new to Ableton and looking for setup recommendations

[betamax999]

Hi all. I'm new to Ableton Live, and digital audio production in general. Right now I'm slowly (veeerrrrry slowly) learning the ropes. Anyhow, I want to use live primarily for DJing with some production thrown in, and eventually, transition to the point where I'm using it for both production and DJing/remixing. At this point, I'm not doing any of this professionally. It's just a hobby, since I have a lot of spare time on my hands and need something to keep myself occupied. Basically, I'm just trying to get some help regarding what hardware I should purchase in order to take the most advantage of what the program has to offer, particularly in the realm of DJing at this point.

Currently, I own the following:
Ableton Live 8
M-Audio Axiom 25 MIDI keyboard controller

In the very near future, I intend to purchase a MacBook Pro 13" to serve as pretty much a dedicated Ableton machine.

So now, there are a few more components I'm looking at getting, but want to make sure I'm getting the right stuff:

an external interface/soundcard: I don't need anything too extreme, as this will be used for mixing purposes primarily. Right now, I'm looking at either the Native Instruments Audio 4 DJ Interface or the Novation NIO 2/4 Interface. Is one of these preferable over the other? Is there something better I should be looking at instead? Keep in mind that I am essentially clueless when it comes to this stuff.
Akai APC 40: This thing just looks super cool and seems like it would make the whole clip launching, live remixing, DJing thing more interesting.
Behringer BCR2000: It's my understanding that despite all the knobs and buttons on the APC40, I would still have a difficult time using it to do standard DJ type stuff like EQ control, so would this device be a good addition to the setup? Buying a dedicated mixer is just a little out of my price range, so I'm looking for something that could act as a surrogate.

These are my tentative buys, but I'm very open to suggestions, without going too ridiculously expensive. Once again, my knowledge regarding digital audio production is very limited, so I kind of don't even know what I'm doing at this point. Even all this gear might be overkill right now, but I want to make sure I've got my bases covered. Thanks for any help and suggestions.

[dinaiz]

Hey man !

First a link which helped me a lot :

http://www.modulatethis.com/2007/05/how ... _the_.html

It's about using ableton live along with an axiom keyboard.

For the rest I can't really help cause I'm not DJing at all, but I think you can go a long way with what you already have, and I'm not to sure about the necessity of having an APC40 when DJing, but, as I said, I might be wrong as I don't have any experience in that field.

[betamax999]

I'm also thinking that maybe I should keep it simple (and less expensive) at this point and instead of the BCR2000 and APC 40, just utilize the Axiom to control Ableton and then get an M-Audio X-Session Pro controller for more DJ-oriented stuff. Any thoughts on this setup? I don't want to run the risk of being confronted with so many knobs and dials that I'm too scared to even do anything...

[Bierman]

it totally depends on where you end up going and what you end up doing with live. I know you said 'djing/production' but there are so many ways you can go about approaching it that there definitely isn't a hard and fast rule about what you should or shouldn't buy... apart from, if you want to perform live, get a FIREWIRE audio interface, not USB (imho anyway) just because a) you need your USB ports for all those tasty controllers you're gonna buy and b) I find firewire interfaces MUCH more stable.

I suggest you look at videos of how other people are using live and start to get a feel of what is possible (well actually almost anything is possible) and how you might want to work... we use a BCR2000 and its great because it fulfills a purpose suited to how we work, but you might want something more tactile like an M-Audio trigger finger or the Akai MPD32 which has lots of pads and faders.

the hardest part for me was figuring out how the hell I should set up the live set 'system' to be as intuitive (to me) as possible... this just takes a bit of time and a bit of thinking, and a bit of research. for now with the Axiom 25 (I have a 49) youve got a few pads and knobs so start experimenting with what you've got before you chuck 400 quid into a controller you end up never using.

[Globaldj]

an external interface/soundcard: MOTU Ultralite MK3

[betamax999]

That looks really nice but maybe a little too much for what I'm needing at the moment, plus the almost $600 price tag is a little intimidating. Any suggestions for other, slightly less expensive devices? Are there any opinions on the two interfaces I mentioned in my initial post?