Long story short: I wanted to get a simple digital DJ setup for house parties. But all players/mixer/controllers/whatever make me throw up faster than 2 fingers down my throat after a glass of salt water. It’s also as expensive as hideous. wtf. It’s like they specifically target people with no taste.
I think I may just use my technics mk2s + software.
Check out phase
Nailed it.
My equipment could be day glow purple colored with Barbra Bush all over it as long as it does the tasks I want it to.
People also dont steal hideous shit as much.
It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that bling!
The more large RGB backlight buttons, the more bookings, because it looks impressive to clients 
But yeah, I hate that “aesthetic” too.
On many of them, the brightest colour is on the cue pads. Their colour is usually set-able in the DJ software. You could make them all your main brand colour 
(I’ve got a big, flashing monster of a controller/mixer. It’s a lot of fun to use. I hate it’s full-rainbow demo mode, which it falls into before you’ve even played one side of an LP. I guess real DJs don’t play more than half of any track, usually… )
Led colors is one thing. But then there’s all the glossy cheap plastics, the same you have on any car stereo, with the fake brushed aluminum. Also the fonts… what is this ? Do they try to stuff as much as possible ? These things are priced like professional tools but are graphically designed like toys.
I’ve got a big, flashing monster of a controller/mixer
Which one ? Ideally I’d like something that is autonomous. Only one I could find that does not cost an organ and does not make my eyes bleed too much is this one:
https://www.thomann.de/fr/denon_dj_prime_go.htm
But visually we’re already flirting with Roland’s Aira green lantern shit.
All this kind of design is going to look so dated in a few years (it does already) like that time when everything had to be translucent blue/pink/green/orange like iMacs
And don’t get me started on fucking rubber coated shite 
I wanted a Serato controller with large platters, and went for a Pioneer DDJ-SX3:
It has all the bad styling tropes: garish LEDs, plasticky knobs, bad fonts. It’s also a bit unstable when left on for several hours. The built-in FX are toys, but the Serato ones are pretty good. The pads feel nice and I like their large size (my eyesight’s rubbish). The knobs have a nice tension; the level faders are stiff yet squishy, but the x-fader’s nice. I’d have got the DDJ-1000SRT but it wasn’t out when I was looking. I probably don’t need the four channels or the dual USBs. Most of my friends who mix use Traktor. I really like Serato: tho’: rock solid and gets out of your way.
I’ve only played out a little. At my amateur level, everyone brings their own kit, venues have random assortments of stuff, nothing’s shareable… it’s stupid.
The all-in-one boxes are a good idea until you can get your manager to ensure Nexus gear is on your rider.
That prime go is really small. They are decent bits of kit but bit fiddly especially if used to 1210s
all you need is a usb stick and a play button.
Fake it till ya make it and redline to headline
I think you only have to look at the current stock of boomboxes or some car stereos to see where the bad styling is coming from.
Ugly or sweet?
Yeah, I get that. But it’s not for playing out, I just want something with the least cables for home use.
venues have random assortments of stuff, nothing’s shareable… it’s stupid.
well, at least it spares us the crap “back 2 back” sessions. 
I have a DDJ-1000
Not pretty but not ugly either. You can customize the pad colors based on FX type, reminds me of TR-8S. Kinda handy, really.
I dim a lot of the lights on it, also.
It’s functional. If you don’t want all the colors then you can make them all one color.
Probably going to go back to a DDJ-400 though, as I underutilize this one.
I’m not into the Denon look, though.
Yep
If yer sticking w turntables + software, one of the integrated mixers is SO handy. You go from like 7 cables + splitters + interface to one single USB cable. Super handy for ripping vinyl to digital too. The good ones you can even use as a controller w/out the turntables.
I love my Rane Seventy - its not terribly gaudy.
Try to find a xone 4d
I’ll stick with my old metal Vestax TR-1
