Newb here with quite a few questions.

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
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Newb here with quite a few questions.

I use to follow the blog a lot and wound up buying myself one of the custom VCI 100s with the arcade style buttons, as well as the midi fighter i believe its called. I got myself an oxygen 8 keyboard i think its called, as well as a BPM beat machine. To top it all off i have a guitar and a mic as well as a simple electronic drum set.

I just dont know anything when it comes to software.

I need to be able to use all my stuff, i want to record music, and mix stuff for my own playlists/mixes for parties.

Ive been thinking i should get a macbook but i havent used a mac in far too long. Id like to stick with win7 but im thinking a macbook will last me longer cuz windows sucks when it comes to not bugging out and eventually crashing.

Either way im wondering what you guys would recommend i get software wise for mixing. Whats the easiest/best program for someone new to the electronic world of music?
I have traktor but its far too complicated and i could never get it to work properly even after following the tutorials and using the custom mapping provided.

I also need to figure out how to make my computer recognize my BPM machine, my drum kit, and my midi keyboard, and software that will allow me to record with this stuff.

Im sick of my sound card because of how buggy my Creative X-Fi fatality champ edition sound card is, and i cant figure out how to get it to split each track to a different ear with my headphones.

I was told that i could get a nice affordable sound card that i like, and then purchase an external sound card so i can split the music between each ear.

I really just need suggestions and help in any of these areas due to my lack of knowledge when it comes to computers and music. Im so used to just using my acoustic while singing or an amp, or even my old keyboard.
I appreciate any links or guides on anything im asking for help with or may need help with, thanks.

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I would suggest you focus only on one thing after another on your way to “become able to use everything you have with your computer”

so whats to start with?

sounds like to buying a pc is your first task? for what do you want to use this PC?

if you want to use ableton live (just a guess, you could put every DAW-brand in here ;D) for recording then your pc needs to have at least the power which is clearyfied here: What’s new in Live 12 | Ableton

[quote]Mac: 1.8 GHz G4/G5 or faster (Intel® Mac recommended), 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended, if supported by your computer), Mac OS X 10.4.11 (10.5 or later recommended), DVD-ROM drive

Windows: 2 GHz Pentium® 4 or Celeron® compatible CPU or faster (multicore CPU recommended), 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended on Windows Vista and Windows 7), Windows XP (home or Pro), Windows Vista or Windows 7, sound card (ASIO driver support recommended), DVD-ROM drive, QuickTime recommended[/quote]

if you don’t know which DAW Software Products are out there than you have to inform yourself about every single one so you become able to choose the right out of it for your purpose!

(a few to mention: cubase, ableton, logic, renoise)

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hm…that´s a lot of q´s :slight_smile:

well software wise it depends on what you are planning to do. do you wanna be djing or do you wanna get yourself into production?

you own traktor. that´s good! what exactly is the problem you are having? i mean there is a lot of stuff faq´s for traktor.

mac vs. pc. get what ever you think you´ll be comfy with. if it´s windows-fine. if it´s a mac-also fine. i had both and i decided going the mac route, but that was my experience.

soundcard. why would you buy 2? a decent external soundcard will do the job just fine. look into native instruments audiodevices!

i know shit about midi drums, keyboards and so on, but you own a vci100 arcade as well as a midifighter. means you´ll be able to become an incredible dj with that stuff (like i am)

if you want to get into production: ableton is the easiest way to achieve quick results!

make sure to check out all the djtt stickies as well as a good read on the traktor bible and you´ll be good!

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Well i just wanna explore the world of electronic music. By that i mean, i wanna learn how to record any instrument i know how to play and will know how to play and learn how to be a DJ per se. Whether that be by mic, or a simple jack in, like for my guitar.

I want to get into DJing and mixing thats why i bought the midifighter and the vci 100 arcade edition.

But i still want to be able to record my own stuff and make my own beats to mix into any mixes/songs i make.

DAW means DJing software in laymans terms, or what exactly does that mean?

I use traktor because thats what was all over this blog, i figured getting the vci 100 and midi fighter would be a great way to go considering that the blog focuses on traktor a lot. But i have been told by several people that ableton is a lot easier to use/learn.

As for the problem i had with traktor, i dont know why it happened but heres what did happen. I followed the instructions on the blog for installing traktor. I then uploaded the mappings for the vci 100 n midi fighter that are provided somewhere on the blog. After that i followed one of the beggining tutorials to do something with the songs i was mixing. I had to click on a drop down menu and then click something, but it wasnt there. The video showed me exactly what to do, but my traktor didnt have the function there for some reason. I made sure everything was up to date and finally posted a thread asking for help. After posting back and forth for several pages, i had no solution and gave up. Since then i have not touched traktor or my devices :disappointed:
I even tried other videos and tutorial and noticed a lot of problems similar to this where i couldnt find something that was supposed to be there.

