Setup Advice....

[Bunford]

Ok, I've got some equipment, and looking for advice on best software to use/ways to set up. What I have in my ownership at the moment is:

* Dell Laptop with 1.8GHz Celeron Processor and 2GB RAM
* 1.5TB External USB Hard Drive
* External USB Sound Card with stereo phono in and stereo phono out
* Behringer DDM4000 Digital MIDI Mixer
* A pair of Numark Axis 9 CDJ Decks
* USB-MIDI Cable to connect mixer to laptop

However, my friend runs a studio that is closing down, so have been offered to purchase various software from them on the cheap (all legit). They have Ableton 8, Virtual DJ, Traktor Pro and Mixmeister Fusion.

Out of the above, what would be the recommended setup to be an electro house DJ? I know I could do with getting a pair of Pioneer's, MacBook Pro etc, but buying anything significant is out of my price range at the moment, though I'm able to buy the above software if needed. I'm also hoping to ditch the CDJ's and go digital running off my laptop.

Anyone got any recommendations?

[LiveFastStephen]

don't even consider buyin their Virtual DJ, especially Mixmeister Fusion...
sell that soundcard unless it has 4in/4out, & consider an Audio4 by NI, cause screw the DDM4000's soundcard, sacrafice its effects for quolity by using the soundcard you already need for your timecode cd's to work. work a deal & try to get there traktor for a good deal then download traktors timecode CD's burn em, revert it to version 1.1 (if your not going to get the Audio4 or Audio8 soundcard) since Traktor versions after 1.1 requires a NI certified soundcard for timecode) & from there you should be set.

[LiveFastStephen]

oh yea & i'd get there Ableton to.

[Bunford]

What I had considered doing was this:

1) Assign Channel 2 an 3 plus the Mic section of the DDM4000 to MIDI

2) Use ASIO4ALL to combine USB and onboard sound card, then run Traktor Deck 1 out into the DDM4000 Channel 1 and Traktor's Deck 2 into DDM4000 Channel 4, using external mixer mode. Therefore, using DDM4000's Channel 1, 4 and Crossfader sections as a mixer.

3) Use the MIDI on Channel 2 and 3 to control Traktor hot cues, effects etc and use the Mic section EQ knobs for EQ crossfaders

4) Run Master Output from mixer into monitors so I can utilise the mixers effects etc.

Would this work/make sense?

Also, what are the benefit of timecoded CDs? Are they essential? I have considered the Audio4DJ but the price is putting me off as I'm a newbie doing it all on a budget to learn the basics etc.

[Bunford]

After looking around. I'm considering taking Traktor and Abelton off their hands.

I've also decided there's no real place in the setup for the Axis 9's that I can see, so am gonna be selling them (anyone interested!?). Now, am I better off selling my DDM4000 and investing in a DJ console controller, or keeping the DDM4000 as the controller to utilise it's effects etc?

This is all purely for bedroom use at the moment, as I'm still learning the basics and building up some kind of set slowly over time.

[LiveFastStephen]

your first resonds sounds like it would make sence but

or keeping the DDM4000 as the controller to utilise it's effects etc?

unless your using its bad quolity soundcard, you can't use it's effects... but for bedroom dj'n the qualitys fine, but you;ll be investing practice on somehting not practical in a club so these are all thingsd to keep in mined. - s

[charo]

there isn't a soundcard in the ddm4k, its a standard audio mixer with midi added to it...so if you are mixing externally on it you are going to need a soundcard with that number of outs.

I wouldn't spend money on traktor and and ableton or any software and then skimp on soundcard by trying to us your internal card and external card with asio4all.

[Stumpy]

If you're not carrying it around, DDM works fine for both Ableton and Traktor. Depending which program you're going to lean towards, you will want different type of controller - what works well with Ableton is probably not best with Traktor and vice versa.

Should you stop giving advice on the gear you don't know anything about LiveFastStephen? For the umpteenth time, there is no soundcard in DDM.

[LiveFastStephen]

I meant the quality of it's sound circuits suck, it's best to use the DDM4000 as a controller & mix internally and go straight from your soundcard to the speakers or clubs mixer (avoiding streaming audio threw the mixer & losing quality) & what i was saying is by doing so you loose use of its effects.. now that should clarify for the mentally stumpy.

[Stumpy]

I can see you're a bit confused, but no need to call names. If you put through bad quality sound through any mixer using a bad soundcard, it is not the mixer's fault. On the contrary, user experiences and reviews seem to agree with my own experiences that the sound quality is more than you would expect from a 300 dollar mixer.

I don't know your sources on the sound quality claims, but you should clarify how the mixer was used before stating hearsay as facts, as it may affect people's judgement. Only few of us have money to throw around...