The DJ industry has undoubtedly changed. Things are becoming more digital, technically advanced and adaptable, and perhaps most importantly, cheaper and more easily accessible. Though the old school vinyl fanatics will never die, and those who tout that there’s nothing worth mixing on other than CDJ-2000s will never change their minds, it’s awesome that a new breed of super cheap controllers have come into the market.

Controllers are super flexible, powerful, feature packed and they enable DJs of all levels to perform and practice in smaller spaces or on the move. Frankly put, the time of the DJ controller is now! There are hundreds of models available from many manufacturers – there is genuinely something for everyone!

DJ controllers do just offer more for your cash and here, we have the best controllers under the modest amount of $200!

Name	Bundled Software
Numark Mixtrack Pro 3	Serato DJ Intro	PRICING
Hercules Universal DJ	DJUCED 40° Software	PRICING
Numark PartyMix	Virtual DJ LE/Serato DJ Lite	PRICING
Hercules DJ Control Inpulse 300	DJUCED DJ Software	PRICING

DJ Controller Guide

DJ controllers all pretty much look the same, they often have two jogwheels or decks, crossfaders and volume faders, gain pots and EQs and trigger buttons and pads. All the basics are usually present, no matter what the price.

DJ controllers essentially combine all these hardware components into one unit. Instead of needing lots of bits of equipment, you just have the one piece which is hooked up to your laptop. That means virtually unlimited tunes, tons of features, portability and playlist control.

Controllers therefore act as MIDI controllers, they’re simply mapping your DJ software’s functions onto a hardware setup!

Build Quality

DJ controllers aren’t all built the same. Pioneer controllers that cost thousands use aluminium housings and steel components but under $200, you’re looking at plastic controllers. Does that matter? No. Plastic is a great build material, it’s strong, shock absorbant and light.

The build quality of cheap controllers is pretty remarkable overall. The standard is high and manufacturers simply have to come up with strong, good looking and hardwearing controllers.

Features

Controllers under $200 won’t pack the bells and whistles of high-end controllers but for the most part, they’ll still give you a good deal of features to play with. You can expect all the normal features including EQs, tempo faders, play/pause buttons and of course, jogwheels.

Other features may be fairly minimal but who cares, we just want to mix, right?

Inputs / Outputs

Cheaper controllers don’t tend to allow for the connection of other decks, but this feature is generally being offered less now anyway.

All controllers will have an output so you can connect to speakers. This is nearly always RCA. Soundcards do differ and at the cheaper end, you can’t expect a super-high club quality output. However, the standards are undoubtedly high and unless you’re outputting through a crazy high-end system, you won’t be able to tell the difference very easily.

Software

Software is where controllers split off somewhat onto their different paths.

Your software influences the way you mix massively. There are 3 main choices:

RekordBox – The software used for all Pioneer controllers. RekordBox has come on leaps and bounds and it’s easily as good as Traktor and Serato these days. Starting off as prep software for CDJs, RekordBox is now its entirely own unique virtual DJ suite.

Traktor – Traktor received a welcome update in 2018 and it’s now thoroughly back in action after a few years of being on the sidelines. Traktor is only available on Native Instruments controllers.

Serato – Serato has been around for ages and overall, it probably edges it over the other two in popularity contests. It’s also available on a pretty liberal licence – any controller not Pioneer or NI manufactured uses Serato, pretty much!

Always bear in mind that you can map your controller to any of these 3 softwares. Research before you buy as sometimes it’ll be quite tricky!

Numark Mixtrack Pro 3

Bottom Line: The Mixtrack Pro 3 will be a stronger stayer in the industry at this price range. It has everything you need to go through the gears as a DJ. It’s awesome for the cash and doesn’t let down in any area. A strong all-rounder, even stronger for the cash!

Numark’s reputation has become pretty strong and with their last few controllers, they’ve dominated the cheaper end of the market. The Mixtrack Pro 3 is a superb controller by all accounts and the best thing about it? It costs $200, almost on the dot. For that, you do get a very good fully featured controller and to be honest, it’s genuinely hard to work out exactly why it’s so cheap.

The build of this controller isn’t size conservative – it’s big, wide and spacious. That’s actually pretty good as some cheap controllers are super-compressed to the point they become difficult to operate. It’s made from plastic but it looks decent and feels sturdy, and it’s also not excessively heavy.

The Numark Pro 3 earns its status mostly through its proper feature set. It has proper 3-way EQ, full-size 100mm tempo faders, a touch strip, which is awesome for quickly sorting through tunes and a full set of sample and FX pads for triggering loops, samples and FX. Everything is laid out very well, you won’t easily hit the wrong button – and you’d be surprised as to how easy that is on smaller controllers!

The Numark Pro 3 is pretty brilliant, and for the money, it’s not easy to beat. In fact, we may as well end the reviews now!

Only joking, there are some topnotch controllers to come so stay tuned!

Pros

A large, fully featured and well-designed DJ controller
Cheap for what you get
Robust and well made
Comes with Serato Intro

Cons

It’s a big controller and won’t fit in most bags easily

Hercules Universal DJ

Bottom Line: Hercules have created a cool little machine here. It’s compact and it features a 3-band EQ which is great. However, the coolest thing about this is its DJUCED software. This allows for the connection of mobile devices, enabling you to trigger samples and FX remotely!

