Which setup to go for next

Just a few points here:

I’m s hobby dj that does online radio . I don’t play out but maybe one day as the station I’m on has done events in the past

Might wanna look at Yamaha AG03/06 mixer as an add-on. It’s positioned as webcasting tool and I must say it packs a lot of power into a very small unit that will happily live next to your controller.

2 channels . I’m going to digital exclusively so don’t really need 4

The two are not mutually exclusive, many controllers offer the option of swapping decks (and are called 4-deck controllers), in which case having 4 channels is far preferable to having 2. Again, if you don’t feel you need them, don’t worry about it.

Decent jog wheels as I don’t quite get these controllers without jogs . How do you adjust of a track starts running away

While I agree with your wish for jogs, on jogless units you’d either use the nudge buttons or (like on the S8/S5) a sort of needle strip. Not having tested it myself I can’t really comment, but people that do have the experience say that after some getting used to it actually works well enough (for the purpose). Since they are Traktor built, I guess lots of DJs utilize sync anyway because of all the other things they want to have going on from within Traktor (Stems, Remix decks, etx).

Maybe the short pitches on better stuff are OK but I find my mixtrack is not fine enough

Pitch sensitivty is the result of both pitch length and resolution coupled with range. Small length and low resolution leads to lesser performance, where you can only really get any kind of accuracy if you use the smallest range available (4-6bpm). By default this leads to the conclusion that long, high res faders are the best, and they are. But they take up a lot of real estate and generally speaking, high quality short(er) faders with high res will do very well, especially in the smaller ranges. So it really does depend on what kind of bpm range control you are typically looking for and even the percentage of the time you manually beat match and when you use sync (no shame in that imho).

You are well on your way of defining your workflow. And from there you can pick your software of choice. The Big Three have morphed into the Major Six as far as I am concerned:
* Traktor (works best with Traktor gear and vice versa)
* Serato
* RekordBox DJ
* Virtual DJ
* DJay Pro (Mac only)
* Mixvibes Cross

Personally I have never subscribed to the whole Pioneer hype. Lot’s of it has been marketing and outlandish pricing. And I have been a Denon DJ user since way way back and that love still sticks based on functionality and build quality. I have always felt that Denon has a better eye for what the mobile DJ wants than any of the other brands. And being a (mainly) mobile DJ that is important to me.

One of the most promising controllers for me personally is the MCX8000. Again, great for mobile jocks, bit overkill for your style of DJ-ing perhaps. Clearly Pioneer has some serious controllers. And depending on your software choice you can go for the S or R series.

As far as getting laughed at:
a) don’t worry about it. If you show up with a controller (even the big ones) you might get laughed at by the CDJ boys, if you show up with CDJs you can get laughed at by the vinyl boys and if you show up with vinyl, you might get laughed at by all the others for being a dinosaur (not likely but still).
b) let your music do the talking. Rock that house and know it and you don’t have to worry what others think.
c) the only people that even care what gear you use are “fellow” DJs, the only people in the house that really matter are the audience. Be sure you know who you are there for.
d) just shrug it off and do your thing.

Denon: As said, primarily aimed at mobile DJ’s. I have had the MC6000 mk1, the mk2 is as strong (built like the proverbial tank) but layed out slightly more clever to give DJs a bit of extra finger space. Jogs are very high quality but not the biggest.

The 4000 has a bit more modern look and feel, as well as not being as cramped as the 6000. The 3000 is discontinued for a while now, so I’d always opt for 4000. Denon jogs have no visual indicators (bar on the MCX8000), so they’d not be suitable for you.

Personally I don’t really care about visual indicators. Having played on stuff that never had it for the longest time, you learn to use other indicators (open channel fader, position crossfader, nowadays laptop scree, etx). Another “trick” if you like is to leave the cue button on for your next track. It serves as a simple reminder of what channel to start, especially when there is all sorts of stuff going on in the booth.

Agreed on the CDJs, even with RekordBox USB they are only slightly better than the CDJs without. And it would take Nexus2 players at 2k a piece to get the full info out of them in hi-res color screens. And still you’d be lacking hardwired features you’d have on a controller. BTW, don’t mistake RekordBox (for USB on CDJs) with RekordBox DJ, the latter being full-fledged DJ software that needs a laptop/computer to run.

The Denon’s are about 105mm (say slightly more than 4″), the ones on the MC4000 are different and do look slightly bigger – bit like the MTP ones – but don’t know for sure. The pitchfader on the MC4000 is a nice, longish 100mm/4″.

And funny enough I do totally agree with Vintage. What is especially off putting for me with Pioneer is, that they ask 800-1000 bucks for controllers that are not as durable as Denons cheaper offerings.

The NS6 is also past its prime…