I have a nice gaming rig setup, crazy performance, too many fans lol, and an old Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatality Championship edition sound card. I dont have room for the front part so ive removed it to make room for my fan controller.

My sound card has been acting very buggy and my computer will think it doesnt know that the sound card is installed and setup, even tho it shows up in the device manager. I wind up losing all my settings and anything relating to the sounds cards software n what not. I was already told its not a good sound card to begin with. Currently i just have a digital audio in and out, as well as the basic black orange gray green blue headphone plugs.

With that sound card i dont know how to set it up so that i can have headphones on and have each track play in a different ear. I tried messing around with the front panel when it was installed but could never get anything to do anything.

I was told i could get an external sound card to split the sound like i wanted.

As for windows vs mac, i know a large amount of stuff about windows and hardly anything about macs. All i know is that macs cant get viruses and my old mac still works perfectly after 6 or more years. As for windows i seem to always have to reinstall windows every 6-10 months due to blue screening or other problems where the OS is starting to act up or get corrupt.

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Just a small thing, but Macs most certainly CAN get viruses. Hell, a digital watch could get a virus if you hooked it up to the internet.

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really? i was always under the impression and told that there was no possible way to get a virus on a mac. I never caught one on my mac, and ive got so many on windows its in the double digits, and im using 3 different virus scanners, 2 blockers, and i have add ons for firefox to block scripts, flash, adds, you name it lol

is it cuz macs are running intel cpus now?

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Just FYI - when you are using any of the dj software (Traktor, Serato, Ableton etc) loose the virus scanners, popup blockers and internet. Shut it all off or you will have some performance issues.
When it comes to tutorials, make sure the tutorial matches your version of software (traktor scratch 2 duo/ scratch pro2). For example, scratch pro 2 allows you to broadcast to the internet, scratch 2 duo doesn’t. If you have a different version than the tutorial, there may be boxes to select that your copy doesn’t have.

If you want to run your guitar, drums, keyboard etc, use ableton and route them in as different tracks. To my knowledge, you can’t run all of those through traktor. (Someone correct me if I’m wrong)

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Anyone who tells you that you can’t get a virus on a Mac is talking crap.

It’s just that given the overall percentage of computers in the world, a significantly higher percentage as Windows machines, hence the virus writers targetting them. As the percentage of Macs grows however, the focus is shifting.

To compound matters many Mac users have the similar misconception to yourself and therefore don’t run any virus protection, unlike Windows users who’ve been beaten with the ‘run AV and patch your machine mantra for the last decade’ and <massive, possibly inaccurate generalisation>as/when/if something goes wrong with a Mac, the type of people who own bought them as ‘they just worki’ them are less inclined to go furtling under the bonnet to fix them again</massive, possibly inaccurate generalisation>

As far as running multiple virus scanners and blockers, I’ve been led to believe it’s usually a bad plan running multiple instances of those programs as they can serisouly impact the performance of your machine and interfere with one another. I just use a single AV program (Avira fwiw) and lets Windows handle the firewall.

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Thanks for the heads up, its really good to know i feel so oblivious lol.
What do you guys think about garage band. Always wanted to try it out since i was a youngin but never got the chance. Have it on my iphone and am not sure if the software carries over to my itunes so i can use it to make random stuff or not.

Either way sounds like i wanna fix up one of my laptops keep it away from the internet, get it a nice external sound card, and make sure i keep the thing bare bones just for music and nothing else. Can i pull this off with an external hard drive with my music on it, or would i need to have it on an internal hard drive to prevent any performance issues?

And it sounds like i should be using ableton to record my music? So is ableton not as good as traktor in terms of mixing? As for making sure i was running the correct version of traktor i know i was. I followed the tutorial on the blog here to the T even discussed it in a thread as i mentioned and got no where. Guess ill just have to read my traktor bible cover to cover /sigh.

What version of ableton would you guys recommend i get? And what are your opinions on serato? I kinda wanna get a nice set of decks to use with serato scratch live or is it ableton or traktor that has the scratch live version?

Most my friends use actual records or those records you use to scratch with but the music is actually coming from a CD or MP3. And everyone ive talked to whos tried out DJing or just mixing for fun has always told me to just get a a nice turn tables. But im a tech junkie and i love those arcade buttons XD

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WHOA buddy!!! Babysteps lol you are talking about DJing, and producing right? If you are new to both, I would recommend picking one of the two, focus on that, and then when you are good at it, incorporate the other into your workflow. If you try to jump into all of this at once, feet first, you might end up disappointed.

