Which is more important computer or soundcard?

[lazyellowing]

I am looking to upgrade my setup but i am still confused as to what I should invest in. I will eventually upgrade both my soundcard and my laptop but basically

Which is more important a better computer or a better soundcard???

Also at the moment I am using the u46dj if I upgrade to the fa66 what will it change? Will it be more stable? Better quality?

I am just confused as to what exactly would I be improving by upgrading my soundcard?

[calculator]

what configuration of your laptop?

[jiel]

what kind of DJ are you ?

for scratching, you need to have the lowest latency as possible. For that, you need an high performances soundcard
for video mix, you need to have an high performances videocard.

What kind of budget do you have ? Upgrading a soundcard and upgrading a laptop is not the same price !!

[phillip]

i use a u46mk2 at 5ms latency and it's ok for scratching. it took me a while to get used to it, but my laptop is really crappy. however, it is stable and i don't get any clicks. like jiel said, it depends how much you are looking to spend for your upgrade.

i have never used a u46mk2+ mixvibes on a good computer, but my guess is update the computer. the u46mk2 is a good sound card as is.

[Irvin Cee]

Soundcards in laptops are usualy not so good and have only one output, unless you have a surround laptop.
Altough all components are important it is best, in your case, to first buy a good and fast ASIO supported soundcard (multi output unless you use a MIDI mixer).
You may have a super fast laptop, if the soundcard is crap you wont get far. I personaly would advice a soundcard with a firewire interface (if available on your laptop). The reason is that a USB soundcard will charge the notebook cpu with 15% overhead, fireware only a few percent (3% or so). So if you do not have a fast laptop and using USB your user interface processing will be slower than when using firewire due to this sb overhead.

[lazyellowing]

what kind of DJ are you ?

for scratching, you need to have the lowest latency as possible. For that, you need an high performances soundcard
for video mix, you need to have an high performances videocard.

What kind of budget do you have ? Upgrading a soundcard and upgrading a laptop is not the same price !!

I do a bit of everything but yeh i do throw in alot of scratching, I was looking to get an FA66 £200 and spend £300 on a core2duo laptop but I've had to return my techs as they were on loan from a friend and its been 2 years now, so instead i've picked up a refurbished pentium 3 laptop 1.2ghz 1gb ram. would that be ok? I sold my u46dj but this laptop has no firewire! So what soundcard usb wise would be recommended...U46DJMK2?...again?

Because I have no decks now, I'm thinking of spending the money on either CDJ400s or a set of decks, I have alot of vinyl, but my club gigs are usually purely CDs as alot of clubs i play at don't have turntables or the do but they are broken, and also alot of them have bad insulation from the subs so the needles jump when the night picks up!

I usedto gig with mixvibes, on this laptop which is dual core 1.66ghz, 2 gb ram, but its my primary laptop and i use it for uni and found it wasn't reliable as I had all my architecture programs and mixvibes on it and it crashed on me a few times, i'm hoping that a pure mixvibes laptop would help despite being only a PIII and 1.2ghz...

Are the drivers for the u46djMK2 better than the u46dj original which is what i had?

Would people recommend getting new technics to replace my loaned ones, or should i jt get cdj400s as I play out on cdjs anyway? I only use my vinyl for home practice as i don't have cdjs at home, and also for working on scratching and juggling routines etc.

If i get cdjs, i'd be able to work on my cdj technique..but would be left with alot of vinyl lying around unitl i get another set of decks which isn't a bad thing really..If i get decks, i'd be working on vinyl technique which isn't used when i gig anyway? my club gigs provide my income to fund my djing...so i think i should invest in my club djing side..so that i can later buy decks...maybe :S? no? I don't know, i'm very indecisive.

[lazyellowing]

Soundcards in laptops are usualy not so good and have only one output, unless you have a surround laptop.
Altough all components are important it is best, in your case, to first buy a good and fast ASIO supported soundcard (multi output unless you use a MIDI mixer).
You may have a super fast laptop, if the soundcard is crap you wont get far. I personaly would advice a soundcard with a firewire interface (if available on your laptop). The reason is that a USB soundcard will charge the notebook cpu with 15% overhead, fireware only a few percent (3% or so). So if you do not have a fast laptop and using USB your user interface processing will be slower than when using firewire due to this sb overhead.

I was using the u46dj...and was basically wondering would i get better performance if i upgraded my laptop (dual core 1.66 ghz 2gb ram) or if i upgraded the soundcard to an FA66 ??

But now due to the circumstances with having to return my technics, i've kept my dual core laptop for my uni work (architecture) and got a PIII laptop 1.2ghz 1gb ram which is purely nothing but mixvibes. but this has no firewire! so i will probably have to buy a u46dj again as i sold mine to get an fa66! so silly! Unless people have different suggestions?

[lazyellowing]

Would this laptop be too slow to run mixvibes...I'm thinking of using it either run DVS or run with cdj400s either by cd or natively/MIDI

Pentium 3 1.2ghz
1gb ram

Its cus I want to keep my DJ laptop seperate from work, but due to needing to buy decks/cdjs now I am unable to invest in a better laptop, this was cleared out from work and was free! so..thought i might as well give it a shot!

[polocorp]

I do a bit of everything but yeh i do throw in alot of scratching, I was looking to get an FA66 £200 and spend £300 on a core2duo laptop but I've had to return my techs as they were on loan from a friend and its been 2 years now, so instead i've picked up a refurbished pentium 3 laptop 1.2ghz 1gb ram. would that be ok? I sold my u46dj but this laptop has no firewire! So what soundcard usb wise would be recommended...U46DJMK2?...again?

PIII's are a little outdated, but it seems like this configuration could work. I'd defenitely advise using a seprate dedicated partition with win XP to run Mixvibes, and make sure you never go on internet with this partition.

Given you budget the U46Mk2 seems like a good choice. it's painful to promote a direct competitor, but if you want to bump up in quality and need USB the NI A8 interface is solid.

Because I have no decks now, I'm thinking of spending the money on either CDJ400s or a set of decks, I have alot of vinyl, but my club gigs are usually purely CDs as alot of clubs i play at don't have turntables or the do but they are broken, and also alot of them have bad insulation from the subs so the needles jump when the night picks up!

CDJ-400s are great and supported in MIDI or TCCD by Mixvibes

I usedto gig with mixvibes, on this laptop which is dual core 1.66ghz, 2 gb ram, but its my primary laptop and i use it for uni and found it wasn't reliable as I had all my architecture programs and mixvibes on it and it crashed on me a few times, i'm hoping that a pure mixvibes laptop would help despite being only a PIII and 1.2ghz...

A deicated partition and being up to date in software and interface drivers are key. Once i get a real stable configuration I lock it and am very careful with further updating. i gig 1/3 times a week with zero crashes since version 6.2x

Are the drivers for the u46djMK2 better than the u46dj original which is what i had?

They are the same. Since we launched U46Mk2 we've been working on the drivers to to optimize them for live DJ performances. Version 1.039 is very reliable.

Would people recommend getting new technics to replace my loaned ones, or should i jt get cdj400s as I play out on cdjs anyway? I only use my vinyl for home practice as i don't have cdjs at home, and also for working on scratching and juggling routines etc.

i always recommend ownng a pair of 1200s However it's all a question of budget and priorities, maybe lay down the money for the CDJ first so you can better at your club gigsmake more $$$ and then pick up the 1200s

[Psykadelik]

For USB, consider the U46MKII, Audio8DJ, or Roland UA-101.

And get either used Technics SL-1200MKII or some Gemini TT-04.