Sampler choices

Easiest way: Add a laptop and use your system in HID control mode – all of the major softwares have samplers now. If you don’t want to do that and instead want to look at hardware options, the only thing that pops into my head is the RMX-1000. Beyond that I suspect you’d have to look at somehow integrating production style equipment into your setup.

Hi Mark, what part of LOL (Laughing Out Loud) and 😀 (Big Smile Smiley) gave you the idea I was being serious?

Lighten up my man. This is THE no flame forum of the internet.

On-topic: We always advise people to start their journey to buying DJ gear by looking at their (desired) worfklow and work from there. If you are a beginning DJ, we suggest you buy a (relatively) inexpensive controller to start learning on. After a while when you DO know your workflow (which might suddenly include the need for performance pads/slicer/samplers) you can go look for an upgrade to your gear. You would not have spent the fortune you have (even non-Nexus your setup would amount to an easy 3.500 euro purchase) on something that lacks things that turn out desirable or needed for your expanded workflow.

And, unfortunately and frankly, we get quite a few people on here who have bought gear based on emotion, marketing, what the neighbor has, blinking lights and shiny buttons and whatever other reason there is for making a decision. Only to find out that … oops … perhaps it wasn’t the best choice for THEM (personally I don’t care if someone DJ’s on two soap boxes and food processor).

Now you have the background to my remark. Perhaps you feel it’s not relevant as you are perfectly happy with your choice and if necessary you’ll just tack another piece of gear onto your current setup, but it was a lightly put observation that does carry some truth in general terms on this particular forum.

Changed it! Thanks.

The other would have worked too, but only if you were a cigarette I guess.

And you almost have me beat. Started in ’77 at the tender age of 14 with my first mini-gig.

😀

The problem is there are not further suggestions.

Your did your research wrong. Your kit is limiting at best and almost all hardware samplers today are for music production only and even those go away, because software samplers are much more intuitive and work with any midi keyboard.
Also your whole kit does not support midi-sync so synced samples will never work with it.

The only thing you could do is get a good laptop and buy into something like NI Maschine and try to mix that in. However it will never sync to your sound, all sampling has to be done maunally and you need a laptop to run it.

All other samplers, especially hardware for production, are 5000+ bucks to buy.

And by doing all this you are mitigating that your gear is simply outdated and you are trying hard to introduce something to your gear that you get FOR FREE with any 200 bucks controller and its software.

So I am sorry but there is not perfect solution for your problem as your gear is outdated and outclassed by todays standards… (take it from 2 DJs who have more than 20+ years experience each and started out with consumer turntables and self soldered mixers…)

Terry is being a little harsh. Your XDJ1000s are not at all outdated, they’re just rather expensive for the immediate feature set they offer, and while I’m not personally a fan of Pioneer mixers, it is still a lovely bit of kit and there will never be anything that “outdates” a solid 4 channel DJ mixer – it is simply one of the most versatile pieces of kit a DJ can own.

Now, with that out of the way, back to your problem. As I said above, I think the RMX1000 offers some sampling features, but after thinking about this a little more I really think the best option is a laptop, a software package, and a button box of some sort (think something like a Novation Launchpad, Reloop Neon, or a MidiFighter). You’ll end up using the 1000s as big controllers, have access to all the software features, and have the added effects the DJM900 offers. Basically, it’s win – win considering what you have already invested in. Just have to be careful when picking a software package that you choose something that is compatible with all the hardware you want to use.

Good luck!

Seriously Todd, a 4-channel DJ mixer is still one of the most versatile pieces of kit a DJ can own? If it wasn’t for a hand full of effects (one of which is filter, which imho isn’t an effect but a prerequisite dedicated button/knob feature for today’s DJs), it is still the same as it was a zillion years ago. How is that not outdated?

I’ll grant you that XDJ-1000s are a new release, but they are also a (desperate?) attempt to keep “traditional DJs” on board. You take out the CD-players which nobody has used for the last 5 years or so, add some extra info on a still far too small screen and suddenly it’s supposed to go head to head with high end controllers (the most expensive one costing exactly the same as two XDJ-1000s btw)?

I understand our OP has invested a huge amount of money into his setup and him having been in the scene for 30 years does explain a little how he arrived at his choice.
So, we understand that he is not gonna toss his current gear to move over to some of the high end controllers (Pioneer, Denon, Numark to name a few), although that might not be such a bad thought as his gear currently has value, which will decline in the near future. A nice in-between solution would be to get rid of the DJM and for that money (even selling it secondhand I am guessing) buy an DDJ-RX and hook up his XDJ-1000s.

It would be a best of both worlds, sample pads, standalone mixing, sound color FX and true 4 deck mixing.

Short of that he would indeed need to add a laptop and a performance pad box, making it somewhat of a Lego solution, again in my very humble opinion.

As I said I don’t care what you play on, rocking the crowd is all that matters and gets you the good DJ badge of honor, anything else is secondary at best.
Having said that, if you want to add all kinds of features from the digital realm to a predominantly analogue setup, you are gonna end up with patchwork and there are so many other/better solutions, is our point

As for quality, features and performance, I’d dare any DJ to take this setup (CDJs of any flavor including XDJ with a DJM mixer costing anywhere from 3.5k to 5k dollars) to take on our own Terry_42 with his sub-650 dollar Terminal Mix 8. We don’t even have to look at track selection, just at technical performance (using cues, loops, samples, fx, etx.).
I am ready to put money on it that there is nobody that could make his analogue setup do things that can’t be done with the TM8. And quite possibly Terry_42 can make his TM8 do things that an analogue set can’t.

And even if you throw in a new, 15″ retina Apple Macbook Pro with i7 and 16GB of RAM (after all the TM8 isn’t standalone by any stretch of the imagination), you are still about the same price as two XDJs/DJM combo.

I don’t want to flame anybody, I respect anybody’s choices in life and I definitely don’t pretend to be holder of the “truth”(as it’s a highly subjective matter anyway). Nor do I want to rehash earlier analogue vs. digital DJ-ing discussions.
Also I am using the OPs setup as an example and this post as a place to vent this opinion, it has nothing to do with OP or OPs setup specifically.

But some things just no longer hold true. CDJs and DJMs are fast going the way the SL1200s have gone. Loved by a few die-hard vinyl fans but outdated technology. Price/performance has shifted so far in the direction of controllers, that buying an analogue setup needs a different set of deciding factors, which often will not have to do with what we preach here, gear most closely matching your desired workflow within your budget.

These setups have long been the mainstay of the pro DJ booth in venues and at festivals. Their purchasing price prohibitive to buy for the mere mortal. What I have personally seen happen is that DJs that once played on such gear but couldn’t afford it, when they get a good daytime job, the kids out of college and them wanting to go back to DJ-ing have a tendency to a) stick with what they know and b) buy the gear they always dreamed of owning but could never afford.
A bit like buying your mid-life crisis Harley-Davidson bike 😀

But even in clubs/venues and with rental companies you see the desire to invest such huge amounts of money into this kind of gear dwindle. Booths are more and more ready to accept DJs with their own controllers, better equipped to hook two up for back to back DJ-ing and you see more and more (name) DJs demanding they can bring their own gear (always a controller).

Wow, more text than I planned, but in my defense, I feel strongly about the subject.

I do love Digital DJ Tips forums as a place where everyone is welcome and can vent his/her opinion. We don’t shy away from a good discussion, but always with a basis in mutual respect (I hope).