Confused dot com - Am I muddling myself up or what?

[John Turner]

Okay, so firstly I'm not 100% new to DJ'ing, had a set of Numarks about 8 years ago and managed to ruin a lot vinyl and hurt a lot of ears...

But I'm a persistent bugger and this time plan to do it right, infact I am currently on a DJ'ing course to help me get back into things.

So, I'm thinking of a new setup, something cheap just to get me started, I have a large itunes collection so the obvious consideration is MP3 DJ'ing and I've seen a few usb midi controllers (Such as Hercules) that look pretty good and affordable.

But... I am confused.

I want to get my self a Technic turn table too (still have some old vinyl) and would LOVE to have a simple little setup that allows me to mix and control from the same device... What exactly am I looking for?

From what I understand the Hercules only controls the laptop, other mixers allow a USB input but don't control the track (start, stop, cue) or at least that's where I am at now?

Then what about external sound cards? this is bedroom DJ'ing something cheap will suffice...

All suggestions/resources/recommendations are greatly appreciated!

[DJ Highline]

Well if you want to incorporate a pair of turntables to control your MP3s, then you need a DVS (Digital Vinyl System). Basically you hook your turntables, mixer and computer into this interface, and then you play a special timecoded record that allows you to control the MP3s being played by the software. It is one of the more expensive routes to go but is a lot of fun. DVS will run you from around $350 (Traktor Scratch Duo) to $700 for (Traktor Scratch Pro and Serato SL3) to well over $2k (Rane 62 & 68 mixers with built in Serato interface) plus the turntables.

[John Turner]

Well if you want to incorporate a pair of turntables to control your MP3s, then you need a DVS (Digital Vinyl System). Basically you hook your turntables, mixer and computer into this interface, and then you play a special timecoded record that allows you to control the MP3s being played by the software. It is one of the more expensive routes to go but is a lot of fun. DVS will run you from around $350 (Traktor Scratch Duo) to $700 for (Traktor Scratch Pro and Serato SL3) to well over $2k (Rane 62 & 68 mixers with built in Serato interface) plus the turntables.

Thanks DJ Highline, but not looking to go that far just yet.

Initial setup plan is ideally:

1 Laptop
1 Soundcard
1 Midi Controller / Mixer that can control Traktor and Mix my decks (This is what I'm really trying to find out about)
1 set of speakers
1 set of headphones

Then

Buy a Technic 1210 to take my vinyl on at a later stage..

Can't find a cheap mixer that does this, but can find cheap midi controllers and cheap mixers... possible.. yes.. awkward... yes..

[Adzm00]

Basically your hercules is a midi controller, so that will control the software you have on your laptop with the mp3s playing in it, but then you will need a sound card, unless you go with something like this

http://www.decks.co.uk/products/DJ_Controllers/native_instruments/Traktor_Kontrol_S2

which has a soundcard built into it.

I would suggest, as a way to have your turntable incorporated to get a small 2 channel mixer that is within your budget, I am not sure what to suggest because I've never really had 2 channel mixer, so I don't know what budget equipment is adequate.

You can then plug the output from your controller/soundcard into channel 1 and plug your turntable into the spare channel, this way you use the controller to mix from the laptop and the mixer to mix in your turntable.

There may be an easier way such as a mixer with midi, but if you are wanting to keep your costs down I am not sure what your options as I do not and have not used budget equipment which meets your needs. But what I have suggested will work.

[Adzm00]

Something like these speakers would probably be adequate for your first set

http://www.decks.co.uk/products/speakers/maudio/Studiophile_AV40

And these for your first pair of headphones

http://www.decks.co.uk/products/headphones/behringer/hps5000

Normally I would recommend behringer stuff, but when I started out all those years ago I bought a pair of behringer headphones, they were surprisingly good and sturdy, only cost me 30 quid!

[DJ Highline]

Well if you want to control your MP3s with a turntable, DVS is the only way that I know of to do that. Now if you just want to be able to play regular records while you are using your MP3s (ie mixing with traktor and then you have a cool record in your collection that you want to mix in) then that is a different story. The first thing to look at is your budget. Until we know what YOU consider to be cheap then we can only throw things out there.

Based on what you've said though. I would start looking into controllers that have built in stand alone mixers. What this means is that they can control both the sotware and/or you can just plug regular decks into them as well without the need of a computer.

The ones that come to mind are the Denon DN-MC6000 & American Audio VSM4.1 there are others out there as well.

[Adzm00]

Well if you want to control your MP3s with a turntable, DVS is the only way that I know of to do that.

His post clearly indicates it is to play his vinyl from.... which means...


I would start looking into controllers that have built in stand alone mixers. What this means is that they can control both the sotware and/or you can just plug regular decks into them as well without the need of a computer.

The ones that come to mind are the Denon DN-MC6000 & American Audio VSM4.1 there are others out there as well.

that sounds like the perfect solution.

I would be wary of American Audio stuff though, not heard good things about the build quality.

[John Turner]

Fair comments by all and thanks for the suggestions.

the Denon DN-MC600 and the alike are just far to out there for a starter setup so I've based it my setup on the following kit, interested to know your thoughts.


Vestax Spin (Mapped for Windows) 100 euro
DJ IO Numark Sound card - 50 euro
Cambridge A5 amp (cheap as chips and seems to be solid and perfect for bedroom use) - 30 euro
JBL Control 1 Speakers 100 euro
Headphone 30 euro

310 Euro and looks to be a crisp setup (all prices are second hand)

Once I've got this setup up and running I'll invest into a single 1210 in conjunction with a simple 2 channel mixer. USB -> Sound Card -> Channel 1 / Deck -> Channel 2

That way I can start off with my MP3's and save towards a decent deck, love the smoothness of the technics and don't really trust any other brands!

What's your thoughts on this?

[Adzm00]

That is what I would have done, just for versatility sake. I cannot comment on the gear though, its low budget and I haven't ever seen it.