Help - Ableton Dj setup

DancingDays · Post by **DancingDays** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 6:28 pm

Hi, I just got live 5 and am looking at using it to dj live. It is my first time playing digitally so I am slightly clueless at the minute and not helped by the mountains of technical information around!

My question regards my setup: I would like to have an output to be able to cue tracks in headphones and have an output that goes to speakers too (possibly two outputs to speakers) I have a gateway laptop, 6months old, the model escapes me, with sigmatel audio codec. I would like to know how this could work... I assume I could send signal to an audio interface with multiple in/outputs from the headphone jack and then plug everything else into this interface (headphones, speakers, subwoofers etc) or does it work differently? If someone could suggest the easiest/cheapest ways to achieve my aim I would e very grateful! Some suggstions for cheap multiple output interfaces are welcome.

THANKS.

djfm · Post by **djfm** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 6:38 pm

i have heard of people buying the echo indigo sound card as this has more than one out put
the way i see it. You plug the amp into one output and your headphones into another output
in lives prerences enable your outputs
as far as using the cue in the software im am unsure of
someone else will help i would say

lanno · Post by **lanno** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 6:42 pm

hi there!

you should search for m-audio's fast track pro, or audiophile usb

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 6:44 pm

sending 1 stereo headphone out into a multi-channel sound card still only gets you 1 stereo out. unless you want to make left channel your headphone mix and the right channel your PA mix, which is fine, people have discussed mono mixes in large PAs being fine.

if you buy cheap gear you get cheap results, M Audio dominates the low end gear but they also dominate the poor product and poor customer service areas.

how much can you spend?

on the right side of the Live screen you see the Master out and the Cue out, set those to different places, for example, master out '1', cue out '2', now you have left ear for master out, right ear for cue out. cue is the default output for the Live browser too.

www.abletonlivedj.com is where you should be checking out.

vinkalmann · Post by **vinkalmann** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 6:58 pm

You can't go wrong with the Echo Indigo DJ. Excellent sound, reasonable price ($150-200). VERY stable drivers the equate to no crashes.

Check out my Cueing guide at www.vinkalmann.com to get setup whether you get the Echo or not (the concepts are the same for all cards).

DancingDays · Post by **DancingDays** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 10:27 pm

I see on vinkalmann's website it talks about playing live through a standard dj mixer. This would be an ideal scenario for me at the moment as my sound system is already hooked up to my mixer and i am reluctant to dismantle such a complex system unless absolutely necessary. Is there any way I can achieve 2 stereo outputs into my mixer using only one headphone lineout from the laptop? I guess otherwise mono would have to do, but wouldnt that be a bit quiet.

Sorry if I am missing something here - if I purchased this multiple output sound card Echo Indigo - would that allow me to do this from only one line out jack to 2 stereo inputs on the mixer?

Thanks, your help is much appreciated. Ive only been messing around with it for 2 days and already i am massively impressed...

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 10:34 pm

DancingDays wrote:
Tone Deft wrote:sending 1 stereo headphone out into a multi-channel sound card still only gets you 1 stereo out. unless you want to make left channel your headphone mix and the right channel your PA mix, which is fine, people have discussed mono mixes in large PAs being fine.
So does this mean that basically it is impossible to achieve a multiple stereo output using my laptop as it is (with only one headphone line out jack)?

A stereo analog headphone output will only ever put out left and right.

If you have a digital out on your computer like SPDIF then multichannel is a possibility, depending on your laptop.

Vinkalmann knows his shit, check his site.

DancingDays · Post by **DancingDays** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 10:44 pm

Ok, what about if I linked the mono headphone jack to an interface with several line in/outs - could I translate the left/right mono output coming from the laptop into stereo outputs coming from the interface (which could then be put into my mixer).

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 11:37 pm

Your computer will only produce two mono channels of sound, you can only have 2 unique mono channels, how you configure them is up to you. 1 stereo sound or two separate unique different sounding mono channels.

Maybe you could write a simple explanation of the desired setup.

DancingDays · Post by **DancingDays** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 11:48 pm

I would like to control ableton through my dj mixer in the same way i do normal records - that is my ultimate aim. From what you say I think I could use a headphone to RCA cable to do this?!?! Running the signal out from the headphone jack on the laptop and connecting each RCA jack at the other end into a different channel on the mixer. Like you say it will be mono and there will still be one jack left empty in each channel on the mixer but it will work right? That would create two unique mono channels which could be controlled by the faders on the mixer and listened to by its headphone assignment? I think...

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 12:07 am

exactly. two mono channels from the headphone jack via a cable that has 1/8" stereo on one end and two RCA male connectors on the other end (red and white). Red RCA goes to channel 1 on the mixer, white goes to channel 2 on the mixer, each are mono.

Stuff panned to the right goes to channel 1, stuff panned to the left goes to channel 2.

You can also make an RCA cable that has 1 RCA on one end that's connected to 2 RCAs on the other end so you don't have just 1 speaker playing.

DancingDays · Post by **DancingDays** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 12:15 am

How would I make such a cable? by connecting one of the male RCAs of the aforementioned cable to another that is 1 female to 2 male? Jeez this is getting complicated but I think I understand, thanks alot for your help tone deft, very patient of you! I'll probably be back with a load more questions regarding cueing and stuff when i get this going!!!

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 12:25 am

something like this,
http://www.computercablestore.com/detail.aspx?ID=459
combos of male and female can be fixed with other cables.

np with the help, good questions help.

www.abletonlivedj.com should be your next stop.