Ableton Forum

latinflair wrote:

Tarekith wrote:I like the Traktor audio cards myself for playing live, small, rugged, loud, and sound pretty good. Definitely not the best sounding cards, but good enough when I don't want to bring something more expensive with. MOTU Ultralite is another popular option.

Yes Tare, ive been surfing many places and NI cards seems to be the most common option for a strong card and also loud enough.

Not sure if having my Focusrtie Saphire pro 24 would be worth the exchange.

I think ill keep searching more data about Apogee, RME and UAD. But didn´t really find many ppl using them for live Djing.

thanks so much

I have a UAD Apollo and it is a great box, although the roundtrip latency will be higher than other cards due to the UAD processing but I don't notice any high latency issues when tracking or midi recording.


That said, I only use it for Studio use.

After helping to run live sound for Decibel Festival I was amazed how many big name DJs just used th headphone out on their MBP. I'm a freak for sound quality, but some times roadworthy wins out and no one is the wiser.

Tarekith wrote:After helping to run live sound for Decibel Festival I was amazed how many big name DJs just used th headphone out on their MBP. I'm a freak for sound quality, but some times roadworthy wins out and no one is the wiser. :)

No pre-cueing? Let me tell you I was impressed seeing Femi B doing that up close. On vinyl. Only using the Pitch Controls. The tracks were in sync in under a second. Now, that's what I'd call beat mixing.

LFO8 wrote: For DJ-ing however, Native Instruments hands down. For a DJ-ing card: portable, rugged, simple to use, supported by DJ software and high SPL are at the top of the list.

IMHO their cheap cards feels just that, cheap. Owned a few and sold them because of massive issues that NI wouldn't take care of. This was a few years back. Maybe better now. Nothing wrong with the sound. I like the Z2 mixer.

as far as I know Chris Liebing and Dufire use RME soundcards on stage with their Traktor + Ableton Setup.
I have an RME UC in the studio and a NI Traktor Audio 6 for DJ-ing use, the NI Komplete 6 for LIVE-PA stuff.
The NI stuff works great for me. The sound is very good, although not that good as the RME sound. But very usable, portable, rigid and loud.

Some good info here for sure.

I had 3 NI boxes over the years. The tiny Traktor Audio 2 was built so horribly and had faulty, wobbly jacks - don't go there, waste of money crap. The Komplete Audio 6 and its predecessor were excellent build- and feature-wise, I still say if Apogee, RME etc made the same box with their sound quality they'd clean up. But as a sound nerd (and that's the thread title) I was always looking for more than NI. Apogee are nearly there but I just can't handle those frikkin' breakout cable things in the studio or djing/live. RME Babyface Pro looks nice and guess you can route heaphones and main outs separately...if I'm being picky I don't like the headphone jacks sticking out the side. It is a big chunk of change though and looking at a dj/live-only box I'd rather not be paying for inputs I don't need which is why the Roland UA mobile is so good for me. Not selling it, just saying. Spend money only on what you need and it'll hopefully be better quality for the same price. Check the specs and the output is louder than the NI boxes too. Only caveat is the mini usb connector into the box and the mini jack outs but get good cables and it's all good and sounds very fine - balanced, smooth and very defined without being hyped/harsh, at least to my aging ears.

They are incremental differences and depending on the system and the party, honestly, who knows. That said I just upgraded my home interface from Metric Halo ULN-2 to a LIO-8 and the difference is....lost for words.

woow, lot of intrest info here, much thanks!

didn´t know about the Dubfire and Chris L. using RME , that´s a huge point.ç

Also the recomendations about the Roland card wich i never thought before. Def. ill check it out.

In the other hand i know NI cards have many fans, but im not completly sure about the sound quality.

great post, thanks all for the data

Well, i think i found it, here is Mr. Liebing talkling about his way of playing and he is using RME UC USB.

I guess if you can buy it, it would be the best choice.


adding the video, im sorry if it´s not allowed, just erase it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pohTY2x ... E&index=21