Long time reader of this brilliant website (thanks Ean), but sadly first time poster. As i have started to get into digital djing this website has easily been the most content and knowledge rich site available, and these forums are a very warm and friendly and just plain helpful. sorry about the rant, back to the post.
I have been using Virtual DJ with a BCD3000 on a MacBook Pro 17" and have never had a problem with it, but am looking to upgrade to something more professional. After much much research i have decided to upgrade to Traktor Pro (mainly for the ability to use 4 decks) and a Xone 4D as my controller. I was just wondering if any of you have had and experience using these 2 combined and any pro’s and cons for this set up.
The other option ofcoures is getting a Xone 92 and two 1D controllers. any advice on this would be helpful too.
Or… if my finances allow it a Xone 4D and two 1D’s for complete control of 4 decks.
sorry to make u read all that. but any help would be greatly appreciated
unfortunally i havent try the xone 4d but one thing i can tell you you dont need 1 xone 4d and 2 1d to have all controls of 4 decks you can have 4 decks with only one 4d
my friend he owns a xone 3d and he have control of 4 decks with traktor 3
It’s really not necessary to use 2extra 1D’s, like Tekki said, that would be overkill!
Go and spend that money on something else!!
The 4D is a controller that is also on top of my wishlist. I’ve seen Richie Hawtin using 2 1D’s and the xone 92, thats a very interesting setup too, but I don’t really get the difference between his setup and the 4D.
4D is with 4 EQ-rotaries
And the Xone:92 is indeed an amazing mixer, I’ve used it a couple of times and its the best I’ve ever used. If only I had the money…
the only reason i was thinking the extra 1D’s was to have more buttons faders etc. which therefore would create more possabilitys with mapping and performance. i was thinking dedicated knobs for FX and dedicated buttons (the A-Z buttons) to control que points
the 4D has only 3 EQ knobs - thus the idea to go with the 92
and also for transportation as the 4D is not a small item
4d only has 3 eq’s 92 has 4. the 92 also has the two extra aux channels, which mean the 92 and 2 1d’s is quite a bit larger than a 4d.
with the 92/1d combo you’d still need a soundcard (audio 8) which means extra cables. You could take 1 or 2 1d’s with the soundcard and plug into any house mixer.
you could do the same with a 4d if you just ran the booth out into a channel on the house mixer, and 1 usb cable you’d be set, but you’d still have to find table space for the 4d.
be careful buying a 4d now - there are major issues with the soundcard that A&H are not being very forthcoming with updates. Also the build quality on mine at least is nowhere near the standards expected from A&H.
A MacBook Pro 17 running Traktor Pro with a Xone 4D is my set up and it’s going v well for me so far (got the kit end of Nov).
However asides from some pootling about a few years ago on VDJ with a Hercules mk1 (didn’t get on with it so gave it to a mate who made much better use of it) this is my first serious dijital set up so I can’t really advise you whether there’s other kit that would be better than worse - I have to admit it was love at first sight
The planets aligned for me - a mixing programme that blew me away, a controller and mixer that screamed the future and a brilliant website here with a great community - all these things finally managed to prise me away from the 1210s and an unhealthy obsession for vinyl purchased between 90 - 98
Having spent some time surfing around a few of the problems reported seemed to focus on an early hardware issue that seems to be known and a fix available and driver compatability (but that hasn’t affected me - not sure if it’s because I’m still on 10.4 OS). Traktor Pro maturity issues are a common them but again I’ve been lucky (so far!).
One thing you mention - Portability - I’ve popped mine into a flight case and I’m able to carry it about so don’t envisage major issues. A small trolley won’t hurt mobility either.
Best of luck! Happy to do my best to answer any specifics (please beware I’m new and slowly getting into things but I will do my best to help where I can )
Thats what i am thinking too. with that set up there isn’t much further to go equipment wise and with the trusted names of Apple, Allen & Heath and Native Instruments you cant go wrong. I just like the possibilities (mapping wise) with the 4D because there is just so many buttons, faders and knobs.
What mapping are you using? just the standard?
I hope its because you are using 10.4 OS as im running the same lol. i purchased leopard but couldn’t use it until pro tools was working on 10.5. but after hearing a few problems with audio/midi software having problems with it i decided to stick with 10.4. i might put 10.5 on my other MBP 15"
