Okay, I have posted this topic...like twice before.
To me it was like a "First born" where the first time it was exciting and every time there after it is just less and less.
Anyways, to get some of you up to speed: As many; I am poor. So it was a big deal when I finally bought a full-fledged commercial plugin (That being Micro Tonic) than shortly after I bought another (112db's Redline Reverb)
I did buy one other one after that that I decided not to post a "celebration" topic on just because this is getting redundant, and that plugin was 112db's Big Blue Compressor. (Love 112db's stuff!)

Anyways, no, this time I took a bigger step. I went for "GRAND"...the only not so grand part is that it doesn't directly benefit my music production -per se.
I bought hardware. What hardware, might you ask? An awesome audio interface? No.. A hardware effect? No... A hardware controller? Sort of, I guess...
I purchased NI's Traktor S4!

I am certain we all may share a mixed opinion on this choice, but can I just get a congratulation? To me this is a huge step! I've come from using only freeware/low, low budget plugins to buying commercial plugins, to finally buying a $800 piece of equipment.
I'm proud of myself

congrats! If it makes you happy, that's all that counts.

Niice man!
Hope you love it.
Be sure and link us to yer mixes.
And congrats!
Cheers to many hours of being lost in teh sound

Thanks, I sure will!
The choice was inspired by this guy who is some sorts of a promotion agent invited me to a live show he puts on. I mean, he doesn't play. He gets the spot for his DJs who play live.
Anyways, he heard my music and would like me to be part of the group. I was straight forward and honest with him, I don't really DJ, but I'll pick it up, give me a few months to practice and then we'll see what I can do.

...also told him (just being honest again) most of the music I do doesn't seem quite like the music he'd want. He told me not to worry about it. Just play what I want and the crowd will decide.

Good for you man. I'm a working musician in So Cal - so there's really a spectrum of wealth with entertainers here. It's funny to see the monied ones get all this nice equipment and barely use any of it. And then there's broke guys with one mic, one keyboard (and no money for anything else) who really milk what they have for everything it's worth. Guess which group I would generalize to get more interesting and compelling results

the ones with all the cool equipment?

Muzik 4 Machines?

"ntom, gonna get GAS..........ntom.........gonna get mo' gear........no need to eat, gettin' more stuff is mo' neat"

lol. I remember getting an original Oxygen 8 when I was 19. I was delivering pizzas at the time and I had to save all my tips for a month to afford it. When I finally figured out how to use the knobs to control parameters on a softsynth, I nearly crapped myself.

10 years later, I've got a studio full of music gear and I design MIDI controllers for a living.

Good luck with your endeavors, ntom. You never know where you'll find yourself in ten years.

To be honest I still Haven't figured this one out yet, but I never actually tried to figure it out. I have been trying to figure out if my MIDI controller can controll parameters in my DAW, like volume/pan

An interesting choice and I think maybe a good one Nolan, as your music is quite diverse and also has a DJ feel to it (certainly with the songs I've just listened to on your first 2 pages of your Soundcloud site).

Some may say that spending so much on a controller when you're not an actual DJ yet is bordering on folly. However, I think that because you have the professional contacts and also the sheer cost of the unit forces you to learn Traktor S4 inside out during the coming months, then on balance it is a good choice.

So yeah, congratulations - but now you must learn it fully to justify the cost!

indeed...I'm not sure where to begin on that. Actually I think a good beginning would be to just familiarize myself with it's operation and interface, then see about asking others who use it, maybe find a text book.

Also, thanks for the response it was very warm and great to read, makes me feel a little more proud about my choice and my music (and I think you're the first person to openly acknowledge that my music is fairly diverse...I just need to toss some blue grass in there and I think I might have covered all the genres.)

Good idea Nolan about familiarizing yourself with it's operation and interface, asking others who use it and finding a text book (or forum advice) too.

Genuinely, you might be on to something with introducing a bit of bluegrass into your tunes!!

Cheers

I might need someone to collaborate with if I wanted to do Blue Grass, I lack the proper understanding of as well as the tools to make good sounding Blue Grass.

nice! I am thinking about S4 to but that is a lot of cash, maybe i will buy a S2.