I need some opinions for choosing a dj mixer for my upcoming live set. My set up is just an octatrack and mpc 1000 and the yet missing mixer.
Right now I narrowed it down to pioneer djm 600 vs djm 700. The main difference is their age I’d say, the 700 is kinda slim Version of the 800, and that one is analog and one is digital. I also found a comparison chart with all the djm versions and learned that the djm 600 is essentially a 16 bit 44100hz mixer, whereas the 700 is 24 bit and 96000hz. Is this already a decision point? Cause all my loops/samples are in 16 bit bc mpc. The sampler within the 600 is also intriguing.
I’ll look at alternatives, too. Must be a 4 channel mixer, send/return would be good. Tbh the effect section of the djm 800 got me, thats why I want a pio. A kaoss pad would be an option, too, however I’m really hesitant towards them. Plus it blow my budget. I could get the 600 for around 200€ the 700 for 400ish €.
I even consider the ddm4000 just for home use and practice and put a pio 800 on my tech rider request, (which sucks for promoters and is a risk for me).
I guess it’s a sound decision, but I don’t know either of them. I use the 800, xone92, rane rotary mixer regularly, sometimes ecler when I dj. To me they all sound good and I can’t really tell a difference.
Live I play dance/club oriented heads music and in the future I want a pure beat set as well as a pure club set. I’ll play small venues only 50-200. If I play clubs there’s always a pio 800 at least,so that’s a minor issue to consider.
As you can see I am deep down the research rabbit hole and need some opinions/expirience.
Are you absolutely sure you even need a mixer? You could just run the OT into the MPC or vice versa… You have specific techniques / workflow for using a DJ mixer with those two pieces of gear?
FWIW I’m a certified ecler fanboi, their products are superb IMO. Some people don’t like their eq freq choices so it can be subjective, but I always find their electronics and sound to come correct. I am of the mind that a DJ mixer shouldn’t be digital unless it absolutely has to (because of digital only features for example).
Might be a good idea to look into mixers that have an fx send/return loop too. Those are always handy, doubly so if your setup has an OT in it
yes, thought about ditching a mixer. But bc I cant play ish live I want that dynamic feel/vibe of a DJ set. I`m just stacking/triggering loops, but want to keep it interesting AND want a seamless set so transitions are a important part therefore I like a dj mixer as well, yet alone for the simple eq style. So one channel mpc which handles drums and bass, one for the octa with all the main samles/loops/leads gives me still two channels where I can put separated stuff on it like an additional snare pattern and put effects on it. I can create simple breaks just with the line or crossfader, I don´t loose tracks from the octa, so at one point I could to live looping/resampling on the octa etc etc also the effects and filters are so hands on just there, no need to select a track, select fx section. So I take advantage of the multiple outs of both machines but without the hassle of routing and signal flow. You are absolutely right I could do all this without the dj mixer, so I guess it’s also a stylistic/aesthetic choice.
And yes, I always enjoy playing on ecler and the nuo 4 seems nice. Can you elaborate on the combiantion of send/return loops and the octa? maybe theres one obvious thing I never thought about.
Also a mixer lover…will be using an OT with a KP3 live and and also contemplating either a standard mixer with aux sends or dj.mixer
I suppose with the aux and a looper, sending a dedicated track from either OT or MPC thru seperate mixer channel, send to AUX and resampling/effecting /chopping loops or even one shots on the fly with a KP, back into another mixer channel (muted) and mixing them back in- for a start… seeing that you have the ability to monitor the muted channel before unmuting it.
I know you can do this with rec trigs in OT, but the advantage here is more external outs/different effect sounds, esp. if using a mixer live is central to your process…
Obviously i endorse the use of live KP use.
and then route the fx send to OT input pair.
Now you can resample either the OT, the MPC, both or even ch 4 into the OT for resampling tricks, and then you can even mix that resampled loop back in via the OT cue outs for example. Or use a through track and set fx (with scens etc) if you just want to apply fx
My group used DJ mixers for our live rig for a good while; we used a Pioneer DJM-800 and an Allen and Heath X:ONE 4D for rehearsals and live gigs for almost a year. The Pioneer is super fun, you can get really creative with transitions, looping and effects. The 4D sounded better, had a more flexible external effects loop, and the midi controllers were super sweet, but it was also pretty noisy. If you’re planning to play on the house mixer, you’ll usually lose available channels, as obviously the house unit will have some CDJs or whatever else already hooked up.
We ended up ditching the DJ mixers and moving to a small console, as our rig grew and we wanted more control over routing and dynamics processing (e.g., side-chaining and master channel compression/limiting). One of the critical issues for playing live in a club is getting your rig output up to the intensity of the DJ playing before you. If you end up using your own DJ mixer, I would, at minimum, get a small compressor (something like an FMR RNLA) and run your master signal through that. You could do the same thing by routing through the Octatrack, although I’m not enamored of the Octa compressor.
Thanks for the input.
I was thinking about getting a fmr rnla/rnc anyway, so that is a good info how necessary that is.
@tsutek thanks for that suggestion, so obvious but it never crossed my mind. I’ll be looking into mixers with separated aux sends now as well. (and maybe a pioneer efx 500 cause they’re so Damn cheap and look like a fisher price toy)
Since my gig is in three weeks I’ll probably post a quick feedback regarding my choice that I ended up with and my experience.
Analogue but with usb connection. 4+1 channels…fx, plus fx sends. Also has midi clock send which i use (along with nudge buttons) to mix my boxes with a friends setup.
