Pioneer’s DDJ-SR: A Two Channel DDJ-SX for $599

I own both the MK1 S4 and the DDJ-SX. I would say this is personal preference *based on* the kind of music that you play and your “style” of playing it. Let me elaborate.

You are opening the big can of worms called Serato vs Traktor by asking which one of these controllers is better. I have a “loose” style of playing — could be mixing any two songs regardless of tempo and genre and don’t mind things being off beat (because I use the jog wheels to scratch/pitch bend to get things on beat a lot). I find Serato more intuitive for this kind of mixing/play. This is part due to the fact that the way in which Serato visualizes the songs is more useful to me than the way Traktor does it. Traktor (and the S4) on the other side have more useful looping controls (for creating loops on the fly). So if you play mostly house/electro/techno (or anything else with four to the floor structure which does not change throughout the track) you will probably find that Traktor gives you more options/opens more possibilities *for your style of play.* Traktor also has a more sophisticated browser/crate manager.

Generally speaking Traktor has more options in terms of creating markers in a song (which would take longer to prepare and will force you to know your songs better). Serato offers more limited, but in my opinion faster/more straight forward way of adding cue points/markers AND allows you to easily beatgrid songs with tempo changes. In Serato you cannot force the software to snap your cue points to the grid. So, again, you have to choose what works better *for you.*

Now onto the hardware. I personally like the DDJ-SX better than the MK1 S4 (I have not tried the MK2). Here is why:

– Mixer section “feels” more professional. I imagine this is because it’s built very similarly to the DJM mixers.
– The pads are higher quality. They are comparable to the ones on the Maschine MK2 but firmer.
– The platters are bigger and more fun. This one is a total preference/feel thing. I also on a VCI 380 and I think those platters are actually the best ones.
– I find assigning effects to the channels more straightforward in the DDJ-SX. Traktor is supposed to be way bigger/better on the effects side, but for me the DDJ-SX somehow makes the whole effect thing more straight forward.
– I think the DDJ-SX vu lights are superior.
– Better cross fader and channel faders.
– Beat roll is mapped to pads out of the box.

Now here are some ways in which S4 is better than the DDJ-SX:

– Loops section is just more robust, straightforward, and useful. Having the two knobs and the well sized loop buttons makes a huge difference.
– You could argue that the pitch faders on the S4 are superior. Because the ones on the DDJ-SX are easy to hit by accident when you are playing with the jog wheels.
– Browsing inside a song which you have already loaded is faster and more robust in the S4. Because you can use one knob to define the browsing unit size (1 best, 1/2 beat etc) and another knob to actually browse back and forth based on the unit size that you chose.

Last thoughts on the hardware/software comparison. I’ve encountered a lot more bugs in the Serato DJ/DDJ-SX setup than in the Traktor S4 one. Serato DJ is a new piece of software and the DDJ-SX is not that old either, so the theory matches the practice here. Traktor offers a lot more options in terms of settings and ways in which you can tweak the software. Serato is in some ways a little more more “barebones,” but for me it gets the more/most important points right (flexible beat grid, quality pads, superior visualizations) and this is what I care about — I can live with the bugs and less robust hardware controls for loops).

I am leaving three super important parts out of this comparison: midi mapping, portability of these units, inputs/outputs. If you want to know about these let me know and I’ll post another reply.

You can summarize everything that I just said as “I like the DDJ-SX/Serato better than Traktor S4 MK1, based on the ways in which I play/mix. You have to decide which one suits your style of play better based on your own experience (ie trying both).” Let’s not start a Traktor/Serato flame war — they are both excellent pieces of software (and their is quality hardware for both), they just put their efforts in different aspects of the mixing/dj experience.

I left the sampler/remix decks out of the Serato/Traktor + hardware comparison, too. That point depends heavily on your style of play, too.