Help with hardware purchase and set up (Traktor Scratch Pro)
Hey guys, so this is my first post on the forum. and first of all. i really love this site
I’ve been producing electronic music since i was 12 (i got in the scene at a young age) and i just recently started dj’ing about a year ago
When i first started out dj’ing i was just using Traktor Scratch Pro with a wireless mouse, (a friend of mine gave me a licensed copy) i honestly cant afford much, my current set up is a M-audio 02 midi controller and traktor with my mouse.
I’ve done a few radio shows and what not. but now i’m actually getting booked for real shows. their not “raves” however therefore they dont have house equipment. i’ve been dj’ing at Rock shows, while bands set up and an hour set. (been turning out quite amazing, surprisingly everyone loves the music)
what i’ve been doing is running a RCA cable ( i think thats what it is, the red and white cord) from my headphone jack to their mixer board and just doing all internal mixing with traktor.
the problem is, i have to prop up the cord because my headphone jack is broken. and i have to mix blind (cant headphone cue)
I’ve been looking into USB sound cards so that i could avoid that issue, but what i’m having problems with is trying to find one at a decent price but still has nice quality. i’ve been looking at the ICONNEX portable usb soundcard, since it’s only 26 dollars.
and i would also like to invest in a 2 channel mixer
i just need a cheap setup till i do more shows and purchase the Kontrol S4 which i am extremely obsessed with. when i first heard about it i spent hours and hours looking it up online lol
if you could help me with finding a decent priced setup and how exactly to connect it, i understand the audio routing, (what i used to do at home, was make the master the left speaker and use the right speaker for cueing, horrible set up lol, i use external speakers btw)
sorry for the long post. but thanks to anyone who takes the time reading it and helping me out
Hey man! Firstly welcome to DJTT!
As for your question it would help us if you could tell us your budget, the actual amount. We can help much more easily from there!
I wouldn’t go for that soundcard. It only has a single output pair, so you’d have to aggregate it with your on-board soundcard to get master & cue, which I would not recommend.
An audio 4 interface sounds more in your price range, but you don’t have to stick to Native Instruments unless you are adding in a time coded CD / vinyl setup. Try getting an M-Audio audio interface? Relatively cheap for about $150
My mate has this with his VCI-100 setup and it sounds pretty good especially on a big sound system . . .
thanks for all the advice guys. yeah, i dont think i’ll be doing timecoding yet, but perhaps later on. right now i just want some better quality and hopefully an external mixer. i’ve noticed the internal mixer is a little weak.
i could eq and transition a lot better with a mixer. so what i’ll probably be doing is having it set up with the soundcard to the mixer and then my 02 controller.
+2 on an audio2. ive owned a slew of different sound cards, and this one is easily the best bang per buck. plus gives you option of going internal or 2 decks external. and its only $100 new, cheaper used (shameless plus: im selling one for 65 USD plus shipping right, see the buy/sell section ) that gives you 100 more dollars to get yourself a basic 2 ch mixer or midi controller. and thats a perfect setup to learn on
But to tell you the truth in terms of long-term investment this is a bad idea. If you really want to go towards external mixing you need something like an Audio 4 or Audio 8 in the long run. I’d go for a controller/soundcard-combo for internal mixing. Sounds like a better idea with what you are doing right now; only need one output cable to run to the mixer, rather than rewiring the whole damn thing.
I found that with an X1 you really stop needing the mouse in Traktor, so I’d consider a combo X1 and Audio 2 in the meantime. Might be worth a look at the local GC/Music-Store.
