SwingDJs

zzzzoom wrote:

patrik wrote:And the M-Audio Fast Track Pro USB?
I've tried it and I will probably buy one in the near future.
Its main drawback could be that you pay for a lot of features that most DJ:s won't need, but it certainly looks and feels rugged.

$249? ouch.

Motu Ultralite $549, but it looks really good.



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CafeSavoy wrote:Motu Ultralite $549, but it looks really good.

For weddings and "one-off" gigs (where they didn't have a sound system) I used to lug all this stuff around:



Now with the MOTU Ultralite I only need the laptop and speakers. It's *SO* much easier on the back!

CafeSavoy wrote:

zzzzoom wrote: Motu Ultralite $549, but it looks really good.

But do you really need 10 inputs and 14 outputs? The Fasttrack Pro has two inputs and two stereo outputs, which is less overkill. Other than the number of channels (and that it's USB), the specs look similar.

david wrote:But do you really need 10 inputs and 14 outputs? The Fasttrack Pro has two inputs and two stereo outputs, which is less overkill. Other than the number of channels (and that it's USB), the specs look similar.

No no, of course you don't need to spend upwards of $500 on something "stupid powerful".

Buy whatever's appropriate, and spend the other $300 on good music!

david wrote:

CafeSavoy wrote:

zzzzoom wrote: Motu Ultralite $549, but it looks really good.

But do you really need 10 inputs and 14 outputs? The Fasttrack Pro has two inputs and two stereo outputs, which is less overkill. Other than the number of channels (and that it's USB), the specs look similar.

It's drool worthy but expensive. MOTU does have a really good reputation so it's too bad none of stuff is in common range. I have tried several of the $200 sound cards and they aren't bad, although be careful about whether the firewire ones are hot swapable. One of the ones i tried wasn't so you had to keep turning your computer on and off in order to connect and disconnect the device. Another had outdated drivers so you had to get them on-line.

I just got a response back from Echo stating they're working on an Express card version of the Indigo DJ they hope to release in September/October.

They said for those who can't wait you could use Echo AudioFire 2 as a
universal replacement for the Indigo DJ. It basically works the
same way except that it requires a "wall wart" power supply and it would set you back about an additional $50.

Bill

Jonas wrote: I'll probably get an Xmod because I can buy it with together with my MacBook when I go to the Apple retailer tomorrow. If possible, I might have gotten a Micro because it's so small, cheap, reliable, and still seems to fill my needs in audio quality, but the Micro is nowhere to be found in Europe as far as I can see (my Apple retailer figures Turtle Beach "took down their sings" ages ago in Sweden), and amazon.com and other stores selling it don't seem to ship to Sweden. And I need it now. So Xmod it is. You better be right Mary Ann, he he

I have actually not yet bought the X-Mod or any sound card yet, as I planned right before Herräng this summer. I use the built in one on my MacBook. Until I find a good DJ app that fills my needs (basically preview/master outputs, and possibly pitch/tone control for teaching), I'm just going with iTunes and "preview" by looking at the title/artist/recording year and bpm of the song to assess it, since I have fairly good knowledge of my collection. I know, it's not perfect, but then again I'm not making my living out of Swing DJ:ing.

Disco XT (http://www.discosw.net/) looks like my best bet right now for a DJ app. Not to pricey, with all the functions I'll ever wish for and many, many more I'll never use, BUT IS IT STABLE ENOUGH?

When I find the right DJ app, then I'll finally get that sound card...

/Jonas

I have a new laptop and it doesn't have the old PCMCIA slot for my Echo Indigo DJ so I'm looking at getting a USB or Firewire sound card. Does anyone have any suggestions on which one to go with? It needs to work with Windows Vista (I don't have a Mac :p). The software I ususually use for DJing is NI's Traktor 3. Here are the cards I have looked at so far:

Echo AudioFire4
M-Audio FastTrackPro
NI Audiokontrol1

I can't decide which one would be best to go with. Any suggestions to help me pick one over the other?

I had the same issue after buying a new MacBook after using a Echo Indigo. I went for the Echo AudioFire2 - powered from the Firewire connection. It comes with a long Firewire cable which is cumbersome so picked up a retractable cable. I am happy with the sound (which I think is speced the same as the Echo Indigo) and not too a cumbersome setup.

I have an M-Audio FastTrackPro.
It is a fantastic unit, but I wouldn't recomend it from mobile DJing.
I try to only use it at home. It is not very rubust. A small fall could mean the bin for it.

Brian

Bob the Builder wrote:I have an M-Audio FastTrackPro.
It is a fantastic unit, but I wouldn't recomend it from mobile DJing.
I try to only use it at home. It is not very rubust. A small fall could mean the bin for it.

Brian

But what if you put all those little picture hanger bumpers all over it?
lol.

Jonas wrote:Disco XT (http://www.discosw.net/) looks like my best bet right now for a DJ app. Not to pricey, with all the functions I'll ever wish for and many, many more I'll never use, BUT IS IT STABLE ENOUGH?

When I find the right DJ app, then I'll finally get that sound card...

/Jonas

XT seems to be a bit overkill. Have you looked at their middle level product, Disco DJ? (Disco Software has 3 levels of products for DJs: QuePhase, Disco DJ, and Disco XT.)

Disco DJ seems to have everything you could want as a swing dj. I love the fact that it is integrated with ITunes. The interface is pretty simple. And, it is only $40. US.

After I play with it for awhile, I will report back.

Wexie wrote: XT seems to be a bit overkill. Have you looked at their middle level product, Disco DJ? (Disco Software has 3 levels of products for DJs: QuePhase, Disco DJ, and Disco XT.)

I'm completely with you.

I tried out the demos of all three apps, and CuePhase, the cheapest, is the one that I actually like best for swingdj use, with its simplicity, playlist like iTunes, but with the most important addition of a preview possibility, and also the possibility cue the next song some some seconds into a track to skip na intro etc. It doesn't have the pitch/tone control that Disco XT has, and that I'd enjoy for teaching, for example to tweak tempos up and down when teaching a routine, but I could absolutely live without that.

David Kågedal on this board (he's also from Uppsala, Sweden) uses CuePhase and is, I think after speaking to him about it on severak occasions, quite content, although he has spoken about writing a dj app of his own...

It'll be interesting to hear what you think of the mid-level Disco DJ.

/Jonas

Jonas wrote:I tried out the demos of all three apps, and CuePhase, the cheapest, is the one that I actually like best for swingdj use, with its simplicity, playlist like iTunes, but with the most important addition of a preview possibility, and also the possibility cue the next song some some seconds into a track to skip na intro etc.

Question. Can it also skip at the end of a track. As often as not, particularly on live recordings, I find some sort of band leader prattle at the end of a track as well.

Brent

So I purchased Disco DJ, and ran into some problems.

First, I was running off of a G4 Ibook (1.67 Ghz with 768mb of RAM) with nothing else running.

When playing a song in Deck A, when I add a song to Deck B, it causes the song in Deck A to go in and out.

I contacted the developer, and he offered to refund the money, or allow me to upgrade to Disco XT.

Note,

I then tried Disco DJ on my work laptop (which I was trying to avoid) and it was working much better. It is a Macbook Pro Core 2 duo running at 2.4 GHz, with 2GB of RAM.

I'm also going to test Disco XT on both computers.

Finally, I got the Audio Advantage Micro, and whoa!, is it loud! But I really like it.