thinking of buyin a korg zero 4.. anyone here got or used 1? pros n cons please>
as above just want opinions that count hence posting on djtt this will be my first midi/ firewire mixer if i buy it so i dont know enough too jump straight in 
I have one .
Sounds great , works great, looks great.
Most versatile mixer ive ever used. The channel options are unreal
4 channels or (little know) 8 channel mixer with a special function.
More FX that you can shake a stick at.
Total Midi control surface that can be used to control Traktor or any midi application.
Mine is up for sale actually. Never use it these days. In fact i havent used it in over 6 months since i moved house. Its still in the original box.
thanks karlos im really swayed now wats the deal with 8 channels how does this work? was gna buy 1 sell my djm700 n go for the certified upgarde for t2..
wats the damage on urs?
I got one, used it for about a year before I came to college and started mixing internally with a VCI-100. I definitely loved it, itās solid as hell, effects are pretty good. The midi-capabilities are top notch, definitely going to explore those a lot more this summer.
.> why arent these awesome mixers Club standard?
The Bad
Sadly it took about 4 months to kill my beloved Zero4, I strongly disagree that itās āsolid as hellā. To be fair Iām a turntablist, I subjects mixerās pots and faders to endless hours of abuse. Disclaimer, Iām not a heavy handed knuckle dragging mixer killer, in 14 years of djān the Zero4 is the 3rd pro range mixer Iāve worn out, the difference is the other two victims were designed in the mid 90ās (Vestax 05 and 06) and they both lasted years and years .
Iām sure the Zero4 would stand the test of time when used by djās who are more in to tweaking there controls. But I practice scratching for hours for a number of nights a week, it took me only 3 months to ware out the version of the Pro X fade it has installed, so I went to replace it with the proper version of the Pro X fade but it wouldnāt fit in the hole, Penny & Giles xfade does fit, but you have to drill new holes to be able to screw it down.
The X Y pot in the main effects section got quite a lot attention from me hence after a few months use the feel became very different to all the other rotaryās, very lose and quite a bit of wiggle play.
There were odd occasions where I had to turn it on and off as a channel would get frozen in different input modes. But the final straw was all of sudden the recordings Iād done via Zero4 using Traktor started to pick up artifacts and interference.
The pop/click sound you get from changing between firewire and alternative options is pants.
The Good (for me any way)
The first less obvious plus was being able to run together Kore player or Maschine and Traktor āScratchā Pro on the Zero4, for some almighty annoying reason itās not possible get Kore or Maschine running along side Traktor DVS on the Audio8. I love fiddling around with N.I. Kore Player ,but once itās paired with Traktor on the Zero4, the threesome equals a serious amount of of awesomeness.
The effects are typical for Korg, powerful but qwerky. Once midi clocked together the Zero4 BPM will stay tight to Traktorās master tempo making the Zero4 effects and sampler very easy to play with.
I do really love the Zero4 but you could say itās a victim of Korgās feature over build quality qay of doing things, for starters plastic pots should NEVER be found on a pro mixer. My short time with it did ignite a serious interest in hybrid mixers but with Traktor Pro 2 on the horizon I would wait to see how Certified mixerās will handle all the new S4 features.
For example, your average Certified Hybrid mixer has 8in 8out interface which doesnāt leave much room for the loop recorder/player. So fingers crossed NI will open the new improved deck routing options to certified mixers too.
As itās in the same price range, consider the Denon 1600, very similar feature list but far superior build quality.
i think the 8 channel comment was regarding the korg zero 8? Iāve been looking at the zero 4 as well looks very nice but itās kinda expensive here (Switzerland 1500$ new) and my laptop doesnt have firewire 
Karlos: How does the MIDI+Audio mode work? can i set it up so that the EQ+fader are audio from the onboard soundcard whlie the 4 EFX knobs are MIDI? I thought about it for the new TP2 where you could have the 4 knobs control sample volume (or filter) on the mixer for 2 sample decks.
only annoying thing is if you play at clubs youād have to take it with you or miss the MIDI controls but as I dont play at clubs yetā¦
Iāve had a Korg Zero4, but the DSPs inside it failed on me (this seems to be a common problem with this mixer). Luckily it was under warranty, so they repaired it for me. The problem is; Korg replaced the faulty DSPs with the same kind! Iāve read some reports from people that their repaired Korg failed again on them. Thatās why I sold my Zero4 immediately after it was repaired.
I donāt know if Korg stepped up their game and resolved this problem, but my advice would be; save yourself the hassle and say away from it.
Indeed you can set it up like that, once your chosen channel is in audio & midi mode. But like you say getting used to something that isnāt easy to take to the clubs isnāt ideal.
@DennisHuibertsm - While I researched how to fix the issues I had with my Zero4, I found a large number of un happy users making the same points as your self. A few years has passed since it was discontinued, which is a big shame as itāll never get the updates it obviously needs. Once mine is fixed I plan to do the same as you and sell it straight away and then Iāll most probably purchase the Denon 1600.
