Good soundcard for very basic DJing live?

[lupine79]

Hello!
Ok, firstly my current setup:

• DJ-1800
• 1.5ghz Powerbook G4. 1gb of ram - it actually has 2gb but i've suffered a lower memory slot failure.
• iPod

I've been using this for a year now but i've just read that that the audio output on Powerbook's isn't very good and should never be used professionally. I'm a bit overwhelmed with choice though, having read this thread:

http://guides.macrumors.com/DJing_on_the_Mac

They all seem a bit over the top for what i need, bar the imic, which i've read terrible reviews about. Also just been reading about the numark DJ i/o, which seems reasonably priced and has good reviews.

The most i want to do with the set up is very basic beat matching (just running songs into each other) which i've been playing around with in FutureDecks lite. Previewing the songs would be handy. The pitch lock function on DJ-1800 is very good but i can only run it at medium quality, which i'm guessing is purely a processor issue?

On a side note, will running my iPod through my Powerbook cause any problems? I do this to avoid clogging the laptop up.

Budget wise under £100 would be ideal but not essential. A better sound card could come in handy for home recording so i'm not ruling it out.

Advice will be much appreciated!

Sean

 

[Plumbstone]

http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/dj/audio-2-dj/

stable, loud and simple.... for a soundcard, Comes with Traktor LE which is fime if you're starting out, if you love it you can upgrade to pro....

$119 usd

 

[lupine79]

Thanks for that, it looks like it fits the bill...ideally i'd like to try the software first which would really make up my mind.

I've actually bought an ART usb pre : http://www.artproaudio.com/products.asp?type=90&cat=13&id=132, though at present i can't get it to work with my Powerbook. This may be best addressed in a new thread, but just in case, does anyone know if its possible to update the USB audio codec on OS 10.4.11, or maybe use a different audio driver? the preamp comes installed with drivers, and while it works fine on my imac (10.6.1), the codec is listed as 'usb audio codec DEMO' in the sound settings, and is emitting a beep every 30 seconds. Making it totally unsable! ART haven't come across the problem before and directed me to Apple.

??!!

 

[tranzmute]

Hey Sean

Look at the Novation NIO 2/4

Nice little tabletop USB powered audio interface. (One of our biggest sellers for the computer DJ)

Also provides a nice CUE MIX knob which can be used in conjunction with your software.

Street is £129

Cheers

Tranzmute

P.S You do need to factor in what software you will be using as the nio is also a great little recording interface with Phantom Power, Guitar and line inputs.

 

[lupine79]

@tranzmute

Sorry for the delay, thanks for this, i'll check it out. I've had to send the ART back as something on my Powerbook is conflicting with it.

 

[princedant]

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.