Sampling vinyl...

For better sound/sampling quality, is it better to hook up my turntable directly into the Ren or from the outs of a DJ mixer setup? I am used to doing it through my Rane 2 channel because I had an MPC 2000. Thanks!

I would use the Rane.

J.O.BEATS wrote:I would use the Rane.

I might not. If I did the reasons would be, not enough gain on the Ren's inputs (probably not an issue). I want to EQ a sample on the way in (provided the Rane has a nice EQ).

If neither is the case there isn't much reason to go through the mixer because the Ren has a phono pre-amp which is the usual reason a mixer would precede the audio interface in a signal chain.

Of course just for conveniences sake you could plug the mixer out to the Ren so your turntable doesn't have to swap plugs all the time.

Try both and use what sounds better. If they sound equally good, use what's easier.

The Ren has a built in pre-amp so you can plug the turntable outs right into the Ren, unless you want some kind of eq effect or something like that on the incoming signal then go turntable>rane>mpc. But don't worry, I firmly believe akai will add a feature in the future that allows effects to be added to the incoming signal inside the Ren software.

DJ Hellfire wrote:Try both and use what sounds better. If they sound equally good, use what's easier.

its all subjective.
I lightly pre-eq on the way in. The eq'ing in the analog world will give you different results if you do the same eq boost in the digital world. All depends on preference.

If you ask producers like Alchemist, Premier, Pete, Just, most vinyl sampling producers, etc, they'll tell you they pre-eq on the way in. That's just their preference. There are some who sample from youtube cuz its "got that gritty sound"

...lol.
It's all preference.

InspectahEX wrote:But don't worry, I firmly believe akai will add a feature in the future that allows effects to be added to the incoming signal inside the Ren software.

I find it strange that Akai didn't offer the option to sample thru effects, like the 4000 does.

DJ Hellfire wrote:Try both and use what sounds better. If they sound equally good, use what's easier.

Wonder why he couldn't figure this out

InspectahEX wrote:The Ren has a built in pre-amp so you can plug the turntable outs right into the Ren, unless you want some kind of eq effect or something like that on the incoming signal then go turntable>rane>mpc. But don't worry, I firmly believe akai will add a feature in the future that allows effects to be added to the incoming signal inside the Ren software.

that's a good idea. Akai should definitely add that feature. eq/fx would be a great addition. was this added in any of the requests threads?? if not it should

im actually working on getting some turn tables.. and mixer so i can sample vinyl and stratch

need to find a good cheap mixer. rane is expensive as ****

done a bit of reasearch. dont think i need no 22 chanels . just 2. one for each table.

the only thing ive seen that its better to get a traktor/serato mixer is that it has an audio interface integrated i think.. and others dont so you have to use an audio interface with the vinyls to hook up to mpc/computer to scratch mp3 and stufs