JeremiahD

I’m really interested in the twitch, I too have no use for jogwheels. Unfortunately I don’t have one yet so I can’t comment as to whether or not you should purchase one, but everything I’ve read and seen online seems to point towards it being a ideal purchase for people who want to get into digital djing, and don’t need jogs.

There’s also a new post today on this site featuring the Twitch, check it out.

At least we both agree to each his own when it comes to OS choices. I never said the way they are marketed was the ONLY reason people choose Macs(which seems to be what you’re debating back at me), I’m just saying it’s a very large factor when it comes to people’s choice between a Mac or a PC.

Macs are great, PCs are great, anyone telling you one is better than the other has a biased agenda whether they will admit it or not.

Michael M. Hughes, post: 5411 wrote: I disagree. Most DJs I know are definitely computer people, especially those like us, on this board, who DJ digitally. Most Windows users, in my experience, also don’t care much about the inner workings of their PCs or feel the need to use terminal commands—they also want things to “just work.” But unfortunately, Microsoft has always forced them to dig down into multiple settings and install drivers/uninstall drivers and so forth just to be able to have things just work. Years ago, when my friend would get a PC game, we’d enthusiastically open the package and install the game. But nearly every time, there would be missing .dll files and other crap to deal with. It was often an exercise in frustration just to get a game loaded and playable, often necessitating a lot of research to find out why it wasn’t working. And he was quite proficient in operating his PC.

Then I’d buy a Mac game, install it, and play it immediately.

And Macs do not get viruses just like any other computer. I haven’t had a virus or malware infect any of my Macs since a bad MS Word macro hosed my system in the mid-90s. There simply aren’t any Mac viruses out there, except an occasional Trojan horse. I see my work colleagues constantly dealing with infected PCs and I just shake my head. In fact, ten minutes ago, one of my coworkers just had some rogue mail program/virus install itself because she opened an email. That just doesn’t happen on Macs.

And I also disagree that Mac owners are more likely to want to call someone for support instead of doing it themselves. That’s not an accurate characterization, from my many years of doing Mac support, professionally and just helping people out. In reality, Macs owners, even newbies, don’t encounter as many problems because the OS is much more user-friendly, whereas Windows is still, by comparison, much less so.

Again, I really don’t care what anyone uses as long as he/she is happy. But the Mac OS is not just for people who dislike using computers or digging into their capabilities. Many of my über-geek friends have switched to Macs because they can run OS X, Windows, and Linux all on the same box.

I like how horror stories on windows comps by mac enthusiasts are typically prefaced by “years ago”. It’s almost as if we should be sitting around a camp fire while hearing the tales of windows woes.

Macs DO get viruses just like any other OS, use google and read up(here is a good starter list http://www.iantivirus.com/threats/), you really have to be blinded by bias to think they don’t. I haven’t gotten a virus on any of my PCs in over 10 years, but I still know PCs can get viruses if you download anything iffy or visit shady websites without up to date anti virus software. They are less likely to have viruses written for them due to a variety of reasons, but to claim they don’t get viruses only brings about carelessness from Mac users who don’t know better.

As for the Mac support comment, I’m going by every person I’ve known that’s a Mac enthusiast. They’ve all told me the same thing, about Mac’s great tech support phone line whenever they get a issue and why it’s much easier than having to deal with something going wrong on a PC that they have to look up and try and fix themselves unless they want to pay extra. It has little to do with ease of use, but the mental assurance that if they screw up it can be fixed without having to hire someone to come out and fix it or worse yet, actually learn enough about their computer to fix it themselves!

Mac was and is still marketed as counter culture to your typical computer users(PC), its marketed as the computer for those who don’t like “computers”. Are there people that use macs that are typical computer users? Of course, as there are plenty of other factors involved in choosing a OS, however in general Macs are targetted at people who aren’t “computer people”. That’s not a diss, it’s actually a brilliant marketing strategy that Apple has used the last 20 years which great success. Computers were a niche market 20 years ago, so you market yourself as the “anti establisment” of that niche so that you can eventually command a huge market share while advertising yourself as the little guy going up against the “man”.

Lastly those Uber geek friends of yours should know that windows systems can run all 3 OS as well, it’s not something Mac’s only enjoy.

As someone who has been looking at controllers over the last couple months(while practicing mixing on my desktop/keyboard/mouse “pro” set up) I had originally planned on purchasing a Mixtrack Pro or Vestax Typhoon and then upgrading down the line to a S4, NS6/7, or even a DXone. However instead of making 2 purchases within a few months of one another costing me over 1k I have instead been looking at a new option, the Novation Twitch.

The twitch seems like the perfect tool for a beginner and intermediate digital DJ who enjoys mixing music that doesn’t involve scratching but does involve heavy remixes/samples. The best part about it is it seems I won’t need to upgrade to a more “professional” controller after purchasing it. The only upgrade I would be looking at if I purchased a Twitch to start out with would be to a “pure” DJ set up down the line with CDJs or TTs, and I would always have a controller portable enough to use anywhere and professional looking enough to not feel like I’m playing on a toy in a small club.

I love Phil’s review of the unit on this site, but don’t see it mentioned often in threads when considering equipment.