These denon’s look pretty amazing, but the price tag doesn’t really make sense to me. I might as well pick up some used 400/800’s.
I’ve also been looking into a DIY option as well. All I want is a jog wheel, a pitch slider, and maybe 4/5 arcade buttons along the bottom for play/cup and cue points. Doesn’t really seem all that far fetched, it’s really just the jog wheel that intimidates me.
Any input? This would be for a more portable rig, when I don’t want to lug my TT’s around. The reason for wanting to do this is that I personally can’t stand the eq in most stand alone controllers.
there’s also the eks xp5/10’s, tho not sure how good they are. the build quality of my djtech djm101 seems pretty good to me so i presume the cdj style ones are similar.
the denon’s do look awesome but at about 170gbp for one??? seem way too expensive to me.
If the Denon seems expensive, it’s probably not going to appeal to you…but I’ve seen/heard really good things about the EKS Otus line. I’d try one out in a store if I could, but it’s not worth buying blind IMHO.
now that does look like a very cool controller - and the build shows where the money has gone into. if i had the money and space i’d def get a pair of those
I have a pair of Denon Sc2000s that I got for $340 altogether. They are set up exactly like cdjs and work great. Super compact and portable, I recommend them if you can find some used.
that’s a cool price… i guess even new they could be worth it - just that so far i’ve only bought cheap controllers so anything over 100quid seems expensive to me
If you really want/need simple CDJs, get a set of used Pioneer CDJ-200. Most of the other cheap CDJs have very bad build quality (price != quality) so don’t expect them to work properly for a decent time period. Plus you can’t re-sell those others for any decent price, either.
Thanks for all the input, I might look into a diy route a bit. Ill also keep an eye out for used denons. If I had the money id just get cdjs, but I can’t really justify them since I have techs already.
The SC2000’s have a very very solid build quality and are less than half the size of CDJs, plus they are absolutely packed full of features and you can control 2 decks at once with a single unit. Definitely solid machines, worth the price tag…especially if you’re looking for a portable setup.
CDJ-200s don’t scratch.
And they don’t hold their value.
I owned a pair, and they were the worst purchase of DJ gear I’ve ever made.
I can’t warn people enough about them. They suck. You’re paying like $400 a piece for a pitch fader, cue, and play buttons that require time code to be used with Traktor…and using time-code means that the cue and play buttons don’t work right. So used with Traktor/SSL, they’re $400 pitch faders.
Seriously…they suck. Even looping doesn’t quite respond as well as, well, anything else I’ve used. The effects are complete rubbish. And they failed on me more times than any other gear I’ve used except one of my 25-year old 1200s. The only good thing about them is that when they failed…power cycling them brought them back to their normal level of suck.
I’d buy Reloop’s RMP-whatevernumberthey’reupto long before I’d buy CDJ-200s again, and when they break…I’d just throw them away. I’d probably net spending about $300 more for total cost of ownership, and if they last a year I think it’d be worth it.
Oh yeah…when I sold mine, I didn’t get any money out of them to speak of. I tried to sell them on DJF, here, and a couple other places…plus craig’s list and facebook marketplace…for over a year. When I finally got an offer it was so low that I honestly considered stuffing them full of fireworks or setting them on fire to get rid of them…and I’m slightly sorry that I didn’t see them die horribly. The money I got was not worth the satisfaction of seeing them in pain.
Seriously…those decks suck. The only thing they’ve got going for them is that they’re only slightly less reliable than Traktor on my Mac…the problem is that they don’t do anything right except not break.
Oh wait…he was talking about used ones. If you can get them for about $100/each they’re almost worth it. But you will get sick of them and end up pissed off. They’re not worth $200/deck, not by a long shot.
Yes, I talked about used CDJ-200s. I would not expect the features, effects, looping and so on, be that robust. But compared with spending similar amounts of money on something non-Pioneer built in China/Vietnam et rest, at least Pioneer has some kind of quality control in place.
cdj-200’s don’t look exactly awesome and around 200quid each 2nd hand? if i had some and had no other option then i’m sure i’d use them - but they don’t exactly seem like a tempting purchase
those denon sc2000’s seem like way more value for use with traktor etc and around the same price or cheaper (tho i only had a quick scan for both on ebay)
cdj400 sure… but why would you drop about 400quid for a second hand cdj400 to then only use it as a midi controller?
not that i wouldn’t mind a pair of cdj’s but pretty sure i’d be wanting to just use them as standalone players mostly… be a waste to only use them as midi controllers anyway
