question about Ext, Soundcard connections.

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
1

question about Ext, Soundcard connections.

Ive been pointed in the direction of something like the Audio4dj to mix with 2 tables in Tractor. My question is, what exactly hooks up to the sound card? I know it has stereo inputs and outputs, but do dj controllers hook directly to the soundcard? or do you hook up both the Controller and soundcard to ur laptops usb ports?

Im mainly curious because Im wanting to get a nanoKontrol and nanoPad in unison instead of a typical dj controller.

Thanks for any input or advice!
-Curtis

2

If your controller is midi only ie no soundcard, it producers no audio at all, so yes its just a case of plugging in the soundcard and controller into the usb ports.The speakers are then plugged into the soundcard as is your headphones usually.You can use as many midi controllers as you want, aslong as you got the usb ports

3

Thanks for clearing that up for me. Would you happen to know if there is much delay between usb midi devices and ext. soundcards?

4

You will always get delay or latency but a good USB soundcard will usually get around 10ms (milleseconds), but all depends on the card drivers and computer.USB is fine and and you wont see any problems after you play with your settings.If you can afford it Firewire is better but it will mean you need a card for your laptop as not many have Firewire ports.Firewire is like 1ms latency, but anything under 10ms is considered realtime.Read the forums and see what hardware and software ppl use and what latency they are getting.

5

Also, keep in mind that if you want to use Traktor Scratch Duo to mix two decks (or Scratch Pro for the almighty 4 decks) then you NEED the Audio4 or Audio8 to control the time code.

6

wait, Tractor will work only with the official ext soundcards? thats lame.

7

No, Traktor SCRATCH only works with the official soundcards and any certified mixers. You can use regular Traktor Pro without the timecode.

And most timecode solutions (Serato, Torq and Numark, for example) only work with approved mixers/soundcards. Keep in mind this is just for timecode.

8

would it be possible to use Scratch Pro if I dont ‘scratch’ with another soundcard?

9

Yes, you can use Traktor Scratch Pro with any soundcard but only with Midi/Keyboard Control.
To already have Traktor Scratch Pro you should already have an Audio 8 or Audio 4 or Certified Mixer anyway..? TSP only comes with these pieces of hardware.
Just saying.

10

Seeing your avatar features I am assuming you with a guitar, you might also want to consider the Audio Kontrol 1. Its very similar to the Audio4, but it adds mic/xlr input and a nice software bundle and its only a bit more expensive.