Computer Dj-ing

[Dhar_2]

Re: Computer Dj-ing

been looking at sound cards!

fucking nightmare!!!

M audio have got this:-





which offers a separate headphone control, 2 RCA outs, but no RCA ins

the NI Audio 4:-





perfect as it has 2 RCA ins and outs. but no separate headphone controll!

???????????????

and another question. how the hell do you connect all this together?

midi controller -> to -> external soundcard -> to -> laptop?

but theres only one usb port on the soundcard!!!

or is it:-
midi controller -> to -> laptop and external soundcard -> to -> laptop?

which means in the VCi's case one fuck off big loop just to attach the headphones????

[panoulix]

Re: Computer Dj-ing

Hello mate,

In reply to your pm and your postings, below are my thoughts:


You confused me too

In a briefing, how much money are you going to spend on that?

If I understood correctly, you want a solution that can be upgradeable, reliable, stable and also compatible with your Turntables. Plus that the whole package will not use much space in your office. Correct?

If the above statement is correct, instead of getting the Vestax controller, the Audio DJ 4/8 cards, and a separate mixer that you would need for your turntables and Audio card, consider getting one of these:

http://co.native-instruments.com/ind...hcertified&L=1

I had the VCI-100 and an external soundcard along with my decks, but I sold them long time ago. Now I use the Ecler Evo 5 (as primary mixer) and the Mackie d.4 Pro (as backup mixer) with an expanded setup consisting of 2x CDJ-1000MK3, 2x Stanton STR8-150 and Traktor Scratch Pro.

These mixers have Professional Firewire Soundcards with TimeCoding capabilities, plus they also use midi functions through firewire, so that you can have everything in your fingertips and up to your creativity and expandability imagination...

since you are not familiar with the digital world so much, I would recommend you the Allen & Heath Xone:4D, although I am not a fan of Allen & Heath anymore (as according to my modes opinion and former experience, they dropped the design and manufacturing quality a lot). I highly recommend the Ecler Evo 5, but you may find it too difficult to use it, as it has a whole operating system to control it's functions and effectors, midi functions and so on, plus it is significantly more expensive than the Xone:4D.

The choice is yours and up to your pocket and willing. In your case, I would be happy with an Xone:4D, that has everything you want to, plus many more functions and features that will help you in the future e.t.c.

If you want any further explanation, please post here or pm me again.

All the best, Panoulix.

[dj_macgyver]

Re: Computer Dj-ing

if you want to achieve everything you've written you have two choices...

one is you get a midi-controller with a built-in soundcard, just like the smaller ones you posted (vestax spin and the typhoon one). those are usually equipped with one rca output and a separate headphone output. with that, you can mix independently of mixer and decks. in order to upgrade to turntable mixing, you will have to get Traktor Scratch Duo at least (which includes the audio 4 dj). as an alternate, you could also get another dvs like serato or the likes, but you should check their midi capabilities. the vci-100 however does not have a built-in soundcard, so i'd recommend this specific controller as an upgrade to...:

option two: get traktor scratch pro, which includes the audio 8 dj. this gives you the ability to connect your decks AND your headphones (the audio 4 does not). combined with the vci-100 this will give you all the possibilities: midi-mixing with no mixer and turntables, turntable mixing without midi controller, or you could even combine turntable and midi mixing (my personal choice).

the last option however is (you guessed it) the most expensive one, and i only focussed on traktor scratch since i'm not sure how capable those are when you remove the turntables.

i hope this helps a little... just keep on asking if it doesn't

[jeffrey collins]

Re: Computer Dj-ing

i've never heard good latency (low latency or no latency) with USB soundcards. They are good for dj'ing where you don't have anything coming in. But when you wanna record a guitar or vocals, you'll most likely come across latency issues. I'll never go back to it after getting my Firestudio.

[panoulix]

Re: Computer Dj-ing

i've never heard good latency (low latency or no latency) with USB soundcards. They are good for dj'ing where you don't have anything coming in. But when you wanna record a guitar or vocals, you'll most likely come across latency issues. I'll never go back to it after getting my Firestudio.

