First DJ Set and Question about VCI 300

HI,

I have a few questions for the VCI 300 users. I'm about to use it for the first time in a club. It's my first set.

- Have you ever had problems with the power of the soundcard coming with the VCI 300 ? I heard it wasn't powerful enough for clubs ...(-10/0 dB instead of -10/+10 dB ...) Should I buy something more ?

- I will come with my VCI 300 and my MacBook configured with Traktor Pro. Is there any risk of connection problem, crash of the laptop, during the live ? I made my own .TSI file and I fear a problem of stability ...

Thanks ;)

Welcome JIDE.
The rumour is through that the VCI-300 MK1 (dunno about MK2) lacks some oomph. Most clubs (no, sadly not all) have their own mixers. You should run the signal through one of its channels because it gets boosted by it. So this won't be a problem. I even used a VCI-300 as a soundcard once to spin for a big crowd without any problems.

Traktor Pro is pretty rock-stable, especially on a Mac. Using your own controller mappings won't be a problem (except you run into a bug that isn't known yet, which is very unlikely).

You're never save from a crash though, therefore get at least a few backup CD's, vinyls. Maybe even a mix-cd so you have time to get started again. You should have that inserted and ready to play all the time.

Played a gig on my mk2 vci 300 last week. Sound quality was not perfect but either was the clubs system. I went straight into the clubs amp via rca's would of been better with a mixer though. The vci300 mk2 gets higher sound output when running off external power, not the mk1 though. You would need to purchase an adapter for this though.

OK thanks for your answers, I ll ask if the club has its own mixer.

Elliotg, isn't that weird to loose power when turning on external power ? Anyway, I'm not concerned with my Mk1 so I'll buy an adapter, thus I'll be able to play a CD or an Ipod if the Laptop crashes! Thx !

Run it thru a mixer.. Run it thru a mixer.. Run it thru a mixer.. !!

One more question : Why are there so few profesionnal Djs mixing with Midi controllers ? Fiability ? Most of DJs using laptop choose external mix mode in their software and time code CD don't they ?

Actually, I'm wondering what 2 CDJ + DJM Pioneer would bring me if I sell my Vestax VCI 300 ...