Native Instruments Traktor for iOS retails for $4.99 right now with the 50% post xmas sale discount, that's well below the ~$150 AUD they're asking for Traktor PRO2. Given its touch controls, it's a pretty sweet dirt cheap option for a self contained DJ setup on your iPad.
With only stereo output from the 3.5mm jack, NI has conveniently created a small range of tailored peripherals to work around the audio I/O limitations of the iPad/iPhone.
The cheapest of these is the Traktor DJ Cable - a simple 3.5mm splitter cable to allow cueing.
What happens inside the ~$20 cable is that each stereo channel is split to their own female 3.5mm socket - making them both dual mono output. Within the software, the main mix out is fed independently to only one stereo channel of the analogue output, with the other stereo channel receiving the cue channel.
You may be questioning the sound quality of playing stereo mixed tracks in dual mono. Most club PA systems are not arranged as L & R stereo pairs, the mix is summed to mono and sent to both speakers. When you move around the club the stereo mix appears balanced because you are receiving the same signal from both speakers. So in this environment it makes sense to have your cue track in mono as it is actually closer to what you're going to have playing through the PA.
The other hardware options NI provides are the Audio2 and the Z1, essentially giving some OOTB audio processing and some tactile buttons/knobs.
If you find the ~$150 and ~$300 pricetags on the above options pretty redundant for a low cost dj'ing rig, you'll probably feel the same way about their $20 dual mono splitter cable.
If you're concerned about missing out on tactile controls there's nothing stopping you running both the cue and the master out from your split signal into two channels on the club's DJ mixer to mix as you normally would by the using its eq, faders and effects which are definitely much more fluid and comfortable than the touch based controls in the iOS port.
What you'll need:
- 3.5mm Stereo Headphone splitter cable
Preferably with a hollow plastic section housing the two 3.5mm sockets.
- Traktor for iOS
- 2x 3.5mm to stereo RCA cables
- Headphones
+heatshrink, solder, soldering iron.
Get a headphone splitter, I got mine from Daiso for $2.80. Unscrew the back and open it up.
Inside, the headphone wires are fed to both sockets. Each socket will have the Left, Right and Ground wired to all three pins. You want to change this so that one socket has both the Left wires soldered to the top two pins, and the other has the Right wires soldered to its top two pins. You don't need to change the ground pins.
Now the left socket (pictured) has both red wires soldered to the top two pins and the right has both blue wires soldered to its top two pins.
Close it up and plug your headphones into one side and speakers on the other.
Open TraktorDJ, tap the speaker icon. The "Split Output" slider should now be available. Slide it to enable split output. You can now adjust cue mix and cue volume controls.
The headphone icon is now available on your tracks. Select this to route the track to your cue channel on your DJ splitter cable.
You now have two discrete audio channels to work with from your iOS device. By adjusting the crossfader control within TraktorDJ to route only your track without the headphone icon selected to the master output [See image above] you can plug two 3.5mm stereo to RCA cables from your DJ splitter cable to two channels of the clubs mixer. Then you can cue, EQ and mix using tactile controls. All for under $10.
Follow lysdexic:
Excelent guide!
ReplyDeleteHeadphone and charger splitter are available at Hammy phone stuff. They are liked by most of the people nowadays as they have a positive and negative interpolation.
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