Traktor Scratch, Sorento and DJ stuff...

[loopdon]

Do you mean serato? I have READ several reviews stating serato scratch live is better than FS, FS2. I have not tested either. I know that Richie Hawtin has gone from FS to rane. Chris Liebing did use FS but now uses a Traktor and Ableton combo... There also is a new contender, called torq by m-audio afaik. SSL seems to be generally valued highly. The only system i have used myself and not in a club-context is djdecks. Which costs almost nothing and in combination with good preamps and just about any timecoded vinyl enables you to at least (if not more) find out if the entire style of mixing is something you like. That's all i can add. djdecks is by far the cheapest afaik and really made my jaw drop so i can imagine the more expensive solutions would be even better. This torq thing enables you to use vst-plugins and u can use vst-plugins in djdecks as well.

[TechMouse]

Mark, you should PM Jay Pace... he uses (I think) Final Scratch almost exclusively, so he should be able to give you some anecdotal feedback on how good it is.

From what I understand there's not much to choose between FS and Serato, though lots of breaks heads seem to plump for Serato. I think it tracks better if you're scratching or something.

[RDR]

My 2p

Final Scratch is a very unpleasant thing to use IMHO, we used it at work for along time and the hardware eventually died good n proper. and with hardly any use as well.

FS2 - no comment havnt used it

Traktor - great program, but fidlly to use and expensive

Rane - used this, great for scratching but thats all i can say cos i didnt use it for mixing.

[tonyc2002]

soundcontrol should let you demo some kit

[MARK ANXIOUS]

yeah i already asked sound control in leeds and they have just scalled their dj setup down, so no demo.

this is what i seem to have learnt so far.

tracktor scratch has replaced final scratch and final scratch 2. so ok, fs is out of the question, i want the newest shit here. basically it's two timecoded vinyls running tracktor 3. i can sync this up via midi clock to ableton on the same computer and i should be rockin. apparently there's a g4 powerbook issue but most ppl seem to report it's the shit.

ok so then there's rane sereto. similar thing and can rewire to ableton too. lovely.

but what are the REAL differences between these two here? is it just software? or are there usability issues too?

also learnt that torq can be rewired. BUt when you rewire with ableton, it disables your timecoded vinyl! now, i dunno is this is true but if so, that's out the question.

as for ms pinky, the software looks a bit shit imho. and of course, if the whole reason i'm doing this is to enhance performance, then whatever is on the screen does have to look good! heh plus i'd have to buy an external sound card, there's no breakout type box to plug in the dj mixer???????? and i'm definitely not taking my motu on the road!

also found out about this: http://www.flstudio.com/documents/deckadance.html
but from what i can gather it's a vsti and i don't see how you can use this to control the master tempo of ableton using timecoded vinyl.

phew. am i on the right track here do you think guys??

[loopdon]

deckadance: ''Works as standalone or VSTi plugin inside hosts like FL Studio, Ableton Live, ...''

I think i'd go for ssl, been mentioned several times in this thread. Read a detailed test comparing it to FS 2. The author got himself SSL. Only thing that he noticed he din't like to much was the noise the timcode vinyl produced? I would probably test this one first, there must be some place where you can? It's tried and tested i reckon whereas deckadance is quite new..... Good luck! PS: Whilst googling i found raving reviews of torq.. here's a video, Mark:

http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=...4eb8c623da5b64

And here's the other videos from the m-audio homepage explaining every aspect:

http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=...4eb8c623da5b64

[MARK ANXIOUS]

any idea where that review is loopy? plus i'm interested whether traktor scratch is any better than fs2....

and yeah just checked those demos out of torq. holy **** it auto syncs the music for you in a certain mode - ie no need to learn beat matching. jesus h christ, if only that would have been around 15 years ago hahahahaah :cheese:

[MARK ANXIOUS]

ok this is madness. there are loads of systems out there i see but surely the only way to know if it's right for yourself is to try it out. do turnkey demo these systems? does anyone know of a shop where i can do this???