It’s amazing how many times this question comes up. It come’s up because it’s a reality, and folks try to explain exactly why CDJ’s and Mixer are the preferred equipment at clubs for a number of reasons — and still some people try to bring up the controller argument and justify their use over and over. Gents — got it. Alot of people use controllers, you can do some really cool stuff on them, etc. but truth remains for the majority of major clubs, CDJ’s and mixer are the preferred equipment.
Because they’re shit in comparison to a controller? Even the cheapest all-in-one MIDI controller will give you control over FX, hotcues, loops/beatjumping, and selectable EQ curves… A CDJ2000 gives you what… Play/Pause and track position? It’s absolutely ridiculous.
A CDJ is basically a REALLY shit version of Traktor hooked up to a CD player. They were fine when they were your only alternative to turntables, but in this day and age there’s really no excuse to use them.
So your basically saying all clubs should get rid of cdjs and everyone should either get a controller or learn to use the controller the club has installed?
No. But clubs should be more receptive towards artists bringing in their preferred equipment.
Porter Robinson and Dubfire both play with an S4. They actually carry their S4 around with them.
Yep Porter Robinson does I was in charge of lights and sound at the Digital Newcastle gig he done last year, Digitals booth however is huge and can accommodate 2 x 4cdj plus mixer setups
The ignorance coming from inexperienced DJs in this thread is horrendous.
You people are actually calling CDJ2000’s inferior to an S4, because they don’t have cheap little pots to control your Traktor effects? Have you ever touched one? The CDJ2000 is literally the highest-quality piece of DJ equipment ever mass produced, and the S4 famously has among the worst build quality, even for an all-in-one controller. The CD2000 isn’t MEANT to control traktor effects, it’s meant to be a deck controller.
You’re all addressing it like we’re saying you should show up with CDs/thumbdrives and play on just the 2000’s… No, you wankers, we’re saying you should plug them into traktor as HID controllers, and bring supplemental controllers to do the things that the 2000’s aren’t designed to do. If you want knobs for FX control, bring a small controller with knobs, if you want cue points, bring a midi fighter, if you want a third and fourth track deck, bring Reloop Contours/ CMD PL-1’s. This way you don’t have reinvent the wheel, and bring in a cheap duplicate of the gear already there, just so you can use the secondary features built into it. You can easily replicate anything the S4 can do with a standard setup, and a couple of better-fitting, cheaper, higher-quality, and less intrusive controllers like Midi Fighters, Xone K2’s, Behringer CMD controllers, Reloop contours, all of the korg micro controllers, etc. etc. etc.
Stop assuming that we’re old traditional DJs just mixing tracks, and you’re the next wave of DJ prodigies doing amazing tricks only possible with controllers… We’re doing the same thing, we’re just being smarter about it. We’re doing exactly the same things (cue point juggling, FX combinations, sync tricks, etc.) also with controllers, we’re just incorporating the gear that’s already set up for our standard deck controls and mixer, because it makes more logistical sense.
I thought Dubfire just did the initial commerical for the S4 before it came out. When he played at Mansion Miami last year he was on a Xone DB:4, X1, F1 and Maschine. He switched from THAT to an S4 recently?
photo of mansion:
http://www.mansionmiami.com/dev/photos_dev.php?id=55&image=19
This was a year or two ago. Maybe he has switched to other gear since then.
A lot of valid points!
Skrillex uses a Mixtrack.
blame for being an obvious troll, but don´t blame me for all the other threads. i didn´t even contribute to to any of these…yet
He did not switch BACK to an S4.
So the guy you used as an example FOR the S4, actually switched away from it in favor of a setup exactly like we’re describing.
The other, Porter Robinson is a kid who got famous for production and had to buy something and learn how to use it really quickly so he could start playing gigs, not having any idea what club gear was. He’s also not any kind of impressive DJ… Bad example.
Woah, calm down fella.
I’m not even getting involved in this controller vs CDJ debate. I was simply pointing out that some professional producers/dj’s have used, or do use an S4.
Now you look and everyone is using something different. Loco Dice uses timecoding, Zabiela ableton (and other crap, iPad etc), and some just use your standard CDJ’s.
I think we all need to relax, take some creatine, and watch some videos Skrillex using a Mixtrack.
Carrying a cd wallet/USB stick + headphones to a gig > carrying a controller, laptop, external hard drive, laptop stand etc etc
here’s the funny thing, in US, namely in Atlanta clubs where i play, you will always find cdj 2000’s in every club, but the funny thing is that every dj (except big name headliners) just plugs the cdjs into traktor or serato and plays in HID. lol kinda defeats the purpose of having big fancy cdj’s…
People complain about the ignorance of newbies coming into the scene, but then I suppose they could fire it back on you and complain about your hostility?
I for one am a bit tired of the argument, and I’m sure I speak for a few people. I for one learnt to ‘DJ’ on CDJ’s. Why? Because that’s what I had access to. Now I own a controller because it takes up less space, I enjoy using Traktor, no need to burn CD’s, price etc.
Also don’t just assume everyone who has a controller uses ‘Sync’. I use the jog wheels, and which is why I purchased the controller I did. Why does it matter what the person in the booth is using if he is mixing correctly, having fun and making people dance. Surely that’s all that matters?
I’m not a fan of this just press play, but I go to see most DJ’s for their productions. Although others have none, so I go to see them for their DJing ability so expect a bit more on the decks front, Jackmaster and Ben UFO for example.
Just get on with it, enjoy yourselves most of all. I would echo what is mainly said on this forum, that if you do have a controller, do learn to beatmatch. If you wish, use the BPM’s as a guide as 99% of clubs will have 1000’s.
Let’s keep the hostility (and ignorance) at the door folks.
If you’re so knowledgeable, please tell me exactly what a CDJ does better than a controller? Because having used both, I can tell you from my experience, the answer is “fuck all”.