Ok so my idea for my first setup after a year of just mouse and keyboard was to first invest in a launchpad and secondly a midi enabled mixer I had in mind (I was looking at behringer or something light on the pockets) . I was thinking the launchpad mainly for functionality and flexibility over other trigger finger types of hardware. I mainly dj psy-trance but also trance,house,electro etc. Also using Traktor as my software.
My main question is from another djâs perspective would this be a good setup, I know mapping and everything would work but does it make sense?
You could use a Korg nanoKontrol2 as a MIDI-mixer, its good and cheap. Would be a nice first setup in my opinion.^^
e.g.: You can map those faders as volume and EQ-control and the knobs to some FX parameters or something like that, its to your imagination^^
I had a NOX404 (Behringer), itâs okay, as long as you keep it at home.
The knobs and faders arenât that tight, crapy FX-section, its a âbattle-mixerâ anywaysâŚ
Yes. If youâre mixing 4 on the floor stuff, properly beatgridded with sync, then a button-only setup works great. I personally use a Zomo MC-1000 as my âportableâ setup when Iâm doing house/trance sets. but a MIDI mixer with a decent number of mappable controls (NOT just the faders) would work well too. A lot of people have had good results with the DDM4000 , although personally Iâd go for the Voxoa M70 as its symmetrical with dedicated FX sections for Traktor.
Iâve heard conflicting stories with regards to the M70s build quality, but then again its relatively cheap so for me would be acceptable as a âbang for your buckâ kinda compromise.
Xone K2. It comes with a 4 channel soundcard and can be a fully mapped 4 channel mixer. I use a launchpad and a K2 as my current rig and it is wonderful the amount of control I have in traktor is great and since everything is usb powered it is super portable.
I was under the impression the top knobs on the K2 were not center clicks, is that true? I was gonna do the exact same thing but that made me sad and somewhat disinterested in the prospect.
To each his own, but I always think people are making a mistake buying a setup like that when they first start. If your dream is to play in front of people, then youâre going to have to either get famous for producing, or learn how to DJ in the traditional fashion with jog wheels. Itâs not great, but thatâs how the scene works. People donât get booked for real gigs to push buttons in a grid.
This is largely because unless youâre doing something nobody would ever book you to do live anyways (unless youâre a famous producer,) like silly Madeon-style pretend-finger-drumming, or jumping between ten pieces of gear at once to control loops like ritchie hawtin, a setup like that is incredibly boring to watch. Check out the video V hoff posted. To each his own, and maybe some people would like that, but most people would have no interest in watching someone perform like that. Yeah sure part of it is that that guyâs not doing much, but even if he were, the bigger issue is just that on a setup that small and non-traditional, everything you reach out to do looks the same. It just looks like youâre occasionally tweaking something.
This is why CDJs and Turntables are still standard. Itâs entertaining to watch a DJ tap the beat on a huge cue button on a CDJ, then mash the play button on the one, then turn the platter and move the pitch fader around intently, then move over to the mixer and start moving faders and knobs. When the sound changes, you know why, and you saw what he did to get it to that point. It looks like heâs focusing on something and doing work, you can identify what heâs doing. When a dude just stands over a little controller like a K2 or a launchpad and a mixer and presses a couple of buttons on a grid every now and then to get a track playing, you donât notice. All you see is him reaching and and moving a knob every once and a while and the sound changes. You have no idea whatâs going on.
Unless youâre content with the bedroom DJ thing, I honestly suggest you look into a setup with jogs and pitch faders. No, you donât need them to play, yes they are superfluous, but you need them to entertain people, and you need to practice using them to entertain people before you start doing it.
This is what I hate about the current state of electronic music. Itâs fine if youâre going to a concert, but if you go to a club, you should be there for music. Who gives a shit what the djâs doing as long as the music is good. Personally, I find watching any âmixâ boring. Itâs only entertainment if the performer is doing a truly live performance with synths, drum machines etc. like KiNK. Even watching Richie Hawtin mix is incredibly boring after about 1 minute.
Valid. Some people arenât into it. Iâm the far opposite extreme personally. Iâm really into performance DJing, and I care more about how expressive the DJ is being than how good the music sounds.
The state of the music scene right now is that all of the newbie kids in the crowd are towards your extreme, and all of the people whoâve been DJing for a while are on my side (which is funny, because Iâm only 24), and theyâre the ones that book the events. So everyone kind of has to play our game, unless theyâre famous enough as a producer that they can skip it.
I think it needs to stay this way. Otherwise, we will end up with EVERYONE just pushing play while we watch them bounce up and down in front of their light show. Thatâs already how the top tier works, and itâs stupid as hell.
Donât listen to fools telling you that pushing buttons isnât djing because that is some bullshit. I have over 10 pages worth of control between two controllers. I know what I am doing because every single light on both controllers gives me feedback and Iâve memorized every function on every single button, fader, knob, and encoder on my setup. I have pitch and pitch bend, volume, key, gain, filter, eq , and full effect control on two controllers for 4 decks and that fits in a single backpack. Look into a few different mappings or make your own but donât listen to fools who tell you that pushing buttons isnât entertaining. Djing is about the music and sound that you create and the more control you have over whatever program your using the easier it will be to manipulate sound to your liking.
Donât listen to fools telling you that pushing buttons isnât djing because that is some bullshit. I have over 10 pages worth of control between two controllers. I know what I am doing because every single light on both controllers gives me feedback and Iâve memorized every function on every single button, fader, knob, and encoder on my setup. I have pitch and pitch bend, volume, key, gain, filter, eq , and full effect control on two controllers for 4 decks and that fits in a single backpack. Look into a few different mappings or make your own but donât listen to fools who tell you that pushing buttons isnât entertaining. Djing is about the music and sound that you create and the more control you have over whatever program your using the easier it will be to manipulate sound to your liking.[/QUOTE]
Agreed.
I saw this
and already had the ddm4000 in mind so this is the setup iâm leaning towards. Even though the headphone jack is in a little of a weird place on the mixer I think iâll get over it
I find it ironic you mention this but fail to mention the fact that 99% of the time you see producer-DJs doing this stuff itâs with CDJs. Meaning.. that either way you go about it this exists and the median of gear is largely irrelevant.
If youâre talking about it in the same paragraph as a â4 channel mixerâ it is extremely misleading to call it a â4 channel sound cardâ.
It only has enough outputs to drive 2 of the mixer channels, therefore it is a 2 channel sound card.
Well, i got the same feeling when I knew that they didnât had a center click, but you will get used to it, trust me!
The only downside with the Xone K2 is the low volume output, It was really a pain at the start, but then I got used, it and made me pay more attention to volume outputs on the mixer at the setup time, a thing that I wasnât doing right before xone k2âŚ
But itâs only the volume level, the sound quality is awesome! I could listen the difference between my old Numark DJIO and the Xone k2.
. I was thinking the launchpad mainly for functionality and flexibility over other trigger finger types of hardware. I mainly dj psy-trance but also trance,house,electro etc. Also using Traktor as my software.