Where do you prefer to look most of the time - screen or controller?

DJ Hardware
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1

Title says it all, really.

Some people seem to want a controller that shows all the information they need so they hardly ever need to look at the screen. Perhaps these people come from a standalone background where the “controller” is the only piece of equipment to look at?

And some people seem to prefer spending most of their time looking at the screen - for example they aren’t happy when controller moves are not visible on the screen (see the latest discussion around the channel gain knobs). Perhaps these people have always DJ’ed with laptops/tablets?

Personally I like the idea of only using the screen for selecting tracks, while for everything else I like to look at my controller (DDJ-800). But I also understand that DJay Pro has a very clean and attractive GUI and shows visual information very clearly - and quite often it can show information that cannot be shown on your controller.

So let’s have a poll! Are you a screen-looker or a controller-looker (when not looking at the crowd or your drink, of course)? No sitting on the fence on this one (you can’t choose both), you must have a preference…

  • I prefer to look at the screen
  • I prefer to look at the controller
0 voters
3

I have a Mixtour Pro controller with my Djay Pro.

I look at the iPhone screen when I’m selecting an effect to process a track.
I look at the screen when I’m using Pad FX.
I look at the CUE points to know when I need to mix.
I look at the screen and sound wave when I use Neural Mix.

1 Like
4

Thanks for replying.

I guess I meant “in an ideal world”…
Or “if you could design your perfect controller”…

Would you like your controller to show all the information you could ever need to see, or do you prefer to look at your screen for some processes too?

5

why would I look at a laptop screen if the controller has the same information? I’ll be looking at the controller.

6

You make it sound like it’s an obvious choice, but the votes don’t agree with you!

7

Only 9 voters in this intriguing poll so far…

8

I prefer the simplicity I had in the 80’s on vinyl, nd just look out at the crowd. I only ever had to look down if I was juggling.

9

I use a tablet, so I prefer to look at the screen.

Mainly because controllers constantly fall out of sync with the software. If something changes in the software (like when gain is automatically adjusted after loading a track) these changes are not propagated to the controller. This makes the screen the single source of truth* regarding what is actually happening.

For me, this is a fundamental limitation of the current generation of controllers. “Pick up mode” helps, but it’s just a workaround. The “perfect controller” in an “ideal world” would always stay in sync with the software, but that would require all faders and knobs to be motorized, which probably would not happen anytime soon.