them before.. just want CD/decks.

Thanks for your thoughts.

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I gone through the full trip from 1210’s to 900’s to now using S4
If you want cdj’s with midi you really have to go for 900’s I would say… the slip mode is particularly good with scratching as you can scratch over songs and then drop the tune back in seamlessly (this feature isn’t available on the 2000)
900’s will work with Traktor. You do lose the loop functions on the 900 tho
You can scratch on an S4 - works ok (not as good as 900’s or using Traktor scratch on vinyl tho) but this option is a hell of a lot cheaper than 2 900’s

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I’ve bought 2 900s and found the an issue with what could be related to poor latency which cause distortion at radom intervals. I have to go in to the setting adjust the buffer and it ok for a while. There’s no issue with the control, i.e. scrathing but I can’t trust the sound enough to gig out with it. However, with rekord quantizing the track and loading the wave form I’m considering dropping Traktor altogether as I’ve got a RMX 1000 on order which will cover the efx and possibly the samples. It’s a pity the 900 can’t do hot cues but I may look at remapping the the loop buttons if I decide to keep usuing Traktor.
I was tempted by the SC3900 and engine but ended with a Pio’ set up with it’s rekord box. If I was in to scratching I’d go with the SC3900 due to the motorised platter although the slip mode on the 900 is a great feature,
If I were you, due to the cash lay out, I’d go to a store and spend an afternoon trying them out before deciding.