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In all, the MC-3000’s mixer section is successful and is a pleasant platform from which to mix.
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Their movement is smooth, and you can quickly twist them to your desired position. The gain and filter pots are a different colour to the EQ pots, which is a good thing because you never get confused and accidentally twist the filter when you meant to twist the bass pot. As is typical, the MC-3000 has a 3-band EQ section and each pot has a centre detent. In keeping with modern tradition, the EQs are arranged in a line with the pot closest to the faders being the filter and the pot at the top being the gain control. The MC-3000’s pots are plastic, but their stems are metal, which gives added confidence in their longevity and their ability to take a bit of high-pressure abuse in the heat of an intense mix. No mixer section would be complete without a set of EQ pots. This makes it an entirely useable feature that can be relied upon. It quickly responds to changes in gain and is very informative. It has seven chunky segments that do an excellent job of depicting the audio level. In Master mode, the audio level of the Master is depicted. In Deck mode, the left LED strip depicts the audio level of deck A or C and the right deck depicts the level of Deck B or D. The central peak meter LEDs can be set to either deck or master. This isn’t helped by the slower response of the jog wheel, either. The crossfader isn’t too bad for scratching, but even though you can pull off some decent techniques it isn’t very satisfying because the response isn’t as fast as the crossfader on the Traktor S4. Don’t panic, though – we’re purely talking about the feel here, not longevity. The crossfader is fairly loose and has a similar feel to Numark’s RS-45 crossfader, the type fitted in mixers such the M4. This system takes a bit of getting used to if you’ve never used it before, but you do soon get used to it. The system uses ‘soft-takeover’ to prevent volume-based mishaps, which means you have to return the fader to the position its virtual counterpart occupies on screen in order for it to work. Doing so feels natural, and the Deck button’s illumination provides an obvious visual cue that reminds you which deck you currently control. This means that you can control Deck C’s volume using the left-hand fader, press the Deck button and then use the fader to control Deck A’s volume. Although it only has two channel faders, you can switch between decks using two Deck buttons next to the gain controls. It has two channel faders, a crossfader, and two Cue buttons. The mixer section looks and behaves like the mixer section of many Traktor controllers. The chief benefit of this frugal I/O is the ability to remember the location of everything quickly and find the I/O you need just by feeling along the back panel, which is handy if you’re the sort of person that prefers simple setups. There’s a single 6.3mm headphone output, a 6.3mm microphone input, balanced outputs on 6.3mm jacks, two stereo RCA inputs and a type B USB port. The MC-3000’s I/O is refreshingly simple, providing only the bare minimum of I/O that you need to support an unashamedly all-in-one controller. It seems great value at just £399, but there are some good-quality controllers at the more affordable end of the market, such as Pioneer’s DDJ-Ergo and NI’s excellent Traktor S2, so why should you consider the MC-3000? Not only that, it also has line-only timecode support, which means you can easily hook up two CDJs to control the decks of NI’s legendary software, and it also has the usual complement of hot-cues, FX controls and sample triggers. Price: £399 – Link: Denon DJ Introductionĭenon’s MC-3000 is a compact Traktor controller that can control four channels despite having only two faders.