If I remember to take a camera down the studio later Iāll take picture of the current condition of my Zero4, at the mo itās in pieces as Iām replacing the fx wet & dry fade. Unlike all the other fadeās, the bloody wet & dry is soldered directly to the main pcb board and itās a right bugger to get to. Actually thats another thing, I pretty much opened up and self serviced most of my mixers over the years and what lies inside the Zero4 hardly breeds confidence.
I had one, great mixer IHMO, sometimes I wish I didnt have to sell it. You can connect anything to it and run it almost any software. What I find funny that now this mixer is discontinued, everybody else is coming out with a 4 channel mixer with a sound card built in. At the original msrp of $1299 its a bargain, compared to Pioneerās Nexus at $2000 or A&H DB4 at $2900. The mixer has ton of effects on each channel then you can shake a stick at and then you have a master effects you can combine with any channel plus a line sampler. The option to switch to from audio to midi or mix both on each channel is crazy.
The only real complaint, I would have about the mixer, is that I wish the knobs were thicker for smoother tweaking.
The comment made about the crossfader, I had no problems with mine, but also dont think the mixer was designed for turntablists. But I did see a tutorial video on how to replace the crossfader with a Pro-X fader.
Pros:
tons of effects
tons of master effects
mix midi and audio on the same channel
midi in & out
firewire connection, so it free up your usb ports
sexy as hell
easy to see in the dark, light up like a christmas tree
multiple eq settings
fader curve adjustments
midi programmable
24bit/96kHz sound card
guitar in
Cons:
it got discontinued
no options for rack mount, if you wanted to do that
mine didnt come with 7" Traktor vinyl
small knobs
hard to read some of the leds in the daytime outdoors
I have one in very good state, and donāt really use it anymore (student life is over )
would consider selling it if anyone is interested.
I tried renting one at my local dj shop. Even though they sold them, they wouldnt rent one because they were too fragile.
Bottom line, the reason you dont see them in clubs is because theyre probably not sturdy enough. Too bad, looks like an interesting mixerā¦
Got One, Canāt replace it, When it dies i am screwed.
Sound is very, very, very flat, buttons are small. I
adore this mixer. I wonāt even entertain the negatives,
for fear it might break on me.
If Behringer wanted to copy a damn mixer they should
have apeād the Korg Zero4.
I had one and sold it for an EVO5. It wasnāt bad but for sound quality I was very disappointed. Thatās the main reason I sold it. Depends on what you will do with it, itās not a bad mixer but for big sound systems you will notice how bad it sounds.
If you can find one cheap then go for it.
korg zero 4`
I am selling mine for cheap. If anyone is interested, itās in mint condition, have used only for home (non smoking), and am very picky when it comes to mixing material.
Am selling it cause I am moving to a small flat and donāt have much room for home setup anymore, so only keep s4, MF and maybe a keyboard.
Anyone interested ?
I feel like some of the complaints about this mixer are a bit exaggerated.
Iāve had this mixer for a while now and have had NO problems, (well once I got it setup with my computer and traktor, which took a while). The sounds quality is flat, but keep in mind it was built to be used with both Ableton and Traktor. To be honest I donāt really notice a difference between it and the majority of mixers Iāve spun with. The only one that has a noticeably better sound was my Xone 22.
The build quality is solid. Iāve been doing house parties and club gigs with it for the past 6 months, all transporting it in my backpack, and nothing has broken. I use the X,Y knobs for the FX extensively too, but maybe not as rough as others. I donāt scratch so I canāt comment on the quality of the fader, although it is the lightest and smoothest faders Iāve had the privilege to use. (never used an innofader though).
It has just about every input on it, and outputā¦it also has about 11 EQās you can choose from, as well as fully customizable fader curves.
Aesthetically it is one of the nicest mixers, it has alot of LED lights in red and green which do look quite nice, especially in a dark environment.
The firewire is really useful, you just need one cable from your mixer to your laptop and youāre good to go! No need for multi-colour cables and the like. just the RCAās from the CDJ;/ turntable straight to the mixer input, and voila! I never noticed a noticeable pop when I was switching between inputs TBH.
It can be used for midi, or just audio, etc, and this can be chosen for each individual channel. The FX are a bit over-the-top but when theyāre synced with traktor they come in hand (I almost rarely use the traktor FX). You can also apply the master FX to whatever channel you want, or multiple channels (if you want). The sampler is really cool, I often use it to beatmash a bit here and there.
The bad thing I will say about it, is that it does seem a bit cluttered, and the knobs are a bit small if you have big fingers. I wish there were more buttons on it to map midi to (there are a shit tonne of knobs though!!), this isnāt too much of an issue though, there are other means. I feel like it does A LOT more than what I need, and sometimes makes me feel like maybe I should be using something a bit simpler that would suit me a bit better.
All in all iām glad I purchased this, although I donāt have the love affair with it that I had for my Xone 22, which unfortunately I sold to purchase this