Advice about cdj's

[Asaf Lavie]

Hello, I'm a keyboard player and I want to incorporate scratching into live shows I do with bands.
I'm not intersted about the other aspects of djing, just scratching. a few questions:

1) what do I have to look for in a cdj? whould every cdj be suitable for me? any recommendations?
2) I noticed that when djs scratch they have one hand on the cdj (or vinyl) and the other on a fader that from what I understand
controls the volume. would I have to have a mixer? doesn't the cdj have a volume control?

Thank you for your help, I'm new to this and can use all the help I can get.

[DJhalf]

You'll need a mixer with the CDJ. How good do you want to scratch?

[JackStalk]

A lot of CDJs on the market don't have scratch technology. I found that out the hard way when I first got into DJing. Some of the lower end models just have a "jog" wheel instead of a platter capable of scratching. Just keep that in mind when you are doing research and make sure the model you buy is scratch-able.

[DJ Retro Blaze]

1) I recommend a media player with a spinning platter to simulate the feel of a turntable. The Denon DN-S3700 (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/denon-dn-s3700-digital-turntable-media-player-and-controller) is a good option, in my opinion, and it can be found fairly cheap at various online retailers.

2) Yes, a basic DJ mixer would be required, if utilizing a CDJ or similar product.

[Asaf Lavie]

Thank you for your answers. A friend let me borrow his numark mixtrack. I'm using it with virtual dj and so far i'm doing good

[Lowercase]

..if your just scratching, why not just get a techs 1200 off ebay and an old vestax scratch mixer for cheaps. a few battle records and your set.

[JackStalk]

The cool thing about picking up a mixer with effects, is that you can run your keyboard through it and put effects on the output, such as Phaser, Flange, ETC. It would allow for a little extra creativity with your instrument. You could even turn the knobs and cut the lows or highs while playing keyboard which would look pretty crazy in a live show. If you just need the mixer to scratch though, I would literally buy the cheapest vinyl turntable, and then the cheapest DJ mixer with a crossfader on craigslist and use that. If you search around you should have both for under $200.

[electricsmooth]

And if you are learning how to scratch, I would watch Dj Angelo's tutorials on youtube.

[ampnation]

If you play a keyboard, consider looking into options where you can capture audio from a keyboard and sample and/or loop it on your CDJ or mixer, and then scratch with that as your underlying audio, at least as part of the audio. I'm not sure how you would go about doing this, but I know I've seen video not long ago where someone was doing this, sampling a guitar then doing some controllerism with it. Come to think of it, I think it might have been the Native Instruments, Kontrol F1 that just came out.

If you want to scratch with CDJ's I think the outfit I would suggest would be a pair of Denon SC3900 (the replacement for the SC3700 mentioned above) along with a scratch mixer and a Serato Scratch Live interface. If you buy one of the Rane Serato mixers, (they have an exclusive deal with Serato) you won't need the separate interface box because it'll be built into the mixer. The SC3700 has a vinyl slip disc on a motorized platter to give you the same feel as a pair of vinyl turntables, but without the needle and potential for bumping the tone arm. The downside is, any CDJ or DVS (digital vinyl system) solution simulates analog scratching. Some do it better than others. Fortunately, the better products like the Denon decks mentioned, do it quite well. Once you see the prices of Rane mixers and a pair of good decks, you might be scared off. If not, you'll be very happy with this setup I think.

If you don't want to spend that much money, consider a Numark NS7 controller. It uses the same idea as the SC3700 and SC3900 but is an all in one controller which includes a mixer section and Serato Itch software which might be all you need. Keep in mind, Itch is being phased out in favor of Serato DJ but that shouldn't be an issue. It MIGHT mean the NS7 loses manufacturer support a little earlier than it would however -- I don't know.

Going with a controller can also mean less hassle in setting up and transporting. The NS7 is a huge controller, but still smaller and lighter than a scratch mixer + two CDJ's.

One hybrid answer to this setup is a pair of Numark V7 controllers instead of CDJ's. These are like CDJ's but don't have a CD slot. The platters are similar (identical?) to the NS7 platters but you could have 4 V7's on a single 4 channel mixer if you wanted to. You can use V7's with an analog mixer too.

The mixer, especially the crossfader on the mixer are important to good scratching. You want a fader that slides super smooth and is very durable. Some mixers come with an adequate crossfader but allow you to swap that out for something like an innofader which is known for top level faders.

One other idea for a mixer... Rodec makes a series of mixers called the Progressive line. Rodec is famous for their scratchbox mixer, an excellent scratch mixer. The Progressive line is a hybrid DJ/live mixer series with 4,5,6 or 8 channels and an incredible amount of flexibility on I/O options. You could use this as a submixer and connect your keyboard(s) to the extra channels, then send either a single output to the band's primary mixer in mono, stereo or both. One of these mixers would open you up to a lot of possibilities.

Another similar hybrid mixer is the Allen & Heath Xone:464 which has 6 aux sends so in some ways it might open up more possibilties than the Rodec Progressive mixers. One nice thing about the Xone 464, probably not for you, but for some, is that it could be used as the primary mixer for a small band and if the band grew, or you wanted extra channels for live sound right from the get go, you could use the SYS-LINK feature to connect something like a MixWizard (live sound/desk A&H line of mixers) and have it work like one larger desk mixer.