Equipment Advice...?

Hey everyone! I'll try to make this short....

I'm a musician of 15+ years (piano=#1 instrument) and have been giggin my entire life - just not the type of gigs that are talked about in this particular forum. I've been in many, many bands and have recently gotten into the electronic scene. I've been creating my own mashups and remixes and a friend of mine and myself are ready to start DJing for real now.

I have tons of equipment for band gigs (already own a solid PA), but I'm a little stumped as to what to get for a digital DJ gig. I really want Traktor, but am unsure of what controller to get. The reviews I've read are all back and forth between controllers (Vestax VCI-100, Numark Total Control, Behringer BCD3000, etc.) I've heard really bad things about the Behringer one. But the Numark doesn't seem to be pro enough.

I'm shooting for a basic hybrid-setup.... A controller for the software which is routed to an audio interface and mixer.


Does anyone have any pointers for me or anything on what equipment to use? Even if you just want to let me know what you guys are giggin with to give me more ideas of setups, that'd be tight. pros, cons for the gear you have, etc...


THANKSSSSSS!

 

hey, you have come to the right place for info.

ive been DJ for 10 years, bought cdjs last year, but after a month of Traktor i sold them. For the DJ mind, its hard to beat, sure theres Live but for simply mixing records etc its great. I currently use a Macbook Pro 2.4,upgraded the HD to 320GB,4gb RAM and running latest Traktor. My soundcard is a Motu Ultralite and a VCI-100 to control it all. I mix in the box and have got well used to the VCI. Also use a Novation sl25 for some live playing during sets.Im looking at adding a trigger finger for cue points,beat jumping etc.

The Macbook Pro and Motu are a match in heaven, great sound, and over 100 gigs later, not even 1 glitch,no crashes, sounds great in every club ive played in and the VCI gives me enough hands on for Traktor.Traktor on my Macbook Pro hardly breaks a sweat while running it. CPU never goes over 2 bars with time stretching etc. Have run both Logic Mainstage (softsynths) and Traktor no probs during gigs.

As long as you get the latest VCI and run the right tks file, the jog wheels are great, faders smooth all in all a great unit!

Thats what i run, and im very happy.3 main bits of gear, all fit in the 1 bag, and the results can be amazing.

 

thanks for the info!

 

+1 motu

 

If you are looking for a good basic DJ rig I would say go for a Mac with no less that 2 gig of ram. I have always used PC's my whole life and i recently bought a 20" iMac specifically for DJ'ing. It is a little big but I have a road case for it. I went for the big computer for 2 reasons 1 to get a laptop configured with 2 gig of ram and a big hard drive would have cost me about $3000 and 2 i think laptop screens are too small for me when i am dj'ing. Vestax VCI 100 is a good controller. Also get a good sound card. I am sure NI makes good cards. I went with a MOTU 828 mkII. The only reason i chose this sound card is because it is rackmountable. This is a recording studio grade controller and way more than i need. It does have several more features such as a ton of input and outputs. So basically I can go to a job set up my system and go directly from my sound card to crossover, processor, amp etc. I will also have extra outputs to plug in a monitor as well and skip the analog mixer all together.

 

when im looking at the travelers operation manual. it has two sides(both sides front and back is a front) the mac side and the windows side. In the middle of the book there is group of blank pages for notes. .. anyway fun-fact.

I like the cue mix software --it allows you to treat the motu cards like a mixer. thats my favorite part. So you can run gear like the external cd decks , samplers and electronic instruments into the motu and use the mouse or an MCU or HUI type cotroller to mix it in the cue mix software and then be out putted to any one of the motu interfaces outputs in addition to the outputs of any software that utilizes the Motu. Also the headphones jack is selectable as a seperate output by software. And at the same time it can monitor any of the four buses of outputs from the mixer.

The dsp processor of the MOTU INterfaces allows this to happen with zero latency. this does not increase processing consumption on your computer either. pretty cool.

Not totally integrated with traktor yet. And there may be very few mixer controllers that support MCU or HUI and will also legitimately control traktor. But if there is a traktor controller that has these capabilities it could be adapted . there may be some translater applications to communicate with the motu as well. I am looking into this.

