Esi release: Maya 44 soundcard
Any Good?
What ESI have to say:
'ESI’s new MAYA 44 soundcard offers four inputs and four outputs all in a compact casing for use with all major music and DJ applications like Cubase, Logic, Reason, MixVibes, Traktor, Deckadance, Virtual DJ and much more.
Ideal for DJs and producers on the move this USB powered audio interface doesn’t need external powering and comes with a copy of Deckadance LE to get you started.’
For £82 can you go wrong?
No. Esi make really good stuff. I’ve used their U46DJ for years. I’m more than happy with it.
Can it be used as an alternative to an Audio 8?
You won’t get timecode support out of it with Traktor and with the amount of I/O it would be an equivalent to an Audio 4 (4 mono = 2 stereo pairs). If you are talking about the regular 44 (RCA connectors) then it’s a meh card, on par with Numark’s DJ I/O in terms of quality.
I see they now make one with 1/4 inch connectors so I guess they changed their target to studio/recording. I can’t comment on the 44+ since I haven’t tested it. http://www.esi-audio.com/products/maya44usb+/
PS: It has been around since at least 2008 so I wouldn’t call it “new”.
Those are actually black RCA connectors
I stand corrected, didn’t read the specs, just had a quick glance at the front pic.
To make my last post clear:
maya 44: blue plastic case
maya 44+: metal case
Also integrated USB cable vs. Mini USB socket. The 44+ also has optical out and additional LED indicators.
Like I said, going on the quality of the U46DJ, I’m very happy to use Esi gear.
For £82 you can’t go wrong.
I’m seeing the start of an NI/Traktor budget competitor here…
NI Audio Interfaces vs. Esi Audio Interfaces
Traktor Controllers vs. Behringer CMD Controllers
Traktor Scratch Pro vs. Deckadance 2
I’ve had a regular plastic Maya44 as part of my setup for like 8 years now and its never given me a single problem.
so many audio snobs out there (padi)
Maya44 is in my Vestax VCM-100 and it rocks. Played over 150+ parties with it on everything from QSC to Dynacord to NEXO. Always tore up the gig.
The better the system the better it sounds.
so would I be able to connect a mixer to it and mix from Traktor/Serato etc?. I dont want to use timecodes
Like this:
You can use it for Traktor if you’re not using timecode. You can only use Rane SL boxes and mixers with Serato.
Lol, if I was an audio snob I wouldn’t do 90% of my editing/production work with rpdj-1200.
