WHat additional hardware do I need for DJ-ing?

weeksie31 · Post by **weeksie31** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 3:23 pm

dear all,

ive been playing with Live now for a few weeks, and have come to the conclusion its an amazing tool for DJ's. Before using it I thought it would take away all of the fun/spontaneity/randomness/hands on bits that we love about DJ-ing, but I think its going to create something different to complement using vinyl, rather than replacing it.

However, to even get close to mixing up tunes like my 1210's, I need some advice on which bits of hardware to run alongside my Tosh laptop.

Firstly, I need a unit to control the crossfader (imagine having to use the rodent for fading...you just wouldnt).

Secondly, I need an external sound device for patching cue channels and live channels seperately (I dont want the world and his dog listening to me warp samples etc through the desk).

any help guys much appreciated,

Weeksie

jeskola · Post by **jeskola** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 3:26 pm

UC33e - that should do you full stop - you can asign all the filters and efx you want to it. as for queing get an extrenal sound card - personally i dont use headphones when using my lapto pto play out live, as i name all my lops and noises etc and keep em a foldeer with a decent name so i know whats what -

dj_statikfire · Post by **dj_statikfire** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 3:28 pm

Well, for crossfading, your cheapest / most compact bet is the evolution x-session

when i see people performing between a laptop and decks, usually they keep the same tempo all the way thru for simplicity, they usually have some sort of beat coming out of the laptop at all times, and sync the records to the laptop, and not the other way around

cheers,
dj statikfire, chicago

mettkea · Post by **mettkea** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 3:45 pm

weeksie31 wrote: Secondly, I need an external sound device for patching cue channels and live channels seperately (I dont want the world and his dog listening to me warp samples etc through the desk).

I use the M-Audio Firewire Audiophile to cue tracks. The headphone output can be switched between two sources. So I have one on the master and one for the cue...

weeksie31 · Post by **weeksie31** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 3:48 pm

Nice one Jes/statik...

I guess im used to cue-ing on the fly, and dropping out tunes if they dont fit while monitoring on headies. which I think you can get around by being a bit more regimental and matching up all the samples before the gig. But dont you ever need to monitor something you are going to mix in to the the main output? I dont really mean mixing, but tidying up the samples etc, or applying effects or VSTi's in realtime?

weeksie31 · Post by **weeksie31** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 3:49 pm

mettkea, thats exactly what ive been looking at...any problems with it being firewire and not USB/MIDI?

mettkea · Post by **mettkea** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 4:02 pm

no problems at all.

My setup:
AMD Athlon 64 3400+
Windows XP SP2
1 GB RAM
250 GB SATA HD
Evolution UC-33e
M-Audio Firewire Audiophile

robin · Post by **robin** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 5:15 pm

if you don't mind the outputs in mono you can split the headphone out into two channels and set the routings to have one channel cue and the other master.

this seems a lot easier to do now in Live 4 compared with 3

latency of the internal card is another matter.

i'd recommend the uc33 over the uc17 too (i have both)

robin · Post by **robin** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 5:18 pm

weeksie31 wrote:Nice one Jes/statik...

I guess im used to cue-ing on the fly, and dropping out tunes if they dont fit while monitoring on headies. which I think you can get around by being a bit more regimental and matching up all the samples before the gig. But dont you ever need to monitor something you are going to mix in to the the main output? I dont really mean mixing, but tidying up the samples etc, or applying effects or VSTi's in realtime?

yeah some people tell me cue-ing is not necessary in Live but i find it helps a lot if you've come from a DJ background. you know it'll be in sync (well mostly

) but some things require eq-ing etc to fit with what you're currently playing etc etc. it helps a lot if you can pre-listen

noisetonepause · Post by **noisetonepause** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 5:30 pm

weeksie31 wrote:mettkea, thats exactly what ive been looking at...any problems with it being firewire and not USB/MIDI?

Just to clarify: For an audio interface, USB is nowhere near as good as Firewire - some would argue that it's not up to par at all. And MIDI has nothing to do with your audio - it's just control data. Back in the old days, all controllers had just MIDI Ins/Outs but now, since most are used with computers, they just plug directly into a USB port. A MIDI controller is just a different way of telling the computer what to do (like a mouse) and this is not a very data heavy job - throwing multiple tracks of sound between a set of digital-to-analogue converters and a computer sequencer is, which is why you want the extra bandwidth of Firewire.

Hope this helps:)

-Paws

kabuki · Post by **kabuki** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 5:56 pm

a few things to keep in mind:

Levels. Test them out before the gig ON the system at the club. They can be WAY deceptive...

Also, like previously stated... beat sync to Live, instead of the other way around. The tap tempo in Live is CRAP, but if you MUST use it, set your sig to 8/4 or 16/4 instead of 4/4 - the tap tmepo is a LOT more accurate that way... I wouls also set your global quantise to 1/4 beats and set each sample to "global". Its a lot less to deal with on site...

If you plan to use the x fader in Live, remember that it is linnear and is CRAP. Feel is CRAP and the ommission of a fader curve by Ableton is dumb. I would simply use the channel faders (up/down). Longer throw and better feel.

If your mixer has 4 channels or more and are available, run your cue channels into their own channel thru the mixer and monitor thru the mixer. More accurate leveling...

And don't count Live out as an FX box for the tables... as long as you get a minimum of 5 ms latency - no more... keep that im m9ind when looking at an external soundcard...

cheap 2/2 out PCMCIA card id the Echo indigo DJ... many fans of that card on this board, but no inputs...

GOOD LUCK

spiderprod · Post by **spiderprod** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 3:02 am

think at the option of audio workstations (audio plus controler in 1).
i use the edirol ur80 for live sets ,check it out, it's becoming very cheap for what it is .

weeksie31 · Post by **weeksie31** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 12:43 pm

excellent advice chaps, this is one of the reasons why Live is so awesome, great community. Cheers for taking time to reply.

WHat additional hardware do I need for DJ-ing?

WHat additional hardware do I need for DJ-ing?

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