Marco Solo

My first question is what are you trying to get out of the gear that you’re not getting on your SX? If you want something that feels more like a club setup the Denons are a great choice. Very well equipped with a much better price tag than the Pioneers. You do miss the functionality of Rekordbox, but that’s not a big problem if you’re looking into 850’s. The 850’s are in kind of a sweet spot if you look at the Pioneer lineup. Not much more expensive than 350’s, but quite near a 900 which is a lot more expensive.

I personally wouldn’t go for an SZ as it’s not really that much different than what you already have. It’s just bigger, has coloured pads and a hardware fx unit. The rest is almost the same, except that it costs twice as much and will be a pain to carry around and to set up. You can look on youtube for reviews that talk about comparing it to the SX.
Now that we’re talking about controllers, the DVS route would be the most expensive route with the least features, remember that. You need a mixer that’s certified for your software you want to use or use a certified soundcard with a non-certified mixer. Then you use control vinyl for turntables or control cd’s for CDJ’s.
I’m not too fond of the Pioneer turntable, it doesn’t have anything over the other super OEMs on the market right now. All of these are based on the Technics, they’re all the same underneath. Except for the price tag…
Going for CDJ’s with software controlling them (HID or not) would be a waste of money in my eyes as you already have a setup that feels like a CDJ setup with much more capabilities. Sure you can add something like a Kontrol X1 Mk2 for effects, but what’s the point?

I did and it got deleted. And my question about it as well…
Anyway here it is again, five basic transitions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIsPx-8-_Is

Don’t expect it.

I’d say it’ll be perfectly fine. You can map any midi device to Traktor, so unless it’s some kind of HID only device it’ll work. Knowing Novation, it’ll be midi mappable.

Then we are in complete agreement.

@Vintage
Not the same, but nearly as much. In Traktor you can choose how the control should take over. Either it changes the moment you move it, or it needs to return to the original value first. It’s not as good as having four seperate controls, but it’s definitely usable for many, many routines. I don’t know how this works exactly in Virtual DJ or Serato, but this is how I do it in Traktor. I believe Cross has a simmilar functionality to Traktor, but I don’t think you can actually change it.

I don’t think adding vocals is that difficult on a 2+2. But if you’re REALLY having problems, the only thing you need is two more faders really. Not a complete set of controls. Think out of the box, add a Kontrol F1 or Xone K2. It’ll save you a lot of money. You can even use the K2 to add equalizer functionality. And then spend the rest on a weekend in Paris or something, there will probably be enough left for that 😉

Not any but most. You need a button available to switch decks. The rest is software. You can remap controllers in Serato, but only ones that you add to the main controller. For instance, I have a DDJ-SR as my main controller and a Kontrol X1 Mk2 and F1 next to it. So if I went to Serato I can only map the X1 and the F1, not the DDJ-SR. If I go into Traktor, which is the one I use most, I can do whatever I want with whatever controller, even the X1 and F1 which are made by the same company. Even then, mapping is very limited.

Wether a 4 is not much better than a 2+2 depends on what you want to do with it. If you make complicated live mash-ups of more than 2 songs it will be better to have four channels readily available. But a beginner isn’t going to do that anyway, so that’s why I said not to worry about it. You’ll have your hands completely full for a while with just two decks. Most people end up using maybe a third deck for an acapella every once in a while, but nothing too fancy. A 2+2 will cover the needs of 90% of the DJ’s I’d say. For some of those 90% it’ll be more than they’ll ever use.

I’m in the same boat and so are lots of other people. But even if you were the only one, I think being strange is a good thing. People think I’m strange and most of my friends are too and we get through life just fine.