There’s a real jungle out there and I really want to make sure I buy the right one. I’ve been with NI Audio 2 DJ for a year and now I’m looking for upgrade since I got my Genelec 8040A-s which work best with balanced inputs.
I prefer it to be firewire or maybe even USB 3.0, don’t know if they exist yet, but USB 2.0 is also ok if it is the best solution. It should have L and R balanced outputs, mic in and line in for analog synth. I’m not sure if soundcards with balanced outputs even exist, either way I need a small mixer also so I could produce with my friend on separate computers.
I will be using it for home music produciton and DJ-ing with Traktor.
Price should be about 200-300$
Your budget is kind of limiting, but there are a ton of solutions out there that fit your specifications to a tee. Here is an option that’s in your budget and has all that you want in it. http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackPro.html
If you can find an Traktor Scratch Pro still on sale somewhere that’s your best bet since it comes with an Audio 8 for $300. Duo has an Audio 4 for $200 I think.
It depends what you what your focus on. If you main focus is dj’ing, then an NI card is probably your best bet. If you want to focus more on producing, then there are many more options out there that are much better suited. You really need to decide on a focus, and get a card that supports that. Keep in mind that any card can do both but your focus will determine the style you get.
Can the A4/A8 do balanced outputs? At home I plug mine into my DJM and that creates a balanced signal from the master, but I’m not aware of any DJ soundcards that output balanced. I may be wrong.
Ok, if I have to choose a focus then I rather the soundcard to be more for producing and yet able to be used for DJ-ing if possible. Since the purchase will be taken somewhere in the future, the price could be 500$ or even more if it’s worth it.