Looking for a new controller!!

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
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Looking for a new controller!!

Hi there!! Well, this time I’m looking for an all-in-one DJ controller to work with, because I think the time has come to change my hardware and starting doing serious things. I wanna work with Traktor Pro 2.6, because of the effects, and I don’t need the 4 channels or jogwheels, but they’d be nice :smiley: so in a range of price between 250 and 350 I’ve found 5 controllers that may be good enough, could you help me with choosing the one? I’ve found some pros and cons, but I’m still not sure about this… Thanks a lot!!

-American Audio VMS4.1 Traktor: Comes with 4 channels, 2 independent mics, awesome build quality, good combo between Analog and MIDI, but I heard about bad sound quality, right? (Price: 290€)
-Hercules RMX2: AWESOME build quality, jog wheels feel awesome, mic input, 2 headphone outputs but limited extra controls (FX and cues and stuff) and Faders and Knobs are small and a little bit shitty. (Price: 290€)
-Novation Twitch: Modern, alternative, clear to see in dark rooms, no jog wheels, but maybe too small, and weird disposition of the controlls… (Price: 350€)
-Denon MC3000: Seems well built, I love the disposition of the buttons, dedicated Traktor FX controls, 4-deck layout but maybe too old right now, because of the MC2000? I don’t know. (Price: 390€)
-Stanton DJC-4: AWESOME build quality, every knob and fader will last, push knobs for kill, jog wheels are kickin it, loving the FX section, 4-deck layout, but maybe buttons too small? anyway, I don’t use cues and loops a lot. (Price: 350€)
-Akai APC40: Alternative, loving the hardware, many buttons, many faders, many knobs, ships with ableton, but there’s no soundcard (anyway I will get Audio 2 to have a traktor 2 license) and maybe too many controlls I won’t use, also it’s out of my price range, I mean, I could get it, but there would be no more money for a Midi keyboard maybe. (Price: 400€)

So, what do you say? any thoughts? which one will fit me better? Once again, thanks a lot :smiley:

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I’ve got the original RMX and it’s a nice little controller, but I grew out of it VERY quickly. If you want to make full use of the effects in Traktor you need more encoders and pots basically; the RMX2 seems like it’d have the same issue.

Have you completely ruled out the modular options out there?

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What genres do you usually play?

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@mcddesign You know, I’d love to have a modular setup, but nowadays it’s not possible because of my money limitations. I thought all-in-one would be the best option, but I’d definetively love to have for example a Midi Fighter with a K2 or whatever.

@jayvee I like to play Electro & Progressive House (kinda SHM, Dada Life, Cazzette, Swanky Tunes…) but also I’m starting with some OWSLA dubstep and drum n bass.

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Haven’t had a chance to own either, but from research I’ve done before, Denon and Stanton stand out from your list.
Personally not a fan of design of Denon, but I heard it’s built very well. Stanton got a great value.

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I’d be looking at the twitch or denon,

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My ENTIRE planned setup would cost about £350-400, depending on what deals you managed to get, might be worth looking into something similar:

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Seems nice, but I don’t know if my planned modular setup would be as cheap: I’d like to get a Midi Fighter Pro, a Novation Nocturn and an Allen & Heath Xone K2, with Traktor Audio 2 DJ, that’s around 500€, soo… I don’t know. Maybe I could do that, yeah. Whatever. I’ll see what else do the people say and then I’ll think. btw Thanks a lot! :smiley:

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Why do you need a k2 and an audio2?

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I think he wants i as it comes with traktor pro. To me it’s been the most cost effective way to get hold of it

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Get the Numark Mixtrack Pro II. It’s got jogs and a drum pad for $300.

The Novation Twitch is nice if you don’t like jog wheels and there is plenty of support out there for Traktor.

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Right! :smiley: Traktor Pro 2 Licenses cost 79€ and Audio 2 costs 99€, so I think it’s a good deal to get a soundcard with traktor for just 20€ more, isn’t it? Also the soundcard of the K2 is just 16-bit, but whatever.