Best audio card for Djing / best quality sound

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
latinflair
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 3:57 pm
Location: argentina - buenos aires
Contact:

Best audio card for Djing / best quality sound

Post by latinflair » Sun Mar 06, 2016 11:22 pm

Hi there

ive found many post about recomendations on audio cards for djing with live but mainly matter about i/o and latency stuff. I think lot of gear can solved that stuff. Im very concern about audio quality and volume.

If you ever dj with live, probably noticed that the audio quality and volume is very diff. that CDJS Players, and it´s very noticiable.

I was wondering ig you guys can recomend any audio card that would solve that matter or even if you can point what audio cards are using the top djs on ableton or even TRAKTOR.

Thanks a lot

Tarekith
Posts: 19074
Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2005 11:46 pm
Contact:

Re: Best audio card for Djing / best quality sound

Post by Tarekith » Mon Mar 07, 2016 6:49 am

How much do you want to spend?

latinflair
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 3:57 pm
Location: argentina - buenos aires
Contact:

Re: Best audio card for Djing / best quality sound

Post by latinflair » Tue Mar 08, 2016 11:43 pm

Thanks for the answer Tarek.

Ive a M-Audio audiophile firewire and also a Focuswrite Saffire Pro 24.

Ive heard really good stuff about RME, and i know Guy J use to used it in live gigs. Im thinking in that kind of range. Always thinking on the Djing side. I know UAD or even Apogee are pretty good, but not sure if they are good for the Dj stage too.

Id like to know what other big djs use.

thanks!

muthafunka
Posts: 2247
Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2003 5:28 pm
Location: Tokyo

Re: Best audio card for Djing / best quality sound

Post by muthafunka » Tue Mar 08, 2016 11:51 pm

Tiny, bus-powered, solidly built, mac/pc and sounds fantastic: http://www.roland.com/products/mobile_ua/
Def. sounds better than the NI boxes, portability and setup better than RME and no dangling breakout cables. And IME it's loud too. FYI it's out only so your money is only going on what you need. I've tried a few boxes, and unless I decide to drag a racked interface with me this is my go-to.

latinflair
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 3:57 pm
Location: argentina - buenos aires
Contact:

Re: Best audio card for Djing / best quality sound

Post by latinflair » Wed Mar 09, 2016 5:19 pm

thanks Mutha!

will check that roland baby.

what do you mean with DEF AND IME ??

thanks

H20nly
Posts: 16058
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:15 pm
Location: The Wild West

Re: Best audio card for Djing / best quality sound

Post by H20nly » Wed Mar 09, 2016 5:38 pm

Definitely and In My Experience. :wink:

with respect muthafunka.

jlgrimes
Posts: 1773
Joined: Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:55 am
Location: Atlanta, Ga

Re: Best audio card for Djing / best quality sound

Post by jlgrimes » Wed Mar 09, 2016 6:08 pm

latinflair wrote:Hi there

ive found many post about recomendations on audio cards for djing with live but mainly matter about i/o and latency stuff. I think lot of gear can solved that stuff. Im very concern about audio quality and volume.

If you ever dj with live, probably noticed that the audio quality and volume is very diff. that CDJS Players, and it´s very noticiable.

I was wondering ig you guys can recomend any audio card that would solve that matter or even if you can point what audio cards are using the top djs on ableton or even TRAKTOR.

Thanks a lot

If you want loud, balanced outputs tend to be louder than unbalanced outputs. Whatever you are plugging the interface into though will need to be balanced though.

latinflair
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 3:57 pm
Location: argentina - buenos aires
Contact:

Re: Best audio card for Djing / best quality sound

Post by latinflair » Wed Mar 09, 2016 8:02 pm

H20nly wrote:Definitely and In My Experience. :wink:

with respect muthafunka.

my bad, thanks!! english not my language.

latinflair
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 3:57 pm
Location: argentina - buenos aires
Contact:

Re: Best audio card for Djing / best quality sound

Post by latinflair » Wed Mar 09, 2016 8:04 pm

jlgrimes wrote:
latinflair wrote:Hi there

ive found many post about recomendations on audio cards for djing with live but mainly matter about i/o and latency stuff. I think lot of gear can solved that stuff. Im very concern about audio quality and volume.

If you ever dj with live, probably noticed that the audio quality and volume is very diff. that CDJS Players, and it´s very noticiable.

I was wondering ig you guys can recomend any audio card that would solve that matter or even if you can point what audio cards are using the top djs on ableton or even TRAKTOR.

Thanks a lot

If you want loud, balanced outputs tend to be louder than unbalanced outputs. Whatever you are plugging the interface into though will need to be balanced though.
Always will be pluggin the interface to the Club mixer.

I know djs like Sasha, guy j, Richie uses Ableton or Traktor, i wonder what they use these days to sound loud and good as Cd players

muthafunka
Posts: 2247
Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2003 5:28 pm
Location: Tokyo

Re: Best audio card for Djing / best quality sound

Post by muthafunka » Wed Mar 09, 2016 10:39 pm

H20nly wrote:Definitely and In My Experience. :wink:

with respect muthafunka.
Not at all sir, thank you!

jlgrimes
Posts: 1773
Joined: Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:55 am
Location: Atlanta, Ga

Re: Best audio card for Djing / best quality sound

Post by jlgrimes » Thu Mar 10, 2016 12:33 am

latinflair wrote:
jlgrimes wrote:
latinflair wrote:Hi there

ive found many post about recomendations on audio cards for djing with live but mainly matter about i/o and latency stuff. I think lot of gear can solved that stuff. Im very concern about audio quality and volume.

If you ever dj with live, probably noticed that the audio quality and volume is very diff. that CDJS Players, and it´s very noticiable.

I was wondering ig you guys can recomend any audio card that would solve that matter or even if you can point what audio cards are using the top djs on ableton or even TRAKTOR.

Thanks a lot

If you want loud, balanced outputs tend to be louder than unbalanced outputs. Whatever you are plugging the interface into though will need to be balanced though.
Always will be pluggin the interface to the Club mixer.

I know djs like Sasha, guy j, Richie uses Ableton or Traktor, i wonder what they use these days to sound loud and good as Cd players
Might be worthwhile to buy an external personal mixer to plug into. That might give you more control of volume.

latinflair
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 3:57 pm
Location: argentina - buenos aires
Contact:

Re: Best audio card for Djing / best quality sound

Post by latinflair » Thu Mar 10, 2016 5:43 am

Thanks Grimes, yes, i got that one in mind, but i was maybe trying to get something more "portable"

good tip thought, thanks!!

Tarekith
Posts: 19074
Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2005 11:46 pm
Contact:

Re: Best audio card for Djing / best quality sound

Post by Tarekith » Thu Mar 10, 2016 6:52 am

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.

jlgrimes
Posts: 1773
Joined: Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:55 am
Location: Atlanta, Ga

Re: Best audio card for Djing / best quality sound

Post by jlgrimes » Thu Mar 10, 2016 3:19 pm

latinflair wrote:Thanks Grimes, yes, i got that one in mind, but i was maybe trying to get something more "portable"

good tip thought, thanks!!


Another trick you might be able to try is if you do sound check, put your volume levels at like 75% full or so, which will hopefully have them do whatever they can to give you a stronger initial level boost.



Then during the performance if you feel your levels are down, you got some room to max out your volume.

latinflair
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 3:57 pm
Location: argentina - buenos aires
Contact:

Re: Best audio card for Djing / best quality sound

Post by latinflair » Thu Mar 10, 2016 6:48 pm

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

Post Reply