Using a Laptop to DJ - Soundcard Output Qs

Well, I'm a producer (with Reason 3.0) and simply want to mix my tracks with traktor DJ studio... this will be my first time using a computer for DJing (I do own 2 technics and a numark which I rarely use), so please, understand me when I say I am very new to this... and deeply frustrated at the moment trying to make things work.

I have learned to beatmatch and make mixes with traktor. Great. But how do I play it live so the audience doesn't hear me fading into the next track??? I can't seem to find any option to simply get the audio into the headphones of my TAPCO USB interface...

Basically the problem I am having is so simple... I just want the music on Deck A to be playing in the speakers (which the audience can hear) while with Deck B it is going into the headphones for me to pre-listen (to beat match) and then fade Deck B in slowly to the speakers as a real DJ would with a real mixer and turntables.

I'm just frustrated with all these technical details. I can use the software fine, just don't know how to set it up with my current system:

I have a laptop with a TAPCO USB soundcard (Sigmatel). I also have a built-in soundcard with one headphones-sized output like all laptops have. Would I able to use both sound cards (one for the headphones, the other for the speakers) when playing my music live? Or is there some other way to do this?

 

the magic word is: multi-channel soundcard!

with your onboard soundcard you just dont have enough channels.

 

Well, I'm kickin myself for buying the TAPCO interface... guess I can't use it to DJ with...

Tell me more about these multi-channel soundcards. Does that simply mean two physical outputs? Can anyone suggest a good multi-channel soundcard that works with USB?

I've found the Audio Kontrol I on the NI website. (https://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=ak1dj_us). Do you like it? Anyone own one and can say if it is worth getting? I wouldn't mind a cheaper, simpler option, but if this gets me up and running, then it is all good.

 

Try using a Gigaport multi-channel sound card. They are about $100 USD and are very portable. Good luck!

 

I checked out that card and it doesn't amplify ur headphones... so that's a no go.

 

If you don't mind using internal mixer mode in Traktor, then the Echo Indigo DJ is my choice.

Caveat: Some newer laptops (starting 2006) include an ExpressCard, but no CardBus slot.
In that case I would consider NI's Audio Kontrol 1 or M-Audio's Conectiv.

 

Thanks. The Echo Indigo DJ looks really good, but I'm not sure if it would work with my laptop. Would anyone out there know if a Dell Inspiron 9400 would work with this?

 

Is it a new Dell Inspiron 9400 or an old one?

If it's the older one with the PCMCIA slot you will be fine - if it's a new one with an ExpressCard slot it's a no.

 

I have to say, the moderators answer to this question is the only thing really stopping me from buying this product. Ever other DJ software that I have tried to date lets you specify multiple cards.

I picked up a really decent $30 usb Turtle beach card that does multichannel digital out, but it also does 2 channel out via an analog jack.

I would LOVE to use this software with one card for the analog to run this off of, then use the internal 2 channel card for pre-listening.

This software is about the best I've seen, but since the answer to 4 channels cannot be 2 different 2 channel cards, that blows it for me.

 

I don't know why this is such a big issue for potential users - NI make it plainly clear that a multichannel soundcard is required. Surely, Brento, a multichannel card would be useful to you for your other production work aside from Traktor? There are very many options out there that are inexpensive.

 

you still can try asio4all, which combines two cards to a single one so traktor sees it as one.

the latency of course is usually a bit higher than using only one card. anyways, i have no personal experiences with that, i'm depending on other user's experiences here.

 

Heres my 2cents. When asking 'WHY' with this, there is 2 thoughts I have:

1) Everyone has different goals with their mixing. For what I do, one of my top goals is a VERY mobile setup. I work with a couple of locations, so one of my top goals is mobility. I work with a 12" laptop and the 2nd soundcard I use is thumbdrive sized and has an analog and optical digital out. This means I can carry one very tiny machine and have everything.

