I will say that I love my MOTU Traveler, but it's probably pricer than you are looking for, as well as overkill.

Firewire is typically preferable due to low latency, so you might look into one of the cheaper Firewire options... but keep in mind that laptops almost never have *powered* Firewire ports (MacBook Pro being an exception, IIRC) so you will need to power your audio interface externally. There are plenty of viable USB options though.

As far as vinyl/CDJ emulation, etc. I am personally going the Traktor Scratch route rather than Serato. Double the resolution being a major contributor to that decision (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mON-QUfEdsw), but that probably doesn't matter much due to your mixing style and use of CD. It does come with a USB 2.0 powered audio interface which seems to handle the duty just fine (Audio 8 DJ). Since you are looking to minimize the amount of equipment to relocate and keep track of, USB might be a good route so that you don't have to worry about losing a power brick.

That MOTU is just a really sweet thing!

but actually, if you'll be using volume controls and everything on your Xone, then the latency from ableton isn't an issue anymore...

basically any soundcard (even some of the gaming 5.1) will do the job (but you might want to check into it, before throwing your money off)

I will try to explain a bit more.

example: I have my built in AC97 soundcard or whatever it is (I don't use it, but I tried this).

I run ableton and set the outputs to
1/2 for ableton channel 1
3/4 for ableton channel 2
5/6 for ableton channel 3

then because all the channels have the same latency I send them to a mixer...and what you hear is the output from the mixer (so it's always on time and you won't be dealing the latency issues when doing some EQ twists or whatever) the only problem might be starting the song on time (but you can get away with using ableton's quantize function).

if you're on budget or just don't wanna spend money on something you'll use no more than a few months I'd recommend something like this.

hope you find this helpful

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Thanks for the helps guys! I basically just want to use my Xone to EQ and such as I would if I just had three CDJ's running into it, I just really only want to bring the mixer with me (at least as far as my equipment goes), but would like to be able to mix in pretty much the same fashion as I would on decks.

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You've got a MacBook right? I definately recommend some sort of Firewire soundcard. I couldn't name a specific model for you becuase I just use a cheap M-Audio Audiophile, but you'll want to look at one with 3 or more separate outputs so that you can assign them as separate channels like you want. Firewire is especially nice on a MacBook because it powers the soundcard as well, so you won't need to plug it in separately.

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Yup, I've got one of these...

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OK, so here's another question guys - I really want to purchase either Traktor Scratch, Serato, or Torq so that when I pursue playing out while working abroad, I don't have to worry about burning/lugging CD's around with me. Has Torq found its way into working well these days?

Anyone have anything they'd recommend knowing my situation?

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quote:

Originally posted by RJT OK, so here's another question guys - I really want to purchase either Traktor Scratch, Serato, or Torq so that when I pursue playing out while working abroad, I don't have to worry about burning/lugging CD's around with me. Has Torq found its way into working well these days? Anyone have anything they'd recommend knowing my situation?

I think any of the three setups is a sound choice these days. Like I said, personally I'm going with TS. My reasoning is:

1. Double the resolution
2. I already use Traktor, so I can maintain my current library and methods. If I want to play out and only use the laptop/MIDI controller, I can. Or, I will be able to toss vinyl/CD control in at any time I feel like it. Perhaps less critical for you if you plan on going Ableton.
3. It doesn't hurt that I'm getting a 50% discount either... (I happen to know someone who works at a certain major digital download site who is giving me the hookup), but I'm fairly certain I would go this route anyway.

Not that this probably matters much to you, but a lot of big names are starting to go to TS as well (Richie Hawtin is pushing it now). DJ Jazzy Jeff pushes it pretty hard as well, which is saying a lot considering the type of DJing he does. So, take that for what you will.

richie hawtin just seems to whore himself to the highest bidder




i think im going to stick with final scratch two being that i have the box, no recipt and it now works with macbook pros.



rob i think youd be best off bringing some cds as well... lots of clubs in random parts of the world have fairly shitty cd players and in many cases no turntables and i never liked running fs2 style stuff off of a really shit dual cd.


does fs2/serato even work with studder cue?

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quote:

Originally posted by Allied Nations richie hawtin just seems to whore himself to the highest bidder

This was my line of thought as well, but thought it was worth mentioning

quote:

Originally posted by Allied Nations rob i think youd be best off bringing some cds as well... lots of clubs in random parts of the world have fairly shitty cd players and in many cases no turntables and i never liked running fs2 style stuff off of a really shit dual cd.

Yeah - I will definitely always have that option too (obviously blank media and a burner will always be available - especially in Japan, lol ), I guess I would just rather not have to deal with that if I can avoid it, and think this is a good excuse to get into one of these systems for the first time.

I guess I just figured if I've got needles and TS CD's and vinyl, I'll *probably* be ok - if not, CD's will obviously be the fall back plan.

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