External audio interface recommendations

I'm currently using a Creative Soundblaster 24bit External with Traktor 3, but have recently started getting some good gigs, so was looking to improve my sound quality.

I don't really want to spend more than £150 - would I see an improvement in sound at this price?

The Echo Audiofire series looks good. I currently work in internal mixer mode without monitors using only my headphones to cue, and have in the past struggled to get a loud enough sound in the club through my headphones without distorting it badly. Would the headphone outputs on a card like this tend to be louder and clearer? If so, I'll go for the Audiofire 2 (with 2 balanced 1/4" outputs and one headphone output), rather than the more expensive Audiofire 4, which would give me the option of routing audio to a monitor.

Regarding the Audiofire 4, do the monitor connections on a club's mixer tend to have more than one input? Or would I normally have to unplug, say, the CDJ monitor cable in order to connect my card?

Any other recommendations for interfaces?

Many thanks.

 

Im a bit confused what you mean here mate. If you are playing in club you may want to use External Mode and cue from the club mixer. The clubs monitor is usually on an output from the mixer and you wouldnt usually alter it.

You would connect the Audiofires outputs to the RCA channel inputs on the mixer and cue from the mixer and on the monitor out.

Im not sure how loud the headphone out on the Audiofire is but if it is anything like my Presonus it will be deafening .
The Audiofire is also FireWire which means it will have good low latency and work really well in External mode.

You will certainly hear an improvement in sound quality over using the internal sound card . And you can continue to use the Internal Mixer functions in External Mixer Mode.

Tell me if im not understanding your point , it was a long nite!

Welcome to The Forum.

 

when you are considering sound cards be sure to check actual output streams. Sometimes a sond card with only two port connections only has two outputstreams and the headphone jack is just tapped from the stereo pair. This will not give you enough output streams to provide stereo master out and monitor out in traktor's internal mode or two decks out in external mode.

Also check to see if the 1/4 jacks will 'normal' from balanced to unbalanced. Meaning that the RCA to T/S type cable/converter that you will need to plug into the club mixer should jive with the output jacks of the card. Some sound cards are meant to use balanced connections and the unbalanced cables can cause problems. Most manufacturers have desgned around this common mistake in cabling with a jack that can accomadate both.

 

Thanks for the replies,

I'm quite happy to keep using Internal Mode, as I use a midi controller (Novation Nocturn) atm. My question re: the monitors was regarding how easy it normally is to get setup if using external mode - do club's mixers normally have the ability to be connected to, say, a vinyl setup and a laptop setup at the same time, or would I have to unplug things? Something to consider if I wanted to play b2b with someone spinning vinyl, for example.

Regarding the output streams, it does have three, but thanks for pointing it out. Not sure I understand your second point Signaturex, but here are the specs of the Audiofire, if you could take a look it would be greatly appreciated.

Keep the replies coming

 

I did look at the audio fire specs it has the correct streams and addressable headphone output. Ean Golden's website dj tech tools did a review of the audiofire if you want to check that out as well.

As for club mixers... You never know what you are going to get. Sometimes the mixer is locked into the install and you can't touch anything. Also if you know what mixer you are going to be dealing with you can download EDS and manuals on pretty much any piece of equipmnet there is from the respective manufacturers.

Most often the vinyl decks are going to be set up on dedicated phono inputs. On traditional battle mixers there might only be two channels and four inputs total a line and a phono for each channel and a switch between them. IF there is a DVS system hooked up to this you can bet that all the inputs are taken as it takes two inputs on each channel for the swtiching between DVS and regular vinyl. In this case you should just plug the DVS interface into your computer and work with that. Be sure that you have the current drivers for what ever DVS you might encounter, installed on your machine.

What I was saying before about quarter inch plugs has to do with the type of 1/4 plug that the interface will accept. There are two types you will be working with. ONe is the traditional mono plug it is refereed to as mono, unbalanced, or TS. The other is a stereo plug it is refered to as stereo, balanced, or TRS.

The trs type is what is on your headphones. BUT on headphones it is a 2x mono plug which provides stereo amplification for your cans.

A true stereo/balanced plug/cable will have TRS on both ends and balanced wires inside. THis allows for signals to travel long distances through the cables - up to 300 feet. TS type cables should only go ten feet.

With your interface you want ports that will accept both types of plugs so there is no buzz or interferance. Most manufacturers have taken care of this.

 

Excellent, thanks. Think I'll go for the Audiofire 2 then. Cheers for pointing me to Ean Golden's site - I'd not seen it before, some useful resources on there

 

It's much simpler to get set up if you're mixing in software - you only need 1 stereo pair into the mixer. If the mixer is loose you can usually find a line-in available that you can jack into.
Sometimes a mixer has a pair of RCA line-in connectors on the top face of the mixer.
If the mixer connections are inaccessible it's usually easy to unplug an RCA set from one of the CDJs and use that.
Never plug straight into the turntable inputs on a mixer with line-level sources!
It pays to carry a small kit of connectors with you - I carry a couple of 1/4" to RCA plugs, a couple of RCA cable, a set of XLR to RCA, and an RCA-RCA gender changer (allows you to connect 2 RCA cables to each other).
Most DJs are used to seeing laptops getting set up these days - I usually ask the DJ playing before me if I can run an RCA cable into the mixer and find a powerpoint for my laptop while he's still playing.