Noob - Ableton, S4 or Twitch
Hi guys,
Im a noob around here. Have been doing lots of reading and research though. Basically im not sure what to get. Ableton S4 or Twitch.
Im into like loops and triggering and remxing live. Well thats what i want to try and do.
I havent really DJ before either…but into mashing up and playing with loops and FX.
Im sorry if i shouldnt post this here…but i just need some help…what would be better for me?
Thank you and hope to hear from someone soon…
Twitch is barely out… But both should work fine for you, provided you take the time to learn them.
thanks for your reply…what about novation launch pad and Ableton?
I like Ableton Live but for DJ work you need to warp tracks and spend more time loading clips et rest into the application so it’s less of a DJ experience compared with S4 and similar DJ controllers. Some use Ableton Live solely for DJ:ing. I had big hopes that Ableton would address the DJ needs but they have stated over and over that the DJ market is not for them so I don’t have big hopes for things like better auto-warping, easier ways to load tracks (like proper MP3 id tag searches) and so on…
if i were to choose between the twitch and the s4, i would go with the s4 (assuming you have the money for it).
s4 has much more capabilities like the twitch and i believe the twitch does not have the dvs capability like the s4 does, which might come handy later on in your career.
Can you go into this a bit more? You’ve mentioned the lack of DVS, what are the other capabilities does the S4 have that the Twitch is lacking?
If u want to travel and you don’t need 4 channel mixer ( and if u don’t love weels ) IMO you’ll have to keep an eye ( or two 
) on twitch but just my thouth
also think about the program
if u’re fond of tp go to s4 on the contrary twitch
S4 is a very integrated system, something l like a lot. Twitch might become integrated, too, but I suspect Twitch users need to tweak it. As for S4, if there’s something missing, it’s easy to add a light-weight second controller to the setup.
PS: I wish there was an easy way to have both Ableton Live and S4 running through the same laptop (not just MIDI synchronization), hopefully NI fixes that in Traktor 2.1 or later. I guess using a multi-port audio interface and external mixer is the solution for now.
If you want to learn how to use loops and remixing live I would forget S4 and Twitch and get Ableton and an APC40 or something similar.
If you’re playing new dance music that you’ve downloaded, warping takes about 5 seconds.
A question such as this is mostly about taste. Certainly you could mix a bit more traditionally with the S4 and Traktor, or use the Twitch which offers a new take on mixing in Serato. I can’t offer any personal insight on either controller since I’ve never used either, but you say that you like to play with loops and live remixing. The Launchpad would suit you perfectly if this is true. Here are some videos that I’ve watched recently:
They both have more than one, but there’s plenty of capability in one. You could also research other controllers, like Nicky H said. I, for one, enjoy mashing up loops with my Launchpad. Supplementing the Launchpad with more Launchpads or other controllers do create interesting set-ups. The glory of Ableton is the fact that your set-up is as sophisticated or simple as you make it. It’s a great piece of software that’s epicly versatile, although it may be a bit overwhelming to a beginner, which is the pit I’m trying to get out of. Additionally, using Ableton will most likely cut your chances of taking requests in a live situation. But I do hear most people here aren’t very fond of taking requests, so you’d fit right in.
But don’t let me decide for you! God, no. >.> Doing more research would help out quite a bit.
Just my two cents for you. :U
for me 4 upfaders is a HUGE plus. also s4 comes with traktor which imo is capable of more than twitch. the looping section of the s4 is really well made and mapped. you have a filter in the mixer. i haven’t had a chance to use twitch and i could be wrong on some points, but those are just things that stick out to me
I used Ableton Live for all kinds of DJ projects for a while, but I must say the constant warping and creating clips was making me so analytical when in a creative mode and as everyone knows that’s a bad clash. S4 and similar DJ controllers make this kind of analytical work less obvious.
Not that Ableton Live is excellent for remixing and quick track creation.
i dont know if u still want me to go more about the dvs and other capabilities of s4. looks like a few others have chimed in.
As an Ableton user, I recommend against starting out DJing with Ableton (assuming you actually want to play a normal DJ set). You’ll most likely just be completely overwhelmed. Software actually meant for DJing will be much more natural.
More like ~30 seconds to a minute or two if Ableton doesn’t analyze it properly. The most common error I’ve seen on Ableton’s end though is it not placing the start marker in the right position. I’m pretty sure most music follows 8/16/32 measure phrases, so you could place your first warp marker where the first beat is, then place others every 8, 16, or 32 measures and put them into place.
Unless the track is a complete oddball… no. Usually takes me less than 10 seconds but I’ve done it a million times.
Hope that makes sense… when you do it enough times its really easy. When I’m playing around with new tracks I’m always able to warp and chop every track while playing the set; it isn’t that time consuming.
Probably depends what you’re warping, but with house / techno I play with a steady 4-4 beat all you have to do is zoom in to the first beat - ‘Set 1.1.1 here, Warp from here’
Done
5 seconds 
It works in 90% of the cases but you always need to double-check in case the track was let’s say digitized from a vinyl spin that introduced latencies, or the producer had fun with the production changing beats or odd breakdowns and actually some old DAWS didn’t have exact clocks so the tempo variated for those productions, too. So I would add another 20 seconds to double-check something, otherwise you might have nasty surprised when you play your track for people.
As for human drumming funk and old disco tracks, easily 3-20 minutes for warping. And the output sounds very mechanical.
And this does not include making clips for the intro parts, exit parts, interesting loop points and so on. So there’s more work than one expects with Ableton Live. But unlike Traktor you know things are perfectly in sync after all this work.
Yeah you probably should check it but I never do - and I haven’t had a problem yet..
And yeah warping vinyl rips and old tracks is a different story altogether.
go for an apc40, get an uc33, bcr2000 or similar if you need extra control. My advice is to forget about the “DJ mixer layout” and build something that works best for you, specially with Ableton.