What is the best budget set up for begineers?

[Jaytee]

I'm trying to save up for CDJ 400's ($800 is the cheapest I found) and DJM400 ($680 is the cheapest I found) around $2280.

But they cost way too much and it'll take me at least a year or two to actually buy the set up without spilling out all of my savings.

I decided to go budget and find out what's the cheapest set up yet produces average quality or better.

I like to do some scratching as well as some mixing, most of my music would be played from my laptop rather the CD's.

Should I buy turntables? They seem harder to learn. Maybe some cheap American Audio gear? Help me out.

[SourceRaver]

Phew! Where to start?

lets answer the last question first..."should I buy turntables?". Well do you have any records? If you already have a good music collection in a digital format (ie MP3 or CD), stick with it. Record players may be cheaper to buy initially but you'll probably end up competing for good records with every local DJ. Buying them overseas is a better option but it can take a while for them to arrive.

If I were you, I would start looking for some second hand CDJ's. Youd be amazed how many people buy a whole set up and then discover they no longer want to mix.

If you intend to play most music from your laptop, dont even bother with CDJ's. Just get yourself some good quality software (ie Traktor) and a midi controller of some kind.

Just some thoughts.

[ChevChelios]

Is it just me or have you made this thread on like three seperate occasions

[eggssell]

forget savings spill it all.... ha ha!. i mean carne whats cash for except means to an end. djing makes you happy so do it!!!! (disclaimer: thats from someone drowning in debt... ha ha)

anywho, sourceravers comment sounds smart. the controller and traktor will get you into the beatmixing, phrasematching and all that intro stuff. and its expandable such that you can add tt's or cdj's later if you ever want to.

however because of the use of a dvs, dont rule out getting tt's just because of cost or difficulty in getting vinyl. other than scratch records since buying my tt's i haven't bought a single record (course i had a crate full of old school house, funk, hip hop and new jack records from when i was a youngin)

[Jaytee]

Is it just me or have you made this thread on like three seperate occasions

First few occassions I was keen to spend it all, now that I looked into my savings I decided to go cheap

What are some good midi controllers?

For the turntables can't you use SSL instead of using records?

[eggssell]

w/ traktr you can use tt's or cdj's. pretty sure its same for SSL.

dont know much bout full controllers. check dj techtools

[lloydc]

djtechtools has that wicked arcade vci-100... they are sweet

I played with the reloop midi controller the other day and it was solid as. I'd buy one easily if thats what i was after.

I still think midi controllers are boring, and get much more enjoyment out of cdj's.

Have you considered finance through one of the dj stores? it's usually 25% deposit and interest free over 12 months... a cdj400 pack or the denon one would prob cost you $40 a week or so...

both can connect to your laptop as well.... just a thought

[CBG]

a bump of an old thread would have sufficed.

Dude, I would scrap the idea of DJing off your pc, just get some 2nd hand CDJs like what SR said and go with that. Scratching is out of the question there, but just aim for this first. Get a DDM4000, or a Xone:22, or a Korg 402? or whatever they're called. All fine, I've used them all. The 22 has the best sound quality and filters, it's features are just stripped away for price, DDM4000 is the opposite.

[lloydc]

DDM4000 is shithouse, get something else.

urei + vestax are good too

[CBG]

have you used it?

[lloydc]

yeah, i used to own one