New to DJ

aheaps
aheaps Member Posts: 1 Newcomer
in Traktor Software & Hardware

Hi all, I'm new to this DJ game but really wish to know what to buy, how much, and particularly the spec I would need for a new PC to operate the system on. It's a real minefield of information and want to get it right.😀

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  • maniacintosh81
    maniacintosh81 Member Posts: 617 Guru

    Where to begin and where to end? A DJ setup can be tiny and affordable up to well large and very very expensive. With many solutions in between.

    Many questions play a role in the choice of equipment: Which music genre do you want to mix? Just beat mixing maybe with effects or scratching? Where will you use it? Just at home or will you take it to different venues in the end? Are there any space constraints? And in the end: What is your budget?

    As you are posting here in the Traktor area of NI community I assume that you already made the choice to use DJ software (and not a standalone solution) and that Traktor Pro is the DJ software of your choice. As you wrote that you are new to the DJ game I also assume you have no or only very little experience.

    Traktor Pro itself doesn't have to hard system requirements: Intel Core i5 (or an Apple M chip), 4 GB of RAM and 1 GB on the hard drive. Windows 10, 11 or macOS 12, 13, 14. Almost any new computer should meet this requirements. I would suggest at least 16 GB RAM and a hard drive/SSD with enough space for some music files. A notebook or MacBook would be good as you can take it with you, if you play away from home.

    As you are starting a All-in-one-Controller is a good solution. As we are talking about Traktor this means a Kontrol S2 Mk3, S3 or S4 Mk3. Make your choice by size and budget. If both doesn't matter as much S4 Mk3 is a decent choice. If you plan to play at venues with a proper PA S3 (or S4 Mk3) have the advantage of balanced outputs.

    What else is needed: Headphones and Speakers. For headphones: I started with a pair of Sony over-ears, not special DJ ones. Just from their Hifi-Range. Got some Sennheiser HD-8DJ much later. As speakers I am still using my home Hifi system at home. You shouldn't use bluetooth speakers as they usually delay the sound due to wireless connection and processing. Processing is often also an issue if they feature an analog AUX input.

  • Darren of London
    Darren of London Member Posts: 12 Member

    maniacintosh81 has already given some excellent advice, so I'll just add to that.

    For headphones they should be closed back and wired, over ear or on ear and of a reasonable level of clarity and power handling/spl, this just makes life easier, avoid Bluetooth for headphones too.

    If you don't already have a suitable hifi/sound system, then active studio monitors offer excellent value, power and clarity. On a budget? M-Audio offer excellent value, you don't need the extra fidelity of KRK for example, unless you eventually plan on producing music too.

    For the computer part, like maniacintosh81 said traktor doesn't require high end specs, however the better the pc the lower the latency between your actions and traktor responding, if you don't have a suitable laptop yet, any mid level gaming laptop from a brand like Asus or MSI will be a safe bet. Though any laptop with a discreet gpu at least an i5 and 16gigs of ram should also suffice. I'm using a 2 year old Asus Tuf gaming laptop with an i7, rtx3060, 32GB ram and 2 nvme gen4 ssd's and it easily handles an s3, x1, f1 and akai midi controller with any 4 deck combo of stems and remix decks plus effects, and that's with the audio buffer set to 5ms at 16bit/48K, which sounds fine btw, 24bit/96k is overkill for most dj's. All of the non gaming laptops I tried without a discreet gpu, all struggled to run my above setup bellow 20ms, despite 1 of those laptops having an i9! This is likely because the cpu is being throttled because it's having to internally share power with an integrated gpu. This wouldn't be much of an issue with desktops but laptops are already starved of power by comparison. Of course desktops have the drawback of not being easily portable.

    There are plenty of people on here that can help you more, it would be helpful if you could be more specific about what you're planning, will this be a hobby or are you looking to go pro someday? What, if any equipment do you already own? What genre/genres of music will you play? And what is your budget? Do you have a preferred operating system or perhaps you want a completely stand alone system?

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