Marv Incredible
1:09 PM - 9 August, 2016
It's not pointless at all. What you mean is YOU can't see a point to it, but that's no reason to dismiss the idea. I can see you weren't saying it just to troll the guy, but this is partly why or how you come across like a jerk sometimes, even when you're not meaning to.
The only thing I can think of that would make the Dicers virtually redundant (and practically pointless in your eyes) is if they lose their independance when hooked up with an S9. I don't own an S9 so maybe one of you can confirm? If so, then most of what I'm about to say won't apply, but I can certainly use the Dicers with my SP1 and have them in different modes and still have many good reasons to do so, even though the SP1 does just about everything the Dicers do.
For a start, I suspect that most of the DJs who continue to use Dicers alongside other hardware with the same capacity bought them before purchasing their newer hardware. So if you have them, why wouldn't you use them -- even if some of the functions are duplicated? You make a point about saving a USB slot; there is that, but then there are also USB hubs.
Secondly, using the Dicers gives you the flexibility of having one page open on say your S9 (Cue Points) while you have another page open on your Dicers (Autoloops), saving you from having to switch pages so often and allowing you to do two things at once that you just couldn't do on a single piece of hardware (like I say, I can do this with my SP1).
It also means you can have independant pages for different decks, which certain hardware (like the S9) doesn't allow you to do (I'm told that with the S9, if you switch to say, Cue mode on the left deck, the right deck switches to Cue too, which sucks).
Third, you have the convenience of placement. Most people who bought/buy Dicers are turntablists and there's still no other add-on controller that gives you that much control right where your hands would naturally be. Admittedly, having big pads directly on the mixer like the S9 is equally as handy, but in this case it merely means even more deck-area control.
Plus, there are the two user-mappable banks in the Dicers (four in total) that you can use to program things that aren't natively programmed in your other hardware. This gives you up to 20 additional buttons or controls that you can map (I know the S9 has user modes but again, provided they can be used independently, the more the merrier).
Also, by careful use of the Tilde (~) key, you can switch the focus of the Dicers from decks 1 & 3 to decks 2 & 4, whilst still leaving the other hardware in the other deck group (you can do this with the SP1; not so sure about the S9). I say 'careful' 'cause if you use it, you really need to keep an eye on the deck group focus on-screen or you will inevitably get a nasty and unwanted surprise at some point).
One thing that has occured to me as a reason to drop them is so that it would be one less controller to have to rig up when I'm playing out. Another reason is I'm finding I'm using so many controllers now (Dicers, SP1, APC40 + Rane 68), I'm starting to worry I'll become too dependant and not able to perform the same act without them. I've been thinking about dropping the Dicers at least, but for all the reasons I've stated above, they're still so damned handy.
Anyway, this is why I still use my Dicers even though the SP1 covers most if not all of their functions. My guess is that the OP shares similar reasons for continuing to use his.
As for the original topic and question at hand, I have no idea why the Dicers don't appear to be working properly with the S9. It sounds like a bug or another frustratingly limiting design feature of the S9. I'm keen to learn more about this and I hope it gets sorted. Have you opened a support ticket?
