Hardware/controllers used: Reloop Buddy and Mixon 8 Pro
I have been struggling between using my Buddy, but needing a third deck, and feeling like my Mixon 8 is too excessive. I don’t need 4 channels on my controller and don’t like DJing in 4 deck mode as I appreciate the layout in classic or Pro.
The Buddy is perfect in all ways for me, but I often get in a pinch mashing up two tracks and needing a third deck to get me out of the mix without downgrading the vibe by stopping one of the two tracks getting mashed up.
My suggestion is: if there was a way to send deck one or two to a third ghost deck, or scratch deck (not like turntable scratching), so that the deck that it was originally on could be loaded up with a new song on a 2 deck controller in classic or pro mode. I don’t want a 4 deck controller or to be in 4 deck mode. This would almost be like instant doubles, but I want it to not be doubled, just dragged over to deck 3, but have it be an invisible deck in 2 deck mode. I was thinking shift plus fader or knob could control the gain/volume for that third track. Most of the time I would probably already have a portion of the track looping and often stem isolated, so if this was made, it should keep all stem and loop traits, and just be shifted onto the third deck, opening 1 or 2 to load a new song. Honestly this would make 2 channel DJ controllers way more relevant again. I feel like with stems now, 2 tracks isn’t enough but these giant 4 channel controllers are the answer for many of us.
I’ve always wondered why no one has made a 3 channel controller as well, When I used to spin vinyl, I never had 4 decks but on certain setups I would bring a third deck…
I used to think a lot about a 3 channel controller, but now I think it could almost be a single knob that would click to stop the track and that you could turn down to fade out and maybe up would filter sweep up. if there was this feature I mentioned in my OP where you could just move the current track from deck 1 or 2 to deck 3. It would just be for finishing out a track that was almost done anyways. The reason I’m proposing the above is to be able to utilize old 2 channel controllers in a much useful manner. It would keep my Reloop buddy relevant for years to come, without me feeling limited in my abilities.
This is definitely my next controller purchase. It’ll handle all my needs in a much smaller footprint.
Can you utilize all four decks without using 4 deck mode on your screen? The problem with instant doubles right now is you have to have deck 3 and 4 on screen to double to them. But maybe there is a hardware function for it on the mixtour mkii. I mean, if I can access all four decks from the mixtour while in 2 deck mode; problem solved. I still thought my idea was good to help make older 2 channel controllers more functional, but I won’t complain if I can do this all on a mixtour mkii.
I will say, if Reloop makes a Buddy Pro (metal faceplate, 4 channel access, mic input, xlr output) they will have the perfect controller.
Awesome thanks! I posted this over in the fb djay group and someone mentioned that Serato kind of lets you do something similar by use of the sampler. You drop your looping track into the sampler and it continues to play. Definitely the goal is to have it stop playing on the original track and not be duplicated/doubled up. More just moving it somewhere to open up the current track.
You’re welcome. I recall a similar functionality with Traktor where you could capture a loop of Deck 1 or 2 and send it to the Sample Player. Super handy for keeping the vibe going.
I’d love some functionality like this. I generally like a 2 deck setup but it’s nice to be able to play a loop on top of a transition sometimes which isn’t really possible on 2 decks … but I feel the 4 deck mode is overkill for it so don’t use it. But yeah, sending to a sampler would be great, especially combined with neural mix (e.g send only an acapella to the sampler). If you could load in multiple loops that’d be even more amazing, of course, but anything along those lines would be great
