› Forums › Music › Sound Equipment › Decent MIDI DJ Controller for Traktor?
- This topic has 18 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated February 11, 2011 at 7:28 am by dequity93.
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February 1, 2011 at 7:44 pm #1050359
I’m looking at getting myself a MIDI controller for Traktor. Trouble is, there’s such a huge range of them available from all these weird brands that I’ve never heard of, I don’t know which ones are any good or not.
Anyone have any favourites?
At the moment I’m not sure whether to go with the cheaper option of a combined controller/audio IO like the Hercules RMX or get a half-decent audio interface from a professional audio company I trust (e.g. a Focusrite Saffire) and some sort of MIDI controller. I just don’t trust some of these DJ companies to do audio properly (I might just be being a snob, but I don’t want something that uses the same DA converters as the line-out on a cheap laptop).
I was tempted to get that Behringer BCD2000 as it’s under £100 on some sites, but there are so many bad reviews online (it has lots of compatibility issues) I’ve been put off.
So, any recommendations, or products I should steer clear of? Not looking to spend more than £400 really.
Cheers
Edit: Oh, and the more buttons the better – don’t see the point in using Traktor unless I can make use of all its cool features without clicking around with the mouse
February 3, 2011 at 10:37 pm #1235031Traktor Kontrol S4 looks like the daddy, not cheap though.
February 4, 2011 at 12:12 am #1235026That does look good – not got £750 to spunk on dj gear at the moment tho! Chemical Records is just down the road from me – I reckon I’ll go on Sat and have a play with a few.
February 4, 2011 at 12:29 am #1235032I use a stanton SCS, maybe not the most professional tool in the world but it’s pure fun!
February 4, 2011 at 7:48 pm #1235027Not sure about that man, I get pissed off with my touchscreen phone on a daily basis – I think a knobless dj mixer would get put through the window within a matter of hours! Looks pretty though.
I may end up just getting one of those Behringers – it’s only a hundred quid or so and if it doesn’t work or sounds shit it can get sent back.
February 6, 2011 at 5:12 am #1235033Don’t judge this touch pad compared to the shitty touch screen phones, feels completely different.
February 6, 2011 at 9:25 am #1235021behinger sounds shit and probably ruin your weekend…. my old boss thought he could get away with delivering behringer equipment together with the tents, table and everything you need to get married etc…but what he saved in buying that he lost in bad weekend of running around swapping gear….in the middle of the summer we bought some numark…still not expensive but it stood its test…that reason I say this is that behringer means greif and sorrow and its not for party, play or anything else but a beach bar in benidorm, spain where the owner do not like customers…
February 6, 2011 at 11:49 am #1235020I saw a reasonable numark controller which looked better than the Berhinger and wasn’t too expensive but have forgotten its model number (and maybe there is now a new one).
the stanton touch screen pad is well laid out but some people prefer the tactile feedback that traditional mixers have. touch sensitive technology is itself 30 years old (though combining it with a LCD screen is relatively new)
it also has the advantage (particularly in professional situations) its not so easy to press a button by mistake… in somewhere like a radio studio or TV control room or mainstream recording studio the overall concept of control room layouts haven’t changed in 20-30 years despite everything going digital.
February 6, 2011 at 5:54 pm #1235028I just bought a Hercules 4MX. Build quality is nice – solid metal box with decent-feeling controllers.
I’ve just spent all afternoon mapping the controls from Traktor onto it as there isn’t a MIDI map available for it yet that works. Really impressed with it so far – I’ll have to compare the sound of it with my MBox when I get time.
I checked out that Behringer BCD too – looks and feels pretty plasticky and naff. Ironically, when it comes to sound quality though I’d tend to trust Behringer over a lot of these new DJ brands – they have a bad rep in the professional audio industry for making low-cost clones of established equipment, but their gear is a lot better nowadays (they keep cost down by having complete control over their supply chain – Youtube ‘Behringer City’ for a tour of their factory). Behringer do make pro mixing desks and other equipment, so they already have decent (by DJ standards) D-A converters at their disposal to put in new products.
February 7, 2011 at 12:47 am #1235030@!sinner69! 418848 wrote:
behinger sounds shit and probably ruin your weekend…. my old boss thought he could get away with delivering behringer equipment together with the tents, table and everything you need to get married etc…but what he saved in buying that he lost in bad weekend of running around swapping gear….in the middle of the summer we bought some numark…still not expensive but it stood its test…that reason I say this is that behringer means greif and sorrow and its not for party, play or anything else but a beach bar in benidorm, spain where the owner do not like customers…
Would you say it was a bad idea to buy a bhringer midi keyboard then? If so why?
