I’m a 35 yo guy who used to do a bit of mixing (dnb, techno, and trip-hop) when I was younger ( not commercially, just bedroom/party level). But then the parties stopped, along came marriage,kids,etc, and my turntables ended up gathering dust and were eventually sold. The itch has never left me though and I really want to get back into it.
I wasn’t the greatest DJ in the world but I loved doing it and I could throw down a decent mix or two when I wanted. The one thing I never learnt to do though was scratch and its something that I really want to do. The thing is though that this time round I don’t have the money or space for decks, so I was thinking of getting a controller ( nothing too expensive though) to have some fun on.
Ive seen some amazing scratching on controllers so obviously it can be done, but how hard would it be for the likes of someone like me to learn to scratch from the beginning on a controller?
The SX is okay. The jog wheel tends to walk on both Serato and Traktor. Reloops have amazing response with such small platters. DO not get CDJ’s to use as midi or HID for scratching. They leave so much to be desired, it hurts. The denon sc2000 is pretty chill. I didnt have any issues. It does have a problem with scribbles tho. Just not enough resolution I guess.
Best gear for learning scratching is decks and a mixer of course.
Failing that you ideally want
super tight jog wheel performance
a decent cross fader
jog wheels with a virtual sticker marker LED
The best portable controller for scratching:
VCI380 with CF-X2 upgrade (SDJ)
The best non portable controller for scratching:
NS7II (SDJ)
The DDJSX/SX2 (SDJ) runners up IMO, obviously better with the innofader mini PNP.
I don’t rate the S2/S4 native Traktor controllers for scratching due to the jog wheel mechanism and the challenge if you want to upgrade cross fader (maybe this easier now tho… was still under the impression you have to take the whole face plate off).
Lastly another option if you don’t mind doing the octopus arms stretch is to use the S4/S8/DDJSX/SX2…others as a mixer with real decks plugged into it, but then you could just as easily buy a real mixer to go with your real decks.
On most controllers, a “scratch like” effect is possible…but without manipulating the jog wheels. Ean shows a “scratch like” technique with whit noise on a 900. This can be done with any loop of white noise. This is FAR easier than “actual” scratching, but has much the same musical possibilities when incorporated into a set. A micro loop of almost any sound can also be used to generate “scratch like” sounds.
Hey,
Im in exactly this position but i am 45, last time I used my decks was over 20 years ago and suddenly after watching loads of You Tube videos of people djing on controllers decided the time was right to start again (kids now gown up).
Anyway, i am one step ahead i have ordered a Reloop TM8, hopefully this should be good enough for me to get going, the reason i went for the TM8 was the fact the Jog wheels looked pretty good and it hit my budget.
I started out djing Hip hop in the early 80s and finished in 91-92 playing Hardcore/Techno, I used to play out a couple of times a week at that point, still with my wife who i met whilst DJing all those years ago, shes not so pleased about me starting this all over again!
I’ve tried scratching on my VCI300. The jogs just don’t move right. With vinyl the turntable is still moving under the matt so it feels totally different.
I’m pondering what the various rotating jogwheel controllers feel like. I have a soft spot for weird hardware so I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on the old Technics DZ1200 that tanked and got made irrelevant by the rise of the CDJ. Apparently they are pretty good with timecodes. There is also a Denon thing that I can’t remember the model name of that is supposedly very good.
New version of the SL-DZ? Weird. That thing was discontinued forever ago.
I always liked the look of those things. And the hack a few people did to put a piece of wax in place of the crappy plastic platter was kinda cool. Unfortunately, they were expensive and junk when they came out.
so around $400 go with turntables. you wont have the experience or muscle memory to compensate on a controller for the latency. If you see someone rip it on a controller they are a beast on Wax.
correct, 3700 outputs traktor mk1 signal and various others, 3900 outputs mk2 and others. so when you manipulate the rotating platter, you control the software via generated timecode signal (no need for control cd’s). you don’t control it with midi in that sence (except for VDJ which has native HID connection with denon players).
The denon sc2000 is pretty chill. I didnt have any issues. It does have a problem with scribbles tho. Just not enough resolution I guess.