To answer some more questions though, I spin off of a portable harddrive and haven’t had any issues, but others have. You CAN DJ with ableton (some members here do) but Traktor or Serato is easier imo. And for sound cards, pick up an audio 6 8 or 10. If you want to run all kinds of inputs later on, go for the 10, but its $$$.

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Dripstep is on point. To add to that advice, I don’t understand why you’re so eager to keep spending money when you don’t actually know what you need or why you need the things you’re talking about. You already have a PC, copy of Traktor and two great controllers. About the only thing you really need is an external soundcard with the right inputs/outputs.

Spend some time reading and learning. Once you understand what a specific piece of gear does and why you use it you’ll have a much better idea of how you can incorporate it in to your setup and whether you actually need it or not.

Oh btw, DAW stands for Digital Audio Workstation. It’s the software you use for producing and recording music. Ableton is a bit of a special case in that it’s been designed specifically for ease of use during live performances. Due to this it’s very easy to make it work for DJing.

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I know im jumping into this a bit fast, but its only because i started and then got sidetracked. I got way too much goin on in my life atm, but i have a lot of time to sit down and think about things, kill time, or do something productive.

I play a lot of guitar, so mainly i wanna be able to record covers of songs ive had. That and the same goes for a song on the piano i wanna record. I have a mic, a midi keyboard, and a full keyboard. Thats not what i wanna focus on yet, but i wanna save this knowledge or music or what have you.

What i wanna start learning to do is mixing music. So i wanna focus on using my midi fighter and my vci 100 with traktor since i have it already it. So is it well known that traktor is an easier platform to learn on than ableton?

Im not really gonna go all out, i kinda just wanna dip my toe in and check out a bunch of different things and then pick one to dedicate my time towards, and move on from there.

Thanks for the good suggestions, im gonna have to check that out. Do you think a 7200 rpm external hard drive will be good enough to keep my music on for mixing.

Edit:
Yeah i understand vermilion, im not eager to spend money tho. I just wanna make sure i know what i need. Im not about to go spend the money on sound cards yet. I already have everything i need as you mentioned. So the only thing i would need now would be a way to split the audio like i mentioned before. And i dont know how to do that with my current sound card and because i was told i should get an external sound card to split the sound i assumed either i couldnt do it with my current sound card, or it wasnt worth attempting.

Mainly i just wanna figure out whether i really need to buy this external sound card or not, and get some feedback on what im doing and what direction im heading or should be heading.

Clearly you can tell i have a passion for music, so i just wanna experience everything i can, i just hate being frustrated, and technology is very frustrating. For example ive spent 2 months doing research on setting up my new gaming rig and have been getting tossed back n forth over what seem to be opinions and not facts. In on ear i hear i should go take the left path, in the other im being told to take the right path, if u get what im saying.

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Umm. What kind of timeframe are you allowing yourself to learn all this? You do realize it will probably take you AT MINIMUM a year or two to become proficient at all that gear…

I’d say step one is to identify what you want to do most, and then learn it.

Worry about combining it all way WAY down the road.

Personally I think you still need to do a lot of reading and or find a good mentor to start teaching you things from the very very beginning. From your post it seems you bought a lot of gear without any idea what it does.

Also, if you find traktor to be too challenging, with all the fabulous videos and tutorials out there, you are going to find most music production to fall in the area of “god mode impossible”.

Music takes work, practice, and more work.

Good luck!

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Thanks i appreciate the post, but im allowing myself a good 20 years if need be. Im 21, ive loved music all my life. I know how to play music and sing. And i know electronics fairly well. I dont let anyone touch my computers, and i build em myself, plus ive never not built a gaming beast so i always have to be on top of myself.
I can use traktor i just need to read more about it. I was very put off when i did everything i was told by the blog and on the forums to the T and traktor didnt do what they said it would. Just some simple effect so i can tweak a sound or something. No one could figure out why traktor wouldnt let me access this feature, so since i have a back injury i kinda gave up on it for quite a few months.

I will always love my guitar but i dont see it as my main instrument per se. If i wanna pick up any kind of instrument and or get better at one it would be piano.

If im lucky i wont have to hold a job when im done with school. I have my mother and myself and as long as everything goes smoothly our properties will keep us better than afloat without either of us needing to hold a job. But i always gotta have a plan/back up plan to be safe.

That means ill be able to focus entirely on music with all the time i have. I wanna focus on learning to mix electronic music atm, ill get into hip hop later, man i love my hip hop XP. I really dont care how long it takes me, i mean i wanna learn as fast but as proficiently as possible. And if i wind up being 50 making music for video games that 13 year old kids play, ill still be one happy old dude.

Thanks for all the info guys, i think that just about answered all my questions and now i know where to start and where im gonna be headin. Lets just hope i dont run into another one of these brick walls as i like to call em.

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Share with us. What’s your plan? What will you start with? What short term goals do you have? Just curious.