getting close to buying equipment (or not?)

i've been dying to get some real dj equipment these past several months. i use traktor at home with an oxygen49 keyboard as a midi controller. i have money saved up, but i'm having trouble choosing the products, and i'm unsure if the products i am leaning towards will even do what i want them to.

i've been looking at the xone 92 mixer. i want to use it with traktor but whenever i tell people i want to use it as a midi controller i am often ridiculed. people tell me it's too heavy to take to the club, or it won't be great, or whatever. what i want it to do is control the lows/mids/highs, volume via faders, crossfader, and ideally use the xone 92's filters on their own. along with the xone 92 i was thinking of picking up a xone 1d for use with effects, and to use the extra buttons as low/mid/high kills.

however, i've been reading up that apparently the 92 has limited midi capability. what does this mean? can i do what i intend to with it? and i think i need an external soundcard/interface to go with it too? i've been seeing "audio 8" and such around when researching so i figure i will also need something of the likes.

overall, this is what i would like to get out of my dj setup. if the xone 92 + 1d works for this, please give me some more info/advice about it. if not, recommend me some other equipment to look at. i would like 4 decks, traktor-compatible, preferably under $2000, $2500 would be pushing it.

some more info: i want to dj as a hobby and see where it goes from there. ideally in small clubs/festivals and work my way up. i plan to play (in this order): techno, house, psytrance, dubstep, progressive trance.

thanks for the help!

 

Hi,

The Xone 92 is not a midi controller, it has midi ports but i think these are not for the fader commands

If you want to get the xone 92 you would have to get a soundcard like the Audio 8 or 10 in order to be able to utilize all channels.
The 1d is a midi controller though an could do what you want to do

Did you look at the S4?

 

yeah. i have looked at the s4. i went to guitar center and tried it out, but i'm iffy about getting it. i'd like to get a mixer that i can use with traktor as well as cdj's if i ever decide to.

if i got the audio 8 or 10 could i use the xone 92 fully? or are the faders not midi-compatible?

 

bump to have this answered: "if i got the audio 8 or 10 could i use the xone 92 fully? or are the faders not midi-compatible?"

also, if the xone 92's faders cannot be used with traktor, how do dj's like umek and chris liebing use them? is that with the aforementioned audio 8 or 10 external soundcard?

 

The faders would still not be midi compatible but they don' t need to as you would be mixing externally so your guess is right

Every channel will go through a seperate output of the audio 8/10 and into a seperate channel on the xone just like a cdj/turntable

 

if you have traktor scratch, you can do it. the s4 is scratch certified.
and "normal" CDs should go always anyways (via direct through).

 

i've thought about it and i think i'm going to go for the xone 92, 1d (maybe 2 of them), and the audio 8. however, i have a few questions i hope i can get answered.

i'm not too familiar with external mixing. would i still be able to use the xone 92's filters?

do i plug my headphones in to the xone 92 to monitor or into the soundcard? will either one work?

how can i utilize the two aux channels? i'm totally clueless about how send fx returns and stuff work...

what are the booth plugs for?

lastly, how is the entire setup connected? my guess is laptop connects to audio 8 via usb, mixer's line inputs go to the outputs of the audio 8? where do the speakers plug in to?

thanks for the help.

 

bump

 

xone 92 no sure if it is the best option.
option 1
denon mc-6000 (real mixer,sound card.midicontroller)
ni x1 (midi controller)
and if you want time code(for using real turntables with traktor) add an audio 4 souncard,
damage about 1000

option 2
pioneer djm 900 nexus(cool mixer /midi/traktor certified sound card) and a couple of x1s or instead of x1 a pair of
Denon DNSC2000!
damage about 2000
this are the best options now but usually in december some new stuff pops out which is only few months away!
i have a s4 which is great fun but i am unhappy with build quality(not good at all) so i am changing it in few months!

 

if this is going to be a HOBBY, and you still have to get a pa system or powered pa speakers.. why not simply get any one of the controller decks for traktor?..

the s4 seems the logical bet..

 

Have you considered the Xone 4D. It would elliminate the need for a pair of 1D's and is midi through and through. Its got its own soundcard so thats another few hundred saved. All in one unit so easier to transport and set-up.
My mate uses one for Pro 2 and is about to add on a pair of 1200's. Its got tons of channels.

Its got everything you needed and then some.

http://sounddog.kr/products/allen/xone4d.htm

 

i'll look into the djm 900 and the xone 4d.

i can still use the djm 900's effects right? in conjunction with traktor's effects?

would i be able to use cdj's with the xone 4d if i ever decided to?

 

Yeah sure, its basically an Xone 92 with a pair of 1D's built in.
I've a DJM 500 and while the effects are not as rich as on the 900, since I started using Traktor I have barley touched them. The effects in Traktor offer me far more in the way of control and manipulation. So I wouldn't let the mixers onboard effects, affect your choice to much!

 

Maybe you should check out the Denon dn-x1600.

It's traktor srcatch certified mixer and can be used as a midi controller

 

Or the denon mc6000. Great controller and can be used as a stand alone external mixer as well as a midi controller (for internal mixing using traktor's mixer)