Digital DJ’s of urban…

[beesonthewhatnow]

Tell me about your setups. Pros, cons, shiny lights, knurled knobs, the lot.

I’m wanting to get back into DJing, have 1210’s and a lot of vinyl, but… nah. Not anymore. It’s all too much faff, especially as I’m wanting to play out/put on a night again.

So… Pioneer/Rekordbox? Standalone system or laptop/controller? Or go with Denon/Engine which is arguably a better system but isn’t to be found in any venue? Or something else - Serato/DJ Pro etc

What have you all got, sell it to me…

 

[moody]

I started again from scratch this year after having a few sets of 1210s back in the day.

I bought some new decks, xone 23, new laptop and traktor scratch a6 plus pro 3 software.

After a few minor issues setting up and getting started (digital and traktor all new to me) everything is working as it should.

I find it pretty straight forward but then i am just using the software and my decks, you can do a lot more with the software in terms of digital djing and some production stuff to regarding stems and remixes etc.

I've not tried any of the other packages but I read that they are all pretty much the same.

I guess if you're looking to play out, rekordbox could be good as majority of clubs are already using pioneer stuff so you'd have little issue with compatability where as if I took my laptop and external soundcard out to a gig I'd have to set it all up beforehand, there is no way I could start unplugging decks/cdjs from the back of a mixer to plug my stuff in halfway through a gig.

PS, the hardest thing is finding half decent tunes.

I am curreently only using bandcamp and must listen to hundreds of tunes everyother night and maybe only pick out less than half a dozen on a good day.

apart from beatport, juno, apple... any other places worth checking?

 

[ska invita]

Such a tricky one. So many variations and decisions to make depending on what you want your specific needs and dj life is.

Basically every club has a Pioneer mixer and two pioneer nexus CDJs.
To buy all that costs about 6k...and its pretty shit IMO.
I really dislike pioneer and resent their market dominance.
Im also sceptical about the longevity of this kit, both in the fact that CDJs are far from indestructible and also I wonder is there a new tech change coming soon.

I've got rekordbox free version installed purely so I can have a USB stick formatted ready for such a set up. But rekordbox is really crap compared to serato and supposedly you have to rent a copy if you want to use it with a controller. Scam shite. Though I think you do get some cloud storage with that? Which is pretty good tbf. Anyway fuck Pioneer!

And if you dont want to spend 4k on a pair of overpriced CDJs then the all in one controller is a sensible choice for the home...and this too can be a Pioneer if you want to lock in to their crap. The decision to make with controllers is do you get one without a display and connect a laptop running Serato or Rekordbox, or do you get one with a display. Ones with displays are more expensive of course.

Personally I find the display on Serato via a laptop just so good and above all useful that using a small controller display or the shit display on a CDJ feels like a massive step backwards. I'm very much in love with Serato. The fact Serato has/or is trying to be bought by Pioneer fills me with dread.


Like you I've got 1210s and so I need a mixer, which makes me not have a controller. I luv luv luv my Allen and Heath mixer - best mixer I've ever had the pleasure. The fact it is now no longer supported by Serato is another thorn in my side and means I wont update Serato right now. The whole software compatibility with hardware over time thing is another modern bullshit.

With Serato and 1210s you can of course mix using control vinyl for that 1210 experience, and allows for easy switching up to put a real record on. Personally Ive outgrown vinyl completely for mixing.... digital mixing is so much more fun and creative and ....it sounds better

So what I've done is buy two rudimentary numark CDjs, £100 each second hand, and use them with Serato. Theyre really great but dont have a display worth talking about so you need to use with a laptop. It works amazingly for me.

Then in club environments have to prep a Rekordbox USB. Then with one of my DJ crews we all use Serato via 1210s, so that matches nicely. Thats another factor you might want to think about...are you going to be regularly djing with a group of people? What are their set ups? How best to be compatible? Switching between two laptops can have its awkward issues...another topic.


Fact is you can have a permanent home set up with mixer decks and somekind of CDJ AND you can have a more portable controller for when that is useful, AND have a rekordbox USB stick.

