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Chaotic
05-18-2012, 12:45 AM
Hello all! I have been digging and digging for the last week on how to get started. Its not as easy as i expected so im here to ask a few questions and get some tips.

First, im looking to be a digital dj, seems to be the best route for someone broke like me haha. I have picked 3 turn tables that seem to be what im looking for, (good starter setup for under 300). What id like to do is mix songs, im into electronic music so im sure ill do that mostly. Next i love old school hiphop so ill be mixing those as well. Id also like to scratch and get a set that is pretty ok at it and samples. Last its nothing but a hobby as of right now. I may go to my local bar and play with my friends if we can get a project going but that will not be for a while.

Here are the 3 i have decided to choose from (if any more suggestions just throw them in and why)

1) Numark Mixtrack - I like this one for its price, i see all good reviews and it seems like a real good choice for someone new and that wont get too serious at least for a while.
2) Numark Mixtrack Pro - Its pretty much the same from what i can see but this one includes a sound card so that is a cost i will not have to worry about.
3) Vestax Typhoon - This one looks like its pretty good quality and maybe the best for scratching. Just never herd of the brand (probably cause new to scene)

My thought is to go with the Numark Mixtrack, my reasoning is because i read more reviews to get this one and your own sound card, the Pro version has a built in one that people say is not very good. It has real bad latency specially for scratching. Which brings me to my next question.

What is latency? Also what is the sound card for? I cant just hook up usb to my computer and go?
From what i can tell its so i can hook into an external sound system, that i will not be doing yet. Ill just be in front of my pc with headphones. Do i still need one if i go with the Mixtrack?

If the choice leans to the Mixtrack and i need to get a sound card what is the best one for $100 and under for what i would like to do.

Last i think im going to go with Virtual DJ because i can play samples. The decks that i have chosen do not look like they have a hardware button for it from what i read.

I tried to do as much research as i could so im not "what is the best stuff under 300 guys and no direction was made)
If there are any websites you recommend or if i need to look more let me know!

Sublim&All
05-18-2012, 05:36 AM
- Latency is the delay between pushing a button on your controller and its action really taking place. As a DJ, most of your actions rely on timing, so you want this latency to be really, really small.
- As far as I know, you need a sound card to be able to play more than one channel of music at a time (so also one channel playing and one other listening on your headphones). Correct me if I'm wrong. Easiest and cheapest external sound card would be Native Instruments' Audio2DJ I guess.
- Leave samples and stuff for now, if you're only just starting. It is a feature which is not only unnecessarily complicated for beginners, but also completely useless until you actually know how to deal with samples correctly. Which probably won't happen in the first year you're DJing.

DJ Difficult
05-18-2012, 06:37 AM
From those options, get MixTrack Pro. Then you don't have to buy external soundcard and what i've been heard, sound quality is ok. Also you can download serato dj intro software for free for that controller.
And like it's written above, forget samples for now. First learn manually count beats and then manually match them.

DJ Highline
05-18-2012, 07:03 AM
As nice as the internal soundcard of the mixtrack pro is, I would opt for the external card and get an audio 2. The reason being is that it will come with a full version of traktor pro 2.

Dj DRPX
05-18-2012, 07:12 AM
^ This. TP2 is amazing (although my opinion is completely biased due to the fact that it is the only DJ software I've used.) I really do like the layout of everything. The only thing bad about TP2 that I've noticed is that MIDI mapping is harder than other software, but it shouldn't be a problem for what you need.

Chaotic
05-19-2012, 12:50 AM
Awesome guys thanks! I think im going to go with the Mixtrack and get a separate sound card. See if i can get away with none for now and if i NEED one ill give in. Also is a sound processor the same as a sound card? I figure it is and i ask because i have this Earforce DSS for my turtle beach headset that uses the TOSLINK cable. That the fasted id imagine the latency would be ok? or maybe it just wont work at all. Any ideas?

Hamza21
05-19-2012, 03:15 AM
Awesome guys thanks! I think im going to go with the Mixtrack and get a separate sound card. See if i can get away with none for now and if i NEED one ill give in. Also is a sound processor the same as a sound card? I figure it is and i ask because i have this Earforce DSS for my turtle beach headset that uses the TOSLINK cable. That the fasted id imagine the latency would be ok? or maybe it just wont work at all. Any ideas?

I'm not sure if you read this before or not but it might give more of an idea of what you want.

http://www.digitaldjtips.com/2012/04/the-one-mistake-nearly-every-beginner-digital-dj-makes/

Chaotic
05-23-2012, 01:43 AM
I must have skipped over that if it was in the forums. I loved the article very helpful. Only problem is before i saw the post i bought a controller haha. I do have a program i like tho, im using VDJ and the controller i got was the Hercules MK4.... none of the ones i originally wanted but its cool i can add to them as i get more money. So far my only gripe is the jog wheels being small but i got sausage fingers lol. It is awesome!