February 7, 2011 at 1:02 am #1235022they are shite, they say it is pro standard but thats a big fucking lie….if the problem was with one of their products, monday speaker for instance, that happens but when almost five sets speakers, mixer, cables etc was ready for the dump before summer had begun….it looks ok but when you go into detail all connecters are bad, consolsplastic thin…bad copper so some moist make it burn….I know the way they present them selves is very pro but basic quality have its price….and when you buy their products for less money than others, you get a product that is ready for the dump almost before it leaves the shop
February 7, 2011 at 1:04 am #1235034@!sinner69! 418998 wrote:
they are shite, they say it is pro standard but thats a big fucking lie….if the problem was with one of their products, monday speaker for instance, that happens but when almost five sets speakers, mixer, cables etc was ready for the dump before summer had begun….it looks ok but when you go into detail all connecters are bad, consolsplastic thin…bad copper so some moist make it burn….I know the way they present them selves is very pro but basic quality have its price….and when you buy their products for less money than others, you get a product that is ready for the dump almost before it leaves the shop
That’s some hate right there! raaa
February 7, 2011 at 1:22 am #1235023that came straight from heart, when you do your best to make a wedding or 60 yrs bday a perfect as possible, and then just because your boss got fooled by behringer’s marketing dept it all goes up in gear break down…..you have to stand there and try to save what is to be saved of good party mood… they have probably paid 10 000 pounds for the perfect day/party…. no excuse for that…other than get gear that can meet pro standard, keep it simple…
February 9, 2011 at 9:31 pm #1235029Some of their outboard stuff is not too bad, and my Behringer DJ mixer is still going strong after almost 10 years.
Gotta admit though I’ve not been impressed with their speakers – I had a look at my mate’s Behringer Truth active monitors a few weeks back cos they were making a massive buzz when the power was on. When I opened them up the same capacitor had exploded on each speaker’s amp board. I assumed he’d just been ragging the speakers if he’d managed to blow the same component on both of them, so I changed the cap for a more resilient one. Switched it on, big fuckoff mains hum and the cap explodes before I get a chance to turn the power off. Turned out a faulty rectifier (same fault on both speakers) was putting mains AC into the audio signal path! Fucking sketchy.
February 9, 2011 at 10:39 pm #1235036numark omni control is what i use, its decent, has good mapping for traktors controls as well, and is sturdy and has taken a beating over the year i have had it.
beers spills, drops, scratches etc but its still going strong 🙂February 10, 2011 at 12:29 pm #1235025That Traktor Kontrol S4 contoller looks nice!
Do you use a laptop to run Traktor? If so which one?
Can anyone recommend the best laptop to run Traktor from. (Heard Macs are best, but not cheap!)
February 10, 2011 at 10:48 pm #1235037i just use a standard laptop, kontrol s4 has its own soundcard built in!
all you need is a decent laptop with some decent ram, and enough space to store all your music :weee:
i’ve got 4gbs ram, shared graphics memory an a 500gb hardrive with a 2.4ghz dual processor and it runs smooth as anything, no problems at all.
i own the omni control though, which is a slightly different version of traktor, however the system requirements are the same.
OOOOOH and they have just announced traktor 2, it comes out april 1st so might be worth either waiting around for the old stuff to drop in price OR buy the new one?
either way at the end of the day have fun with it. :group_hug
February 10, 2011 at 11:52 pm #1235035@dequity93 419351 wrote:
i just use a standard laptop, kontrol s4 has its own soundcard built in!
all you need is a decent laptop with some decent ram, and enough space to store all your music :weee:
i’ve got 4gbs ram, shared graphics memory an a 500gb hardrive with a 2.4ghz dual processor and it runs smooth as anything, no problems at all. <
I HAVE THIS AS WELLi own the omni control though, which is a slightly different version of traktor, however the system requirements are the same.
OOOOOH and they have just announced traktor 2, it comes out april 1st so might be worth either waiting around for the old stuff to drop in price OR buy the new one?
either way at the end of the day have fun with it. :group_hug
Or just PM me and i’ll send you a free cracked link to Traktor pro.
February 11, 2011 at 7:28 am #1235038or i spose there is the free way :love:
hahaa -
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› Forums › Music › Sound Equipment › Decent MIDI DJ Controller for Traktor?