Right now Im curious to see what the next two or three years will bring as I have a feeling there's going to be more standardisation and reduction of choice coming.




ive also got this little DJ2GO controller for mixing in bed, on the sofa, on holiday etc. Wicked little thing, about £60 I think. Better still if interested in that get the Hercules Starlight, thats got a bass fader and a filter, I wish Id got that instead of the DJ2GO.



Presumably as you have 1210s you also have a mixer....so maybe invest in some CDJS of some description?
I think laptop software (Serato or Rekordbox) is just much more fun and involved so I would go for one of those. I dont know about Traktor but Serato is very much superior to Rekordbox IME.

Im not much of a fan of controllers - theyre handy but they feel lightweight, the mixing experience is less satisfying, and the EQ + FX on my A&H mixer just make me never want to use anything else.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

So, I’ve bought a Pioneer FLX4 controller. First impressions are it’s a lot of fun, and does everything I need for now.

Rekordbox is shite though. Instead I’m using it with Algoriddm Djay Pro. If’s so, so much better, and the FLX4 maps onto it perfectly. The “fluid beatgrid” feature is witchcraft. All the vinyl rips I have where the tempo sometimes drifts a bit Rekordbox simply couldn’t cope with. Djay… they just work. Every single beat locked on.

Loving it so far.

 

[ska invita]

So, I’ve bought a Pioneer FLX4 controller. First impressions are it’s a lot of fun, and does everything I need for now.

Rekordbox is shite though. Instead I’m using it with Algoriddm Djay Pro. If’s so, so much better, and the FLX4 maps onto it perfectly. The “fluid beatgrid” feature is witchcraft. All the vinyl rips I have where the tempo sometimes drifts a bit Rekordbox simply couldn’t cope with. Djay… they just work. Every single beat locked on.

Loving it so far.

that looks like a good value controller, post back if you have any issues with it
i particularly appreciate the coloured light scheme - red gold and green are the only colours that should be used on audio equipment, the modern use of blue upsets me

glad its not just me who cant get on with rekordbox...I wonder if this is partially why pioneer are buying serato, so as to sort out the software aspect (and kill all competition).

wishing you a lot of fun with it

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

that looks like a good value controller, post back if you have any issues with it
i particularly appreciate the coloured light scheme - red gold and green are the only colours that should be used on audio equipment, the modern use of blue upsets me

glad its not just me who cant get on with rekordbox...I wonder if this is partially why pioneer are buying serato, so as to sort out the software aspect (and kill all competition).

wishing you a lot of fun with it

The library management aspects of Rekordbox seem better. Which I guess makes sense as they’re aiming it at people using USB sticks on multiple setups in clubs. But in almost every other way Djay seems superior. I really can’t praise the fluid beatgrid highly enough. All those who bemoan use of the sync button really need to pull their heads out their arse. Stick to vinyl, or embrace the tech. Seems daft to have so much functionality available and not use it…

 

[ska invita]

The library management aspects of Rekordbox seem better. Which I guess makes sense as they’re aiming it at people using USB sticks on multiple setups in clubs. But in almost every other way Djay seems superior. I really can’t praise the fluid beatgrid highly enough. All those who bemoan use of the sync button really need to pull their heads out their arse. Stick to vinyl, or embrace the tech. Seems daft to have so much functionality available and not use it…

serato has features that never cease to amaze me
-i forget the name... pitch+time?.... something or other, means when you jog a tune faster or slower the pitch remains the same so speed change is unnoticeable, genius
-being able to change the key of a song to mix in key
-new version has feature that can let you separate the musical elements of a track, turn any tune into an acapella, just have the drum part etc
-far from unique to serato but creating loops on the fly is such an important feature to avoid melodic clashes + just make interesting mixes
...its all just so much more creative and interesting that straight vinyl mixing
and frankly sync button just saves the 30 seconds to get it in time anyway, allowing more time to think and execute a mix in a musical fashion

the physical feel of records and 1210s is great though

 

[souljacker]

-new version has feature that can let you separate the musical elements of a track, turn any tune into an acapella, just have the drum part etc

Is that the stem thing? One of the lads at work is a part-time pro and he swears by Serato purely because of this.

