EQUIPMENT HELP!!

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Abominus

Abominus

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Okay, so, I am starting to put together a list of DJ equipment/software so I can go ahead and get started on producing (I am not really into DJ'ing but it is something that I would like to learn eventually.)

Anyways, I need your input as to what to get.

I am going to go ahead and check out Ableton Suite (it has the TR-Roland 808 machine that I love so much and other drum machines) and then, get small mointors, a small subwoofer (8inch or so) and some sort of amplifier.

But I still need your help!! What else should I bring in the mix? I know a turntable or two, and some cd players but, what else can you throw this way? I am most curious about the amplifier, like, I would route a sound card through some RCA's and then, plug it into the amp to power the monitors and sub.

Thanks a bunch,
Abominus

:music:
 
most important for producing is a midi keyboard, and good speakers

for DJing its either Pioneers or Technics
 
xruntime said:
most important for producing is a midi keyboard, and good speakers

for DJing its either Pioneers or Technics
Click to expand...


Cool! What MIDIs and speakers do you recommend?

:smile1:
 
Ive heard M-Audios are good, as for speakers I dont know which brand is the best but I have Creatives
 
I have BX-8 Studiophile by M-Audio and they really really rock!

Using them with a proper soundcard of course... I use MOTU-828mkII for soundcard.

As for midi... You can maybe buy a combination of midi and synth to gain some sounds also ;)
 
George Vemag said:
I have BX-8 Studiophile by M-Audio and they really really rock!

Using them with a proper soundcard of course... I use MOTU-828mkII for soundcard.

As for midi... You can maybe buy a combination of midi and synth to gain some sounds also ;)
Click to expand...

The BX8's cost about $500 here in the US:blink: I heard that they are good but, I will look around some more. I am hoping to see if I can get them cheaper elsewhere.

What kind of pc do you have? I have a Dell, maybe about 2 years old, running XP. I am most likely going to go with Ableton Suite. I have Reason and I am not liking the interface on it. I will check out the soundcard you recommended as well.

What about digital multitracks?

Thanks a bunch,
Abominus

:music:
 
Speakers are important when you wanna do the mastering yourself... Most important part for the speakers is the linear sound spectrum (or however you'd call that in english), which is why pretty much any sort of regular home entertainment speakers (like those logitech or creative systems) are mostly useless for applications like this (even though those systems are really great otherwise). You probably want active near range monitor speakers, decent ones are around $200 per piece at least, going upwards... I got myself a pair of Alesis M1 Active 520, which are pretty amazing and not overly expensive, BUT I use them for DJing alone, and I guess they're not optimal for producing needs.

On the other hand, if your hearing is good enough, well trained and practiced, you can use pretty much any sort of speakers. I know some people that do use those Logitech speakers for producing, and it works quite well for them.
 
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dfx said:
Speakers are important when you wanna do the mastering yourself... Most important part for the speakers is the linear sound spectrum (or however you'd call that in english), which is why pretty much any sort of regular home entertainment speakers (like those logitech or creative systems) are mostly useless for applications like this (even though those systems are really great otherwise). You probably want active near range monitor speakers, decent ones are around $200 per piece at least, going upwards... I got myself a pair of Alesis M1 Active 520, which are pretty amazing and not overly expensive, BUT I use them for DJing alone, and I guess they're not optimal for producing needs.

On the other hand, if your hearing is good enough, well trained and practiced, you can use pretty much any sort of speakers. I know some people that do use those Logitech speakers for producing, and it works quite well for them.
Click to expand...

I checked them out. Not too shabby for the price.
Alesis M1 Active 520 75W Active Near-Field Reference Monitor and more Monitors at GuitarCenter.com.

So you are saying that these would not be good for production? Man, this gets complicated:P I need great monitors for productions, and they have to be afforable. I see that some JBLs costs like thousands of dollars. Can't go that route.

I would need a good sound card yes? What do you recommend?

Yes, the monitors are very important for a great mix. I know that I am not going to use my Logitech Z4s for mixing. Although they sound good for like, playing music, I would not trust them for more important jobs.

Thanks!

:music:
 
Abominus said:
Yes, the monitors are very important for a great mix. I know that I am not going to use my Logitech Z4s for mixing. Although they sound good for like, playing music, I would not trust them for more important jobs.
Click to expand...

Yes, that is exactly my point. Those Alesis monitors are really great, I absolutely do <3 them, their performance is excellent, especially for that price. So I'm not saying they're not good, but I'm afraid the sound they deliver might not be really "perfect" at all frequencies, and this is what you should be looking for.

Maybe something from the ESI Near series would be for you?
 
Another option for monitor speakers is the Yamaha HS50M - very good for flat frequency response.
We use the big brother of the HS50M 's the
HS80M's and they work wonderfully :grinning:
HS Series Powered Monitors

As for sound card.. Well, for recording I would recommend the ,
RME Hammerfall HDSP 9632 PCI Card this is a great quality card, but could be pricier depending on your budget.

Another option is the Digidesign Mbox 2 Mini (this is more propietary to the Pro Tools LE software that it comes with. Although, Pro Tools is amazing in quality!!)
Buy Digidesign Mbox 2 Mini online at Musician's Friend

Good luck!!

Majai V4
MySpace.com - MAJAI - Washington, DC , Maryland , Virginia, Washington DC - Electronica / Trance / Progressive - www.myspace.com/majaimusic
 
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RICHARD LONG UMMM To me a great friend..He put the best top of the line sound systems in NEWYORK CITY !!! CLUB ... very long list ..... clear crisp real sound not mickey mouse shit you can hear every instrument that would come out of those speakers amp eqs dj booth all his RICHARD LONG "TOUCH"got damm... say no more ..
 
I like the Mackie monitors and you dont need an amp for it, its built in and theiy are studio monitors, they also have a really nice punch. Other then that for Dj equipments i'll have to agree with xruntime.

Pioneer CD Players and Technics Turntables...forget about Technics CD Players :P
 
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on the soundcard issue, id just like to throw one into the mix, MOTU ultralite, may be costly, so does depend on your budget, but i bought it because of its portabiity and MOTU are top notch stuff, you can route anything to anything, and everything you can change onboard by controls can be changed also through its software, worth every cent you pay for it, and rock solid! :grinning:
 
I'm about to start djing, looking for many websites to find out some infos, reviews and prices. Now I'd like to hear from AH your suggestions/advices...

So far, im really interested to buy these equips:

2x pioneer cdj-400

1x pioneer djm-400 (is this mixer ok for cdj-400?)

1x pioneer hdj-1000 (i think i can get better ones)

1x coffin case frontal and back open.

It'll cost me around £1,200.00 (maybe more coz havent found the cheap and the right one for the cdj's and mixer).

Trying to find a cheap online shop in the UK to buy it from or international to ship to UK which it won't charge me duty, customs fee.

If you know post the weblink please or pm me.

Thank you all.
Guimo
:grinning:
 
soundcard help!

Hello to everyone-Untill now i was mixing with my turntables and i had not a p.c.Trying these days to understand Ableton live,i have to change my sound-card because i'm still with my onboard card and nothing works for example i can't monitoring in Ableton or i have a big delay with 2 programs running the same time.My memory is 2GB and i have a good cpu(dual core).Can you suggest me a good sound-card not to much expexsive so i can start mixing?
Thank's a lot
 
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