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Topic: Please recommend a good sound card / audio interface for mobile DJ

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Hi Guys

I’m (primarily) a mobile DJ (using Denon HD2500, CD, PC & vinyl) & often play with live musicians on sax, bongos, vox etc. I’m hoping you can recommend a good soundcard/audio interface with the following features/requirements:

It will connect the Denon HD2500, CD players & vinyl turntables with my laptop PC (running Vista & VDJ) via firewire preferably (or usb as a second option)

I want plenty of I/P (above DJ eqpt + up to 3 live musicians) & enough O/P for main/booth/midi/record & cue.
Sound quality, reliability & portability are both important. It would be nice to have a balance master output option too.

So far the RME FireFace 400 & 800 are looking good but I'm sure there are some other good options you guys can recommend.

Cheers!

Kundalini
:)
 
Posted Mon 10 Nov 08 @ 2:50 am
I'd personally go for the Numark VirtualVinyl as it's kinda like the hallmark in harware interfacing and will allow the use of TCV's, however the downside is that it hasnt got loads of inputs - if it's these your looking for specifically then might I suggest the Esi Giga Port

Hope this helps,

Phil
 
Posted Mon 10 Nov 08 @ 9:31 am
I'm a big fan of the ESi Gigaport line. Thye've just replaced the ever accomodating workhorse GIGAPORT AG with the GIGAPORT HD. They tout it as having much better sound quality. I used it right out of the box and am very happy. Surf eBay and you'll do well. (I run XP Pro, SP3) Best! -Z-
 
Posted Mon 10 Nov 08 @ 12:42 pm
Cheers Guys

I appreciate your suggestions. So are you sure the sound quality on the Numark & Gigaport have similar quality to the RME Fireface? For example Vestax & Numark don't even come close to Denon or Pioneer with sound quality of their DJ mixers or CD players. Do you guys know if there's a list of soundards/audio interfaces which support TCVs or TCCDs?

Thanks again!
 
Posted Mon 10 Nov 08 @ 11:40 pm
 
Posted Tue 11 Nov 08 @ 12:34 am
No way sound quality on the Numark & Gigaport will be similar to the RME Fireface.

Also I tested NI Audio8DJ and it was working pretty bad with VDJ. Advanced master tempo didn't work which made the sound worse then CD player.
If anybody had better luck with it, please report here. It's a good sound card but not for VDJ. I returned it to the store because I'm not gonna use Traktor.
Right now I'm using Presonus Firebox and it outperforms audio8dj in every department. It sounds better too. It has quarter inch inputs instead of RCA which may be more suitable for musicians. But you have to be careful with FireWire cards. There is a great chance that firewire audio interface will not work properly on most(!) PC laptops because its very sensible to firewire chip inside computer. Mac's, however, most likely will work because they use the Firewire chips from Texas Instruments which are considered the best for audio interfaces.
 
Posted Tue 11 Nov 08 @ 10:05 pm
I used to use a Maya EX5, which I thought sound pretty good, but recently purchased a couple of Numark DJiO's and I was leary about the sound quality, but they surprised me, they were pretty good. Now granted you can get a much better sound card, but I don't believe you can for under $120 that is made for the purpose of VDJ and mobile DJing.

PS when talking sound quality I don't believe you should lump in Denon & Pioneers for top sound quality mixers. Older Pioneers were horrible until the DJM 1000/800/700, and Denon never has been in the class of Rane, Urei, A&H.
 
Posted Wed 12 Nov 08 @ 6:55 am
SBDJPRO Infinity Member since 2006
 
Posted Wed 12 Nov 08 @ 9:22 am
djfilosoff wrote :
No way sound quality on the Numark & Gigaport will be similar to the RME Fireface.

Also I tested NI Audio8DJ and it was working pretty bad with VDJ. Advanced master tempo didn't work which made the sound worse then CD player.
If anybody had better luck with it, please report here. It's a good sound card but not for VDJ. I returned it to the store because I'm not gonna use Traktor.
Right now I'm using Presonus Firebox and it outperforms audio8dj in every department. It sounds better too. It has quarter inch inputs instead of RCA which may be more suitable for musicians. But you have to be careful with FireWire cards. There is a great chance that firewire audio interface will not work properly on most(!) PC laptops because its very sensible to firewire chip inside computer. Mac's, however, most likely will work because they use the Firewire chips from Texas Instruments which are considered the best for audio interfaces.


I've gotten good results with Audio8. Though i only use simple master tempo... My computer is not the top of the line (yet)... Acer Aspire 7520. :)
 
Posted Wed 12 Nov 08 @ 10:16 am
McQ714PRO InfinityMember since 2003
I haven't used it myself because I have a Korg Zero 4, but RME has a DJing interface called the RPM which uses the same drivers as their Multiface and Digiface interfaces and it connects to the computer using the HDSPe Express Card or PCMCIA card (for older laptops). The drivers are rock solid for RME equipment, and with this you don't need to worry about which firewire chipset your laptop has and leaves your firewire ports open for external hard drives. If I was in the market, I'd definitely look into the RME RPM because I love my Multiface 2 audio interface and it's made by a company that knows what they are doing in the world of pro audio. Check it out here... http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_hdsp_rpm.php
 
Posted Wed 12 Nov 08 @ 3:22 pm
Hi Guys

Thanks for all the ideas - definitely a few things worth looking into. The RME RPM sounds good - not sure if it has enough I/O's though.

Do any of you know about the Edirol FA-101 ?

:)
 
Posted Sun 16 Nov 08 @ 10:01 am


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