Internal vs External mixing

[Ross]

The same way you connect any other audio source to a club system…

Just checking!!

[Philippro]

So you think that the not stand alone mixer of the s4 is a deal breaker?

[padi_04]

I prefer external just because midi controllers tend to feel cheap and horrible to use in comparison to a mixer of similar price. Cheap plasticy knobs that don't click in the middle- urgh.

get a decent controller, problem solved...

[Philippro]

get a decent controller, problem solved...

Can you name the controllers you think are decent?

[Jester]

the knobs on the x1 are excellent and accurate for eqing, but i still prefer using the mixer though.

[Ryan Leo]

Right now I am kind of tore up about this myself.

I had a stanton scs3 system for a year or so. Then I wanted a more "solid" controller because there where times when the USB went a bit wonky while I was playing a house party. Nothing serious to the set but I was nerve-wrecked for a bit.

I went out and bought a denon x120 as a practice rig. If I was in a club setting I would just plug into the mixer there. I wanted the feel of an analog mixer. Right now I am using that with 2 midi-fighter. I want some knobs to control the effects so I think the X1 is going to be my next step.

I prefer even the denon x120 to the internal mixer. I enjoy the concrete nature of analog mixers. If the software goings tits-up at least you could have an emergency deck ready to swap out and keep the energy. Thats what its all about isnt it?


Having it routed internal makes the mess-of-cables less tangled. The cables are annoying when you have a "mobile" setup that has to be setup everytime you play.

Sorry for the ramble

[Philippro]

Having it routed internal makes the mess-of-cables less tangled. The cables are annoying when you have a "mobile" setup that has to be setup everytime you play.

Sorry for the ramble

I think that that is the only pluss internal mixing offers. What I am planning to do is put an audio 4dj in the case of the x1 which fits perfectly and probably an audio 2dj as aggregate device to route 4 external channels to the analog mixer. So, the cables going out of the x1's bagwill be measured and colored to the corresponding line in of the 4-channel mixer. So setup time will be less and you will only have to connect the same cables you would normally connect to the controller + an powercable for the analog mixer.

[Sanderbongertman]

I think that that is the only pluss internal mixing offers. What I am planning to do is put an audio 4dj in the case of the x1 which fits perfectly and probably an audio 2dj as aggregate device to route 4 external channels to the analog mixer. So, the cables going out of the x1's bagwill be measured and colored to the corresponding line in of the 4-channel mixer. So setup time will be less and you will only have to connect the same cables you would normally connect to the controller + an powercable for the analog mixer.

Is there enough room to place the audio card's internals and also connections for the audio cables? Sounds like a great solution!

[Philippro]

Is there enough room to place the audio card's internals and also connections for the audio cables? Sounds like a great solution!

Yes there is. The x1 has the same width with the audio 4dj and the same height (with the knobs). So you can either put an audio 4dj and an audio 2 in one x1 bag or have an audio4dj in two x1 bags. In other words you can make an x1 with its bag like the xone 2D.

[ponyboy]

Mathematically, you're right, based on everything I've seen.

While it's possible to clip your sound card (in fact, it's really easy), it's basically not possible to clip traktor's mixer, no matter what stupid settings you use. And you don't lose anything to cheap or worn-out circuitry or cheap components, 'cuz it's just math.

I still maintain that I don't like the sound of the Classic EQ (rolloff is too quick at the top and it boosts too much), the controller I'm using doesn't have knobs for the xone EQ (I suppose I could map both of the mid controls to one knob…I'll have to try that), and the Nuo one sounds off to me. I don't hate it, but I don't like it…so I'm stuck using the p600 EQ for the time being, despite the fact that it sounds only a bit less off than the others and is still too sharp close to 0dB and still boosts too much.

I can't wait until I can afford my Empath, so I can get back to mixing with a real mixer. I didn't miss having a real mixer so much with Ableton Live (because it's EQs are great and the VCM feels almost as nice to use as a lot of real mixers), but I really miss it with Traktor…there's not a mixer-like controller with the right set of controls for my taste. The VCI feels decent, but I'd ignore most of it…just like I ignored most of my VCM-600 using Traktor.

I guess the core of it is that I haven't found a good 2 or 4-channel mixer-only controller for Traktor that feels solid and isn't ridiculously overkill for what I want, whereas there are a LOT of actual mixers that sound great (if you understand anything about leveling), some of which have the same type of digital processing that make it virtually impossible to clip anything but the final D-A converter. Even going 100% analog, a lot of them have a lot of extra headroom, making that less of a benefit to digital…and they all are laid out better than all but the best controllers, which include a lot of crap I wouldn't use.

That's why I like external mixing for Traktor.

Because that was a long and rambling post, here's a picture of a kitten hugging a teddy bear:

Spot on post.