Terry_42

Vintage if you were you would have sent me that MCX 8000 already…

Also no matter what reloop controller with 1 exception (the Digital Jockey 3 series) it clearly says on reloops website:
All TSI files are provided “as is”, the controllers are not made for Traktor nor do they support the TSI files they provide.
They will help you on their forums, if it is a matter where they can, but they will not put money on the table to provide support Traktor for their controllers as NI makes it very difficult to do so.

So honestly, I would not blame them for not supporting it.
Buying something else than NI products to work with Traktor is always problematic, especially if you are not a 200% Traktor guy.
Hell I started out on Traktor and did all my own mappings and after converting to Serato 2 years ago I prolly forgot how to do 50% of the things I used to be able to do…

The first step to saying nice things is to be humble, to know your own abilities and shortcommings… then you will look at other people with more respectful eyes.
The second step is to not get angry or jealous (aka why is he up there and not me). As anger leads to the dark side…

The key is 2 things:
I shorten my acapella to a position where I know the beat would start at a 1 count.
For example take Vanilla Ice: Ice ice baby
It is roughly 120bpm and I put my first hotcue on the “Ice” of “ice ice baby”.
So I know when my underlying 120bpm hits the 1 count I can hit the hotcue and play from there.

The next hotcues I typically put on phrases where I again now the 1, 2, 3 or 4 count of the beat (I color code those in Serato or put them into Serato Flip save zones). So basically if my underlying beat goes 1, 2, 3, 4 and I would hit the cues in that order 1, 2, 3, 4 then the song would play “normal” or as it would in the original.

That is my basic setup for a live mashup of course all tracks need to be perfectly beatmatched, not like when you do beatmatch transitions would not matter if it is .1 or even .5 offbeat, this has to be exact on spot.

If that explanation did not make any sense to you, you may have to look into basic music theory, beatcounting and bar counting first.

It is compatible:
https://serato.com/dj/hardware/controllers

What you need to do however:
Register at the serato.com website and add the license number you got from the Serato Upgrade package with your user name.
Start Serato.
Inside the Serato program there is an expansion button (lower right hand corner). Click it.
Log in with your serato.com account.
Click on “activate my product” and it will let you select a controller.
Obviously click on the Mixtrack Quad.
If you have purchased additional expansion packs (like F/X) click on “Activate all expansions” and it will activate anything you purchased.
Click OK and your done.

Everything should work nicely from that point on.
If it does not I would open a ticket with your serato.com account on the serato website.

OK first question iPad vs Laptop:
While the iPad has come a long way, it is still not there for use beyond home parties. Eventually it will get there I am sure, but it is just not there yet.

Dedicated Laptop or not?
Yes if you can afford it. If it is not dedicated, definitely go with a Mac.

Mac vs Windows
Well you can say that Mac are top level Intel Notebooks, however as Vintage pointed out there are no USB drivers and the CoreAudio Systems allows audio latency to be much lower than on any other system. They are built for audio so to say.
Also in harsh environments (hot outdoor weddings in direct sunlight, smoke in clubs,…) I had never a breakdown of my Macbooks. And my oldest DJ Macbook that still plays is from 2008! I am just now retiring it.

Now you can achieve a similar level with Windows Notebooks but:
You should have it a dedicated laptop or at least a dual boot and one OS only for DJing.
You still have to invest a lot in hardware.
You have to have a good understanding of the Windows Audio driver system and what drivers to install AND IN WHAT ORDER!!!
Now I have seen people pull that off with Windows Laptops but usually those laptops were high end machines, a friend is using an Alienware and another a HP Elite Folio, both cost in that config well beyond 2000 bucks, with the Alienware being much more expensive than my current Macbook.

On the other hand I have seen people DJing perfectly fine with an entry level 13” Macbook Air they also use for office work…

Actually that has been done before and worked perfectly for the poster… I mean even I listened to the mix.

Well that is easy:

RANE 64 $3,398.00 – special use only, do not need
RANE MP2014 $4,324.00 – more special use only, do not need
PIONEER DJM 900NEXUS $2,829.00 – totally outdated the day it came out, do not need
900SRT $3,259.00 – I have an excellent Serato setup and this unit can actually do less – do not need
CDJ 900NEXUS $1,979.00 – outdated for quite some time – do not need
CDJ 2000NEXUS 2,829.00 – outdated for quite some time – do not need
CDJ 2000NXS2 $3,129.00 – outdated for quite some time, but in a new package and with bigger screens – do not need
XONE DB2 $1,999.00 – special need only, do not have that need -> do not need
DB4 $3,399.00. – special need only, do not have that need -> do not need

Wow it is cool how much money I just saved 🙂

Now if you would have said MCX 8000 yes that maybe gets my money… but it is fairly cheap compared to the above. So usually I get between 1000-1400 for a gig the MCX is one nights pay… that should work out.