Bought my first bit of equipment, need help.

[Kandicaine]

So, I'm pretty broke right now. Decided to get this http://www.numark.com/product/cdn35 at a hell of a deal by trading some stuff to a friend of mine.

Unfortunately its not exactly what I wanted, but it will have to do. After reading about it, playing around with it a bit. I've come up with a few questions.

#1, this thing doesn't have a cross fade on it... if I buy a 2 channel mixer, will that have a cross fader on it? Whats a good cheap mixer to buy?

#2, it doesn't hook up to the computer! I've done some reading and found out I can use NI Traktor to do so, is there a better option available?

Thats it... hope you guys can help!

P.S any additional equipment ideas would be great. Right now ALL I have is whats shown in the link.

[fragments]

You dont *need* a crossfader. You could just use the channel gains to fade between tracks. Buying a mixer just for a crosscader seems dumb. Also sensing the signal through more equipment just for that seems unnecessary.

[Kandicaine]

Hm.I had totally forgotten that I could just use the channel gain.

I dont have much experience mixing. This is totally different from what I've used before. My buddy has an all in one board, jog wheels, 4 channels, cross fade that just plugs in to serato.

As for the question about traktor, is there anything else I can do? Going to cost $250 alone just for the software and the box.

[fragments]

It seems youd need something like serato. I wouldnt even bother w tracktor if your broke. Do it old school bro. Fuck the computer.

[Genevieve]

I never mixing using the crossfader.

[Kandicaine]

Well, would could I use besides traktor scratch to hook the cds up to the computer?

I could practice doing it all by ear but, I'm pretty used to a visual interface.

[OllieScott]

serato would be another option, or just burn some cds and learn to beat match which would be the cheapest way.

and next time you buy/trade for something, read into as much as you can. Make sure it does what you want it to do and work how you want to.

[Kandicaine]

I traded my PS3 lol. I know it wasnt what I wanted but I've been so broke, cant find a job or an affordable rig. Ive just been wanting to get started on this for months now. Living in a small town there isnt really many options. I only recently was able to lease a better computer so I could start making better tunes. (easyhome >..<)

I'll look into serato.

[fragments]

Just fucking learn to mix dude, it's not that hard if you practice a little.

[frenchboy]

No offense but this thing looks like a piece of garbage. You could buy a controller for less than $100 that would be nicer and have equivalent or slightly better jug wheels. That would save you the annoyance of buying serato / traktor since you could do it all inside the computer.

The whole point of having serato ($500 in america)/ traktor audio interface is to use nice jugwheels / turntables ($1000 for decent ones). Yours look like they are worth 5 cents.

If you don't have a computer and plan on using CDs then forget what I just said but who uses CDs anymore with laptops and USB sticks.

If you want to practice on a low budget you should have got a controller or saved up for some entry level CDJs

Actually I think practicing to beat match with a computer keyboard and putting a nudge button on the keys would probably be equivalent to what you got.

[zakski]

To be honest, that looks like a wedding dj setup.

Try to recoup as much of your money as you can and get a decent setup. DJ gear is something you kind of have to shell a bit out for.

[fragments]

To be honest, that looks like a wedding dj setup.

Try to recoup as much of your money as you can and get a decent setup. DJ gear is something you kind of have to shell a bit out for.

That's what it's intended for and @frenchboy its probably not absolute garbage, it's just not what our kind of DJ would typically use.

[SunkLo]

Having this might actually make you a really excellent DJ eventually. Since the jogwheels are kind of shit, you should learn to beatmatch only using pitch faders. If you can get really good at this you'll be a badman DJ. Only issue I see is those short throw faders might not have enough resolution to be really precise.

If you wanted to get going faster and start playing gigs, I would have gone with a Traktor controller, as was already mentioned.