This is one area that I know ALOT about, having been a student i'm naturally in lots of debt so finding spare cash for decks/ controllers can be hard. The obvious route would be to get some finance to get you your shiny new toy but again I have tried this when the Pioneer SX came out only to go through the humiliating process of filling out the form and waiting for 10 minutes while it gets approved just to be told NO!
So over the past few years i've set out on a mission to find the best most affordable controllers that provide me with all the features you would expect on high end gear from pioneer units and such. Now on my low budget I know i'm not going to get the build quality you would expect on a DJM mixer but with the midi controller market growing at a rapid rate (watch out purists) the affordability of these devices keeps getting better and better and with MIDI mapping you can achieve most of the functions you find on the Pioneer gear and more! In this article i'm going to take you through the controllers I have used in my short time DJ'ing.
My first Dj controller was £80 if i remember correctly from Gumtree the Numark Omni Control. It had great build quality nice metal heavy finish but the buttons and knobs were horrible and I ended up hating it. At this point I had been producing for maybe 3 years and I was so excited to finally take the step into the DJ world but I just couldn't get into it and I don't blame the controller fully but as a new DJ it just didn't feel very inviting. I didn't actually start DJ'ing properly until a year or so after and thats when I got the novation Twitch. I LOVE this controller, it inspired me to take DJ'ing seriously and I still use it today!(along with other controllers but I will get to that in a minute).
The Twitch is a different beast altogether to Omni Control, with the touch strips and pad controls the Twtich gives you so much more flexibility and creativity when it comes to mixing. Think of the omni control as a standard mixer and set of decks and the Twitch as the same but with Novation Dicers or the Pioneer DDJ SP1 built in. The twitch packs all that power into a tiny unit which is no larger then my 15' laptop when closed. It also boasts a built in high quality sound card which granted i've had my problems with (the Twitch's outputs are quieter then most but can be fixed by using both outputs simultaneously) but it's a reliable little thing. There are other problems the main being the line faders they are very wobbly and my deck A line fader actually stopped working but bare in mind this is after 2 years of abuse. I know you would get a lot more then 2 years of use out of high end gear but bare in mind the high end analogue setup can cost up to £6000! Whereas the Twitch was again off Gumtree but for the conservative price of £200.
So as I mentioned earlier I also use other controllers in my setup nowadays and originally this was because of the problem I just mentioned with the line fader, I opened up the Twtich but couldn't fix it so I needed a workaround as I didn't want to part with it just yet. I didn't have enough to replace the Twitch so I got myself the only 4 channel affordable midi mixer I could get my hands on, the Behringer CMD MM1. Again it's not the best build quality but it does exactly what I ask of it as in it has 4 line faders and 4 sets of EG's, filters and so on(bonus feature the MM1 is a 4 port powered USB hub!). This combined with the Twtich means relatively easy 4 deck mixing. At the moment because I Produce and DJ as part of a Duo I am trying to build a concept where we easily mix in and out of each other without both being stood round 1 tiny controller. I've had a NI X1 for years which I had used for all sorts from hotkey keys for my computer to it' actual use in a DVS setup and now this. I have mapped the X1 to be essentially the same as the Twitch although because there are less buttons to play with I have had to use more modifiers so it's a bit trickier to use but does the job. So at the moment I let Paulo use Twitch and I use the X1 and we both use 2 channels each on the MM1 which allows use to mix in and out of each other without having to move away from what we are doing.
The proof is still in the pudding as we haven't had much chance to practice with this setup but the early signs are promising. These controllers have now led me to start thinking in a more modular fashion, not only can I swap controllers out while keeping my fundamentals the same so it's not a whole new experience when trying new toys out but it has also motivated me to build my own controllers and they all fit in one bag. I have been planning the build for quite some time and I am currently In the prototyping stage where I have a hit a wall but more on that later as there will be many posts detailing what i've done and how I have done it incase any of you wanted to have a go yourself as I had little to no knowledge when beginning this project and now i'm thinking I might never have to buy a controller again!
One thing I do want to mention before we finish is be cautious when buying super cheap controllers though because this market is rapidly expanding there are a lot of people jumping on the bandwagon meaning trying to provide cheaper and cheaper products are coming out at the cost of quality. I kid you not I have seen a DJ midi controller being sold in Lidl!(pictured to right) Imagine going into a supermarket 10 years ago to buy your decks! But this is a prime example of cheap tat. Now i'm not saying all super cheap controllers are bad you can pick up one of the Korg Nano Series controllers for under £30, granted its not a DJ controller but great pieces of kit! So please be wary of very low price tags and do as I do and read every review under the sun about it so you can get a full picture of peoples experiences with the unit.
I'm going to leave you with a picture of the controller I saw in Lidl and before you ask no its not a children's toy and yes it is real, click the pic for the link :P :
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| Lidl Badboi |
