Which Audio-Interface to use?

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
1

Which Audio-Interface to use?

Hi DJTT Community :slight_smile:

I am about to buy the Nubert nuPro A-20 active monitors for my home-setup.

For now I will only use it to play music in general plus for my home-setup consisting of a Traktor Kontrol S4 and a MacBook pro.

Problem is, I am not too sure what kind of Audio-Interface I should get because there’s quite a huuge range of possible candidates.

I’d be very glad to read some of your recommendations which would make my life way easier :slight_smile:

Thanks
Mark

2

Welcome.

There is a very capable soundcard inside the S4. Are you looking to expand into production?

3

As Karlos said the built in sound card that the S4 provides will be more than sufficient, if you want to produce I recommend the Focusrite Scarlette series, the model depending on your budget.

4

I may as well ask here too. Looking for an audio interface for production but also may want to use a DVS setup eventually. Is a Komplete 6 the option for me?

I’d go for for a Focusrite or Akai eie otherwise I think.

5

No mate the Komplete is not Traktor Certified and cannot be used with timecode. It’s very nice soundcard but it is restricted.

For timecode you need an Audio 4, 6 , 8 or 10 and the variants of those (such as TA10, TA6 etc).

6

Ah damn, I thought I could kill two birds with one stone.
I’ve not done much research into this yet so don’t hate me but I might as well just ask. Should I go for a Focusrite 2i2 if I’m just using monitors and headphones? If I can find a second hand one maybe the eie but that’s only because I like the purty dials.

7

Personally, If I were buying a USB soundcard for production on the same budget I would go for a Presonus.
I have had the FireBox and the FireStudio M and they are amazing. The build quality is second to none. The mic pre-amps are excellent and they have midi I/O which the Focusrite doesn’t (?). Plus the software mixer is really flexible.

Maybe not as pretty as the Focusrite but my FireBox withstood years of gigs. It was BATTERED and it just powered through.

B-Stock:
http://www.thomann.de/gb/presonus_audiobox_usb_b_stock_2.htm

8

Good to know. I’m completely new to Audio Interfaces. What cables would I need to run a pair of monitors? And I take it the headphones go through there? Anything else that I’d plug in you can think of that’s obvious? Won’t have a mic for a good while. The main reason I want one is to get the most out of the monitors.

9

I am not planning to start serious producing in the midterm future but I was just wondering if there is a way to channel two sources through the Traktor S4. I.e. I would love to have my speakers connected to my DJ Setup plus my standalone tower PC at the sime time. I guess I’d need an amplifier or something for that?

Thanks for your replies guys, I am quite a noob in these things still :slight_smile:

10

If you have any questions or need any help at all then read this. I can teach you the basics and some more advanced stuff, if you want of course. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

11

Focusrite Scarlette is amazing especially if you have microphones and all that good shit going in to them. I’m not sure about the Presonus FireBox, however, Presonus are known to be strongly built.

12

The best thing to do if you want all your audio sources to come out of the same monitors is buy a studio mixer. You can get a cheap Behringer that you can route everything into. If you want to record on the PC you will ideally need a USB mixer that can send anything going into the mixer to the PC via USB.

You can use 2 Traktor decks as Live Input decks and play audio through them but you will need Traktor running and to honest this is not a good solution.

As you already have a soundcard in the S4 I’d look at mixers. Just get something small with enough ins/out. You can get a powered mixer that has an amp built in but as you have active monitors you don’t need an amp.

Make sure to look for mixers with lots of stereo inputs not just XLR inputs.

I have an Allen & Heath Zed 14. Not cheap but a good model to compare for features.

I had 2 x Traktor systems (S4 on its own / S4 with decks), desktop PC, Mac Mini running into the mixer and out back into the Mac.
…but then I got bored and sold stuff to buy more guitar FX pedals :tada:

13

The FireBox is the single greatest soundcard I have ever owned. Period.
Better than the newer FireStudio M that I have also had.

14

Cheers for your replies guys, I’ll just plug in the monitors through my S4 at first.

However I’ve come to another question in regard to the monitors now.

I was inclined to buy the Nubert Nu-Pro A20 but’ve now seen the KRK RP 8 G3 which are at a similar prive level (arnd 250€ here).

Which one would you prefer for just DJing and MAYBE upgrading to producing at some point. Does any of those 2 have the capability of being okish for producing or would you recommend a 3rd, different monitor?

Thx so much

Mark

15

Thanks a lot for your replies guys. I will start with using the monitors with my S4 integrated soundcard.

However I will buy the KRK RP8 G3’s instead of the Nuberts. Do you think this is a good choice?

How do I plug them into my S4? I just checked the output slots, and it only has an MAIN OUT with 1 cinch slot for red/white and one for a guitar-cable (dont know exactly how it’s called in english:wink:)

Do I need some kind of hub or anything?

Appreciate ur help

16

They are balanced 1/4" TRS outputs. Use two stereo 1/4" cables to connect the KRKs to the S4.

http://www.digitaldjtips.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/trs-cable-300x212.png