No time code support though that is something that would be a good idea. Hello NI?

At anyrate it is a great group of products that all sound exceptionally transparent and clean. The ultralight and the traveler will also run on 6 pin firewire bus power. So they will run from your computers power source or battery.

one other cool thing about the motu is that you can select its main output as a computer system output. And then tap that output as an input of your software. Effectively giving you mixing and other capabilities for system sounds such as Itunes, Quicktime, dvd player, internet browsers, etc. This is of course only for inspirational mixing purposes..

 

I gotta be honest with you X at first i was struggling to get this thing to work I had no idea what i was doing. The instruction manual is like reading the yellow pages in chinese. i was seeing every possible set up combination for recording studios and live bands but nothing for DJ's. I finally figured it out, but i haven't really played with the cuemix software to use my sound card as a "mixer" I am more concerned with learning traktor like the back of my hand first before i start using it regularly at all of my jobs this coming dj season.

 

i think that manual is so simple that its confusing.
Its pretty straight forward once you realize how straightforward the whole unit is. Its basically a mixer. it has inputs and outputs. the cue mix mixes the inputs in 4 seperate buses and outputs them at the ports.

so basically you have 4 master outs.

basically traktor just outputs right to the ultralights outputs. So you can stack what ever is coming out of the cue mixers outs on what ever is coming out of traktor. In the same output ports.

the tabs on the bottom of the cuemix basically just show you each out put pairs inputs and mixer. so their are pretty much four mixers in the cue mixer.

each mixer has an output pair/master. and those are reflected(output) at the corresponding output jack on the back of the ultralight.

Each one of those mixers can tap any of the inputs and mix it in a different way and send it to its output pair.

in addition the headphones jack can monitor any of the output pairs and this is selected in the header. You can also select the headphone outputs in the traktors preferences. So that the headphones are always listeing to whatever output you have selected for them in traktor.(most likely the monitor/cue out) the headphones do have their own volume control. Its selektable conversely to master on the volume knob. Just push and adjust.

There are a ton of other features but as far as the mixers go its pretty simple.

 

guys, the way i use my Ultralite maybe isnt the 'manual description' way but what i do,when im just in the studio, doing a mix from my laptop, ive traktors outputs sent to the ultralites main 1+2, thus going to my MAckie monitors. My other output is for my headphones, and this is sent to out number 3, giving me a mono headphone signal (not really worried about stereo through headphones).Thats fine for the studio, but when i play out i do it differntly.

My headphone output remains the same at number 3, but for my main output(1+2), going into the back of th clubs mixer, i use the headphone socket output on the frot of the Motu.This gives me a stereo output, from 1 jack (the headphone socket on motu ultralite is stereo) going to 1 set of phono leads, to connect into back of clubs mixer.

The headphone output on the motu can be assigned to different outputs, so i tell the motu to send the signal from my main 1+2 to my headphones socket.I can then adjust the volume coming from my motu to the clubs mixer with the headphone knob, nd cuts down the need for 2 leads.All running through the firewire port on my macbook, bus powered.The sound is better than any cd or record ive played, and as well as master volume in tracktor, i have another knob to control the volume into the clubs system.

hope i havent confussed you, but im doing a review of my setup, and putting it on youtube,how i run traktor,my soundcard and vci, if anyone is intrested?

 

I think the DA in the headphone's output is very good as well.

The output jacks on the rear of the traveler are either balanced 1/4 or unbalanced 1/4 whichever you choose. they are combo jacks. I believe the ultralight may have dedicated balanced jacks.

So in order to take advantage of the Ultralights Main out put (1&2) you would need to have two balanced 1/4 inch cables. Or balanced 1/4" to xlr cables. (these work very nicely) When you use these you can run xlr cable up to a hundred feet to the club board. Or similarly plug-in to the stage snake. Be sure to use the TRS 'balanced' type connectors and NOT mono 1/4" unbalanced TS type and also NOT a headphone to dual rca type. These are not the correct connections for the best sound from the main outputs of the MOTU units.

