Do you have a laptop already? Having to add a laptop to your budget would definitely affect my decision, coupled with the fact you can't look at internet pr0n on an EFX-1000.

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Originally posted by davemolina Do you have a laptop already? Having to add a laptop to your budget would definitely affect my decision, coupled with the fact you can't look at internet pr0n on an EFX-1000.

lol.

also, you'd probably want a MIDI controller if you wanna mess with Ableton whilst spinning. clicking around isn't too fun, i'd say.

i've never actually used Ableton for more than a 5 minute messaround, but Ableton seems to be more of a tricked out source than it is an effects unit. you can use Ableton to stretch things, loop things, live remix, and such craziness on the fly. yeah, it probably does have effects, but i don't think it is geared towards taking your music from one of your decks, and effecting it, and giving it back, as an effects unit would.

anyone who actually knows about it, feel free to correct me; but in the end i would think that if you're looking for manipulability of your music, then you go for laptop with Ableton + MIDI controller. if you want effects, go EFX-1000.

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You'll also need a low-latency sound card to do this with ableton, otherwise the delay will kill you!

EFX-1000 is probably the better way to go if you're looking purely at effects.

Purpose specific hardware usually wins out in my mind.

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Originally posted by Inertia lol. also, you'd probably want a MIDI controller if you wanna mess with Ableton whilst spinning. clicking around isn't too fun, i'd say. i've never actually used Ableton for more than a 5 minute messaround, but Ableton seems to be more of a tricked out source than it is an effects unit. you can use Ableton to stretch things, loop things, live remix, and such craziness on the fly. yeah, it probably does have effects, but i don't think it is geared towards taking your music from one of your decks, and effecting it, and giving it back, as an effects unit would. anyone who actually knows about it, feel free to correct me; but in the end i would think that if you're looking for manipulability of your music, then you go for laptop with Ableton + MIDI controller. if you want effects, go EFX-1000.

ok since i have worked extensively at trying to use ableton for this purpose, i am going to throw my input in here.

The beauty of ableton is that it is called "live" for a reason. Its a great tool for sequencing on the fly. Once i understood the capabilities of ableton, the thought of running my fx loop through it was very exciting.

with ableton's vst compatability, there is an endless source of plug-ins and effects that it is compatable with. not to mention that most of the effects that you would find on a DJ fx processor allready come with it.

THE ISSUE IS LATENCY!!!

and latency will kill you on this. because you have take latency into consideration on all sides: input, output, and midi (if you are using a midi controller, which is pretty much a requirement in this type of setup). in my experience i have found that anything above a total latency of 4ms is noticeable enough to render your loop useless. to achieve a total latency of under 4ms you will have to have an interface that is stable at 192khz and work your sample rate down under 64. USB interfaces are a BAD IDEA. Firewire is ok, but you should really be using a pci or pcmcia interface.

also make sure that your interface has midi I/O. you do not want to run midi through USB because usb doesnt have a stable midi clock.

i tried using my firewire 410 for this and it couldn't sustain 192 khz and by the time i got the sample size down to about 8 the sound quality was garbage. for the moment i am using the built in soundcard on my powerbook which works ok.

you might have better sucess with a setup like this on a PC vs. a Mac. I have heard that ASIO drivers have the ability to do lower latency than core audio drivers.

in comparison to a EFX1000. ableton has the ability to be more versatile and will give you the ability to add samples over your mix and do longer loops. however, by the time you buy ableton, a midi controller, and a good interface you will probably spend more than the cost of a efx1000 and then you get to spend all that time tweaking it out, mapping your midi controlls, squencing your vsts, and all of that.

so in conclusion, if you like to tweak stuff out, and have a good memory (to remember what knobs, buttons, and faders on your controller do what), and want to spend alot of intital setup time on it; buy ableton, a uc33e, and an EMU 1616. if you want something easy and dotn want to have to worry about computers crashing, processor overhead, and sound quality; buy the efx1000.

as for me, i'll have my efx1000 hopefully on my next comission check.