Ableton Forum

Ok guys, I really need your help to start DJing. I would really appreciate it if you can share your knowledge with me. Here is what I need to know:

1- list of equipment I need in order to get the audio from my notebook to the speakers in the club
2- suggestions for a good controller (no keyboard, just controller)
3- suggestions for a good external soundcard
4- good headphones for previewing
5- and most importantly, how do I hook all of this up?

that's all I need right?: laptop, controller, external soundcard. I think.

please help

you forgot turntables in the poll

I dont really want to sit here and toot my own horn about how much i love my own equipment and shit like that, so below is what I use. I like it all. Bottom line

2)UC-33 and a Nostromo for triggering clips.
3)M-Audio Firewire Audiophile. If I had more money I might have bought a slightly better interface, but It works just fine for my basic output needs.
4)Use to have the sony's (M something D something 7000 or something, lol). I think everyone knows which ones they are. I just bought the new technics a couple months ago and prefer them. I like the sound better, i think i get better mid-range, which helps for now in the studio so I dont have to buy some outragously expensive monitors or headphones (although they are on my list next). They are definetly not as comfortable for long term use as the sonys.
5) Start searching for everything that comes into your head on every forum you can find. Or pay me a couple hundred bucks and a plane ticket and ill come help you out.

I have the UC-33e.

It is laid out just like a DJ mixer, with 8 channels that each have 3 bands for EQs, or whatever you want.

It's the perfect size for taking to gigs, too.

wow so it looks like the UC-33e is the best controller.

so instead of the firewire audiophile, what other interface is good/better?

and the Ozonic is both an interface and a controller right?

is it possible to use 2 controllers at the same time? (UC-33e and Ozonic)

with 5 you can use as many as you like - even controllers that noone has suggested on the forum

hey Livewire, how many of the same poll do you have to do?

Adam, post that pic of your UC-33 up, I thought that was pretty good what you did with yours, might help the guy out..

well i've totally changed it.. but yea it did work out pretty good for DJing.



4 channels. the black slider and knobs above are level, and 3 band eq (in EQ4). silver slider was for supatrigga slice#, with only Auto-Repeat turned on. black knobs above that were delay mix and delay feedback. silver knob above that was a high pass filter cutoff.frequency.

assignable # buttons were 1,2,3,4 for engaging the cues on channels 1,2,3,4.

these days, i just do 8 channels. Level, hipass, lowpass, and supatrigga slice# (might be doing beatrepeat though, we'll see)

AdamJay wrote:hey Livewire, how many of the same poll do you have to do?

oh it was a mistake. i made two of the same thread, so i just changed the subject of one of them.

oh and your uc-33 is interesting. can you explain to me why you made those certain knobs silver?

Livewire wrote:

AdamJay wrote:hey Livewire, how many of the same poll do you have to do?

oh it was a mistake. i made two of the same thread, so i just changed the subject of one of them.

oh and your uc-33 is interesting. can you explain to me why you made those certain knobs silver?

it helps to sectionalize the UC33 into 4 "zones" visually.

is it a better idea to use a dj mixer (tascam x-9 or pioneer DJM1000) for certain mixing functions such as crossfading, volume fading, and EQ instead of using a MIDI controller? the MIDI controller will only be for controlling effects in Live. or do would it be fine to just use a midi controller and a firewire audiophile?

has anyone ever had their midi controller kinda skip, jump, or mess up in any way?

Here's what you'll need to start DJing ..

2x Technics SL1200's

1 pretty good mixer.

2 of the biggest speakers you can buy for home practice.



I still kick it old school when it comes to DJing but I am not hating on anyone doing the CompuDJ thing. For me having access to all of my stuff at one time using Reaktor or Final Scratch kills my creativity. It's like ooo I can play this but then this sounds better but but but ... I like to limit what I can do. Minimize to Maximize. It's all a matter of preference.

yea i wish i could DJ with vinyl. i bet its way more fun and you feel like you have more control. but i dont have the money to buy tons of records.

wheres a good place to buy electronic music records? (mostly trance or hard trance). is it possible to buy the same tracks that Armin Van Buuren uses? what about Yoji Biomehanika? (his live set at Sensation Black 2004 was AWESOME)

UC-33 owners:

Is it easy to change the channel on the UC-33? Can it be done with one button? Can preset CC configurations be recalled with one button?

I'm on the fence with this one... but it's a lot cheaper than building a custom MIDI controller.