Laptop DJing

It's all about the equipment

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kitkat
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#616 Post by kitkat » Sat Jul 18, 2009 5:18 pm

No matter which sound card I use (internal or Turtle Beach Micro), whenever I try to equalize the sound that's playing, I get some sort of click click click click click click click click -- sometimes it sounds a bit like something's "looping," but not always. When it sounds like something's "looping," the click/looping gets louder and louder and louder. Other times, when it's more of just a clicking, it seems to stay at a steady volume.

I might be crazy, but it did seem that the click was localized nearer the USB port/dongle when I had my sound going out the Turtle Beach, and in the speakers/my headphones when I had my sound going out the internal sound card (although the "recording" device was always the internal one--since the Turtle Beach micro can't record anything).

(Computer is a PC. HP dv1000 - version dv1420us, to be specific, if that makes a difference. Internal sound card goes by the name "Conexant AMC Audio." Processor is a 1.6 GHz Intel Pentium M w/ 504MB of RAM.)

Any ideas what's going on?

Surreal
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#617 Post by Surreal » Sun Jul 19, 2009 10:18 am

You're saying you get a click from the computer itself and not the speakers?

Most hard drives do make a faint sort of clicking sound when they're reading, and there's nothing you can do about that.

You could also try turning off the Windows sound scheme, which has a lot of annoying clicks and beeps for various operations. You should be able to access that from the control panel.

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kitkat
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#618 Post by kitkat » Sun Jul 19, 2009 2:17 pm

Windows sound scheme is already off.


Actually, when I was playing through the internal soundcard & built-in speakers, I was pretty sure it was coming through the speakers.

With some equalizer software that was probably more powerful enabled, the bad noises happened whether I was playing sound or not.

And when I played sound w/ such software enabled, that's when the louder-and-louder bad noises happened.

With the little MediaMonkey equalizer, it pretty much only happens while playing music and setting the equalizer (I'd say it sounds like...like interference does...in this case)--although if I swing the knobs more than a line or two up or down in the MM equalizer, sometimes it keeps on happening even after finish I close out the equalizer.)



And internal sound card - headphones--definitely coming through the headphones.

But Turtle Beach card (set as the card for output only, since again, the Micro doesn't even do input) + headphones--then hard to say where it was coming from, but it almost sounded like I was hearing snaps coming from the place where the sound card connected to the USB port. But I didn't let it run long enough to REALLY tell where it was coming from--I just had an impression of "that side of the computer."

Surreal
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#619 Post by Surreal » Thu Jul 30, 2009 10:05 am

Lots of interesting reading and opinion pieces on computer audio...

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue41/ca_intro.htm

Toon Town Dave
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#620 Post by Toon Town Dave » Fri Jul 31, 2009 5:50 pm

I read the first 2 interviews and lost interest. A few facts, too much emphasis on marketing doublespeak. First dude blames the USB cable for bad audio, celestial misalignment would be a more plausible excuse. Second dude goes on about "2 dimensional DAC" to eliminate jitter. Not sure what that is or how it's better than a buffer and good clock.

Surreal
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#621 Post by Surreal » Sat Aug 01, 2009 3:06 pm

Yeah, a couple of them required a high bs filter since the guys were mostly pushing their own products (mainly the 2-dimensional guy), and there were a few contradictory opinions as well. Still, there were a few things that I learned from the articles.

Surreal
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#622 Post by Surreal » Sun Aug 02, 2009 10:09 am

Hmm, more tech reading... http://www.earlevel.com/Digital%20Audio/index.html
Doesn't really have much to do with dj'ing, but it starts explaining a bunch of the technical terms from the articles I linked earlier.

Surreal
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#623 Post by Surreal » Wed Dec 02, 2009 1:15 pm

I got a new Lenovo laptop a couple weeks ago, and I've noticed that the ground loop hum that I always had with my previous two laptops (both Toshibas) is nearly gone.

edit: but the sound quality from the headphone jack is abysmal

little_jazz
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#624 Post by little_jazz » Thu Apr 29, 2010 8:27 am

Is anyone using a netbook to DJ?

I’m looking to buy a smaller laptop, but I don’t know if the spec for a netbook is good enough. The typical netbook seems to come with a 1.66GHz processor (or slightly better) and 1GB RAM.

I use iTunes to sort my music and another small player for output via a Turtle Beach usb sound card.

Any advice on what I should look out for?

Surreal
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#625 Post by Surreal » Thu Apr 29, 2010 6:59 pm

DJ'ing off a netbook is fine.

itunes is a bit of a resource hog on windows based machines, but it shouldn't cause any problems.

zipthebird
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#626 Post by zipthebird » Fri Apr 30, 2010 8:10 am

I've used a Samsung NC-10 for the past year, running JRiver Media Center (or occasionally iTunes+WinAmp), and have been quite happy with it. Details and more specs here.

NickDanger
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Laptop recommendation

#627 Post by NickDanger » Mon Dec 20, 2010 9:56 am

Any new recommendations for a light, fast & reliable laptop for dj'ing, using primarily itunes?
There's been alot of recommendations starting in 2003, but tech moves fast, so, anything new to report?

Surreal
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#628 Post by Surreal » Mon Dec 20, 2010 2:33 pm

Unless you're looking for a gaming rig on the side, most laptops these days are rather comparable. A netbook is an affordable entry and has more than enough power for dj'ing purposes. With the holidays coming, you can probably find them for close to $200. An external sound card is a good investment and can be had for $30 (Tutle Beach Audio Advantage Micro II).

MikeGuzzo
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Need a new internal sound card

#629 Post by MikeGuzzo » Fri Oct 21, 2011 3:45 pm

I have a Toshiba Satellite, and the sound card in it is pretty bad (I've noticed a difference in swing and non-swing music). I've added a Soundblaster X-Fi Go Pro! external sound card, and I'm still not getting the sound quality I would like.

I'm debating either getting a new laptop or just upgrading my internal sound card. I've heard that a an HP Beats sound card is pretty good. Most of the sites that I've seen are a little outdated with info, so any help is greatly appreciated.

Any thoughts?

SoundInMotionDJ
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#630 Post by SoundInMotionDJ » Mon Oct 24, 2011 8:13 am

The NI Audio DJ 2 is a good to very good sound card. Street price is $100 new. There is nothing below that price point that I will actually recommend at this point.

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