Todd Oddity

You probably notice a theme here – everyone is telling you to ignore what others have to say about your equipment. That is solid advice. There are lots of DJs always looking for ways to make themselves look better and cut others down (just a sad truth of the industry unfortunately) and equipment is the quickest way to try and do that. It used to be you weren’t a “real dj” if you used CDs instead of wax. Then when people couldn’t fight that trend anymore, it became you weren’t a “real dj” if you used mp3s. As that rapidly took over everything it became you weren’t a “real dj” if you pressed a sync button. Long winded story – but hopefully you see the point. Spend more time on being awesome, and less time thinking about whether or not other DJs think you’re awesome, because some people will always find a way to cut you down no matter what you’re doing.

As for equipment – unless they are providing the gear, bring whatever the hell you want to bring, so long as it has proper outputs to connect to their system.

Good luck!

I hate to say this as I loved my VCI-400, and so far it continues to work perfectly, but Vintage is right. With the demise of Vestax sooner or later something is going to happen that bricks all their controllers and there will be no resources to help. So regardless of what deals you can find, don’t go the Vestax route.

While I’ve never played around extensively with Traktor, I’ve read many times that it works best with straight up 4/4 edm type beats, so for the music you’re talking about you may want to consider other software options. That leaves the NV from your list as it is designed for Serato, and yes, fully compatible with Virtual as well (screens and all).

Worth adding here though, if you mean 1000 USD you’ve got a lot of options to be looking at on top of what you’ve listed. Pretty much all but the absolute top-of-the-line flagship controllers can be had for under a thousand, including the ever popular Pioneer SX2.

For the record, still fit all that into my backpack. Although I may need a chiropractor soon… haha

I shot off an email to the tech guy at the online station I play on to ask what they are using. They have a Shoutcast plan with a company called RadioSolution. One monthly fee based on the number of people you expect to tune in to your station.

http://radiosolution.info/wp/products/shoutcast-hosting/

Also, if one of your partners is Canadian, they have SOCAN licences so nothing further should be required from you, although you would want to discuss that with them before signing up.

It sounds like you are suffering from a serious case of GAS – Gear Acquisition Syndrome!

Finding the work flow you want can be challenging at times, but resist the urge to get that mixed up with wanting the newest and greatest new thing. As Vintage said, the SX didn’t stop being an awesome controller because the SX2 came along, and unless you needed the very small number of new features it offers, the upgrade would actually be a waste of money.

Don’t worry too much about resale. A proper piece of DJ gear should be lasting years, not months, so no matter what you get the resale value will be limited.

All that said, it sounds to me like you might find some value in going the route I did. I was having a hard time finding an all-in-one that really ticked all the boxes for me. My MC6000 was great, I followed it up with a VCI-400 and loved all the extra pads and knobs and ability to totally customize how I had it mapped. But something was still lacking… I was about to get an SX2 but stopped myself. I eventually went back to modular. Now I have two SC2000s for transport controls, two Neons for pad functions, and run the whole lot to an X1600 mixer. If I need to add something else in, I can. If I need to pack lighter, I can take a few pieces out. I have options to make my workflow work for whatever show I’m doing. At the very least, if I stop liking a part of my workflow I’m not reinventing the wheel, just changing up one component. I’m not suggesting the same mix of equipment for you – just that you might do better with a bunch of parts than with an all-in-one.

Good luck!

Decide what software you’d like to use – that makes picking controllers that much easier.

Yup, that’s the root of your problem. “Speakers + Headphones” is the setting you need. One Speaker means all the sound is going down one channel. If after you change this the levels are too quiet, you just need to adjust your gains.