Im New and Need some advice on a setup

Hi, Im new to the forums as well as mixing in general. I eventually want to write my own music having experience playing drums (9yrs) piano (5yrs) and guitar (2) and now i want to DJ :D So the setup I have in mind without any particular brands is this: I want to run everything off my laptop, no cds. so i know im going to need a sound card (under$200 would be nice) ive looked at a bunch but i dont know what to get because here is everything i eventually want to run:

*Laptop holding my exstensive library and software.
*2 traditional turntables, seeing as i wont need cd ones using my laptop right?
*an effects drum pad for making my own beats and some cool synth effects
*then an actual small synth with a lot of built in effects
*of course a mixer,not sure how many channels i will need though,5?(inc. mic.)
*then what i have spent forever looking for, a sound card! im trying to keep it under $200 and have looks at tons, but i think i might have to spend more.

Thats the setup I eventually want to run, the drum pad and synth being the last things i get. and I eventually want to work my way to doing gigs, so i want some like mid range pretty decent equipement, so i wont have to purchase better stuff in the future


Here were some products I was looking at:
MIXER - Behringer DDM 4000, Stanton m.505, Stanton RM.406, Denon DNX1500 (I'm trying look on ebay to save myself some money, but i want to keep it around $400-650)

SOUND CARDS - I have looked at tons but am not sure what I need (roland fa66? although thats more than i want to spend) but let me know what i should get.

TURNTABLES - havent really looked considering i wont be getting them for a few months so i can become familiar with my mixer and at least get started, but give me some ideas in different price ranges (i want equipment that will be good enough for live performances though down the road.)

SOFTWARE - give me some ideas of software that you think would work best for me and accomplish what i want to do. (mix,dj,scratch,record/write music) A little bit of everything lol. Starting, Im mainly going to focus on just on Mixing...Im just eager to learn.

PLEASE help me out and give me some advice, I have spent days and days researching and reading, and cant decide, because i dont know a whole lot but i want good stuff. It is SOOO much appreciated. Thank You

Mixer
400 to 650? You might want to look for a second hand Ecler Nuo4 (not a Nuo4.0, mind you).
A great quality mixer, warm sound and basic MIDI controls. The best bang for buck considering hybrid mixers. This one is still the one to beat on my wanted list! :D

Soundcards
You want to start with production and DJ or maybe start of with one of both disciplines.
To me you still don't need bankheist amounts of money when just going for a DJ soundcard.

Turntables
Opt for the so called Super OEMs(High torque Stantons, Reloops) or go for second hand proper Technics SL1200s or Vestax Turntables.

Software
You just want to mix, you might be best of with a free or open source solution in combination with either Timecode vinyl or a MIDI controller.
Mixxx has my favour when straight mixing.
However, if you can dosh out the extra money, go for Traktor which to me is still one of the better Digital Vinyl (or Timecoded) Systems.

These are my two cents, hope some will agree on this, if not.... tough on them. ;)

I think you should re-evaluate your direction. You want to do everything internally (no CDs) but you want turntables and a mixer? Why? You could, instead, just get a MIDI controller and a sound card and go with that. Could you scratch great on it? Not as realistically as using time coded vinyl, but even that's restricting compared to real vinyl.

If you want software that will allow you to write/mix then I'd say get Ableton Live!, without question. Now, Ableton Live! restricts you as well. I think you need to seriously evaluate what it is you want to do (cause it sounds like you want to do everything) and how you want to get there. There are a slew of software options (Traktor, Serato, Ableton, Mixx, Torque, etc.) that all do similar, yet different things. The only one that is truly different is Ableton.

Why get an external mixer? You could, instead, take that cap of $650 and buy a MIDI controller or two (a keyboard and a VCI-100, for example). Then, if you use Ableton you can use that keyboard to trigger effects and samples. Check out Moldover's set up for an idea of what you can do (there are videos on this forum.

There is very little need for hardware anymore. The things you can do with software is just about as solid and reliable as any hardware synth/drum machine/turntable. I'd say take a deep breath, go to a Guitar Center and demo some stuff. Figure out what interfaces work for you, and go from there. Also, figure out exactly WHAT you want to do and make it happen. This is a very delicate thing, as money is not infinite. :-)

Hope this didn't come out condescending. I have a tendency to be an asshole when... um.. well, I just have that tendency.

And I'm tired. :-)

Why do you want turntables?

Before you do absolutely anything, figure out what you want to do for the "DJ'ing" aspect of your performance. Turntables are one option, as are CDJs, as is a MIDI controller (or as announced today, using CDJ-400s as MIDI controllers!).

The thing you have to realise is, your performance at this point will be bottlenecked by your skill as a DJ. IMO, the thing you need to figure out first and foremost is how you will DJ, and once you have that sorted, add in whatever else you like since you're already very experienced with drums and the keys, etc. etc.

As for what I would recommend - definitely some sort of MIDI controller to DJ with. I would say this because you could integrate such a solution very easily with everything else you want to do, rather than having a pair of turntables or CDJs mixing independently of everything else.

Look into Ableton Live as that is probably where you're going to end up.

I agree. DJs have turntables and CDJs because they haven't switched to pure digital. If you're just starting you might as well get setup for where things are heading. I have turntables, records and CDJs, but the only time any of that gets used is when I bring my CDJs for shows so other DJs can use them. LOL. Such a waste of my money.

Thanks for your inputs and advice, I really appreciate it. Well Ive been doing a lot of thinking, and I thought realisiticlly what do I see myself doing the most and why I wanted to DJ in the first place, and thats for mixing. I aslo got ahold of a friend who Mixes and he gave me some advice, and I was talking to him for a while, and I think I am going to go the route of just getting a nice simple well built mixer, and a nice midi contoller to control all of the effects and everything else

So sorry to be a pain and changing, but I am glad I got your guys inputs and talking to my friend to help guide me in the direction im trying to go. So If you or someone could give me some suggestions on a nice simple mixer thats of good quality, and a nice midi contoller to control all the effects and everything else, that would be great. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks so much for the help.

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Originally Posted by FlipFX

So If you or someone could give me some suggestions on a nice simple mixer thats of good quality, and a nice midi contoller to control all the effects and everything else, that would be great. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks so much for the help.

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I happen to like the VCI-100... as do probably many people on this forum. Get that and you can mix internally and skip the extra mixer.

What do you mean by mixer? Once again, why would you need an external mixer? You can do everything internally, with just a MIDI controller or two. Not only will it save you money but you'll have more expandability in the future

Thanks again for the advice. Im going to purchase the VCI 100 the guy has posted for sale on here then.