Beginner: Gemini DJ CNTRL-7 vs m-audio Torq Xponent vs Mixtrack Pro

35 weeks? Thought it was out in May sometime?

I wouldn’t expect these to appear for another 2-3 months yet.

Can’t recall.. we’l be reviewing as soon as we can.

Yousif, post: 21085, member: 2068 wrote: Yep, this controller doesn’t have gain control which is a shocker. I’m new to DJing & I would like to learn to do everything manually before I start using automation ie, I want to learn how to match the gain of two tracks before start using the auto gain feature in Traktor, for example.

It is handy to learn every thing for yourself with DJing; if you were using CDjs and mixer setup it would be good to know how to connect everything together correctly, how to manually beat match, and would also be good to know how to set gain correctly aswell. However times are changing, and you no longer need CDJs and you also no longer need to know how to connect everything together with them. You also do not need to know about setting gain. Its handy to know, but not essential. I wouldn’t make it a deal breaker personally.
Beatmatching on the otherhand is a skill worth learning, just in case the synch ever lets you down. This can be achieved by switching it off, covering the BPM indicator and practice practice practice.

Yousif, post: 21100, member: 2068 wrote: I know what you mean, but I wanna learn how to be able to mix on almost anything, that’s why I think I should learn all the basics & manual stuff before moving on to the more automated stuff. I’m talking from my experience with photography, I know the manual stuff & some advanced stuff but sometimes I don’t care about this and I set my SLR to fully auto or a scene and just press the shutter button & by knowing all that, if you give me an all manual fully pro camera I would still be able to use it & produce great images with it! You see where I’m going?

I didn’t say it was an absolute deal-breaker but it’s would’ve been great to have it there just for the sake of it being there that would make me that much more comfortable with picking or mixing with that controller over picking another controller!

I almost used the camera analogy myself!!

There are plenty of controllers out there (as you know) only some will tick all the boxes you need however. I bet you will find one that suits, use it for a while but then upgrade. This is what I did, although I already learnt on CDJs a long time before I took the leap into all digital. I’m glad I got the knowledge to know how to do everything the software now takes care of, as it can be invaluable. You are right to want to know how it all works first hand, sync can make you complacent as can anything that becomes automatic!!