Your Questions: Help Me Choose A Dicer ‘n’ Digital Vinyl Set-up

Digital DJ Tips reader MrLittlerSmith writes: “I think the concept of getting a digital vinyl set-up with some Novation Dicers sounds pretty cool, but I’m somewhat lost on exactly what equipment to pick up. I’m definitely looking for ‘bang for your buck’, but a set-up that’s not overly expensive. So my question to you is: What mixer, tables, and software should I look into?”

Digital DJ Tips says:

It won’t be cheap to get a decent DVS setup! Original Technics are now prohibitively expensive, and so Stanton STR8.150s are my current favourite turntables. In an ideal world I’d partner them with a Rane Serato Scratch Live mixer such as the new Sixty-One. Add your Dicers (Dicers are made for Serato Scratch Live, which is why I’m sticking with Serato here) and you’ll not get much change out of US$2,500. You could save cash by using a standard mixer (Xone 22 is nice) plus a Serato SL2 interface which will give you a similar result (albeit with an extra box in your set-up) but for around US$1,700.

If you wanted cheaper turntables, I’ve heard good things about the Audio Technica AT-PL1200s. They’re basically a Technics copy, but apparently a good one, and if you swapped them for the Stantons it would bring the price down to around US$1300. With these turntables you could also fit the Dicers “properly” using the Technics spindle adaptor mount hole that is optional but keeps everything neat, whereas with other designs of turntable you’d likely have to mount the Dicers flat. If you want cheaper, you should start looking at different software and mapping the Dicers yourself, but you’ll need to get your sleeves rolled up to do this with a non-Serato solution. Three choices are Traktor Scratch Pro 2 (most expensive remaining option), Virtual DJ or MixVibes.

Of course, this is all assuming you already have a good laptop to run the software on…

Are you a DVS user? What would your advice to MrLittlerSmith be to get the best performance and value in his new DVS set-up? Please share your thoughts below…