Which Setup Would You Take To a Gig?
Ive been thinking about which setup I should take to a gig and wanted some advice. Setup 1: NI X1MK2 plus NI Kontrol F1 plus DJ Tech 2 channel mixer. Setup 2: Numark 4Trak. I can do the same thing with both setups the modular setup is lighter to carry than the 4Trak but setup is simpler than the modular setup. But of course the 4Trak is more impressive I think than the modular setup. What do you guys think which is more practical to bring to a gig.
Modular. Hands down. If it’s in a club or anywhere else where there’s a mixer, just use theirs instead of the djtech.
+1
You did not mention a sound interface in the modular setup. I’m not familiar with all the DJ Tech offerings to know if hte mixer includes a USB sound interface.
If you are in need of a sound interface, look at the NI Z1. That can control the channel faders, and EQ. The X1 would then be used to control effects.
I agree. Not only will the modular be lighter/easier to carry, as you said, you also will have the benefit of having a small footprint in the booth. Even more so if you’re using the house mixer. Nothing worse than getting up there and realizing there is zero space for a controller and then having to tear half the booth apart and looking like a twat 
Actually the DJ Tech X10 has a USB interface so it has a soundcard built in.
That’s good.
Beware if you try to use the club mixer…you may not have the right drivers installed for the club mixer sound interface.
I would recommend that you have a “cable snake” made up to accommodate all the cables you need in ONE bundle. Include a power strip in your bag…you should only need ONE wall plug to get everything up and running.
lol its funnie you mention the cable snake that’s the first think that came to mind when thinking about this.
Another +1 on the modular route. It’s great to be able to swap out components depending on the situation.
witch are you better on?
Its about whatever you are the most comfortable on. Do what makes you happy. This is after all something we all do to bring joy to our lives.
Then get a separate audio interface and use the house mixer.
Yeah…I don’t think it’s worth bringing a mixer unless they just don’t have one. It makes everything more complicated, can’t make the sound better, and takes up a lot more space.
IMHO, the only reason to bring a mixer is if you just aren’t provided one.
what you need is a gigantic entourage to carry all your records and various mixers.
I would pick up an audio2 … you may not use it at home but if they have a mixer where you are playing you can just rock up with that and the x1 and you are good to go.
When I play my resident gig, I usually bring my DJM-900 and swap it with their DJM-800. Their mixer is pretty (really) beat up.
I also bring my own CDJ-2000’s (they have 850’s). It’s not that portable, but I have bags for them, and can carry it all myself. I can also set up CDJ’s and a DJM-900 much quicker than my Traktor setup.
I do the entire 5 hour set myself though, so there is no wackiness with setup/teardown with another DJ.
What type of ‘gigs’ are you talking about? parties or something? Most, if not all DJ sets i have done in clubs have had a particular setup and there hasn’t really been an option to walk into the booth n start ripping kit out to stick your own in, each time i have gone i’ve turned up with required medium (cd, vinyl or USB) and then using whats there.. If i’ve ever put on my own night i can take my own kit because I have the choice to go to the club before it opens… surely you would just look like a twat walking into the DJ booth a few mins before your set and start messing about with wires n taking over with your own stuff?
I have heard of DJs having certain requirements but these would usually be provided by the promoter and already in place ready for this DJ to step into the booth and mix away.
That’s totally true. I have also been on the other side of this, coming into a club, and the DJ before had disconnected all of the standard equipment and plugged in their all-in-one controller thing.
That was not fun trying to swap back in a regular mixer and CDJ’s without killing the music or causing popping in the sound system.
If you have the night to yourself and get there early, and nobody is on after you, you have quite the luxury of being able to move things around.
In some clubs, the sound person won’t let you touch anything going to the mains of the system, and rightly so. You could really cause some damage. So prepared with cables to just jack into an input of whatever mixer is there (probably a Pioneer) as a separate input.
The best thing you can do is prepare ahead of time, and ask for the contact of the tech person at the venue. Ask them what they have, tell them what you have or would be willing to play on, and have everything arranged for before you even show up. It’ll be so much less stressful for everyone involved.
Swapping a mixer and using it the whole night is different from adding one. I might do the same thing in that case.
I generally bring my own setup to 90% of my gigs…
Mainly due to my specified use of the Z2 and a vinyl turntable (which most places don’t have anymore). The fact that some of the places I play at now have the 900 SRT and not the Traktor version of the 900 and that the Z2 is my interface warrants this.
Sometimes I’ll scrap it and use CDJs in HID mode and as my audio interfaces, but I don’t like to.
I’m also the audio engineer at one of the biggest venues in Reno and deal with the other side of this, and as has been said, I don’t allow anyone to touch the main outputs to my system. Generally I have a DJM-900SRT setup with 3 CDJs for a DJ night. If someone brings in a controller or any other setup, they get plugged into an input on the 900, they don’t touch my mains (in fact I do all the plugging in/disconnections). Here in lies what others have said as you will need an interface and you also have to look at space restrictions in the booth. At my venue if you wanted to use your mixer you’d have to be setup on an entirely separate table in my booth because there’s simply not enough room. Mind you for all-in-one controller setups I set the case lids on the CDJs and people put those on top of that.
I’ll give a +1 to the modular setup with a separate interface and use the venues mixer. If it’s a DJ night, 95% chance they will have one setup, and it will be a Pioneer.
what ever mixer is available (possibly bring my xone) and either an x1 with traktor or rekordbox with CDJ’s