I'm a part-time DJ and turntabling is so much better on vinyl than on a jog wheel. But of course you're limited to the physical crate you're willing to lug with you, and one PLX-1000 weighs about three times as much as a DJ-505. Timecode vinyl solves the crate problem but not the weight problem, so nowadays I only do vinyl when clients specifically ask (and are willing to pay more).
That said, Numark and a few others have battery-powered portable turntables for 45's (or rather 7" 33's, which is a thing now) and holy crap are those fun.
1000% get that turntablist / scratch DJs prefer turntables.
But for the kind of beat-matching and quick mixes I do (reggae/dancehall mostly), CDJs are much better imo. Finer control for every degree of turning the platter, plus cue points to get back to quickly.
It’s a preference I guess. I still buy LPs to listen to at home, but when it comes to performing 100% digital.
Yeah, when I do an EDM set I love the jog wheel for tweaking the phase and tempo (though nowadays you just press the sync button, kids today, get off my lawn, etc.) But I'm mostly doing geriatric hip hop, and one thing I love about the vinyl resurgence is a lot of 80s and 90s stuff got reissued.
That is one thing I love about Mixxx and Xwax: with timecode vinyl a drop really sounds like a drop.
That said, Numark and a few others have battery-powered portable turntables for 45's (or rather 7" 33's, which is a thing now) and holy crap are those fun.