New to all this....

[Dee Cee]

Hi all..

I'm just getting started on Ableton, I will be using it mainly for DJ'ing, and need a little help (or a lot!) in purchasing 'the right' equipment etc.. Any help with the following will be greatly appreciated!

1. I'm told I need an external Hard Drive for all my uncompressed tracks, do the external ones have different speeds, any idea of a good size to get and should I get one with a USB or Firewire connection? Any preference?

2. I have purchased the Ableton Live 4 Power book and have noticed I need an external Sound Card... I presume this reduces latency? and also u need the outputs etc for headphones and so forth.. Which is the best, the book reccomends the M-Audio 410..?

3. Which laptop should I buy (I am buying all of this equipment, in the main, specifically for using Ableton)? What HD, GHZ, RAM etc? Also does Ableton work better with the Mac operating system compared to the PC? (Jus noticed all dj's seem to be using the Apple Laptops!)

4. Which controller should I buy, the book recommends the X-Session ones... I am used to using a Pioneer DJM 600 mixer, can I hook Ableton up to this mixer, or any other standard DJ mixer? How would I assign this to do so?

5. Finally what would you expect to pay for all of the above, and what would be in your opinion a good setup (generally)...


Thanks for your help guys, hope this isn't a request for too much info on your parts! As little technical jargon as possible would be great, although I can handle it if its essential

I just gotta get this Ableton system running ASAP as it seems so porwerful!

[Rx]

1. I'm told I need an external Hard Drive for all my uncompressed tracks, do the external ones have different speeds, any idea of a good size to get and should I get one with a USB or Firewire connection? Any preference?

i've heard that Firewire is better than USB2, but there are some that will have both interfaces. i'm sure someone will pipe up here with a more informed opinion than i, but as far as the hd itself make sure it's 7200rpm with a big buffer (like 8mb).

2. I have purchased the Ableton Live 4 Power book and have noticed I need an external Sound Card... I presume this reduces latency? and also u need the outputs etc for headphones and so forth.. Which is the best, the book reccomends the M-Audio 410..?

latency can also be good with a built-in soundcard & the asio4all driver, but you will not have the ability to cue. the cheapest option with cuing would probably be the Echo Indigo DJ, but that has no imputs, so look elsewhere if you want to record.

3. Which laptop should I buy (I am buying all of this equipment, in the main, specifically for using Ableton)? What HD, GHZ, RAM etc? Also does Ableton work better with the Mac operating system compared to the PC? (Jus noticed all dj's seem to be using the Apple Laptops!)

i use pc, and from what i've gathered from other users, you get more cpu power with when using Live with pcs. if you decide on a PC, go for the best Centrino processor you can afford, and a rough rule of thumb is to doube the Centrino ghz to get the desktop equivalent. i would avoid a laptop with a desktop cpu as they are big, heavy & hot (ie they need regular cleaning of the ventilation and have short battery lives). get as much RAM as you can afford too, at least 512mb. this would keep the OS from using the hd too much when RAM runs out. Live also allows you to load clips into RAM if desired.

4. Which controller should I buy, the book recommends the X-Session ones... I am used to using a Pioneer DJM 600 mixer, can I hook Ableton up to this mixer, or any other standard DJ mixer? How would I assign this to do so?

with Live, you don't need more than 1 mixer channel as you can do all the mixing from Live. if your card has multiple outs, you can run them into the mixer if you want, but then you have to worry about the mixer in addition to a midi controller. the Indigo DJ has a headphone out that can be used for cuing.

5. Finally what would you expect to pay for all of the above, and what would be in your opinion a good setup (generally)...

$2000-ish.

[Dee Cee]

so is the M-Audio one not very good? Yes I would like to record so I guess I'll have to give the indigo a miss...

How would a normal DJ mixer be setup to run Ableton... i.e laptop connected to soundcard connected to and so forth.. I presume the book I have will explain how to assign the channels etc?

[Rx]

afaik, the 410 gets solid reviews. i haven't used it myself so i can't say for sure.

by 'normal dj mixer' do you mean having 2 stereo outs going to the mixer?, and cuing off the mixer?

[ct43]

something like the

ESI GIGAPORT AG

Or

M AUDIO SONICA THEATRE

would give you 8 soundcard outputs, so you could have 4 tracks going down the mixer at once... you just asign where you want the Ableton channels to output to..

[MrYellow]

Firewire is faster than USB.
There are some really good external firewire drives around...

http://www.rme-audio.de/english/hdsp/multifa.htm

RME Multiface gets my vote.... Expensive... but I don't regret forking out
for it at all and it's going to last me a good number of years....

Not sure if anyone is using these, but I'm starting to think that a small
form-factor PC is a good alternative to a laptop... of course you'd have to
carry around a battery as well... but kinda like the idea of that, gives u
options.

http://www.littlepc.com/products_p4littlepc_pcmcia.htm

-Ben

[Rx]

i had been talking with a friend who's a mac user about doing a live set, but he has no laptop. after seeing the mac mini i jokingly suggested he get one of those, then started to think about the small form-factor myself. the pricing link on that site doesn't work - any ideas as to what the cost would be?

[Dee Cee]

afaik, the 410 gets solid reviews. i haven't used it myself so i can't say for sure.

by 'normal dj mixer' do you mean having 2 stereo outs going to the mixer?, and cuing off the mixer?

Yes, I mean basically using the Pioneer/Alen & Heath or whatever as the control unit for mixing/cueing and not using a Midi Controller like the xsessions and so on...?

[tch]

only buy the RME multiface.
trust me, you won't regret it.

PLZ read the bugs&problem forum, and do a little research about the
firewire soundcards.
You wouldn't have to learn it the hard way like the rest of us.

good luck.

BTW I recommend the logitec ext-hdd. It has FW800 hubs.

[Rx]

i think part of the benefit of using Live is doing the mixing and stuff on it, but that's how i imagine it. if you're using 8 tracks in Live, it's easier to do A-B crossfades then have the tracks going to specific outs.

but you may be more comfortable working with a dj eq, so it does depend on how you work. i've been thinking of a behringer bcr box since they provide a lot of controls, particularly the bcr2000). you could control the eqs, filters, etc. that way.