I dont know what most of you expect from beeing a deejay, semi or professional, its more easy to be in the pro range as most of the guys get tonnes of promotion, freebees, freegear and so forth, as they have allready turned that hard corner when it comes to money and tough investments so to speak. To be a deejay takes alot of money, you have to buy gear, airtime, tools and music of course.

And playing at a venue or party is not cheap either, there are royalities and licenses to be payed. so if youre not 100% focused on what to do, dont go there, simple as that.

If it turn up 10 people and you are counting on 1000 to visit your party, well you gona loose money, its simple 1.0.1 in business, you have to have a working businessmodel and stick to it, it cost money to earn money.

Dont drag to much expencees and debt if you cant afford it, skip it or save up the money, the worst thing you can do is running a event on credit.

Gear!

There are only two brands that you can count on in all conditions, the first is Pioneer DDJ SX or the new DDJ SR which booth uses Serato DJ

And Denon MC 2000 for Serato, or MC 6000 / 3000 for Native Instruments Traktor 2 Pro.

However!, while the MC 6000 works flawless, its on a dying platform, cause traktor will soon be no more, Native has painted themselves into a corner and started a war between the manufacturers, they have no colab with Pioneer, Denon or Numark, that beeing said they turn to their own products, which many know for a fact is less quality and higher price than other brands.

Personally i think the S4 / S2, or S4 mk2 is both overhyped and SHEIT!

I own MC 6000 and i use it solely for small parties / venues that do not have the space for a full on dj rigg.

But if possible i use CDJ 2000 / Nexus and Rekordbox.

But i could manage with CDJ 850 and a 850 mixer as well as it has great potential for an affordable price.

But you want a mixer and a controller

Buy Pioneer DDJ SX, or The Denon MC 6000, they both have theyre own powersources, and can be used as standalone mixers, i would say the MC 6000 is the best suited of them all, and best sounding controllers period, but its a matter of taste and walletsize.

Im a crossover, i use whatever suits me best, dont care if it says Denon or Pioneer if the product is good, but i mostley use those two brands, as they never have let me down!.

But on a sidenote, if you want to reach the inner workings of a computer and traktor, and dont mind of programing or creating own templates and edit TSI, choose Native and Denon cause it gona take time and effort, not to mention patience to get a machine working 100%, but when it works, it works, kicks or blows the competition out of the water! and you can hook up CDJs on the side, you have a great 4channel soundboard, with 2 mic inputs and hardwired Echo. And the build quality i 2nd to none!.

If you want a full working machine right out of the box when you push ON

Choose Pioneer DDJ SX and only that mixingboard, as its the only standalone mixer from Pioneer, DDJ SR has the same solution like S4, usb powered, no real mixer, but easy to handle, but if the computer goes down you cant hook up anything else!

Personally i was more twards the Pioneer XDJ R1, that have best of four worlds, Wifi, CD, Usb and Computer / ipad compability, and dont forget a Mini mixer "Similar" to the DJM 900 with interesting and really good sound when it comes to effects, and with a Ipad it got even more unique features, found only on that mixingboard!
and at a resonable price.

But i talked and have been chatting with different guys who Returned their machines back cause of glitches and software errors, SHAME, cause it looked on paper like a bullseye for a bedroom, mobile semi or even pro dj.

Cheers and hope you succed in you future endeavors ;D

/SzM