PC For DJ Remix/Mixing Purposes

Laughter

Junior Member
Jun 10, 2005
2
0
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Hello!!!

This is my first post and I'm so glad to have found this site!!!

I wanted to ask for advice on a PC that I need to purchase. I mix dance music as a hobby and want to record my mixes to CD. It's been suggested that I opt going digital (via a sound card, etc.).
I'm willing to go that route, but the more I look into it, the more questions I have! :)

The pre-built "Dj systems" are easily $1700 and up and I wanted to stay in the $1,000 range, ideally. As far as building my own, I am not comfortable enough with choosing the individual components (I am not sure what I specifically need, I'm afraid of under or over-buying, not to mention compatibility issues between hard/software, etc.). It would be a "miracle" if someone would be willing to specifty exactly what hardware I needed to complete a system!! :)

I am entirely fine with buying all of the right components from a reputable on-line store (like newegg.com) OR buying a system that's prebuilt (Dell, HP, Gateway, MAC, etc.) that would meet the needs I mentioned above. Any recommendations, one way or another?

Here's a few other details:
Mixer is a Numark Matrix 2
I mix CD's only
I don't plan on doing any gigs outside of the house
I already have a monitor, keyboard, mouse & really nice studio monitors

**I also would like to "rip" my CD collection to the harddrive (300+ CD's).

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE for your help! ~Laughter

P.S. Here is my "Wish List" from newegg.com, that is based solely from what I have read on-line (in other words, I winged it!):

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: A8N-SLI Deluxe $176.00

ASUS EAX300SE/TD/128M Radeon X300SE 128MB DDR PCI-Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Model #: EAX300SE/TD/128M $62.00

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Winchester Integrated into Chip FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3000BIBOX - Retail
Model #: ADA3000BIBOX $147.00

CORSAIR 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) ECC Registered System Memory Model CM72SD1024RLP-3200 - Retail
Model #: CM72SD1024RLP-3200 $139.00

Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 ST380013A-RK 80GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - Retail
Model #: ST380013A-RK $83.00

Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 ST3160023A-RK 160GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - Retail
Model #: ST3160023A-RK $105.00

SONY White IDE DVD Burner Model DRU720A - Retail
Model #: DRU720A $86.99

(*not available from newegg.com*) Echo Mia MIDI PC Digital Audio Interface
24-bit/96kHz Recording. MIDI in/out. 24-bit coaxial S/PDIF digital I/O. 2 balanced 1/4 in. analog inputs and outputs $129.00
 

Kenazo

Lifer
Sep 15, 2000
10,429
1
81
Here is my "Wish List" from newegg.com, that is based solely from what I have read on-line (in other words, I winged in!):

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: A8N-SLI Deluxe $176.00
I would downgrade to a non-SLI board. If you're not gaming, you're just wasting money here anyway. Asus makes a good NF4 non-sli board too, can't remember what it's called, brobably the A8N, but you can check on that

ASUS EAX300SE/TD/128M Radeon X300SE 128MB DDR PCI-Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Model #: EAX300SE/TD/128M $62.00
Should be fine

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Winchester Integrated into Chip FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3000BIBOX - Retail
Model #: ADA3000BIBOX $147.00
I'd go with something quicker, like a 3400+, but the 3000 should work

CORSAIR 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) ECC Registered System Memory Model CM72SD1024RLP-3200 - Retail
Model #: CM72SD1024RLP-3200 $139.00

This ram won't work. I don't believe the s939 can run Registered ram. That's for socket 940 (Opterons), Just go with a good dual channel PC3200 ram kit from Corsair, or any of the reputable makers. If you really want, non-registered (or non-buffered, same thing) ECC Ram will work too, adding a little more stability, but hardly worth it for the price.

Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 ST380013A-RK 80GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - Retail
Model #: ST380013A-RK $83.00
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 ST3160023A-RK 160GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - Retail
Model #: ST3160023A-RK $105.00

For hard drives I'd recommoend getting a 200gig+ for your primary storage and then get a WD Raptor hard drive (quite a fast hard drive) for running the files you're actually working with off of, hold temp files etc. I do some minor mixing (mostly hold music for telephone systems, etc) and find my Seagate 200gb to not be quite as fast as I like, and that's dealing with only 10 tracks at a time.

SONY White IDE DVD Burner Model DRU720A - Retail
Model #: DRU720A $86.99
Should be fine. Remember you'll probably want a floppy drive too.

(*not available from newegg.com*) Echo Mia MIDI PC Digital Audio Interface
24-bit/96kHz Recording. MIDI in/out. 24-bit coaxial S/PDIF digital I/O. 2 balanced 1/4 in. analog inputs and outputs $129.00
Don't know much about this. I've done most of my stuff with an Maudio 44, but if it's supposed to be a good one for the job, go w/ it. :)