Serato vs Traktor - Saxperience

craig180^p · 25th July 2012, 12:46

Pro's and cons of each please dudes....

I've recently decided that I no longer want to DJ professionally so out are going the CDJ1000-MK2s and DJM500 mixer in place of one of the Pioneer DDJ twin deck controllers, but I'm torn over which...

Before anyone tried to recommend a different deck - I'm not interested. I love the Pioneer interface and feel of the CDJ's and although the DDJ controllers aren't quite as robust as the CDJs I'll only be using them at home to "mess about" on occasionally.

I'm looking at the DDJ-S1 and DDJ-T1 as I just want to pick tunes from my laptop rather than pissing about changing CDs all the time (my entire CD collection is on an external HDD)

So.... the dilemma literally is as simple as S1 or T1 (Serato and Traktor, respectively)

Opinions and feedback please

Carlvtr88 · 27th July 2012, 12:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by saxo180

Pro's and cons of each please dudes....

I've recently decided that I no longer want to DJ professionally so out are going the CDJ1000-MK2s and DJM500 mixer in place of one of the Pioneer DDJ twin deck controllers, but I'm torn over which...

Before anyone tried to recommend a different deck - I'm not interested. I love the Pioneer interface and feel of the CDJ's and although the DDJ controllers aren't quite as robust as the CDJs I'll only be using them at home to "mess about" on occasionally.

I'm looking at the DDJ-S1 and DDJ-T1 as I just want to pick tunes from my laptop rather than pissing about changing CDs all the time (my entire CD collection is on an external HDD)

So.... the dilemma literally is as simple as S1 or T1 (Serato and Traktor, respectively)

Opinions and feedback please

I just run my tunes off my usb sticks at the min. Even MP3 cd's made it easier than the 12-14 track limit to an audio cd.

Couple of 16 gig sticks and I bang them in my NDX 800s and im all good. Doesnt answer your question i know but pop yourself onto youtube and check out some reviews and make your own decision based on what you need.

I aint moved to Midi DJing yet.... Dont really plan to tbh. Ive had a little mess about but with some of the software it makes the job of actually DJing to easy. Plus you can do some bad ass effects that, in the real world on a pair of tunrtables, one could not replicate.

craig180^p · 27th July 2012, 12:55

Done quite a bit of research into both decks now and it seems Serato is winning in terms of future proofing. £200 more but gives me decent inputs and outputs so if I decided to do a house party for example I have balanced outs into my PA amp and a seperate phono out so I can plug in a monitor

Also the mic input on the Serato version has it's own EQ and a 2nd mic in for a PA

Manu · 27th July 2012, 13:02

Have you considered CDJ 400s or higher? They all have native serato/traktor control and you still have the flash drive + cd playback option should you need it. I always thought it was safer should your laptop crash, I have seen a few geezers ending their set because of a non responsive laptop. Then for gigs, 2 thumb drives are a lot easier to transport and set up compared to a laptop based setup.

craig180^p · 27th July 2012, 13:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Manu

Have you considered CDJ 400s or higher? They all have native serato/traktor control and you still have the flash drive + cd playback option should you need it. I always thought it was safer should your laptop crash, I have seen a few geezers ending their set because of a non responsive laptop. Then for gigs, 2 thumb drives are a lot easier to transport and set up compared to a laptop based setup.

I'm pretty good at maintaining my laptop to be fair. Always loads of free memory and never anything running in the background that doesn't need to be.

I didn't really want to "downgrade" to CDJ400s or similar after using the 1000s. If I wend down the CDJ route I'd want 900s or 2000s but figure the DDJ gives me most of the features of 1000s plus more in a more "home friendly" set up

barlow135 · 27th July 2012, 14:51

I use traktor and think it's brilliant. I'm only a bedroom DJ mind, and by the sound of it, nowhere near as experienced as you. However, traktor has never let me down, never crashed or anything like that. One of my mates plays out a lot and he also uses traktor with timecode vinyl. He can't say a bad word about it and loves playing with it. I think the interface looks quite cool too.

Another mate who DJ's out uses serato and has exactly the same opinion of as my other mate has of traktor. Again he says it has never crashed or let him down. I suppose the best way would be to try and have a go on both if possible but thats not always easy lol.

Manu · 27th July 2012, 15:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by saxo180

I'm pretty good at maintaining my laptop to be fair. Always loads of free memory and never anything running in the background that doesn't need to be.

I didn't really want to "downgrade" to CDJ400s or similar after using the 1000s. If I wend down the CDJ route I'd want 900s or 2000s but figure the DDJ gives me most of the features of 1000s plus more in a more "home friendly" set up

Apart from a smaller jogwheel, everything else is an upgrade from the 1000s as I do remember that you had mk2s. Though I would agree the build quality of the newer stuff left to be desired, especially when you consider the price. The value for money is slightly low to say the least.

I wasn't exactly mentioning computer maintenance, I happened to witness a few guys ending on a crash for reasons that can be unrelated to this. I know it doesn't happen all the time but it still is the kind of thing that is as welcome as a fart in an elevator. I do know loads of other DJs who had a smoothly running setup until it did crash or started lagging for no reason. To me the problem is recurrent and it is only a matter of time before it happens. But yeah in your case if it's a home setup, I guess this matter is not as important as if you were gigging etc...

Ryan^p · 27th July 2012, 16:19

Craig are you on twitter? Let me know if so and ill give you the tech guys at the club to speak to.

craig180^p · 27th July 2012, 16:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryan

Craig are you on twitter? Let me know if so and ill give you the tech guys at the club to speak to.

Yeah craigoneeighty

Ryan^p · 27th July 2012, 16:51

ill pass on his details.

he will prob be able to give you a better idea of the ins and outs of both

craig180^p · 27th July 2012, 16:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryan

ill pass on his details.

he will prob be able to give you a better idea of the ins and outs of both

Cheers man

0rang3peel · 29th July 2012, 12:18

I've used traktor & vdj, I use a hercules rmx I chose it because it has quite a few inputs and was reasonably priced + has its own soundcard.

I was under the impression that serrato is the king though

Carlvtr88 · 29th July 2012, 21:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Manu

Have you considered CDJ 400s or higher? They all have native serato/traktor control and you still have the flash drive + cd playback option should you need it. I always thought it was safer should your laptop crash, I have seen a few geezers ending their set because of a non responsive laptop. Then for gigs, 2 thumb drives are a lot easier to transport and set up compared to a laptop based setup.

+1. In fact apparently my dad told me last night in the pub the DJs laptop kicked the bucket half way through the set and the dickhead had no backup. LOL.

CDJ 400s would be mint. theyre controllers and as Manu said, you still got cd / usb support should your laptop crash or set on fire lol.