Hercules here have created something pretty original in what is essentially a very crowded market. The Hercules Universal DJ does not use any conventional software as standard, it uses its own DJUCED software. Before you look away, bear in mind that you can remap this controller easily to another software!

DJUCED is actually really good, and it comes with some highly innovative features.

Firstly, it allows for the connection of a phone or tablet, wirelessly with Bluetooth! This enables you to trigger highly innovative FX and samples from your mobile device! It works really well and it’s a really creative addition. That’s not all, though, you can actually run this controller simply with a tablet. Of course, you’re also able to run the controller normally with USB to a laptop.

That gives you 3 options:

With laptop via USB
With laptop via USB and phone or tablet via Bluetooth for FX and loop control
With tablet via Bluetooth

With these setups, you can actually leave the controller and mix from anywhere…! Of course, the software is stripped down when you run it remotely from a tablet but still, it enables you to wander round a party, get a drink, whatever! It’s a cool feature.

The controller itself packs a lot into its small shell. It has 3-band EQ, faders and crossfaders and a grand total of 16 FX/loop pads! It’s well made and it’s certainly portable.

Overall, the Hercules Univeral DJ does a good job of adding something fresh to the DJ controller arsenal. Its specialist software doesn’t exactly have the scope of the Big 3, but it works beyond being a novelty and provides genuine solutions. Of course, you can always map to Serato, Traktor or RekordBox later on!

Pros

Smart controller with custom software
Awesome for parties and small events
Will suit DJs who can’t always be at the decks, e.g. at events like weddings or birthday parties
Can be mapped to other software

Cons

Some will still prefer Serato out-of-the-box

Numark PartyMix

Bottom Line: The Numark PartyMix does what it says on the tin! Compact, fun and creative with its built-in light show, it really shows Numark’s commitment to innovation in the market.

Numark again! The PartyMix is small, cheap, cool and it fits the bill for anyone looking for a great little controller for smaller events and parties.

It has a 2-band EQ, decent sized jogwheels, channel faders and 4 pads per deck. It is small but not tiny, so you can expect to use it on the go so long as you have a decent sized bag. It’s a well built little controller for the price, too. It’s light but not tacky, so even though it’s billed as a party controller it doesn’t look or feel like a toy.

Think that’s it? Think again. Numark put a little trick up the sleeve of the Party Mix. It has a built-in light show projected from LEDs in the back of the controller! These 3 LEDs pulse and move in time with the music, which is awesome. They’re actually pretty powerful, easily powerful enough to get a party rocking well into the night!

Pros

Packs proper jogwheels and some FX/loop pads
Well built little controller
LED light show is awesome

Cons

A 3-band EQ would have been nice

Hercules DJ Control Inpulse 300

Bottom Line: Hercules are innovating the market themselves and the Inpulse 300 is built for aspiring DJs specifically. It packs some cool software and a host of features that enable for creative mixing.

Hercules took their special custom software to a new level with the Inpulse 300. It’s a fully-featured controller with plenty of scope, nice build quality and some super-cool creative features.

Firstly, the basics are in place with decent jogwheels, tempo faders and a 3-band EQ. Tick!

But, where this controller forks off from convention is with its innovative DJ software DJUCED. DJUCED is designed for learning DJs and it links you into a DJ academy where you can learn how to mix from professionals. The software also analyses your playlists to match tunes up by key and rhythm in suggested mixes. It also has a series of helpful ‘modes’.

You can turn on tempo suggestion mode, which provides you with assistance in equalizing tempos. You can on beatgrids and disable them once you no longer need them. You can switch intelligent Music Assistant on to ask the software for mix generations and finally, you can select a tune for its ‘Energy’ level, which glows red (high energy) or blue (mellow). It analyses the key to generate these colors, and that is actually quite awesome as it can allow you to tune into your mixes flow and choose a track which fits in key with the last.

These extra features may seem a little convoluted but reports and reviews suggest that they really work. This controller is perfect for aspiring DJs but you won’t need to bin it as soon as you’ve learnt the basics, it has good scope going forward too!

Pros

Quality controller for the money
Intelligent Music Mode helps learning DJs
Some cool extra features like Energy level

Cons

Not for you if you want to jump straight into Serato, RekordBox or Traktor

Summary

4 excellent controllers here, all of which prove that you can get some bang for your buck at under $200.

It just goes to show, the DJ controller market has expanded to provide more features for your cash. The competition is hot and buyers ultimately profit from this as the manufacturers fight it out for top spot!

The Hercules controllers here use their own software BUT you can map them to other software with ease! Serato now comes as Serato Lite for free as a basic version, so you can plug these controllers in and use them straight away with no problems. Don’t rule them out based on their software. DJUCED is genuinely good though and for party DJs or those looking to learn, it certainly provides cool and innovative solutions.

Numark are hard to beat though, and where the Party Mix succeeds in bringing some wicked features to a living room or small event, the Mixtrack Pro 3 provides some awesome scope for a controller of that price.

It has a fully featured set of faders and EQs, quality jog wheels and even a touch strip for easy tune navigation. It’s going to be a tough controller to beat at this price range for some time!

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