Switching to Digital!!

copeyhagen

Hi all,

i have decided after many years of vinyl abuse to switch to digital, o i have sold the technics and mixer and am currently in the process of buying a laptop and am looking for advice on what midi controllers are decent for use with the laptop.

I am an absolute beginner when it comes to digital mixing etc, so any advice is welcome.

I was looking at the allen & heath xone 1d, perhaps getting 2 of these and a decent mixer. Does anyone own on of these? can the jog wheel on the front be used for cuing songs like on cd decks?!

the xone 2d http://www.htfr.com/more-info/MR218025 looks better and also acts as a usb soundcard so can be used with an analogue mixer. perhaps 2 of them would be better.

Has anyone ever used the m-audio torq xponent http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/TorqXponent-main.html seems pretty good value for money, seen a demo on youtube and has some good features.

any advice welcome, thanks.

cornbb

You could build your own from a mouse and a pizza box

OK thats not very helpful

Native Instruments do a pretty decent line of DJ stuff - check out Traktor Scratch. It allows you to control digital mp3s/cds using a special vinyl disc embedded with a timecode. Basically lets you keep the analogue feel while enjoying all the benefits of digital audio. I haven't actually used this myself, unfortunately, but I'm a big fan of NI stuff.

copeyhagen

thanks for the reply, but presumably you need a vinyl turntable to control this? i sold mine and am looking to totally move away from anything vinyl.

apologies if im incorrect on that assumption.

cornbb

Nope, you're dead right. Apologies, I missed the bit about you selling your turntables.

I don't know a whole lot more about this tbh, but a few digital DJs do pop into this forum. Or I could move the thread to the Dance/Electronic/DJing forum if you prefer?

copeyhagen

I think your right, might be a better chance of getting info in the other forum.

can you mve the thread plz?

Thanks.

Helix

laptop + ableton live + evolution uc33e + decent soundcard + mixer = result

copeyhagen

thanks for the reply, yeh i reckon ableton is the software to use alright, but the controller i want i would prefer if it had a jogwheel on it.. like the ones i linked to.

Helix

a jog wheel has no use in ableton

projectmayhem

copeyhagen wrote: »

thanks for the reply, yeh i reckon ableton is the software to use alright, but the controller i want i would prefer if it had a jogwheel on it.. like the ones i linked to.

ableton live is the best software you'll get tbh. intuitive and flexible...

jonny68

Serato Scratch is the way to go, i use it myself and i can definitely recommend it, groundbreaking.

Helix

jonny68 wrote: »

Serato Scratch is the way to go, i use it myself and i can definitely recommend it, groundbreaking.

its not really groundbreaking lets be honest

ableton is groundbreaking

final scratch was groundbreaking

copeyhagen

none of them scratch emulators are any use as i sold the turntables.

noob question here, with ableton, is it difficult to cue songs up and get the pitch right? is it a steep learning curve to come from vinyl?

i still fancy a controller with a jogwheel of some sort!

so has anyone used the Allen & Heath xone 1d or 2d?

are that m-audio a reputable company? dont wanna pay 500+ bills for something cheaply made... if i decide to go for that.

Helix

copeyhagen wrote: »

noob question here, with ableton, is it difficult to cue songs up and get the pitch right? is it a steep learning curve to come from vinyl?

i still fancy a controller with a jogwheel of some sort!

ok you seem to be having a bit of misunderstanding with what ableton is

its not a dj emulator, you dont cue up tracks, change their pitch and mix them in

theres no left turntable right turntable with it, and a jog wheel wont work with it because there are no individual pitch sliders for each channel

if youre looking for something like that, may i point you in the direction of traktor

PeakOutput

copeyhagen wrote: »

dont wanna pay 500+ bills for something cheaply made... if i decide to go for that.

iv been using the m-audio xponent for about 3 months and i cant fault it

i went from serato to torq xponent and while it was strange at first i know now how good a bit of kit the xponent is

people moan about its construction as it is plastic at the end of the day but it has a very solid feel to it

if you have the money go for helixs suggestion of ableton a soundcard and a good mixer if your on a budget then the xponent gives you all that in one and you can use it with ableton if you want although the jog wheels will be wasted

copeyhagen

ah im glad i started that ableton comment with "noob question here.." hehe, thanks for the clarification Helix. with ableton u can edit songs on the fly can you?!
the only ideas i hve about ableton is from listening to sets from sahsa and hearing him edit songs in real time!!

bought a laptop last night with celerom m530 1.73 processor, 1gb of ram(bought another gig of komplett) and 15'4 screen.

should be enough to run any of the software but it ships with vista..vista sucks ass. tried to switch it to xp but they never got back to me so i doubt it comin with xp.

i think im gonna go with the xponent setup. is the m-audio software any use?

thanks again for the replies lads.

