yavana 0 Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Hello, Sorry to bring this subject up again but computer equipment changes fast. I'm planning to use a laptop for DJing and would appreciate some guidance on external sound cards. The interface options I have to the laptop are USB2.0, Firewire and ExpressCard. Can you suggest some products I should consider with the best sound quality, within a £100 budget. Many thanks Gavin Link to post Share on other sites
DJ Marky Marc 0 Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 for your budget a Creative labs sound card would be the best value i guess.. however consider a mixer with built in sound card (usb interface..) take your £100 and add it to your mixer budget and you will get much more for your money... <a href="http://www.djassociates.org"><img src="http://www.djassociates.org/anims/compres_banner.gif" alt="Join the DJ Associates Disc Jockey Association" border="0" width="468" height="60"></a> Link to post Share on other sites
Gary 0 Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Yes, a mixer with USB inputs on a couple of the channels would be a good way of doing things - eg: Numarks usb version of the CM-200 mixer. Alternatively, if you haven't already bought the laptop, you could bypass this domestic step completely and go straight for a professional DJ hard drive controller, which are now thankfully starting to emerge. Link to post Share on other sites
swanside 0 Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Yes, a mixer with USB inputs on a couple of the channels would be a good way of doing things - eg: Numarks usb version of the CM-200 mixer. Alternatively, if you haven't already bought the laptop, you could bypass this domestic step completely and go straight for a professional DJ hard drive controller, which are now thankfully starting to emerge. Where do you find these hard drive controllers? Link to post Share on other sites
aaadisco 0 Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Hi Gavin, I use a laptop with a Creative Audigy 2 ZA soundcard in addition to CD's. Before I got the sound card, i used to just plug a line in from the laptop (just using its internal speaker), while this was ok, the sound was always much lower than the CD's through the mixer. I chose the Audigy soundcard as it is PCMCIA and just slots in an empty slot on the side of the laptop and for me this is less likely to crash than being connected to an external card via USB. The sound I get from the laptop now is much louder with much more of a punch and great bass. Checkout the card here: http://www.think4.com/sound_cards/creative...y+2+ZS+Notebook This isn't meant to be a sales pitch but I actually have 2 of these and one is brand new and unopened so pm me if you are interested. Cheers Jose Jose Saavedra MJS EVENTS Wedding Disco Specialists Mobile: 07734 387 478 Email: mail@mjsevents.com Web: http://www.mjsevents.com PLI (£10m) & PAT Tested equipment Member of the following associations: Federation of Small Busineses & The Wedding DJ Association Link to post Share on other sites
NRG Roadshow 0 Posted February 13, 2007 Report Share Posted February 13, 2007 Hi Gavin, I use a laptop with a Creative Audigy 2 ZA soundcard in addition to CD's. Before I got the sound card, i used to just plug a line in from the laptop (just using its internal speaker), while this was ok, the sound was always much lower than the CD's through the mixer. I chose the Audigy soundcard as it is PCMCIA and just slots in an empty slot on the side of the laptop and for me this is less likely to crash than being connected to an external card via USB. The sound I get from the laptop now is much louder with much more of a punch and great bass. Checkout the card here: http://www.think4.com/sound_cards/creative...y+2+ZS+Notebook This isn't meant to be a sales pitch but I actually have 2 of these and one is brand new and unopened so pm me if you are interested. Cheers Jose Just to back you up Jose I have one of these on the PCMCIA option, works a treat! Nick Link to post Share on other sites
Gary 0 Posted February 13, 2007 Report Share Posted February 13, 2007 (edited) Where do you find these hard drive controllers? Well, one or two basic ones appeared at PLASA last year, but the one that quite a few forum members are waiting for is the Denon DN-HD2500 (should be available in Mid-March....Looks like a 19inch rack mount dual CD-deck controller, but has a hard drive inside, can take upto 4 external harddrives with upto 50,000 tracks on each drive...a USB keyboard for fast searching...and no Microsoft Windows, or other hardware/software conflicts. http://www.dn-hd2500.com/images/photo2-large.jpg Edited February 13, 2007 by Gary Link to post Share on other sites
yavana 0 Posted February 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2007 I'm not sure I can go down the PCMCIA route. My laptop is quite new and does not have one of those slots - I think they are becoming obsolete in favour of Expresscard/54. I've had a look at the Hercules DJ Console and while it looks like it'll work fine with specialist DJ software (such as Virtual DJ) - what if I just want to use it for Winamp or something simple. Will it still work? Link to post Share on other sites
johny k 0 Posted February 13, 2007 Report Share Posted February 13, 2007 I'm not sure I can go down the PCMCIA route. My laptop is quite new and does not have one of those slots - I think they are becoming obsolete in favour of Expresscard/54. I've had a look at the Hercules DJ Console and while it looks like it'll work fine with specialist DJ software (such as Virtual DJ) - what if I just want to use it for Winamp or something simple. Will it still work? sack the creative sounblaster and look at a tapco audio interface it has mackie drivers fitted , creative soundblasters are for gaming they are a thing of the past Link to post Share on other sites
pareshj 0 Posted February 13, 2007 Report Share Posted February 13, 2007 My recommendation is to use a MAYA 44 USB http://www.audiotrak.net/maya44usb.htm or a Gigaport http://www.audiotrak.co.uk/music_productio...gaport_ag.shtml but then it does assume that your software will work with ASIO, these cards come with the appropriate drivers. Very stable bits of kit. Josh www.djspacebar.com Link to post Share on other sites
yavana 0 Posted February 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2007 Is anybody using, or has used, an M-Audio Fast Track Pro? I've had this recommended to me because it offers very professional sound quality. Link to post Share on other sites
HalfPint 0 Posted February 14, 2007 Report Share Posted February 14, 2007 Look at the Edirol UA25 very high spec. / two phantom powered Mic channels / USB connections. Bought one yesterday, very impressed Link to post Share on other sites
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