Cheapest option would probably be the Akai AMX, Vestax Typhoon or DDJ-SB for controllers and the SL2 or DS1 for interfaces.

Oooh I forgot about the Akai. May be a better option to have and serve as a backup to my main rig just in case.

You on Windows or Mac? I am only asking because I know some peeps are having issues on one of the Win OS's with AMX. Assuming it is working as intended it is a great device. The only thing though is if you plan to use the AMX with DVS you must factor in the cost of the DVS upgrade expansion as well to be fair.

Mac Yosemite (10.10.5).

You should be fine then. I run mine with no issues :)

Numark Mixtrack Edge?? About the same size as an iPad.......... Can be had for about 90/100 bucks.

www.numark.com

Nice simple little unit......

As the vestax typhoon and sb the sdj upgrade expansion must be purchased as well. One advantage of the amx. I saw the typhoon for $75 at guitar center but my father just picked one up for $40.

I got my hands on one at gc and it felt pretty good tbh. Only real issue was the knobs as they were kind of tight and flimsy. Nice little unit though.

Download pioneer's rekordbox it allows you to mix and preview without hardware and it's free

Numark Mixtrack pro - any of them second hand, really cheap, do the job for listening to 2 tunes at once, setting beatgrids and cue points. Nice and light, powered from USB bus

A slight disadvantage to the Typhoon (if you use Sync) is none of the controls were ever mapped for "Sync Off". Since there is also no keyboard shortcut for "Sync Off", you'll be reaching for the mouse (or touchpad) every now and then. Other than that, it's great.

I don't mind if I have to reach for the touchpad or keyboard. Frankly I wish that Serato would make a USB "key" that emulates compatible equipment. Trying to make this as lightweight as possible.

id get a cheap vci 380 on ebay, wouldnt pay more than 150-250.

no serato upgrade needed. i think the 300 has it too.

Thing is I really don't want to have to lug around a deck just to pre-flight some songs. SL2, DS1, or the Akai may be the best options.

I would agree. You could even use your iOS device with Remote or even Tonetable if you wanted. Moe control with hardware you would probably have with you anyways.

www.dropbox.com

You guys gotta see this one!!! True story this is the DJ setup I had in the hospital room for my sons birth!! Here is the mom-to-be (my wife) using Serato DJ with DVS LMAO!! www.dropbox.com

damn dave lol

how would you monitor on an sl2-3?

If they can make Serato Remote work on prep mode (with 2 decks), a lot of us will be laughing 😄

Let's say only to people who have SDJ license and Serato Remote.

Might even better if they could link at least an 8GB memory that we can prep on the Ipad (by itself) and changes will be recognized once plugged again to Serato.

Wishful thinking... LOL!

I would get two decks visible in Serato. Go into INT mode. That is all I need.

Yeah its that bad !! LOL

That's way to much when you could do the same thing with a Mixtrack Edge and your iPad.

Flame me if you want but that's just overkill if you just wanna set cue points.....

I'm sorry did those pictures give off the impression we were setting cue points or doing anything other than having fun? (LOL very much btw)

In that setups defense not sure if you have used Tonetable before but it is not your average touch surface platter attempt. Pretty amazing IMO www.inklen.com not that I have ever used it professionally.

Personally I wouldn't use anything more than my laptop if I were JUST setting cue points but IF this was something you were into keep in mind the AMX is remappable so you could map buttons to trigger cue points if so desired.

The actual original point though was the AMX is modular and leaves room as it is something you could build on and use in a professional manner by adding whatever you choose and even taking advantage of EVERY expansion (including DVS) Serato offers while the Mixtrack edge simply is not/does not.


I agree with above that Serato should release a fully mobile option for editing. Actually speaking of I used to use this for JUST editing cue points which allows cue point adding without the use of iTunes etc. livecue.co.uk

Rekordbox

DJ Matty Stiles, so I have never used Rekordbox so can you answer these questions.

How does the database (adding/removing files) stay in sync with Serato.
Is any cue point saved in Rekordbox synced with Serato?
Is any loop saved in Rekordbox synced with Serato?
Are file changed made in Rekordbox synced with Serato?
...And vice-versa?

It doesn't.
No.
Nope.
Not at all.

Rekordbox is no different than Traktor Pro or VDJ or Djay Pro or Flow or Djay Pro etc. in that it if you are JUST looking to see if songs blend well it works but in regard to Serato it helps in no way whatsoever. You could ass the use of Rekord Buddy to convert all your work but if you have no intentions of actually using Rekordbox or Traktor Pro etc. then this is actually making more work for yourself....................

I was just reading up on Rekord Buddy. Seems their 2.0 version is still delayed that would sync with Serato. But it would be nice to pre-flight things and be able to co-manage between applications.

It is in Beta right now. It has a little bit of a ways to go but I am able to do things I wasn't previously able to. I can tell you this. I have not seen so many bugs fixed so quick in any beta I have ever participated in to date.

So right now you are using Rekordbox 4 + RekordBuddy 2 beta + Serato?

Am.

Among quite a few others LOL.

What he said