So I’ve got a friend who wants to get into DJing, and I’ve been encouraging him to start getting into it.
Only problem is he’s got a family, and subsequently a budget. Long story short, I think he’s trying to get started up, all told, under $100.
Right now he’s got a Macbook Pro laptop, and he’s got a PC. He’s got speakers and whatnot, but what he really needs is the equivalent of:
A hardware controller (like a VCI-100)
A way to cue (external soundcard or built into the controller is fine)
Software
I’m going to lend him my copy of Traktor LE which should be fine, but I’m receptive to other choices.
All he wants to do is bedroom DJ for now and start learning the craft, and maybe later on get some real gear. I think the main things he needs are a couple control platters, elementary EQ, and a crossfader (unless you can think of a clever solution with the mouse) at the least.
Maybe just an external mixer? I’m kind of in the dark on this as well.
Does anyone have any ideas for solutions? I found some cheap ideas from the Hercules low end controllers, but if you guys have figured out anything from the ultra cheap arena, I’d love to hear from you.
Hmm this is an interesting situation. Although I can’t completely understand the boat your friend is in, i’d almost say it is somewhat better to just dive in and buy those items like a VCI and perhaps the audio 2 dj or Numark DJ I/O. When I first started I decided to play it on a budget and bought the Hercules DJ Remix. It was decent and had a built in sound card but once I found this site I sold it (lost a bit of money on it) and bought the VCI. I think it’s just an investment that you will get your moneys worth out of instead of buying sub par gear only to have to upgrade again. But on a budget, the hercules remix was decent for the money the soundcard was alright in my experience.
Ask him if he’s got multichannel soundcard on his desktop PC. If so (even 5.1 integrated motherboard soundcard will do it), then there is no need for him to buy external sound hardware. Yes the sound will be crap, but you can’t tell the difference on crappy speakers anyway, so i would go and buy external small mixer and mix externaly (route the integrated soundcard with ASIO drivers) and manage the LE Traktor with hotkeys (i hope hotkey setup is not deactivated in LE)…
I would say it is a real false economy to buy cheap gear as you will almost certainly replace it - thus spending more in the long run.
2 things, why doesn’t he just have a play around using hot keys. Maybe get him to make a little mix so he can hear how it sounds when the cue and master aren’t played through the master out.
Combined with mouse or keyboard should be plenty enough, you don’t really need jog wheels once you’ve set up the cue points with a mouse.
Or even a nanopad and keyboard hotkeys as mentioned above.
Re: just plunging on the expensive equip… As those of you who are married know, there is a force behind what the wife forbids… I think he’d be happy just to be getting started up and doing it as a hobby. I’ll convince him to get a VCI-100 Arcade later.
He’s got an internal sound card on the PC, so we’ll work with that most likely. The flexibility of an external would be nice, though.
The X-session is an option I hadn’t considered before, that’s a great tip!
Thanks again for the tips guys, they’ll help me figure out a solution for him. Keep em’ coming if you got em’.
My vote would be for him to use his keyboard to create a good hotkey system and just save his money like a mofo until he can afford a sound card. If he’s going to be doing all of his mixing internally then the Audio2 would work fine, and it’s only $120. Then he can work on saving for a controller of some kind. Buying cheap means buying twice.
he’ll have to accept that 100$ will only afford him at the most, half of his budget setup- which is still ridiculously cheap price for a relatively expensive hobby.
Like others mentioned he’d be wise to invest in a modest controller or audio interface first. The X-session and Audio2 would be a great start, and more than enough to usher him into the learning process.
Mixer: Find a repaired, or some-channels-busted or some-pots busted mixer (call around to repair guys or ask on this board–everyone has old mixers, some with a funky channel). I amassed an (for the time) elite stereo system by buying only-repaired items. Many people shy away from this, because of, well, good marketing. Most modern young people can’t imagine that we could not only put a man on the moon in 1969, but, build some house-shaking amps too. McIntosh anyone?
Sound card: Can’t skimp totally…its like tires on a car, or speakers in a sound system…its the cheapest way that the sound can be impacted negatively–Cheaper to buy this at the “minimum decent”…whatever that is. EBay: Bid on presonus’ until you win one at your price. Bid once, at the price you can pay.
Software: Roll with a (free) Traktor LE until you can get a controller (that requires Pro).
Otherwise, its simple: give up a vice. I don’t care if its 4 sodas a week, that’s 24$/mo…and the calories too…let alone coffee. I started driving home (to SE OK) from gigs in Dallas, OKC, and Tulsa, at 55MPH. My '95 Lincoln Towncar’s mileage went from 23MPG to 29…believe it or not. Cruise control, and play the tunes (and macworld/survival/gardening/NASA/hangun/homebrew/OldTime Radio podcasts). Almost no wind noise too…
Job: Get a 2nd Job, deliver pizza. It earned approx 14$ an hour, and I got my project done (new tires on both cars) in 2 months. Declare your pizza money “my DJ money”.
When I was learning to spin vinyl, I would hump my (crate) records home in a red flyer wagon from N. Hollywood to Hollywood because the busses I needed weren’t running and cuz I had a belly to get rid of. It worked.
On the cheap - he could get a cheap 2 channel dj mixer, and a couple of y-splitter cables. Then he could route all audio from 1 channel into the left channel on the mixer, and the same for the right…
I think he’d be happy just to be getting started up and doing it as a hobby. I’ll convince him to get a VCI-100 Arcade later.