I’m new to djing and new to these boards. I need recommendations from the expereienced dj’s on these boards. I’m looking to purchase a controller and there seems to be tons of options in a wide price range. I’m looking to blend mostly hip hop, R&B, maybe some jazz. I’m also looking to do some scratching. Not a huge amount of scratching but some. Finally, I’d like to record some of my mixes. It’s possible that I may expand on some of those things but that is where I’d like to start.
I’ve been looking at the Numark Mixtrack Pro. Here’s my concern. I’ve dabbled a bit in djing back in the early 90s so I know I’ll stick with it. I don’t want to purchase a setup that I will outgro quickly and have to sell and upgrade within a year or so. I’d rather start with a controller that may be a bit more than a beginner needs yet, not a complicated/expensive system that a professional dj would use on a regular basis. At the very least, I’ll be a “bedroom” dj; at most, I’d ‘dj’ small gatherings like a house party, family bbq.
So, here are my questions:
Is the Numark MixTrack Pro a good option for what I want to do?
Is there a better option?
What additional items (mixers, headphones, etc…) would I need to do the things that I’ve mentioned? Recommendations?
Will my Toshiba Satellite C655 (Windows 7) or HP Pavilion Dv9000 (Windows Vista) laptops perform well with a controller?
BTW, this is a great and informative forum. I’ve read lots of threads here with information but I wanted to address my specific situation. Thanks for any information/recommendations.
I’d like to keep the budget < $700 if possible. The memory of both laptops is 4 GB, 2.0 ghz on both. I’m not sure of which software i’ll use. I believe the Mixtrack Pro comes with Vdj. I’m not locked in to either. A lot will depend on the recommendations.
I actually own a HP Pavilion dv9000 myself (even started DJing with it), but even with a stripped XP dual boot it barely managed to run ITCH with 1ms latency (which is top level reactance). So it may do the job, but you certainly need some configuration on it to get to that level. I’m not too sure on the Toshiba, Intel Celeron processors aren’t the quickest as far as I know.
I eventually got sick of the unreliability of the HP, so since a few months I’m the happy owner of a brand-spanking new i7 13" Macbook Air. This is a beast, and runs ITCH more smoothly than my HP ran any program
I am currentlly using a mixvibes Umix control 2. I bought it after an S4 to mix at small paries and it is a great controller! Plus the mixvibes communitty is amazing I definitly recomend it to you
Are you a begginer? If you are, hands down, buy the Numark Mixtrack Pro, it is the best begginer controller at an outstanding price, with a built in audio interface. You can’t find any other controller with this quality, an Audio Interface at this price. Trust me, you wont regret this. It comes with VDJ LE although people think it is a bad software it isn’t, it covers every basic and shines at what it can do, great for begginers also. Although if you want to, the Mixtrack Pro is Traktor ready, so you could buy Traktor Pro 2, the Mixtrack Pro and some headphones for around $600. Depending on your headphones. I would reccomend the Numark RedWave headphones, good sound, they can last, and pair up really nice with the Mixtrack Pro, also they have a cool design. Trust me on this one man, good luck -Sp1n
get the mixtrack regular, audio2dj and a decent set of headphones…300-400 total…if your lappy runs windows 7 it’s probably enough to run to traktor…upgrade the memory if you can…
As far as laptops, the satellite has some latency issues. I had looked into that laptop before, and found that for DJing, its not optimal. The Dell may be the better option.
figure out what your looking to achieve from your controller and go from there.
The mixtrack may be the best in price but like you mentioned you may “grow out of” because of your previous DJ experience and the expectactions you want from the controller. You may have no choice but to spend more on the controller you wont outgrown fast.
The mixtrack pro seems to be a nice option and you can use Serato Intro with it. Take a look at some youtube videos and see if it looks right for you. I also recommend the s2 for your budget. I have an s4 and I love it, it’s a ton of fun and built well. That said I bought a used Mixtrack for my kids (they love my s4 also lol) and it seems to be a nice controller. I will open it up on xmas day and let you know more.
Thanks to everyone for their input. I bought the Mixtrack Pro and I’m using VDJ LE. So far, it seems to meet my needs. I’m currently using Acoustic computer speakers but am looking to upgrade. I don’t know what I’ll upgrade to. I’ll check the boards for ideas.
