External USB Soundcard suggestions
Could anyone please suggest me a good External USB Soundcard with multipile sound (stereo) outputs, atleast 2 because one for master (audience) and one for cueing (heapdphones).
I have come across these two for now:
Zalman ZM-RSSC 5.1Ch USB Sound Card
MAYA44 USB External Sound Card
Kindly disscuss and suggest!
Well, technically you are comparing two completely different things. The Zalman is a sound card and the MAYA is more of an interface. The sound card is not meant for professional audio work, so strike it off your list, in my opinion.
The MAYA is an interface, built to handle more intense audio work. If you can stretch your budget a little more I’d recommend this article Ean did on cheaper interfaces.
Good luck
Yea I saw that one, which did he rate the best?
"Conclusions
For the lowest price I would go with the maya44 USB but if you can pay more and want to produce some tracks as well get the Novation. For traveling light and trouble free setup the Indigo dj is a great workhorse." - right from the article
btw welcome to the site 
For me, it’s a toss-up between the ESI Maya 44 and the Numark DJ|iO, as they are both about the same price ($100). I ended up going with Numark, though I have yet to actually try it out. 
EDIT: I just remembered the Maya 44’s headphone port combines all the outputs, so it’s not suited for simultaneous playback and cueing.
How, exactly, do u cue tracks on headphones using the Maya44!!!
I’m reluctantly about to fork out money for a Quatafire 610(about $200 on special) which is supposedly the best deal available to me right now & the guy thats trying to sell me the tech showed me the Maya44 for $140 - he, also told me I wont be able to cue if I buy it. I really don’t wanna buy anything in a higher price bracket that I’m not sure about & I cant find any good reviews on the QuataFire 610 anywhere on the net. 
How exactly does one cue tracks using the Maya44 interface? The video on the website doesn’t show how Ean used it, but he recommends it as a suitable choice & his opinion is echoed on other DJ Tech sites & forums . This interface seems to be somewhat of a legend in Digital DJ Circles. So I figure they must have made it work somehow.
I see quite a few people on this site have questioned its validity & it was mentioned to use an “RCA to female headphone adapter” - How exactly does this work. I’m new to all the audio terminology & words like analogue & stereo are familiar to me, but I don’t know exactly what they mean in this context.
So if Anyone could please explain to me in the simplest of terms how to navigate around this cue’ing issue of the Maya44 audio interface, I (& I’m sure allot of others) would greatly appreciate it.
Thanx!
Edirol UA-20?
Edirol UA-20. Does anybody know if this will work as a dj sound card with a lappie/pc only?..would headphone cueing be possible?
Here’s the product & specs
@ Chuen I dont have MAYA44 but I think I saw on screenshots of user interface that you can set that cue output will monitor only channel 1/2 or 3/4 so maybe you can set it there. If it doesnt work than you can buy this one,as I did(yes I first bought it before maya44)
I think this is solution for cueing.
How, exactly, do u cue tracks on headphones using the Maya44!!!
@ mekon_ca Is that what a RCA to female headphone adapter looks like? Was it easy to find? In theory it should work, I’m just looking for confirmation from users before I make a purchase. It seems everyone is recommending it as a great budget interface, but no-one actually owns one.
What screen shot are u referring to?..is it possible to post the link?
Thanx for the tip, I’ll look into it.
So…anyone out there, that owns a Maya44 usb & cueing on headphones?!
…Anyone? 
Check out the M-audio connectiv its pretty cheap works well with traktor and you also get the Torq software with it
works great for me
I find it in supermarket 
. Screen shots Ive seen a long time ago so dont have link. Maya44 usb is MAYBE use for vestax audio interface(read on some forum). If you only want basic stuff dont think twice and dont buy dj io numark(issues all over the internet can be found).
@ mekon_ca Thanx for that, I think I found the “screen shot” on the .pdf user manual. I e-mailed the shop about the female headphone to rca adapter issue- if they say it’ll work, I’ll take it. I guess I’m a bit over cautious about this
@ R2D2 Wow! the connective looks like a good deal & well worth a consideration. About $30 cheaper than Maya44 too. I don’t think I need the Torq software but it its a bonus I guess. I see them mentioning it supports aac, wma etc. is this relavant if I’m using it only as a soundcard or will the formats not matter in that case? …ooh & I wont have issues using this with ableton, No?
@ Chuen yeah man the connectiv is a good little sound card I use it for Torq , Traktor , Ableton and Reason it works great for Djing and with my DAW. Yes Torq supports WMA and AAC you can also Rewire it straight into Ableton. I use Torq as my main DVS its a very powerful solution and with the 1.07 update its rock solid!
Definatly worth a look even if you dont want to use the Torq software
hope that helped
Are you saying the M-audio connectiv is cheaper than the Maya44?
In the UK the Maya44 is around £65 and the M-Audio connectiv is £156.40.
Ok, heres what I’ve gathered up till now:
The Maya44 is a tried & tested industry favourite, but not without faults however. It’s possible to cue(if you’re only using the card & your lappy/desktop) but you will need a 2x male RCA to 1x female headphone adapter to do this which will cost another $3.00. You’ll have to use one of the pairs of outputs with the adapter rather than the optical headphone jack & the cueing problem is solved. I dunno if everyone who owns this interface is using an adapter but that is the only solution I could find & its enough to “ease my troubled mind”.
Heres a link that anyone considering the Maya44 needs to have a look at:
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Revi...rticleId=20197
…they even take it apart & show its guts
the M-Audio connective might be cheaper in most parts of the world, but I personally feel that something that was purpose built to work with Torq(although it will work with other software) might give you some issues in the future if u intend to use it with a wider range of software /hardware, but if you’re playing around with vinyls allot then this might be something to look at along with other offerings from Serato & others.
So …I’ll be getting myself the Maya44 usb (hopefully I’ll find a used one somewhere) & I’ll keep posting my impressions & some pics for those considering this card in the future.
Thank you for your input
is there anyway to setup headphone cueing using usb sound cards like the creative blaster play or turtle beach?
I’m not familliar with the products u’ve mentioned. When looking for a sound card to use for Dj’ng you’re looking for something with at least two separately channeled outputs (one for Master/speakers & one for Cueing/headphones)Once connected to your pc the software youre using should recognize two separate channels. You would be looking for a card that does this physically by either-one Output to your speakers & Another to your Headphones(like the Io Indigo pcmcia card) Or (like the Maya44) Two or more separate outputs to speakers(with the available Headphonejack listening in on both at the same time) where you may rather want to use one set of outputs for cueing/headphones & the other for the Master Out/speakers & not use the available headphone jack at all.
The cards I mentioned are not the only ones that can do this, but they’re the cheapest ones who does whats required of them fairly easily & (most importantly)they wont let U down.
Another thing to look out for is something that has low latency. If it can go down to 5or4milliseconds response time without any problems then your safe(or so I understand)
Gaming cards like the ones U mentioned don’t normally offer whats needed, but if it has two separately channeled outs & at least a 5 milisecond response time then they will work.
Hope I helped somewhat
cool thanks well im trying to get a m-audio 410 or a fast track pro.
Chuen have you looked at the Numark DJ|iO?
from what i heard, DJ i/os had problems but i guess it gets the job done.