2) Traktor looks like a pretty big software improvement over many of the other PC mixers (I won't name the others), but EVER other one has a setup for multiple sound cards native.

So why this is so big to some of us 'new' potential customers. If we are upgrading from a competitor software, all it takes is one KEY feature to me missing. As for Asio4all..... Just a bad hack from a quality perspective.

 

conversely one could consider the entire idea of using two soundcards to be a bad hack from a quality perspective ; )

Echo Indigo DJ would present a very nice solution from your point of view

http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/CardBus/IndigoDJ/index.php

 

Thanks Sean,

That is the closest thing to exactly what I'd need to run this in the layout I desire.

Unfortunately, although I love some of the other features - I'm happy with the hardware I have and cannot justify spending that much extra money at this point to be able to purchase the software too.

I guess it just surprises me to see the software be more advanced in almost every way, and then completely ignore this feature that every other competitor has.

 

@alphageek: To mimick sean's point(s), you seem to miss the point that this isn't a feature, it's a gimmick in the other software packages.

On the same page, how is it you consider asio4all a bad hack, but can't live without this gimmick in other apps *doing the exact same thing*?
That logic would make Spock cry.

 

Would the Creative Audigy PCMCIA Card fit the bill? As long as you avoid the installation cd and use the latest driver update off the creative site, it works fine (low latency with ASIO support, 3 stereo outs).

 

Ok.. Looks like I'm stepping into a flame war here, but I think I made my reasoning fairy clear. I credit Sean because he did give me one possible alternative that fits my criteria pretty well.

But to answer your reply - hopefully in logic that will clarify enough to your higher logic

All of the other mixer software (most with less features than this package) support using 2 different sound cards natively. (No additional drivers, no glitches, each sound just as good as if used individually. That is a feature. Just because its a feature that you don't use, doesn't make it a gimmick.

If I told you that you could use your laptops cdrom OR harddrive with this package, but if you installed another piece of software which allows you to see both at the same time (and it MIGHT work, and will probably be a little worse than using either) that would be a hack.

I tried the asio4all. The sound immediately was degraded (not surprising since its running a software layer over the sound cards). The 'gimmick' you claim the other packages are using is obviously NOT asio4all, they are routing to the native drivers.

So my logic is that using asio4all ended up with a significantly inferior sound, yet everyone else routes just fine with no change in sound quality. Thus your assumption that the gimmick that is *doing the exact same thing* most definately is not. (And none of them required a unsupported 3rd party software to make this work).

I hope this clears things up - I'm not trying to start a flame war, I'm trying to clarify a request that I see has been made fairly often according to my searches of this forum.

Unfortunately, what the end result of my searching and questions is that the chance of seeing this enhancement isn't likely to happen. My end result is more likely to take the features that I really like and request them with some of the other tools out there.

 

Let's try a different angle:

Other software packages market to the "consumer" market, as well. As such they simply say: "Hey, just use another cheap ($30) sound card, and all is well!"

Traktor on the other hand is not looking for the consumer market, but for the enthusiast, semi-pro and pro market.
And for those, adding $200-$400 for hardware to properly use a $300 software isn't that uncommon - they realize that general purpose hardware isn't "good enough" for a specialized piece of software.

Besides the multiple sound cards "feature", other frequently asked for requests are video playback and cover art.
I doubt you'll see those in Traktor any time soon, either.

Look, you already did most of the research, and it's really up to you to decide what you want to go with.
Have fun weighing your options!

 

Nice to know that is an option. Low cost - not overly large (still not the super-portable, but better), good reviews. Still adds a $100 to the cost of upgrading to this software too, but at least I can find it locally and try it out.

 

Better answer.. Even better than any I've seen in these threads.
(The replies from 2 other users also gave me some possible fitting the bill).

If this pans out for me, then I could see upgrading to more later, but I'd love still be able to use the tiny setup that I have for 'non-production' testing/ setup.