PeakOutput

copeyhagen wrote: »

i think im gonna go with the xponent setup. is the m-audio software any use?

i really like it anyway. its quite intuitive especially with the xponent.

if i were you tho id check the m-audio website as im not sure if vista drivers have been released yet or not.

the only thng ill say is i dont like the eq on the xponent its very "abrubt" in its cutting which i dont like but that personal preference and its also something that can be changed in the software if enough people complain about it

torqdj

i use torq connectiv

which is similar to serato


m audio are a good make

torqdj

helix have you got abelton, i wudnt mind seeing it in action

copeyhagen

yeh i read on the website under minimum requirements it states vista requirements so it must be supported with the drivers now.

vistas much more demanding though.

Helix

torqdj wrote: »

helix have you got abelton, i wudnt mind seeing it in action

i do indeedy skip

pop round one of the evenings and ill give you a look at her

Helix

copeyhagen wrote: »

ah im glad i started that ableton comment with "noob question here.." hehe, thanks for the clarification Helix. with ableton u can edit songs on the fly can you?!
the only ideas i hve about ableton is from listening to sets from sahsa and hearing him edit songs in real time!!

no bother man

yeah you can cut up tracks, do edits, live remixes, fire off samples and midi in real time

its very handy

Helix

copeyhagen wrote: »

yeh i read on the website under minimum requirements it states vista requirements so it must be supported with the drivers now.

vistas much more demanding though.

if you do get the machine with vista, first thing you should do is format the harddrive and install xp

vista is far too messy at the moment

copeyhagen

i was talkin to them there and they said its gonna be shipped with vista, so xp is deffo getting put on. 160gb hd should be big enough for a wealth of music : )

DJ_Spider

If you want the dogs get one of these http://www.pcdj.co.uk/shop/item.php?id=128 connect it to one of these http://www.pcdj.co.uk/shop/item.php?id=35 and use this http://www.pcdj.co.uk/shop/item.php?id=101 LOL only kidding that's only if you win the lotto this weekend!

Seriously check out the DAC-3 here http://www.pcdj.co.uk/shop/item.php?id=37 it will work with Virtual DJ as well as others. Just don't go for one of those awfull hercules things! HTH

DJ Spider
Digital DJ

torqdj

Helix wrote: »

i do indeedy skip

pop round one of the evenings and ill give you a look at her

only if i get a quick feel too

DJ_Spider

copeyhagen wrote: »

160gb hd should be big enough for a wealth of music : )

I got an external 230gb hdd with just over 21,000 songs on it. I've used 109gb! So might be an idea to get an external USB HDD as a back up. Also try not to use the external HDD to play your songs from directly. ALL PC DJ programs have issues with accessing them and they can fail to load songs or hang.

I have a 750gb HDD in my shiny thing so plenty for my songs, vids and karaoke tunes!

DJ Spider

Helix

torqdj wrote: »

only if i get a quick feel too

you better believe it

studiorat

Helix wrote: »

no bother man

yeah you can cut up tracks, do edits, live remixes, fire off samples and midi in real time

its very handy

You can do some editing on the fly, but it's probably better to have the edits done beforehand, and then just flip between parts as you see fit.
Ableton is a very powerful program for both performing and producing music.
If you'd like I could hook you with a man who does short courses in Ableton, he'd be able to get you the educational edition too! (cheaper)

PM me.

copeyhagen

cheers sr ill keep that in mind.

goin for the torq xponent so ableton would probably be useless with it. would love to see someone with good knowledge of ableton using it.

think ill have a wander onto youtube later..

happygoose

Ableton really seems to be the mutts nuts but htf is one suppose to learn da sh!t?

As a newbie, and I apologise for my gommness, would ableton be more for DJing and Cubase for production....or wha!

Helix

reading the manual and looking at tutorials on the web is the best way to learn ableton

and yes, tho some would say ableton is good for production, i disagree from personal experience and imo its best for the live side of things

not really so much djing tho