I have a DDJ-400 with Rekordbox. I used to have a beaten up Hercules controller that I used with Traktor but it died so I bought the DDJ. The controller itself is great. Well built, great sound quality and loads of extra features like looping, hot cues, fx etc. But fuck me, Rekordbox is a heap of shit. It's track analysis is awful compared to Traktor, it can't broadcast shows natively and it ALWAYS needs an update, every time I start it up. I keep meaning to try and find a good controller map so I can use it with Traktor.

 

[chemn]

serato has features that never cease to amaze me
-i forget the name... pitch+time?.... something or other, means when you jog a tune faster or slower the pitch remains the same so speed change is unnoticeable, genius ...

I think the pioneer stuff does this too.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Djay does all that as well

 

[ska invita]

Is that the stem thing? One of the lads at work is a part-time pro and he swears by Serato purely because of this.

I have a DDJ-400 with Rekordbox. I used to have a beaten up Hercules controller that I used with Traktor but it died so I bought the DDJ. The controller itself is great. Well built, great sound quality and loads of extra features like looping, hot cues, fx etc. But fuck me, Rekordbox is a heap of shit. It's track analysis is awful compared to Traktor, it can't broadcast shows natively and it ALWAYS needs an update, every time I start it up. I keep meaning to try and find a good controller map so I can use it with Traktor.

yeah the stems... i havent actually tried it myself becasue if i update serato it will stop working directly directly with my mixer and also with the RaneSL4 box which we use at festivals.... this is where digital stuff becomes bullshit - drivers and compatibility and built in driver obsolescence. Im going to try and find a work around for all this in the new year

and yeah im sure rekordbox has a lot/all of this but its ugly , not user friendly, and fuck renting software

 

[sim667]

On the comment about CDJ’s being very expensive I’ve got Denon SC5000’s and the layout is almost identical to CDJ’s.

Unfortunately I haven’t had the chance to use them in months but I plan to get back into it all now I’ve finished my college course. My plan was to get back into it over Xmas before I got covid

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

On the 1’s and, errr, 0’s?

 

[Grandma Death]

I have the first model of the Pioneer XDJ series-I would thoroughly recommend them. Pictured first is my model and then the latest in the series. You'll love digital DJing. I took a break from DJing to clear my room for first child. I swore Id get back into it and in 2016 I bought the XDJ. There's so much more you can do with digital than vinyl. It definitely makes for a more creative DJ.

 

[skyscraper101]

My setup. A DDJ-200 and a macbook air.



Rekordbox does everything I need it to. I mostly just play pre-downloaded tracks, but I like the ability to subscribe to services like Beatsource Pro or Tidal for that extra flexibility.

 

[Ted Striker]

So I am getting back into it all, having mixed on CDJ's (with CD's) from 2000-2009ish...I've now got a Pioneer XDJ XZ, an XDJ1000 (because I had a good price on one and think I'm the sort of DJ who is always doing 3 deck mixes ) and a Pioneer deck (500 something?) that has a USB out so I can buy stuff off discogs that didn't make it to MP3.

The management of the music is a real headfuck, and requiring way too much brainspace. I've already built an app in Excel that renames and orders all my tunes.

Rekordbox is an astonishingly poor product. I stagger to think this is years old, the lack of flexibility and mind-blowingly bad user workflows required to analyse tunes and put them on a memory stick blows my mind.

• So you've put all your music in different directories? Sorry that sort of information will be lost on import. You can constantly re-drag and drop all of them into playlists though.
• You want to refresh a directory that holds all your music? Easy, simply drag and drop the same directory (no, I won't automatically re-poll that same directory), and then in a quick 10 click manual pricess remove duplicates and any removed files.

I could go on tbh.

Acquiring music is a bittersweet discovery that Soulseek is (still) hard to beat. I consciously absolutely 100% try to buy anything on Beatport, Tracksource or Bandcamp, but the reality is there is too much stuff that isn't there. The concept of owning a physical MP3 (and not stream it) seems to be falling out of fashion.

Also amazed non-ones built a DJ/mp3 aggregator website like Justwatch.

 

[editor]

I have the first model of the Pioneer XDJ series-I would thoroughly recommend them. Pictured first is my model and then the latest in the series. You'll love digital DJing. I took a break from DJing to clear my room for first child. I swore Id get back into it and in 2016 I bought the XDJ. There's so much more you can do with digital than vinyl. It definitely makes for a more creative DJ.

