C-Dale

Wow, thanks for all the help so far! I was half expecting everyone to take one look at the essay of an OP and click straight back out haha 🙂 I’ll try to keep this one a bit shorter, but i can’t make any promises!

RE the Behringer issue – the responses given, while possibly stronger than i was expecting, are pretty much why i thought to ask in the first place really. I just wondered if the general negative stance would be softened at all as the price of that particular unit goes down if you know what i mean? On reflection though i think i probably already knew the answer!

With regards to going for something like the S4 or Terminal Mix 8, as much as i would love to i just don’t think i can justify handing over that kind of money unfortunately, even if i was to save up for it. Maybe in the future if i ever start doing paid gigs or something, but at the moment there’s no guarantees that i’ll ever get out of my own house! (To DJ i mean, i’ll probably nip out for a takeaway later on tonight actually)
@ D-Jam – I also really like the look of the 4Trak, but the same financial issue applies to this as well sadly as it seems to only be available for around the same sort of price as the S4 / TM8.

Based on the advice so far, and after looking into Serato a little bit since posting my original message, i am now wondering if i might actually be better off going down that route rather than Traktor. Especially if, as you mentioned Vintage, it’s better suited to DJing with anything other than modern dance music. As well as opening up a lot more options for controllers, feature-wise i can’t really see anything i’d be missing out on, and i was even pleasantly surprised to see that there’s a plug in for video djing, which is something i’m interested in experimenting with down the line, as i already do a bit of video work in my day job! Also, one thing i didn’t mention in my original post (if you can believe that) is that i also have an iPad, and i see that there is a Serato Remote app available which looks very interesting as well. In fact the only downsides i can see are the fact that i can’t try it out now without a controller, and the slightly higher cost than Traktor (although admittedly i wouldn’t need to get all of the plug-ins and add-ons straight away).
@ DJ Vintage – i didn’t really know anything about Mixvibes either until you mentioned it, but on first glance that also looks quite interesting, especially at that price, so i might give the trial a go and see how i get on.

So with all that in mind then, and based on your suggestions, i think i probably am now leaning towards the likes of the Mixtrack Pro 2 etc. I must admit i do quite like the look of the Reloop Beatmix 4 at around the £200 mark (although less so since it no longer includes the full Serato), but to be honest I’m still not entirely sure about the whole 2- or 4-deck dilemma, and having the option of adding my iPad to the mix (or something like the Neon) just confuses me more if anything!

One other controller that has caught my eye actually, even though it’s a possibly a bit of an outside choice, is the Novation Twitch. I think i’d ignored it initially just because it doesn’t really come up a lot on the usual best or recommended lists, but having looked at it in a bit more detail it looks like it might be quite a good fit, and seems pretty good value as it includes a free upgrade to full Serato, and can be picked up for around £170-£200. It even sounds like it’s one of the better non-NI controllers to use with Traktor, just in case i end up switching back to that (or flipping between both). Aside from the obvious (jogwheels), is there anything else i should be wary of?

@ Tonecraft – I also spent quite a while eyeing up the Launchkey Mini before buying it, and then typically not long after i did the price dropped! I do really recommend it though if you’re thinking about one (especially now at around £60), it’s really nice to use with the likes of Ableton, but if you’ve got an iPad you can have quite a lot of fun with the Launchkey & Launchpad apps!

@ Dj Vintage – The speaker thing is another issue altogether to be honest, and probably one i’ll have to leave for now! I wasn’t really meaning to suggest i planned on using monitors playing out though 🙂 although it would be nice to only have to invest in one set, so maybe a hybrid will be the best option. As gimmicky as they possibly are, i do actually quite like the look of those new Numark Lightwave speakers they had at NAMM.. it’ll be interesting to see some reviews when they get released!