Bedroom DJ equipment

[The Flying Ox]

Had a play on a friend's Vestax 380 and turns out I have a reasonable ear for music. I'm after something I can tinker with to hone my "skills", not too flashy, not too pricey, not too basic.

Is there any reason not to choose the Denon MC2000 over the likes of the Numark Mixtrack Pro/Pro 2 or the Reloop Beatmix 2?

[Squirrelofwoe]

The Flying Ox said:

Had a play on a friend's Vestax 380 and turns out I have a reasonable ear for music. I'm after something I can tinker with to hone my "skills", not too flashy, not too pricey, not too basic.

Is there any reason not to choose the Denon MC2000 over the likes of the Numark Mixtrack Pro/Pro 2 or the Reloop Beatmix 2?

At that end of the controller budget it largely comes down to personal choice, all 3 of those are excellent choices at that budget. Normally I'd say pick a software first and then choose a controller that suits that software, but I believe all 3 of those are natively mapped for Serato DJ Intro anyway.

If you went with the Mixtrack though I would definitely make sure you get the Pro 2 rather than the standard Pro (most places have simply replaced with the newer model at the same price so shouldn't be an issue anyway).

If anything I would say the Mixtrack Pro 2 and the Reloop Beatmix 2 probably edge the Denon out as they are newer designs that also both incorporate pad sections (the Denon doesn't), and are both slightly cheaper than the Denon.

That said, I use a Denon x1600 mixer and a pair of Denon sc2900 decks and the build quality is as good as any DJ equipment out there so you this might be a reason to consider the MC2000.

At that end of the market though there are always going to be comprises to keep the price down, and personally I don't think you could go wrong with any of those controllers for starting out.

[GCH]

Traktor is many leagues better than serato. It used to be the other way round, but NI stuff is now the industry standard, and for good reason.

Traktor Pro2 and (ideally) two X1 controllers would be my suggestion.
If you feel that must have the physical jog control and have no turntables/CDJs to provide the timecode, then something like a NI S2 or an S4 will do the job nicely- you also get the full software bundled with either of these also.

With any of the NI stuff, if you decide you suck/dont like it, you would also be able to resell it for most of what you paid - even moreso if you were to buy used in the first place.
It is the same dilemma that used to exist with turntables or CDJs- buy decent pro standard gear in the first place, or buy lower grade with a view to upgrading later.

I would not recommend denon or numark DJ gear. Vestax make some great gear (my favorite ever DJ mixers are vestax), but in this case there are better options available to you.

Edited by GCH on Monday 14th July 12:46

[Squirrelofwoe]

I'd agree regarding Traktor over Serato, but it's worth pointing out that jog-wheel-less setups aren't for everyone, I've seen several people switch to these and them become bored after a few months and subsequently go back.

Why would you advise against Denon gear out of interest? I only ask as my Denon mixer + CDJs along with my old Vestax PDX turntables are the most reliable bits of kit I've owned. I previously owned Pioneer CDJ900s and traded them in for the Denon media players as I was getting fed up with the amount of times I was sending the CDJs back to Pioneer for fixes or 'fault-finding'.

My x1600 mixer is several years old now and gets taken all over the place (it's also my Traktor Scratch soundcard) and is completely bombproof.

I think at the OP's budget there are likely to be quality compromises whichever brand you go for, but it seems odd to write off entire brands- whilst I would generally avoid Numark CD players & mixers, the Mixtrack Pro is considered by many to be one of the best budget controllers out there and Numark also make the phenomenal NS7mk2...

[The Flying Ox]

Thanks for the replies. I'd like something with jog wheels really, and I don't have any other equipment at all. Also, the Native Instruments stuff is a bit out of budget really, especially for someone who is most likely only ever going to piss about with no-one else listening. I'm thinking £200 tops, and the lower the better.

I was also looking at extra controllers like the Akai LPD8, so doesn't really matter if the main controller doesn't have pads. I'll have a look round anyway.

Cheers.

[sp222]

hey - before I reply properly, I should let you know that I run NI UK, so forgive the bias ;-)

We don't have a controller at the same price point as Mix Track Pro and Pioneer DDJ-SB, but if you have an iPad, you could look at Traktor DJ on that, plus a Z1 controller from us. The Z1 is a pretty traditional mixer style controller and although you don't get jog wheels, you'd probably find that you'd be using the ipad more.

there is a 'hidden' transport control on the Z1 so if you push 'MODE' + 'A' or 'B', you can start and stop that deck

and the Z1 works with Traktor Pro if you want to use it with a different computer (it ships with LE)

Cheers

Steve