A little help please!

[mercury]

I've just purchased Ms. Pinky to incorporate into my live performance setup. I've got experience with some traditional setups, but not much.



I've got: Mac G4 powerbook, technics 1200s, a shitty mixer, and I'm running Ableton Live.



What do I need to get started? Rather than an audio converter with preamps, would a new mixer (which I need anyway) such as the Mackie d.2 or the Behringer BCD2000 work just as well for me? I'm trying to get as integrated as possible.



I'm particularly interested in anyone's experience with the Mackie d.2 w/ firewire.



Thanks!

[dlpinkstah]

I've got: Mac G4 powerbook, technics 1200s, a shitty mixer, and I'm running Ableton Live.



What do I need to get started? Rather than an audio converter with preamps, would a new mixer (which I need anyway) such as the Mackie d.2 or the Behringer BCD2000 work just as well for me? I'm trying to get as integrated as possible.



I'm particularly interested in anyone's experience with the Mackie d.2 w/ firewire.

I'm frankly disappointed with the way Mackie has desinged the d.2. At first glance it appears to be the ideal mixer/audio interface to work with Ms Pinky. But closer inspection reveals a major design flaw: the FireWire audio input option card only provides two channels of input!

At the very least they could have provided 4 channels of input (from the two turntable inputs to the mixer) so that users of Ms Pinky (and other vinyl-control-enabled apps) could happily combine the necessary audio converter and DJ mixer into one elegant box. But no-- they had to scrimp and only give us two measley channels of input. What a bummer Maybe a future version will improve that.... let's hope so. In the meantime, you could use the d.2 for 1-turntable Ms Pinky setups. At least they had the sense to give us (4) separate channels of audio output so you can mix between 2 virtual stereo decks.



About the Behringer BCD2000 -- its specs say it has a (4)-channel audio I/O so I'm guessing that means (4)-inputs and (4) outputs which can all record + play simultaneously with very low latency, but I'm not absolutely certain about that. Would like to get my hands on one to play with though. Looks like a load of fun.

[mercury]

Ah ha, you're right. I didn't really notice that point, and frankly, it's going to take me a little while to digest exactly why that is!



One more question:

Which of the M-audio products will work? As near as I can tell, the Fast Track Pro and the FireWire 410 both are compatible. Are they pretty much comparable to the U46DJ?



I'm off to a slow start, but I'll figure this stuff out.....