Beginner DJ looking to buy gear.

[Mango]

Hello from Australia! First post here go easy

Ok so here is my story, Me and my best mate have been messing around on our mates DDJ-ERGO controller through Traktor Pro 2 for the past month and have realized we actually love mixing on it, been doing heaps of research and just all round spending hours upon hours on it. But unfortunately have to give it back as we were only borrowing it.

So our dilemma is we need to buy gear, But we dont want to buy something we will get bored of in a few months.We need something that will last us a while/ even us semi professionally if we get good enough.

We want to play music you would see at a dance festival like we love SHM, Steve Aoki, Avicii, Dimitri Vegas, Dirty South, and many more. So pretty much Dance/Trance/Electro/House abit of Dubstep in there too. We want to play House parties and of course Clubbing would be the big goal right now but one step at a time!

Few questions.

Should we buy second hand or brand new

Controller or CDJ's and a mixer (Im thinking upgrade from a controller to CDJ's and a mixer personally)

Any good recommendations for beginner set ups?

Price range around $1,000-$1,200 MAX!! Would love to save as much as possible of course.

Thanks guys.

[Mitch]

For that price you'd either be able to get a top of the line controller (assuming you already own a capable laptop) OR you could go 2nd hand cdjs and mixer.

For the 1200 dollar mark your either looking at the older generation equipment (cdj 400s or 800s + mixer) or the entry level newer gen equip (cdj 350s + mixer). Your choice comes down to budget and preferred feature set (cdj 350s are rekordbox USB compatible)

If you are aiming at clubs, cdjs are fairly standard to know how to use and is generally accepted as the better option if you want to go down that path.

Controllers are good for mobile work (house parties & functions) as its portable and you can easily maintain / view a large library of music.

All comes down to what you want to use it for.

Hope this helps

[GREMM1S]

I think controller is your best choice for your situation tbh

Flexible, portable and will have the software aids to make it easier in the beginning.

[lloydc]

cdj350s or xdj-aero is what you'd want.

you can fuck around with traktor easily on both and, as mitch said, they are both rekordbox compatible.

I like the idea of turning up to a club with a rekordbox prep'd usb stick and some headphones and being ready to go.

[Mango]

Thanks for the replies.

Im going to talk to my mate and see how we go, Im feeling 2x 2nd hand CDJ's and a mixer. Ill have to look more into the difference between the 400s and the 350s so ill get onto that.

Ill keep the controllers in mind, the Pioneer XDJ AERO looks quite interesting, But if we get into playing at clubs its just not going to cut it. And id prefer to buy something that i wont need to upgrade for a while rather then getting a controller then realizing we need CDJ's and a mixer.

[Mango]

Ok so an update, we have decided go with a Controller for now and either sell it or keep it and buy CDJ's and a mixer later on.

My question is, besides Ebay and Gumtree and the buy/sell forum on here, where would some other good sites be where i could pick up second hand Dj gear.

Sites based in Australia would be better too for obvious reasons.

Thanks.