I’ve dug the Technics out the loft and the old trusty Intimidation mixer could do with an upgrade. I’m looking at the Allen & Heath Xone 23C (£316) as want a cheap way of getting a 2 channel mixer and introduce some timecode to the equation. However I see the Traktor Z2 has dropped in price (now £419) which makes it look very tempting especially as it comes with Traktor Vinyl as opposed Cross LE which I’ve never heard of….
Any thoughts on the A&H 23C, worth the money in light of the Traktor price?

I’d go with the Native Instruments Z2, that way you could use the time code software to play mp3 tracks off your laptop but still using your decks to control. I’m sure some would say I’m a heretic …….. 🙂

The xone 23c will do this too, it has DVS support with Cross LE

I’ve got a Z2 and it’s a fantastic piece of kit. For the price you can get it for at the moment you’re getting an amazing mixer with an innofader crossfader and a DVS for free! I’d also recommend buying from musicmatter, they’re really helpful.

Allen & Heath every time – love the sound of A&H mixers and anything else is just wrong.

/thread closed

I wish it was that easy.

23C – probably better build, better sound, it’s an A&H, has nice analogue filters.
Z2 – has a ton more functionality and probably sounds pretty nice too. The Z2 allows me to play both vinyl and DVS at the same time, not sure if the 23C can do the same.
I’m new to DVS so not sure just how much of the functionality it brings I’ll want to use, if I just want to queue up a track and mix it in then the A&H will be just fine, if I want to do a little more then I guess the Z2 is the way to go.

I was in the same situation as you – loads of vinyl but also very tempted by timecode / DVS. The NI Z2 would do the trick, attractive price at the moment as well, but I went for the left-field alternative in the form of the Pioneer DJM-T1. It’s discontinued now, but you should be able to find one second hand for reasonable money. Essentially the same functionality as the Z2, but with Pioneer’s bombproof quality. It is an awesome bit of kit. Seamless integration with Traktor, but also a very nice standalone mixer if that’s what you want to use it for in the interim.

bear in mind that digital DJing systems can be somewhat of a faff. if you just want to play a few mp3’s i’d think about grabbing something like this and using a USB stick. cheap and very easy…

http://www.gumtree.com/p/decks-turntables/cdj-kam-kcd450-usb-cdj-player/1124068804

bear in mind that digital DJing systems can be somewhat of a faff. if you just want to play a few mp3’s i’d think about grabbing something like this and using a USB stick. cheap and very easy…

http://www.gumtree.com/p/decks-turntables/cdj-kam-kcd450-usb-cdj-player/1124068804

An Intimidation mixer! I remember when they were the dogs danglies! DVS/Timecoded Vinyl is the way to go, recently bought all my old Hard House Vinyls on MP3, damn the sound quality is awesome, you don’t realise how worn out your vinyls get. 😳

I would have a look at the software system first, you might not like Traktor, I prefer Serato, but then it was probably 10+ years since I tried Traktor. Or do these mixers take away the use of a laptop.

Remember the more buttons & knobs on the mixer, the awesome you & your setup is. 😆

Unless you really like to scratch to a fairly high level I can’t see what advantage using vinyl with timecode gives you over just using a controller. I do scratch but I’ve got one of these and it’s ace:

http://serato.com/hardware/reloop-terminal-mix-2

If I went down the controller route, then I would have to say goodbye to playing my old vinyl, and that ain’t happening 🙂

Reading up a bit more on the Allen and Heath, it would seem that to get the mixer to talk DVS a jumper is required, so if I understand correctly, to go from true vinyl to DVS is a cover off job whereas with Traktor you just hit a button .

Pretty easy to just download most of your old vinyl in decent quality if you know where to look. I used to be a right vinyl purist but I never bother getting my records/technics out these days.

If you are used to scratching on Vinyl, using a controller can take a lot of getting used to. I can scratch, but find it very difficult to pull off the same tricks on a CDJ or controller. The reason for this is a few things, slipmats/vinyl friction and the controllers/CDJ’s are not the same size. However scratching on Serato/TCV is a lot easier than CDJ’s & controllers, as I learnt to scratch with Vinyl and it feels pretty much the same.

I’ve used a few different controllers and I just don’t feel it. I think this is because I come from the daze of Vinyl, I just don’t get the same buzz with controllers, but it does mean you can add a few more elements, such as live remixing and 3-4 deck mixing which is a lot easier with digi stuff.

