Is the RX the right choice?

Hi All,

I'm a mobile DJ and currently equipped with the Traktor Kontrol S4 mk1 and laptop.
My genre range is overall and therefore my need is a huge song assortment (+120 GB)

Generally I'm quite pleased with my setup, except 2 points:

1) Latency issues caused by notebook (avoided by using XP, but it's no solution on the long-term)

2) Heavy weight (Traktor original case) and 2 units (S4 and laptop) with many wires.
As I play in small pubs sometimes, space is limited and it's always a mess to rig up my setup.

So I'm thinking of either buy new, smaller laptop and controller (S2 mk2) or change my setup generally.
On my research I found the nice DDJ-RX. But I'm not sure if this will serve my purpose!?

Haven't had my hands on this device yet, but understand that's also not really small.
Anyway, I'd be more flexible than with my current setup, I suppose.

But my main concern is a fast and easy track search in the big library.
This won't be possible on the RX, will it? Is there a way to improve this?
Maybe by using smartphone or tablet? Could those be used to search by letters?
Of course the easiest way would be to plug a keyboard, but I've read in other thread that this isn't possible and won't be ever in future neither.
Also I read that when more than 10k tracks the RX might get slow.

Kindly asking you to give me your suggestions, experiences and advices
Thank you

Best regards
Andy

AndyHawk August 25, 2015 08:36

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Date Votes

6 comments

Hi Andy
Your best bet is to stay with what you have. Reason I say that becuz the unit (xdj rx) has a limit of 10k. As a mobile Dj that won't work for you. Keep in mind that your music keeps growing. Don't get me wrong the xdj rx is a very nice gear. But due to the fact of its limitations. Won't be good as a mobile gear. Unless you use virtual Dj or the new rekordbox if that will support it. Then is might be worth to get. If u planning to switch to serato then u should look into the ddj line. But if u a traktor guy. Just stick with the NI gear. NI controller are well integrated with Traktor. I have a lot of Dj friends who are mobile so I try to help them out as much as possible. An I know how important it s to travel light and set up quick etc. this is my opinion I think you should do

Steven V August 25, 2015 09:15 0 votes

I'm a mobile dj with about 66,000 songs...... works great - to work around the 10,000 song USB limit you just have to use your laptop with Rekordbox.

It's great as a mobile DJ!! use your computer for your main music collection and have both usb ports available!. for other stuff/

Anthony Howard August 25, 2015 13:37 0 votes

Thanks for your answers!

My focus is to minimize the setup and get rid of a laptop.
I would have plugged an external HDD (FAT) to the RX and looking for solution to find tracks easier by using smartphone/tablet control.
But when both is not possible, I will have to stay with what I have.

AndyHawk August 25, 2015 14:14 0 votes

Am hoping to see one day a new cdj 400,350,200. No cd just straight up USB like the xdj 1000. Those were good for mobile

Steven V August 25, 2015 14:29 0 votes

I use mine with a 256GB SSD filled with about 165GB of music on it. The deck seems to find the songs just fine, but I do have 2 iPods plugged into the line outs just as back up, because you never know when technology can go wrong!
As has been said by nearly everyone the main fault with the XDJ RX, it doesn't currently have a load lock function on the playing deck, meaning you can drop a song on top of an already playing song! We are all praying for a firmware update to fix this major issue.
I would go & try one, I bought mine blind & yes it's the dogs but it's quite heavy especially in a full flight case.
I'm a mobile/bar DJ & so far so good for me, you just need to concentrate when dropping the tunes onto the decks.

Paul Jones August 27, 2015 16:38 0 votes

AndyHawk: I am very satisfied with my RX, and use with confidence on any gig. There are issues with library size, the 10k track limit does not affect me, but will make life more difficult for you since you'll likely need to search by file name. Also, the physical size of this unit is huge. There were a subset of folks here that were hoping the RX would be similar in size to an Aero but with hi-res displays...The RX at 29" (700+mm) width makes tight booths are an issue. Latency issues? None...it feels real time, there is no laptop in the loop. As one person mentioned, you can use a laptop with Rekordbox to escape the 10k limitation, and by doing so you will not sacrifice latency as all playback functions happen within the RX (the laptop only is feeding the library).

Ultimately, you should get a loaner and play with it for a few days to see if it is right for you.

pope August 28, 2015 20:26 0 votes