I want to enter the modern era of mixing from digital sources. I currently play vinyl and CD's (trance, hard house/trance/techno reggae and Dn'B), and can mix vinyl by ear to a barely acceptable standard for my home enjoyment. I have no ambitions at my age to ever play out again, so its all about having fun mixing and being an audio OAP hooligan at home. I run it out through a beefy home hi fi amp and hi fi speakers and sub bass unit, and my neighbours don't moan so I play loud ;)
I currently have connected 2 x Technics 1210 Mk2's for vinyl, a Pioneer DJ CDJ350 for CD's, an Allen + Heath Xone 23 mixer, and a Korg Kp3 Kaos KP3 effects pad.
All good, but I cant mix very well at all by ear manually using my CDJ350 using CDs or USB files, though I've never bothered to learn much in fairness.
But it's time for one last upgrade - I'm drawn to the idea of either a FLX10, XDJ XZ or even XDJ AZ. Or similar.
Because I like the idea of whatever I get making mixing much easier by adapting to USB memory sticks on dual CDJ decks and using auto synchro, proper BPM counters and having a good clear visual display of the sound files to help me cue. In other words the more it does the hard work and beat synchronisation/matching etc for me the better. I have no shame about this as I have no ambitions other than to have easy fun mixing and blending and nice smooth long transitions etc ..
I have no intention of linking a laptop btw. I intend to retain my technics vinyl decks and a CD input to play from my existing music collection so a proper 4 channel unit is required I think.
I love the idea of effects pads and the various FX/delay options too, and vocal or drum isolation options, loops also of course, ie anything that's come along in the last decade...so my question is what is the best for me to buy, given all that? I can't quite fathom the nuances of what each Pioneer unit actually gives me in terms of what I want to achieve and will not require years of study to actually use well and have fun with. Cost within reason is a lesser factor as it will be my last purchase I imagine, though I'm no rich boy!