ableton sound card

[evil-c]

hey guys, i'm just getting into ableton (production/djing) and have an apc 40 . what sound card would best suit my needs ? i have an audio 8 with my tsp set up, but do i need all those ins and outs for ableton? could i get away with just using and audio 2 or 4 ? (then i can sell my tsp and recoup some much needed funds).
cheers !

[Jason Cerna]

yea, you can use either the 2 or 4.

i have an audio 2 that i keep in my dj bag as a spare interface if for some reason my kontrol s4 dies. great little interface.

but, before you go selling gear, ask yourself if you might need at least one or two inputs in the future. you may want to sample something from an external source.

[Phil Noize]

+1 The Audio 2 is great. I use one myself.

[punky]

What are you trying to DO with Ableton? That's going to define what kind of sound interface you'll need. I started using Ableton with my Audio 8 DJ but graduated to a Scarlett 18i6 because I needed more mic inputs. Amusingly enough, the A8DJ actually provides slightly better latency (about 5ms better).

Also, if you're using Ableton to DJ, you may want to hang onto your A8DJ because you can run the eight inputs into a hardware mixer so you can mix "out of the box" which some people prefer.

If you're using Ableton to produce, and don't plan on recording any external source, you could get away with an Audio 2, most likely.

[evil-c]

cheers guys, like i said i'm only just getting into it. taking on board what you've said, i may get an audio 4 as i can still use tsp 2 with 2 scratch decks ( and sell tsp1 with the rest of the package). i was just thinking of using all the channels on the apc through the single master and another to cue with when playing out with i (or do i really need more ?) . at this stage i don't think i'll be getting any more technical than that.

[punky]

Really, you're not going to make back that much money selling your A8, then buying an A4. I'd just hold onto the A8 (which is a great interface) and use that, unless you're in dire financial straits.

EDIT: You'll probably make something like $300 on your A8, tops.

[evil-c]

i wasnt ganna sell just the sound card, i have the full tsp (box, records , cds etc ). i could sell that, use a couple of copied cds and some phono cables to run tsp2 or could i not do that ? ( I'd keep my copy of tsp2 and ship the original tsp programme with serial ).