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Personally I think spotify is highly overrated, mainly because you can’t use it to play out. There is an intermediate solution that would get you going with Spotify and a controller if you have an iPad laying around. You could get either the DDJ-Wego4 or the Reloop BeatPad 2 and use DJay (Pro) software on your tablet. All set.

I would forget about getting an intermediate or higher controller when starting. If you fear you will want to upgrade too soon (I predict you will need at the very least 6 months to a year of pretty regular practicing (not long hours but rather frequently) before you master all the basics enough to start figuring out what you are missing and/or want in your next controller. And that is if you take a course like the DDJT How To Digital DJ Fast one to get you started in the proper direction.

Should you worry about the upgrade thing, you can always opt to get a used starter controller. You can still resell it 6 months or a year later when you upgrade, but you will keep loads of money in your pocket towards the upgrade, buying music, a new laptop, good set of headphones. And should you lose interest, you might sell it for only half what you paid for it, but that would mean a loss of only 100 bucks or so.

Just my 3 cents worth.

While a good question and super good your are not jumping in blind, it’s also a very hard one to answer.

In essence any of the suggested starter controllers would do fine, using the LE/Lite version of software that will usually come with it. A set of monitor or small PA speakers (you can’t use the monitors for small parties as they are not made for that) and a good pair of headphones (Sennheiser HD-201 and only the 201! are a very cheap but great starter pair to help keep the budget down, the next best thing being 4-5 times as expensive) are also needed. Some cables and in case of PA speakers some stands. Also you would need a laptop (windows/mac) preferably just for DJ-ing or at least optimized for DJ-ing.

Another alternative is to get an iPad powered controller, software is cheaper, no need for a laptop.

The Pioneer DDJ-Wego 4 could be a good option there. Read the review over at the main site: http://www.digitaldjtips.com/?s=wego

There is of course the question of budget. Do you have one?

The only thing that has always bothered me about the WeGo is the lay-out. Never could get use to having the buttons so close to where they are to the jogs and in places where they can’t be found on any other controller.

Might just be old-fashioned, but think it needs a bit of attention before buying.

Wego 3 or 4 will do you perfectly. I used a wego 3 for a year on both my ipad and my macbook and was always happy with the sound quality and performance. If you want a crazy supercharged verson, look at the beatpad.

Depends on what you mean with “good with Spotify”. It plays tracks from Spotify, has a matching the playing track feature that can be handy in finding some new combinations. Not sure if the app does off-line Spotify tracks though.

As for controllers, the one that I found very pleasant was the Numark iDJ Pro. The iPad sits inside of the unit making use of the touch screen very easy. All that is missing imho is the channel faders, you get rotary volume for the channels.
Other options would be the Reloop BeatPad 2 and DDJ-Wego 3. All the other options are too far away from being a “standard” controller lay-out that I would not suggest them.

Should your friend ever decide to play out with his setup, be sure to tell him that it is illegal to play from Spotify for an audience/in public.

First choose your software.
Since accurate beatgridding seems important to you, also on tracks that can be “off” your choices are limited to Serato and Rekordbox, whereas I find Serato a little more intuitive. Other options would include Cross or VDJ, but they have a steeper learning curve with those controllers and DVS.

Now that we have that out of the way I guess you will want to go Serato or Rekordbox.
They are both very close competitors and look really similar, so either will work for most people. I prefer Serato solely because of Flip and TonePlay which Rekordbox does not have, but those are more expert features.

Nevertheless from the controllers you then are into the Pioneer RX or SX2 which both have standalone mixer capabilities and also support DVS. Controllers you did not mention that also can do this are the Denon MCX8000 (which is what I use) the DDJ-SZ and those are the ones from the top of my hat.
None of those support iPads.

However if you daughter is just wanting to play around a bit, you can get something like an old DDJ-WeGo, reloop Beatpad etc. in the used market very cheap (100 bucks or less) and she can use djay on the ipad which is great fun.

Wego3 not working properly with Cross Dj with the mapping from the mixvibes forum. and mapping for Traktor located on pioneerdj.com and it working much better than with Cross Dj.
Wego3 not the best option to use with Traktor, but its working. with Cross DJ its unable to use at all, only custom mapping will help., i think.

The wego does work natively with virtual dj and djay software if you decide later to abandon traktor

1st: Please post in the correct forum.

On-topic: We seriously advise against using non-Traktor controllers with Traktor and the other way around (using Traktor controllers with other software than Traktor). This seems to hold even more true for more recent models (like the Wego 3).

There is no official support from either Pioneer or Traktor, so you have to get it through user forums (like the Traktor Bible), if they can’t help you, it’s up to you to map one yourself. Unfortunately Traktor is also one of the least pleasant ones to create mappings for.

Unfortunately, nobody can tell you which software and controller are best for you. They can only tell you what is best for them.

If you use the search option you will soon find lots has been written on the topic of picking gear. That is not where it starts though. It starts with workflow, then software choice, then setting a budget, making a shortlist and finally picking the controller.

I would always suggest getting a starter controller first, you can always upgrade when you have figured out what it is you really want/need once you have some experience under the belt. It would be very nasty to find out that you bought an expensive high-end controller and 9 months in you have to conclude that it does not have some of the features you then know you want.

There is a list of likely suspects for starter controllers. You will also find those looking for earlier posts on the subject.

Non-tablet controllers that we think qualify an are a good fit for a starting DJ are, in no particular order:
* Pioneer DDJ-SB (both 1 and 2)
* Numark Mixtrack Pro (1 thru 3)
* Denon MC2000
* Traktor S2 (preferably only use with Traktor software)
* Reloop Beatmix 2

Tablet controllers:
* Reloop Beatpad (both 1 and 2)
* Numark iDJ Pro (best physical iPad integration ever)
* Pioneer WeGo 3 (different button lay-out making it my personal least favorite)

I would not worry too much about connections and such, the controller will most likely spend most of it’s maiden year sitting inside in your practice room and for the occasional house party you can always hook something up even if it isn’t an all-pro approach.

Some things like have dedicated filter knobs for example or track gain/trim options are way more important at this stage of your “career”.

You mention a few other things as well, like being able to use two different softwares. Apart from the cost component of having two separate platforms and the learning curve and keeping current on two softwares, there is more to DJ-ing with software than just putting tracks in that software. You need to prepare tracks (beat grids, cue points, loop points, etx.). If you have two platforms you have to do that for both and there is no way to easily sync them.Let;s say you are out at a gig and you come up with two cue points and a loop for two tracks where you get an amazing mix. You’d have to write it down in order to make sure you have that info next time you play with the other platform.

Something like this (if you are set on using both) could lead to selecting DJay Pro on both Mac and iPad if the track info can be synced between both.

There is no shame in not knowing what you don’t know yet. It’s where everyone started at some point or another. If you follow the best practice described you will soon end up picking something you feel confident will get you through that first year of practicing basic skills, building your collection and gaining that uber-important experience and knowledge to determine where to go after your starter controller.

In short, go read up on previous posts and if you have any questions left, please drop them here.

Hope that helps some.