First off, gotta stop with the all CAPS post. It's really hard to read.

You probably already know how much of a beast the 68 is, the functionality of the 68 was over a lot of people's heads. The ability to go back and forth from SL and SDJ is awesome. You will loose out on a lot of the control features of the 68, it can be replaced with and external controller. I personally hate even adding an external drive to my set up, but that's me.

Contact Rane and you should be able to rehab the 68 for a quite a bit less than buying an SRT. I also prefer the sound signature of Ranes over Pioneer. Good luck.

Send the mixer back to Rane to have them fix it. You'll save money (as Niro pointed out) and still have a better mixer than the Pioneer.

All about what you are looking for. As an owner of a Rane 64 AND the DJM-900SRT I would choose the SRT I have quite a few reasons and I won't bore you with them (as I am sure many have heard them already anyways) but in most areas other than sound, dual sound card & feel of the faders my 900SRT wins. The sound aspect is not as big of a difference as some will lead to believe but under the right circumstances it can be heard.

on a scale of 1-10, budget mixers to legendary bozacks to less discussed allen & heath, where do rane and pioneer fall in your sound quallity scale dave? i just wondered.

Rane is at 8 (for Rane 64) Pioneer is at 7 (for SRT) specifically. In terms of controllers and other gear the numbers fluctuate even more. This is assuming the legendary stuff is at 10 which IMO they are not as there is ALWAYS something I would change LOL.

I still have the Urei and older A&H mixer and quality wise the differences are real. I am talking actual quality here and not durability. Some think that quality means it has to be nuke proof. As I always remind I take VERY good care of my gear and everything gets rotated so being made of 100% steel and such only adds unnecessary weight at times. Also sometimes the better "quality" gear is not what I am looking to use or what I need I should say .......................... if that makes any sense. This is applies to my 900SRT Vs. Rane 64 comparison. Many times the features gained comes with a price tag of quality lost. Not saying I agree with it but it just comes with the territory. With the prices of the gear in its current state can you imagine the prices if they could claim legendary quality as well? LOL

i just havent had a rane since a ttm 57, which probably isnt the best guideline for rane sound, but i have a SRT900. i cant afford to have more than 1 mixer around, but i'm interested in may be getting a 62/61 just because i haven't used one and want to get familiar.

Not gonna lie. You will melt a little inside the first time you feel the faders. Crossfader AND line faders. This is before you eve turn on the freakin thing LOL.

As I said though every area the SRT wins so IMO you got it right overall the first time. I got both the same week so I was very fortunate and content. In ALL honestly though if I HAD to choose one I don't know what I would do. I mean literally. I was able to buy each one with no worries as I knew I would be getting the other. If I was only able to get one I don't know if I would have executed purchase to this day LOL.

im on the fence, i like the srt and have no issues with it. over the years i've worked on my scratching and im trying to take that a bit further, so the 62 seems like it might be fun to work with for a year. i've never understood why Pioneer refuses to make the xfader/upfaders on a knob with more control instead of the 3 positions for either one.

If you have ever been to the Rane factory, you'll know how serious they are about sound and quality overall. People forget Rane is more of a boutique company, not a fast food chain. I remember being forced to play on mostly pioneers a few years ago when I was on your in Asia. The layout was very easy to get use too, probably because there was less to learn. The down fall was the need to plug in an SL box and even mapping some of the crucial functions in it, it was no where near having a control of a dedicated Rane mixer.

I feel the fader curve adjustment is over rated, I honestly don't remember a time where I've had it on anything but sharp. For slow mixes I use the up fader. 3 positions would probably be fine. Might be different if you mix with the crossfader thou.

Are you speaking of the cut/curve or the faders themselves as in a rotary? If you are looking for a rotary option it HAs been done on a 900 actually. Brichi (who is a member here as well as Pioneer forums) did this very thing with a 900SRT. He used the DJM-800 kit and minor fabricating. He ALSO changed some LED's on the mixer as well as the 2000's which look AMAZING!!!!! I have been contemplating this for quite some time. I am guessing you probably meant the curve switch but I figured I'd share this anyways LOL.
Yeah back then it was more cut and dry as to which had the edge with Serato. Coming from one who is NOT afraid to use an external or add anything that could help me better control the software the 900SRT/SP1 combo can not be beat.

As a matter of fact when I DO use the 64 I STILL use the SP1 as the dedicated controls on the 64 (cue points, etc.) do not meet my needs. Not for nothing I have no use for a setup lacking performance pads anyways so this just seals the deal for me. No matter what I am using be it a mixer (from my Akai AMX to my 900SRT) or a controller (From DDJ-SX to DDJ-SZ) or even my Traktor gear I tend to always go with performance pads.

I actually agree with you here. I will use if it is there and by no means mind the control but I tend to cope with what is................

BTW not 100% sure how this fully applies as quality control can be a priority for companies of any size. I mean I get it............ more attention to detail but I don't think anyone here (specifically here) forgot they are a smaller scale operation than Pioneer or similar companies.

its not a huge deal, i just felt like my 57 back in the day was nice to get it exactly how you want it and the having the options with the upfaders being really sharp.

I really started to use pioneers because after the 57 went out of fashion with so many clubs for so many reasons, broken knobs, missing eq knobs, clubs not updating firmware, just the general club abuse that seems to be a sport these days.

a few years ago my club residency really wanted to go with Pioneer because we were bringing so many DJ's that required DJM 800s and im always down to try new stuff so i bought a 800 and cdjs to learn at home(got embarrassed opening for an international dj because i didnt really know how to use them.) Never overly warmed up to CDJs and went back to TTS and a Z2 to really get into traktor, which was cool too, but IMO the sound quality for club levels wasn't quite at a Pioneer or Rane level and i never really liked traktor other than playing with it on my couch with an X1.

To me the 57 was like a sports car and the Pioneer 4 channels are like big sedans or big SUV's. I wanna drive fast again.

Nice analogy. I kind of agree actually. What the Pioneer offers is great but for actual performance DJ's (and especially turntabilists) Rane is certainly the answer.


I believe it was Mr Wilks who made the observation but I fully agree. Pioneer has the worldwide market and seems to be the club standard across the globe. When it comes to DJ's handling their ear personally here in the states especially Rane is a main contender. As another (daring observation) DJ sets involving Pioneer (4 channel) mixers are often great but often imitable. The GREAT sets on Rane mixers are often the type of set that has your head spinning. It's not all about FX & techy capabilities with Rane as MANY times the thing is being used as a flat out instrument!!!

^^ difference between putting out 50 mixers a day compared to 1000 is huge. But I mainly compared Rane to a boutique because they are smaller and are focused on making high end gear with quality parts.