Expandable dj gear set plan – behringer and ni

@Dieverse: I am a bit curious. It’s no secret that the jogwheel integration of non-NI gear with Traktor is sub-par. While some claim they don’t really feel it’s a big problem for “normal” (pitch & bend, search) use, the general consensus is that it IS a noticeable and therefor unwanted effect when scratching. Hence the advice to use only NI gear as it’s the only gear that has good Traktor jogwheel integration.

@OP: While at current you can still use third-party (i.e. Behringer) gear with Traktor software – albeit it with diminishing support from NI, the direction the company has been moving, it is becoming highly unlikely that there will any third-party support left when a new major release (3.x anybody?) hits the streets, which looking at the years 2.x has been around can’t be THAT far in the future anymore.
While you are of course free to buy whatever it is you want, this -imho- is something to take into consideration. We can’t guarantee this is going to happen, but the jogwheel integration issue is real already, as are multiple reports from readers that they are not getting support on their third party gear from NI anymore. So, better forewarned.\

As for Behringer gear, you will find a few fans here and a few people that have, let’s say, lesser experience with the brand.
I guess it’s ok if you want to go the budget route and not buy NI gear, just be aware that you are not getting NI gear level quality either.

Finally, on the sound card. It can not be any old sound card, but -unless something has changed- you’ll need a supported sound card (and you are back mainly to NI gear), which have a higher price tag than generic sound cards.

Good luck with your decision.

@Dieverse: I am a bit curious. It’s no secret that the jogwheel integration of non-NI gear with Traktor is sub-par. While some claim they don’t really feel it’s a big problem for “normal” (pitch & bend, search) use, the general consensus is that it IS a noticeable and therefor unwanted effect when scratching. Hence the advice to use only NI gear as it’s the only gear that has good Traktor jogwheel integration.

Well in the review I mentioned above, and to quote Steve who was the reviewer “The jogwheel integration is fantastic with Traktor, among the best non-Native Instruments controllers we’ve tested” I read that review before I bought the controller and because of how much he’s into his scratching I went on that.
Seems to work fine for me.
The funny thing is that the software ‘Deckadance’ that is supplied with the controller according to the above review has a terrible latency issue with the jogwheel.

Also in another blog article addressing the vinyl purist’s claim that you cannot scratch with controllers he highlighted a video with a guy scratching with Traktor and a Denon MC-3000 which he mentions is a non-Native controller.
So I’m guessing that not all third party controllers are problematic.

Unfortunately NI have never made a single jogwheel controller as far as I know, and they seem only interested in touch strips with the exception of the S2/S4

It’s funny, now that I’ve started to scratch (and in Traktor too, as the Synner 3 prototype doesn’t support scratching at this time, using a Terminal Mix 8), I started to wonder when this latency issue was going to start to affect me.

Over on DJTT recently, we were having a discussion about it, and after doing the math, it was pointed out that the average guitarist performing on stage has to deal with more latency than most DJ controllers – it’s just a fact of life when performing with most non-acoustic gear. Heck, the latency I was used to from a decade and change playing keyboards with MIDI was, as you might expect, pretty much the exact same as the latency when playing a DJ controller… via MIDI. Makes sense.

So, while I am sure there are some people for whom that latency is going to be a big deal in their scratch performances, I think in a whole lot of cases we’re also seeing the same thing as the people who insist the music is much better when recorded at 24 bit and 96KHz… the latency from DVS is going to be a whole lot worse.

That said, I am by no means an expert, so take all this with a grain of salt.