As a result of our videos a ton of people seem to be very interested in the VCI-100 but remain confused about how it works. Every day I get more emails asking “Do I need a sound card, if so how does that work?” Dont fret, here at Dj Tech Tools we have the answers for you. Just check out this Sound Cards 101 video courtesy of Ean Golden.
Now would be a good time for me to put my Echo Indigo DJ on Ebay!!
Ean, you mentions in your video that you don’t need the power supply for the M-Audio Firewire. I have the M-Audio Firewire Solo. How do I go about turning this on with out the power supply? 4 or 6 pins Firewire into my laptop???
Hey Dj G R B. in the video I waa talking about the presonus firebox being bus powered. Many of the m-audio gear is also bus powered but it looks like your m-audio solo is not. there is a way to turn get a units power from a bus buts I remembering it being fairly difficult and not really worth it. You might want to buy a new sound card that supports bus power.
Hi Ean,
do you have some experiences with Native Instruments Audio Kontrol 1? What do you think about this sound card with Traktor 3 and vci 100? Thanks
Hi Ean,
From your video I take it that the PreSonus
Firebox should be a better soundcard then the
Audio 8 Dj given its a firewire vs usb,Is that correct?
Thanks
Hey BB, I dont have much experience with the audio kontrol. does anyone out there have it? It looks rugged but Ni does not have much of a track record with hardware.
better is a tough word. Typically firewire sound cards offer more features and lower latency because the firewire bus is faster. Sometimes though a good USB card with the right drivers might beat out a firewire card with overall features, price and performance.
Ean, first off i found the video extremely usefull however i am slightly confused.
In the video you say you prefer mixing externally with the clubs standard mixer via RCA cables from the firewire soundcard, does this mean you dont use the VCI-100 when doing a standard dj set ?, if so what mixer would you use/recommmend ?. However if you do use the VCI-100 on a regular basis, what functions does that offer when used in conjunction with the clubs standard mixer.
Sorry if the above does make sense and i have misunderstood, however as i am starting out and intend to play clubs and bars with only my digital files on a MacBook running Traktor i want to make sure i dont buy the VCI-100 when all i needed was a good standard mixer and firewire soundcard.
Thanks
Matt
ps: just a suggestion as a future feature, i think if you went threw your own personal set up and gave your opinions on your gear, i think people would get alot out of it.
I too am puzzled with regard to the need for an external mixer, I’m looking in to buying your special edition VCI when its available and was hoping to ditch the standard mixer.
Hey guys, let me clarify-
Normally I use the vci-100 as a controller for effects and looping without mixing on the VCI-100. All my mixing happens on the mixers inside the clubs. That may change in the future but up until now I needed all the controls for things other than mixing.
After much research though, it appears most people want to mix inside traktor with the vci-100. So, I found away to condense all the controls I use into the effects section and still leave all of the functions needed for mixing. in conclusion, although I may mix using an analogue mixer, my layout will actually have all the controls mapped that you need to mix inside traktor without losing any of the cool controllerism effects.
To be honest, I may even eventually ditch the club mixers myself!
Hey Guys! I have read in some forums about many problems with fireware audio interfaces - like, it stops responding, crackles in sound, computer looses fireware audio interfce at all. the answer is that native soundcards (PCI and PCMCIA)are more stable. What is your experiences on this subject?
Hi Ean, great job you’re doing there! Foudn your posts at NI forum, huuuuge thank you. I am a bedroom Dj, it’s only a past time. I run Traktor 3 on a Macbook, with Vestax VCI-100, and my sound card so far is the Griffin’s iMic USB soundcard. It allows headphone cueing, and works fine with active monitors. A cheap option if you’re on a budget, or just beginning.
Am now considering M-Audio Firewire, 50 % cheaoer than the Presonus firebox here in Spain. A good option ?
Thanks for all the brilliant work and sharing it with us.
Hey I have a question, it might seem dumb, but i will ask anyway. I have the Griffin iMic, but I can’t seem to configure it. The program doesn’t let me use both the built in and the imic, it reads the imic, but then it won’t let me use the built in. What are your settings Mino?
Hey guys,
I’m soon upgrading my old G4 as soon as the nehaleem processors debut and thus my whole rig will be too old school to survive. That said, I HAVE had great success with my current setup. I use a 1.25 ghz powerbook G4 with the echo indigo DJ and my mixer is an Xsession pro by M-Audio. $75 external mixer (midi) that traktor had no problem communicating with. I turned the pitch faders into volume sliders and it runs all 4 decks simultaneously on a 3-band EQ. I really need to figure out how to get a controller on this rig so I can make use of the effects more smoothly. However, I love the Xsession pro and STRONGLY recommend any newbies out there to pick one up before you try mixing for any period of time with a mouse.
I have VCI-100, macbook, traktor 3, and Griffin Firewave, im pretty sure this should work for precueing, i cant seem to figure it out. Iv been just learning djing for about 4 months now. any hints to get it working or if the firewave works at all, its a 5.1 surround external firewire card for macs.
Jesse P,
Did you try to look for it in your midi setup or your sound section of system preferences? I’m assuming that the mac just detects it like every other piece of hardware you plug into it- but did you tell the mac to route the sound through it?
Second question: Did Traktor recognize it in the preferences-soundcard menu? I’m looking into this thing seriously and if you get it up and running, will you please post back- they’re only like $30!!!!! If it works, I want 3 of them!
Jason king,
I figured it out with the firewave. I gotta press the cue button I’m such a tool were good
To use with club mixer am I assuming you use outputs from soundcard, 1 set to left channel input, one to right channel input, in video you mentioned 3, where does the third go? do you have an illustration?
Many thanks