Is it possible to plug your Laptop directly to your amp rather than into a mixer first, then an amp?

The DJ software out there has a mixer kind of thing in it, so why buy another one?

I dont quite understand the purpose of the mixer when laptop DJing, maybe im missing something important.

PS - I use CDS and a CD mixer at present but want to start converting to laptop

n.b. I know about licences etc so please dont turn the thread into a licence debate as per usual!

Suppose its easier to use a mic off a physical mixer so you can use your hands instead of a mouse to control levels. And you are also able to add more sources (eg backup cd player) if your laptop dies.

It is possible to plug your laptop straight into your amp and mix using the dj software - either automix or using the onscreen crossfader. However automix generally sounds pretty bad, except for OTS and the onscreen crossfaders are awkward to use smoothly. It is easier to crossfade with a physical crossfader. There are a number of options with laptop djing involving combinations of controllers, soundcards and mixers, which make it tricky to get your head round at first.

It is possible to mix on a normal mixer, in which case you need (apart from the mixer itself) a multiple stereo channel soundcard such as the Gigaport or a 4.1 channel soundcard. You plug the soundcard into the laptop and then two leads out of the soundcard going to channel 1 and 2 on your mixer (or any two channels). This also means that you can cue one song whilst another is playing, like you would with cdjs.

Alternitavely you can use a usb controller to mix of which there are two types: those that contain a built in soundcard so that your sound comes out of the controller and into the amp/mixer, or those that don't contain a built in soundcard and so you will need a separate soundcard.

Bear in mind that even if you are happy doing the mixing on the software, you will need a mixer in order to plug in a microphone(s) and adjust levels and if you occasionly use a third source such as CD Player etc then a mixer is an absolute must. If you want to go the usb controller route, then you will most likely still need one, as very few controllers (save the Hercules) have them, for some reason, which I don't really understand. I don't know what you use, as your backup plan, should your laptop fail, but if you use a couple of CD Players, Minidisc Players, Decks or even Ipods (dare I say it) for backup purposes, then should this become necessary, you would need a mixer anyway.

Thanks for this

hi Will i have a hercules steel usb mixer, a trust 5.1 external sound card an acer 7720z laptop and a standard numak mixer...But being a dinosaur i cant seem to connect it all need help as i need to use it this weekend
Deano

Connect the Hercules Usb Controller to the Laptop with a usb cable. Connect the Trust Soundcard to the Laptop with a usb cable. Connect two leads from the Trust Soundcard to the numark mixer (3.5mm minijack to RCA cables), plug into channels 1 and 2 on the numark mixer (or any other two channels if you have more). Using the Hercules Usb Controller you will mix the tracks on there, so you only strictly need one master channel out from your Soundcard into your numark mixer but, if you have two channels, then you can cue up one deck while the other is playing. If you are using the Numark Cue supplied with the Hercules Controller, then you can configure the outputs so that one output will be the master and the other one for cueing. Then you will connect your numark mixer to your amp or powered speakers.

Your setup also gives you an element of backup, as should your Hercules Usb Controller fail then you can mix using the numark mixer setting channel 1 to deck A and channel 2 to deck B. Should your soundcard fail then you could plug the laptop's headphone socket into the numark mixer, still mixing using the Hercules. and just have to live without cueing. Should your numark mixer fail then it is even possible to plug straight from the soundcard into the amplifier/powered speakers, again you would not be able to use cueing, but this is less than ideal, as you would not be able to use a microphone either. Obviously in an ideal world you would have a spare of everything, so that there are no problems if a component should fail but if you don't have the cash, then this provides a decent solution for most eventualities.

I tried this later last night and the sound was garbled and sounded like white noise, sound is good using just cds, I could only get sound by switching to phono on mixer. Tried direct from master n mixer to headphone output on pc but same problem, would there be something wrong with the sound set up on my PC ?
Thanks for your help

When you say that sound was garbled was it recognisable as your music but terrible quality or was it just white noise? What DJ software are you using?