then I need a new site design quite soon ;)

I can’t really think about anything else than my new controller
so I’ve collected my thoughts
and I made this resume about the best DJ controllers ATM

NOTE: these are personal picks and faves
everybody has different needs and ways of working
so let’s say these are my tips for starters who want to start laptop Djing

DJ CONTROLLERS FOR ABLETON LIVE

Stanton scs.3m
small and futuristic, easily fits into your laptop bag
the faders are touch sensitive
it can handle 4 tracks and their effects

Vestax VMC-600
heavy, big but great for studio and DJ use as well
6 tracks, and each has it’s own rotary knobs and controls

Allen & Heath Xone 4D
a legend, used by many many top DJ’s
a club mixer and a midi controller with built in soundcard
big and expensive

AKAI APC40
I think it’s more for live acts and studio use
but probably the best solution for groove and sample based sets

my new controller will be one of these above
because I use Ableton Live for my DJ sets
but here are four more units
for those DJs who use traditional DJ softwares

DJ CONTROLLERS FOR SERATO, TRAKTOR AND LIKES

Allen & Heath Xone XD
A&H’s unit for the new Serato ITCH
4 decks control, effects, built in soundcard

TRAKTOR KONTROL X1
made by Native Instruments themselves for their own DJ software
do I have to say more?

Stanton SCS.3d
like I said about the scs.3m small, futuristic, easily fits into your laptop bag
if you want the traditional 2 player+mixer setup you need the System3
but you can do pretty much everything with one unit as well

EKS OTUS
the beauty, the best looking bastard of the whole gang
the OTUS works with almost every DJ software
can be bought with or without soundcard (OTUS RAW)
and it’s also a dual deck, so you can work with one unit only

I made my choice already
hopefully I can post up the good news in few days
meanwhile check out the product pages for more info
and ask me if you wanna know something special

so, let me know, which controller is your fave?

my Tumblr followers can send feedback to my posts on the Dashboard
cos there is a new BETA Tumblr feature and I just allowed it

the question feature is also active
and now you can ask anonymously as well
ie you don’t have to be a Tumblr user to ask something from me

as you know it already APC’s party series will return in a new venue
West-Balkán was a legendary underground club in Budapest
now after a two years break they open a brand new venue
they got themselves into the two top floors of Skála Metró
it was the biggest department store of Budapest in those ‘communist years’
now it will be an awesome club
the place was presented to the media today
if you read Hungararian check out the Quart’s post
if you don’t just watch the slideshow of the construction
this will be HUGE in every possible way

the first MashupCentral party will take place on 13th March
as the second day of the three days giga opening
our DJ lineup will be giga as well
DJ Schmolli, Superman and Simon Iddol

OK, this is 4 real, yupp a Vatican TOP 10 for real
check dis out

The Holy See’s newspaper on Saturday published its picks for pop rock paradise, ranging from Michael Jackson’s album Thriller to Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon and the Beatles’ Revolver. What L’Osservatore Romano calls a semi-serious guide on the road to good music will take you to Graceland - Paul Simon’s album made the cut. And it does get into the Supernatural by Carlos Santana. The newspaper calls them classics to pack for a desert island. The other picks are David Crosby’s If I Could Only Remember My Name; Rumours by Fleetwood Mac, Donald Fagen’s Nightfly, the U2’s Achtung Baby, and [What’s The Story] Morning Glory by the Oasis.

so the chart goes like this

#01 Beatles: Revolver (1966)
#02 David Crosby: If I could only remember my name (1971)
#03 Pink Floyd: The dark side of the moon (1973)
#04 Fleetwood Mac: Rumours (1977)
#05 Donald Fagen: The nightfly (1982)
#06 Michael Jackson: Thriller (1982)
#07 Paul Simon: Graceland (1986)
#08 U2: Achtung baby (1991)
#09 Oasis: (What’s the story) Morning glory? (1995)
#10 Santana: Supernatural (1999)

it looks like many things has been changed since I left the Holy City
haven’t they heard about my Vatican Years album? ;)

computers are evil, really
usually I get along nicely with them
and I never had any serious problems on gigs with my setup
few small things always happen, but it’s normal I think
so I was a happy nerd dj

and then I went to the gig on last Friday
beside of DJing and have fun
my secret mission was to test my new soundcard and headphones
the studio conditions and the club conditions are not the same
I needed the loud dark dirty smokey club atmosphere to make up my mind

I’ve plugged my gadgets together
and I’ve seen something what I never seen before
my controller fucked up and crashed the whole system
the result?
disabled audio, missing drivers, freezed Windows crashed laptop
dunno exactly what happened and why
dunno exactly how I’ve fixed it
but after 4 hours (!!) of reinstalling, tweaking and remapping it worked again
the party was kool BTW
the new soundcard and the new headphones are GREAT

but I don’t wanna talk about my controller ;)

last nite I’ve checked and tested everything and it works well
like nothing happened, hmmmm

there are more results of this ‘surprise’
- after two years one problem is OK
- now I have a reason to get a new controller
- the computers are all evil and USB comes straight from hell