Digital Dj Controllers vs. Mixers-beginner

There is nothing a CDJ can do, you cannot do with a beatmix.
Considering CDJs “a step up” is a wrong concept.

For example last weekend I DJed a festival with my trusty Terminal Mix (lots of people). After my set I packed the thing up of course and let the next DJ play (he had a NI S4).
In the middle of his set the manager came up to me and told me the next DJ has called in sick and if I could play another set. Since I had already packed, but always bring my backup USB drive, I agreed.
The club had of course 2 CDJs (I think 900s) with Link and a good A&H Xone mixer too. So I put in my USB thumpdrive and played another 90min set from the CDJs. I have never felt so limited again. Now the set was good and it was no problem, but I would have much preferred my controller and was angry I was too lazy to put it up again.

Well the moral of the story is not which controller did I use.
The moral of the story is: Why would you buy a mixer, so you may use CDJs later and therefore limit what you can do now.
If you buy a controller now (and the Beatmix is a good controller) you can do everything and more than most CDJs can right now and not limit yourself to just a mixer, a soundcard and a laptop.

From an economic standpoint midi controllers are always cheaper than mixers. From a “what to use” perspective its straight up personal decision. I too feel limited by CDJs because Im fond of my custom software effects and patches which could not be replicated by hardware (unless I had 3 -4000 euros to spend) and even then, still it would be limited to what I can achieve with controllers. But anyone’s mileage may vary.

Again though, speaking in terms of value for money, real mixers cant beat a well-thought out software-midi controller package. By well thought out, I mean that the user, you, has made some study beforehand, has decided which aspects of his software needs to have hands-on control and find the midi-controller that will offer the amount and tactile placement of physical controls (konbs, buttons, faders) on a surface that will suit his needs.

Of course there are mixers out there that cost like 30 euros, but really do you prefer adding a 30euro piece of equipment to your signal path? Remember, however cheap a midi controller may be, it DOES NOT alter your signal path!

😉