Guess you noticed long questions like these don’t get fast answers sometimes.
And frankly you answered all your own questions … “Everyone seems to say any of the controllers will suit my needs as a beginner”.
And that is true for many reasons.
Your main goal seems to be scratching. And you can scratch on anything. Surely some jogs will be better suited for you than others. But the trick is, you don’t know IN ADVANCE what will work for you. That is why we urge every one to start on a starter controller. If it’s right for you, you were lucky and you will stay with what you got for your next upgrade. If it isn’t, you WILL know when it is time to upgrade what you DO need/want in your next controller.
If you are just learning to drive, you don’t need to worry about the syncro-mesh gearbox or the progressive power steering, you start driving. Once you have driving experience you will know enough to determine what kind of gearbox you would like best and whether or not you want progressive or no power steering.
Same for controllers.
You want to have the answer to questions that you truly can’t understand yet, for the simple reason that you lack the actual experience. There is really no reason to worry about up/channel faders, cross fader quality, number of FX buttons and all that on a starter controller. You will spend the first half year or even year (depending on the time and effort you put in) getting all the basics right (Tip: the How To Digital DJ Fast course is true value for money to teach you all the basics properly, avoiding lots of trial and error).
I had a little smile on my face when I read your question about looseness of the channel faders. I have been DJ-ing for close to 40 years now. I have played on everything from My First Sony to the kitchen sink. Trust me, looseness of faders is never an issue. With the possible exception of being a true scratch DJ with lots of experience, at which point you will choose a better cross-fader. But by the time you get to this skill level you will have outgrown your starter controller by miles.
Final word on the jogs. I know that the jogs on the MC2000 are the same as on it’s big brothers MC3000/MC6000 and those are pretty nice and good solid quality. Size matters though and they are not the biggest.
At the end of the day try to get some hands-on time in a store or something on all three options and feel the jogs.
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