Its a jungle out there... reliable, pristine clear-sounding interface for ext. mixing

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Its a jungle out there… reliable, pristine clear-sounding interface for ext. mixing

Hello,

this is my first post, so perhaps I should present myself first: 37 year old techno-head from Sweden. Was spinning at parties in the nineties and now found new love for techno and dj:ing.

Working in studios for a decade or so I have come to really appreciate sturdy, reliable and good sounding audio interfaces like Rme. Now, when searching for a dj interface for external mixing with traktor (no dvs!), things have become a bit trickier. I want a small footprint sturdy interface, with at least two stereo line outputs, no bells and whistles, and preferably drawing its current via usb. Really good sound is a must.

I have an Rme babyface (first gen) that sounds and performs beatifully, but the break-out cable and using headphones out as second line output is a mess. I´ve had my eyes on a Denon ds1, but it only works with Serato someone told me. Pleeease, can someone guide me here.. :expressionless:

regards/
Jonas

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If you plan external mixing with Traktor, I guess that you will get a mixer external unit adn the you need a external ssoundcard wich have from 2 to 4 stereo channel depending how many deck you want to use.
he best with traktor is to get their Traktor audio interface, but not all stoll sold by native, but you can find in second hand.
Audio 2 (2 channel and very small), audio 4 (2 channel and can go to Timecode if you go to it later) Audio 6 (3 cereo channel, same for time code), audio 8 (same with 4 stereo channels) and audio 10 (5 channels) wich allow you some more evolved set up.
All these wroking very fine with traktor as they are plug &play .

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If you don’t need DVS, it will probably work with Traktor (either by using Denon ASIO drivers or generic Asio4all driver). Even some Rane interfaces have official Rane ASIO drivers.

But, for just 2 deck output, you’ll end up cheaper by using NI Audio 2. Please note, newer Audio 2 interfaces (mk2) don’t use HQ Cirrus Logic D/A converters, go for the mk1 version if for nothing else then for the 1/4" TS jack outputs.

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Thank you for your insights. I’ve had my eyes on the traktor interfaces, but most of them use wallwarts. Perhaps I’ll go that route anyway.

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Thank you! Didn’t know about the downgraded audio2 mk2. I’m on osx so perhaps the ds1 is core audio? If thats the case it would work with traktor.

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Matching the RME audio quality is going to be tough…unless you want to get a newer gen RME. The Apogee Duet is of similar audio quality, and similar form factor.

At lower price points and lower quality…the Focusrite Scarlett sound interfaces are good value for money. The 2i4 is USB powered, and has reasonable sound quality. The Scarlett sound interface are slightly larger than the RME or Duet models.

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Sorry to be not english language native but what is wallwarts?

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If you’re running with a thunderbolt port the zoom tac-2 was great if you don’t need a monitor… The resident audio t4 is what I’m running and it has great sound … A bit quiet when compared to NI interfaces I’ve used but has never been a problem and I believe it sounds better than the a10 I had.

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Power supplies that plug into the wall.

The audio 6 is bus powered and great bang for your buck if you can find one used. I bought one at Guitar Center for about 100 bucks a while back, never regretted that purchase at all.

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My audio 8 and komplete 6 don’t use any wallwarts. Thay only blug with USB and it’s running perfectly.

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I’ve been using the audio2 for a few years now - rock solid, sounds great, bus powered and absolutely tiny!

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OP, you didn’t mention if you’re Windows or Mac based.

If you’re Mac based, Apogee is the best brand of interface I’ve experienced yet. The Apogee Duet being great for internal mixing with 4 outputs (2 for master out, 2 for cueing).

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None of the Traktor interfaces need a power supply. I’ve got both the Audio 8 and Audio 10 and they both run off USB bus power. They only need power if you’re running it connected to a smart device.

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I never knew that, I thought the A10 needed constant mains power.

That and the cost saving is why I went with the gigaport for my setup… No timecode of course.

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They quietly released MK2 models of the 10 and 6 that allow that.

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sneaky NI

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my NI Audio 10 runs perfect on bus power only.

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What about the RME UC or a MOTU audio express ? In my opinion if you want quality, don’t buy a NI audio interface. Especially the audio 2 sound horrible in my opinion. I have a MOTU ultralite, sounds very nice, low latency and stable. The build quality is not on RME level but still far better than a NI interface.

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I used to have a MOTU ultralite MKIII. It was great, but way overkill just for DJ’ing. One issue I had with it was that the firewire cable could easily disconnect, if just touched softly. That meant using USB, which required using the power supply, and losing the convenience of firewire bus power.

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The MOTU audio express is the stripped version of the ultralite, the same way that the RME UC is the stripped version of the UCX. They both have more than 4 mono outputs which is always nice to have if you want to add a remix deck of maschine/ableton to your setup. Or if you want to build an ableton effects rack, or … :slight_smile:

I wanted the ultralite to be more futureproof. And I could make a great deal on a mk2 version..