When I first heard about the studio 4a and checked the specs, I was skeptical. It sounded too good. A 4 deck controller, with a soundcard, effects assignable to both decks, plus an led gain display? Those are features normally reserved for controllers $350 and up. Throw in the extra large platters, metal surface, and pitch control, and it just didn't make sense to me.
Now given behringer's sometimes iffy reputation and past foray into the dj controller market, I expected this thing to be a piece of crap. Sure it sounds good on paper, but will it really perform? Well, I didn't want to find out honestly, but I recommended this to a friend who was looking for a controller, so I had a perfect opportunity to do so. Was it right for me to recommend a potentially terrible controller? Well, he did come to me..
When I first saw it in action, I was blown away. The thing was sexy, and big. Unlike my previous mixtrack, you cant throw this into a backpack, or a laptop bag for that matter. Fit and finish were top notch. Each knob has this rubbery matte coating and perfect amount of resistance that feels weird for something as cheap as $200. The faders are also very good.
There is LED feedback on every button, which is awesome when you jump to decks 3 and 4. You can see exactly what's happening without having to squint at your laptop. The pitch slider is extra long and super precise. Now personally i don't manually beatmatch but if for some reason you'd want to do that you definitely could with the studio 4a.
I read one review complaining about the software that comes with the studio 4a. Well, if you aren't using traktor with this, you're doing it wrong. While the studio 4a may have its proprietary software, the factory mapper for traktor works almost perfectly(no flux mode control), which I believe was intentional. Even the effects layout is the same! If you are looking to DJ for events, invest in traktor, there's a reason so many big-time artists use it for their sets.
That being said, there are a couple very minor problems I have with this controller. Two are with the platters. Now on the picture, they are obviously metallic, but your model will be plastic. Don't worry, it looks fine. Second, there's about 0.5 to 1mm of up and down wobble when you spin the platters, but it does not affect performance.
Third, I run my music through a second software for EQ and bass compression, and when I run that through the studio 4a soundcard, the results are imperceptible. I suspect there's a limiter in there somewhere, or possibly, the internal preamp just can't take the signal very well. Either way, it bothers me. But for those who run audio straight through the dj software to the controller, the soundcard will amplify that fine.
At the end of the say, this thing is awesome, and dare I say it, professional grade. As someone who's spent a lot of time playing around with the traktor s2 and s4, which are the benchmarks of dj controllers, the studio 4a is not that far off. Its place is about in the middle of the two. It looks just as good (IMO) and has identical features with the S2, save for the fancy loop control. Think about the studio 4a as an s2 with 4 deck control.
Using the 4a, I don't feel like I'm missing much at all, but if you're really craving that extra functionality, you can buy an add-on minicontroller from both traktor and the CMD series. I'd imagine they're both awesome.
At the end of the day, this thing is awesome. It looks, feels, and works too good to be $200 dollars. I suspect this will dethrone the mixtrack as the best entry level controller.
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IGNACIO ALZATE
Diferente, pero útil, funcional y muy buen tacto.
Reviewed in Spain on February 21, 2018
