What should I get? The Traktor Z2 or the TTM57mkII?

I hear what you are trying to say, but I don't think that 57mkii in particular holds up to scrutiny.

(As an aside, Rane has great customer service. It's not worth almost two thousand dollars (or using Serato) to me.)

The Z2 had production issues when it first shipped and it's nowhere near as time tested as Rane gear (not that the ttm57 mkII is, but it's more the general reputation of the company). NI can be hit or miss with their gear reliability with the soundcards getting good marks, but their controllers having widely reported issues within a few years. We'll see what happens with the Z2 down the road when it's a bit more battle worn.

The Z2 holds up well. DJ QBert did a whole tour and new mixtapes for Mass Appeal (all incredibly dope) on it this year, as well as two albums last year, and it was excellent throughout. It is very well liked it at the Thud Rumble office. There are three on the Octagon right now - Q's, of course, one belonging to Hard Rich, and a third, with a prototypical Thud Rumble TRX in the fourth position. It's still the workhorse, and I am sure that the replacement will be a product of Thud's own and absolutely not a 57.

As for the production issues: I got my Z2 early, was pretty pumped about it, and after a couple hours of cutting on it with a friend all the paint under the faders was gone. It wasn't a big deal in the least, and the issue was corrected after the first run. The replacement faceplates took a while because of what someone from the Berlin office described to me as a "kaputt industrielle stoßen maschine," which sounds incredibly silly to me (a broken industrial ..."poking" machine? He spoke good English, too, but consistently described it in both languages as "poking"- I think he might of meant either a drill press for the circular holes or some other cutting implement for all the others) but seems consistent with the growing pains that a company might have in the process of moving from software into hardware (and much more solid hardware in the Z2).

And I've worked with every high-end mixer on the market outside of the classic rotaries and Rane sound quality is up there with Allen and Heath and Ecler. Z2s don't sound bad by any stretch, but there's a warmth to the Rane's that a lot of other mixers don't have. I agree that most won't be able to hear it tho.

I've tried them all, too. To me, an all-but-imperceptible difference in the warmth of the sound, if it is indeed there between these two mixers, does not compensate for the disparity in the price versus Rane's pronounced lack of creativity - reissuing the 57 is simply not an innovation in any sense of the word.

You also have additional features like 3 discrete ouput channels, including a balanced booth out (Z2 only has unbalanced RCA) and the aforementioned dual USB inputs allowing for 2 laptops to be plugged in. I'm also not super fond of the Z2 hardware EQs nor the filter although I'm sure if you're using traktor, you're mainly mixing within the software.

The third output channel isn't exciting to me in the least, as compared to something like the direct outs on the TRX that allow one to record his or her cuts separately; This, in contrast, is something that is incredibly useful and helps to push the art of turntablism forward. I can't wait to hear the records and mixtapes people will make with it. Do people need a fourth stereo out, after the mix for the audience and/or recording, the out for the monitors, and the mix for the headphones? I'm genuinely curious as to what makes it essential.

I can't remember off the top of my head whether the quarter-inch booth outs on the Z2 are in fact balanced, but those are what I use, not the RCAs.

I fully understand the intended purpose, but an additional USB port does not really improve DVS - and certainly not Serato's - in a meaningful way. (This is the kind of thing that does: http://djworx.com/thud-rumble-wants-to-put-a-tiny-pc-in-your-mixer/)

The Z2 might have benefited from full-kill EQs but the little skulls on the 57mkii are turbo-whack. I wonder whether it would be easier to scrape them off or to paint over them.

There isn't an equipment company out there that has put a filter in a DJ mixer that has satisfied me sonically. I built a stereo diode ladder filter and dropped it in place of the left channel of my Z2 and recorded some cuts that way for a school project a few years ago. (For whatever it's worth, I got an A...)

On a budget for a mid-grade mixer, the Z2 is hard to beat, but if you're looking for a high-end mixer with high-end features and build quality from a company with a reputation for mixers that can withstand daily use in club installs, the Rane would be a no brainer.

I'm just not convinced that the 57mkii is particularly "high-end" for any reason as compared to the Z2 or has any "high-end" features not present in its predecessor from 2006.

/r/DJs Thread Parent