It has come a long way from a 2 channel mixer & two turntables and I think it’s great it has progressed the way it has.

ac505 if you can, try out some different systems there might be one you prefer.

It’s a bit of a – head says Traktor, heart says A&H. I think having to pop the cover off the mixer and faff about with jumpers each time I want to go from DVS to vinyl,and back is a bit of deal breaker for the A&H unfortunately.

Reading up a bit more on the Allen and Heath, it would seem that to get the mixer to talk DVS a jumper is required, so if I understand correctly, to go from true vinyl to DVS is a cover off job whereas with Traktor you just hit a button .

really??

that doesn’t sound right at all! i’ve never come across a mixer where you can’t just flip the channel to ‘line’ and slap a timecode vinyl on the deck as normal.

it’s a huge design flaw if so…?!?

I don’t really like A&H mixers either. They used to be pretty standard in clubs and the sound quality is good but they seem to have little fiddly buttons that you can’t see in the dark that can make everything go wrong. Never been a fan.

My controller is pretty good for scratching Milkie – it’s not the same admittedly but it’s not bad.

https://www.facebook.com/grummm/videos/10153078674526474/

I do like doing stuff with looping/fx/multiple decks etc too.

Doris, maybe I’m reading it wrong…. Pg 19
http://www.allen-heath.com/media/AP9433_ISSUE_3_XONE_23C_USER_GUIDE.pdf

Kind I suggests it is either a standard vinyl mixer or you reconfigure the sound card and run DVS.

Yup really! I just had a look at the manual and you have to take the mixer apart and re-route a ribbon cable 😯 . Basically you have to route the phono pre amp to the internal sound card, but I can’t find info on if you can still play vinyl through this mode.

not an A&H fan but it’s been a few years

anyone had a go on a Rane?

Seems nuts to me, why have an analogue mixer (with sound card) that can’t play both traditional vinyl and DVS simultaneously.

oof! I suppose obviously you could use a regular serato/traktor box but then you can do that with any bog-standard 2 channel mixer….

this bit from the manual made me chuckle though :

Record output
Use to record your mix. Connect to a Minidisk recorder or computer soundcard input etc

What you don’t still have a minidisc player? I think I still have my DAT in the loft, hopefully it will become a valuable antique.

For anybody vaguely interested, the Traktor Z2 was the winner, just too many seductive flashy lights & buttons !!!! Just need to get a spare laptop up and running now to run traktor.

Nice one, enjoy!

anyone had a go on a Rane?

I’ve got a basic Rane scratch mixer which is really nice. Not tried many others but there’s some great looking Rane mixers with built in Serato interface and control buttons etc.

bear in mind that digital DJing systems can be somewhat of a faff. if you just want to play a few mp3’s i’d think about grabbing something like this and using a USB stick. cheap and very easy…

Some of us like to keep up the skill of using our ears to beat match, and not rely on visual information….

Some of us like to keep up the skill of using our ears to beat match, and not rely on visual information….

This is a boring old argument but…..

I learned to beat-match at least 20 years ago – I don’t feel the need to keep doing it when I (mostly) don’t need to bother any more. It’s hardly a creative skill. The sync button lets me do more with FX, acapellas, scratching, multi-deck mixes etc etc

My ideal setup is probably still vinyl with serato I suppose, but I’m not anywhere near famous enough to expect to turn up to a club/festival and have some well-serviced, properly set up 1210s and a decent mixer ready for me. Sometimes they do, but I wouldn’t like to rely on it, and bollocks to carting 1210s around with me everywhere.

Mullet uses a Rane with fancy interface.. I dunno if he’s quite got the hang of all the functions yet but they’ve got their sound pretty well polished and he plays a damn mean live set on it too 🙂

Some of us like to keep up the skill of using our ears to beat match, and not rely on visual information….

There’s nothing stopping you beat matching by ear with a digital system, and it’s still a required skill. If you don’t set your beat grids properly etc things an still drift or the software gets it wrong especially if the track changes tempo.

I’m with Grum on this one.

Vestax PMC15 ( mixer of the year 1993) …..cor how old am I ?……..lol

Best mixer I ever had……because you can do 3 turntables, transform punch buttons and best of all removable Xfade…

As I kept on burning my Xfades on my numark mixers….

Yeeeaaahhhh boy….I’m a old skool DJ from 1987- 1995…..oh the things I CANT remember !!…lol