The firestudio rocks. I have the 2626 and it's compatibility, stability and compliance with win x64 is amazing. Plus I love it's converters.

We will see how the USB3 cards will perform, as they will use a far better bandwidth than the FW400/800 or USB2...

[jeffrey collins]

Re: Computer Dj-ing

Heck USB2 was supposed to be faster than firewire. But it wasn't. And I've been waiting YEARS now for this supposed USB3.

[Dhar_2]

Re: Computer Dj-ing

sorry i havent replied!

been away for a wedding!

i havent got a huge budget and tbh i wouldnt want to spend a small fortune on what is essential going to be a hobby with maybe a gig here or there.

I havent got my decks here in Italy and one day (its already been 5years) i will go and get them. Primarily i want something to mess about with and give me and analogue use to digital files. Hence why i was looking at the VCI 100. I dont know much about digital djing as i have been out of the loop for a while, so that might explain why i'm looking for a set up closer to that of 2 decks and a mixer.

So firstly the thing i'd need to decide is what midi controller. I presonally liked the VCI 100 for its layout and the fact that it doesnt seem a toy. i have to admit the typhoon just looks a bit crap!

if we say that the VCI 100 is the one. What sound card would you recommend as the VCI doesnt have an headphone output?

[dj_macgyver]

Re: Computer Dj-ing

basically, you could use any soundcard that offers you two separate stereo channels, preferrably the ones that come with one rca-out channel and one with a 6.3mm headphone jack. you could even fiddle around with a single-channel soundcard and use the laptops audio out to cue up your songs (i wouldn't recommend that, however). just choose the quality you need, and don't go for no-names...

i was only jumping onto the idea of upgrading to scratch someday since the choice of soundcards becomes much thinner then.

[Dhar_2]

Re: Computer Dj-ing

Thanks for the advice!

but i'm afraid i still dont get how you can cue up on the VCI 100 with the headphones coming directly from the external soundcard? it just seems strange to me.

[dj_macgyver]

Re: Computer Dj-ing

it's in the software the cue buttons just trigger what comes out of the headphone jacks, whereas the line faders (etc) will influence what comes out of the rca jacks.

[doobie581]

Re: Computer Dj-ing

i'm about to purchase a soundcard myself, because previously i had a hercules controller that i used as a soundcard after i bought my decks and a proper mixer...however i have since sold said controller...

i also have no clue where to begin, and i want something simple (basically just to record my mixes to my laptop) but i also don't want to get something cheap and of poor quality...i have audacity on my computer and would probably be using that to record (although i've only used it to convert .mp3's to .wav or vice versa)

can u blokes recommend a couple good and simple soundcards and or software that i can purchase to do what i need??? i would like to keep it under $200 US...my set up is 2 cdj 800's and an A&H Xone 42, HP laptop with usb and firewire ports, 2 rockit 8's monitors....

[Dhar_2]

Re: Computer Dj-ing

it's in the software the cue buttons just trigger what comes out of the headphone jacks, whereas the line faders (etc) will influence what comes out of the rca jacks.

VCI has no headphone jack!?

only USB

[Steve Graham]

Re: Computer Dj-ing

http://www.skratchworx.com/reviews/vci100.php

Usually, when you spin anything from Vestax around, you can find a serious number of RCAs but the back of the VCI is empty bar a USB port, meaning that this isn't a soundcard - simply a USB MIDI controller so you'll still need a soundcard for proper audio management from your computer. There's no headphone sockets for monitoring either so a dedicated soundcard is essential.

[Dhar_2]

Re: Computer Dj-ing

Already seen that article.

problem is that it doesnt give any pointers for the external sound card.

thats where i dont know what i need or infact how to set it up (see above)

[Dhar_2]

Re: Computer Dj-ing

at this point for an all in unit. would the VCi 300 be something to consider?

by the time you've bought the VCI 100 and added the soundcard, it costs the same.

VCI 100 (387 Euros) + NI Audio 4 (229 Euros) = 616 Euros
VCI 300 = 621 Euros