Getting Started with VCI

[Lambox]

Okay so up until now, I've been sitting more on the production end of music. Actually I been sitting only on the production end of things. But I want to try my hand at dj-ing.

I have a laptop that does okay, I can get the midi latency down to <5ms with ASIO4ALL.

So then obviously I'm going to need the actual VCI-100, which is going to be $500 plus tax.

Really my question is how much of a financial commitment am I making here? I know I'm going to need a new soundcard, but really, realistically, how much money am I looking at spending?

[DvlsAdvct]

First off, it depends on the quality of the sound card you'd want, and what you're going to want to do with it.

If you're just using it for DJing then I'd say go with the Audio4. If you also want to use it for production (recording multiple sources at once) then you might want to make a larger investment.

Also, keep in mind that ASIO4ALL is an audio system, and the <5ms latency is in regards to audio, not midi. I think you are going to want to push that up to around 12ms, and I doubt it will even make a noticeable difference.

[Lambox]

I'm talking like... bedroom djing really. And by production I just mean that I throw together some basic tracks in my room.

Okay really what I wanted to ask without sounding like a huge idiot was thing (warning, I couldn't be more of a noob)... I know that with djing theres different audio being playing through the headphones then is running out to the mixer/speakers/whatever... what do I need to buy to be able to do that?

[DvlsAdvct]

You need an audio interface that has at least 2 stereo channels (one for the master output and one for the headphones).

The cheapest I'd say to go for is the Numark DJ I/O, but that has had some negative reviews here. All comes down to what your budget is, really.

[advantix00]

first, this site here has a wealth of info on it, so dig into the archives. I recently bought a vci-100 after doing some research. at first it was between a hercules rmx or numark omni control but when i saw a vci on ebay for 270, i picked it up. i also scored a brand new numark dj i/o for 45. deals of the century...just got lucky. both are doing what i intended them to do. i am using it for home/house party/ small pubs and club type thing. later i will upgrade card to echo audio4 or something like that but w/ what i have it does the job. u route the soundcard thru ur program, (im using traktor 3). i set outputs to headphones for cueing and the other output to master for the listeners, which u can actually just use a headphone to rca jack and plug it to you line input on ur laptop to use those speakers unless u have a stereo or something like that.