For the best sound from traktor's main out--set motu #1&2 to the master out of traktor and double click on the master volume knob in traktor.-- This will reset the control and give it a non-effective status on your audio. Then you may set the limiter and auto gain effectively, if you use them -- For the cue/monitor/headphones sound you should use the headphone output pair of your unit and set those to the cueing/monitor. On my traveler they are 15 and 16. A good way to find this pair is to play something in traktor and then just 'plug-in' the outputs of the motu in traktor's preferences until you get sound from your headphones.

The headphones volume is LOWER than the master outs. These are a different type of out-put DA. For the the best sound from your headphones you may need to turn them up to about -4 or -2. More on this in a sec.

As i said before the master outs (1&2) of the Motu take their signal directly from the output of traktor but additionally they have their own master volume control. This is on the push button on the volume control of the motu. The push button switches between the headphone and master volumes.

For the best sound from the master out you will need to set this value from -20 to -12 (basically seventy percent and probably U gain point).

Ok. So if you have the 'correct' cables installed it should sound really good. The volume levels for master(on motu out) should stay pretty close to these levels. If you need more punch on the signal have the sound engineer turn up his device and adjust lower mid bass and mid frequencies. For a smoother mix volume you can turn on the Limiter and Auto gain in traktor... these actually work quite nicely.

Be sure to use the correct balanced cables on the outputs--this is absolutely critical. The cables are going to cost 12-50$ a piece depending on the quality level you want. the Designation for the cable would be 'balanced TRS 1/4" to xlr female' ...this should plug you into any professional connection on the planet. Connections can be made that utilize RCA connectors as well. You will need the proper TRS to RCA connector if your connection is not supporting unbalanced out-put. This is a professional output device and has not been engineered for RCA output. Additonally you can get really nice preamps and filters to run the balanced signal into and then run that into the rca connections of a DJ mixer --this really sounds good! I use a pair of DBX 286a processors. The sound shaping on these is really good.

For the headphones split cueing you can select the headphones source as a combination of booth and monitor in traktors preferences. and then bleed the master into the cueing channel with the phones mix knob on the master mixer in traktor. This gives a balanced master sound in the headphones with the cueing channel coming in on the left or right ear however you set it up.

These are an incredible set of sound cards and (what i think) probably the best out there. Ive never had to talk to motu tech support once, and ive never lost my connection with traktor unless I unplugged or jiggled the crappy firewire cable that is feeding the unit.

 

yeah, i always use balanced, even with all my other studio gear. the cable i got from a guy who come makes them on ebay, gold tipped phonos and Neutrik 1/4 jack at 2 meters (you never know how far away from the clubs mixer/system you'll end up being) with great quality thick cable. beats using those £3 cables yo buy anywhere with the red and white connections on the end, really is a difference.

think ill order 2 balanced 1/4 jacks to single rca for running outta the main outputs 1+2 and see if there is any difference in sound quality, tho i doubt it.

 

if its the ultralight you are on. --it says on the specs that they are balanced. An Unbalanced to balanced connection proper just unhooks one of the pins inside of the cable so that the extra wire doesn't gather interferance and place it against the input stage There is negligable problems when plugging an unbalanced jack into a balanced port but if it is a specifically dual designation port. It is designed for this and makes some differences. The extra engineering in the un-balancing cable also does this trick.

There is this company BLACK LION AUDIO who does special set-up on MOTU iterfaces. They basically re-engineer the interface and set it up with special DAs and whatever you order. SO it can sound crazey good. Adn be outfitted with extra out puts and patchbays volume control, tube preamps, you name it. Does void the motu warranty but by the time you get to that point the warranty is over. Ive been running my traveler for about 4-8 hours a day for two years. It once face-planted with a rack of other very expensive gear when one of my 'set-up' people didn't secure the rack properly. ughh hippies,.bnaa hahahaa. good friend. anyway. I watched the whole rack smash on its face directly on the motu. my hardrives came apart the digital front-end was bent at a 45 in the rack cd players busted and th MOTU not a probelm. Anyway.. that thing rocks.