That's the second model! I have the first model and it's still pretty damn good:

 

[Grandma Death]

That's the second model! I have the first model and it's still pretty damn good:

View attachment 407174

Isnt that the Aero? I always thought he XDJ-RX was the first in the XDJ series....could be wrong.

 

[editor]

I'm technically a pro DJ as I am - or at least was - scraping a living from DJing. My set up is a mess but it works for me, and for that reason I'm sticking with it for now - but what I do doesn't need any kind of beatmatching, In fact I fucking hate it when pop songs seamlessly merge into the next one with a 'Stars on 45' vibe.

So I'm still predominantly using CDs - I like the randomness they introduce because I can never find the right one in time - supplemented by a USB stick and a cheap Chromebook for emergency Spotify songs.

At some point I know I'll have to get rid of the CDs but there's something about seeing the tracks printed out the and the sometimes odd combinations I've burnt together that I think can take away some of the predictability of scrolling on a laptop.

 

[editor]

Isnt that the Aero? I always thought he XDJ-RX was the first in the XDJ series....could be wrong.

You're wrong!

 

[Fez909]

So, I’ve bought a Pioneer FLX4 controller. First impressions are it’s a lot of fun, and does everything I need for now.

Rekordbox is shite though. Instead I’m using it with Algoriddm Djay Pro. If’s so, so much better, and the FLX4 maps onto it perfectly. The “fluid beatgrid” feature is witchcraft. All the vinyl rips I have where the tempo sometimes drifts a bit Rekordbox simply couldn’t cope with. Djay… they just work. Every single beat locked on.

Loving it so far.

I have the older version of this, the DDJ-400. It looks almost identical to yours. The biggest problem for me, by far, is the lack of a cue output. I managed to get it working by doing some complicated routing using my soundcard, but I can't remember how I did it, and so I've only used it once, and that was a year ago.

Does the FLX4 have a way to have a separate cue out (for headphones)?

 

[Grandma Death]

You're wrong!

View attachment 407175

Yep just did some googling-this came out 2 years before my model....you learn something new every day!

 

[Fez909]

I have the older version of this, the DDJ-400. It looks almost identical to yours. The biggest problem for me, by far, is the lack of a cue output. I managed to get it working by doing some complicated routing using my soundcard, but I can't remember how I did it, and so I've only used it once, and that was a year ago.

Does the FLX4 have a way to have a separate cue out (for headphones)?

Correction. I have the DDJ200. Looks like the DDJ400 has headphone cueing. As does yours.

I bought the wrong one

 

[Grandma Death]

Now Pioneers latest model aesthetically I hated but Im starting to warm to it its look now....but its very pricey....

 

[skyscraper101]

Correction. I have the DDJ200. Looks like the DDJ400 has headphone cueing. As does yours.

I bought the wrong one

I think this is overcome by outputting the mix in mono and using the spare channel for a cue output? I could be wrong. I've only played out with it once but I was definitely cuing up on the fly.

 

[editor]

I'm selling a brand new DDJ400 if anyone's interested!

 

[Fez909]

I'm selling a brand new DDJ400 if anyone's interested!

Maybe. Let me check what sky said above first, but I might be interested.

 

[skyscraper101]

Maybe. Let me check what sky said above first, but I might be interested.

There should have been a splitter cable included with the DDJ-200 - this is what you use to send the channels each way to the mix and to the cans.

 

[ska invita]

I like the ability to subscribe to services like Beatsource Pro or Tidal for that extra flexibility.

whats the deal with that, i.e. what do you pay and get?

its probably a good deal for many, but Im with moody , i find so few tunes I like I doubt it would be worth it for me!

 

[ska invita]

• So you've put all your music in different directories? Sorry that sort of information will be lost on import. You can constantly re-drag and drop all of them into playlists though.
• You want to refresh a directory that holds all your music? Easy, simply drag and drop the same directory (no, I won't automatically re-poll that same directory), and then in a quick 10 click manual pricess remove duplicates and any removed files.

YESSS!!! Thank you, I feel consoled knowing its not just me using it wrong

Also amazed non-ones built a DJ/mp3 aggregator website like Justwatch.

What does that mean/refer to? What would you like it to do?