sound card quality ?

hey all,

just before i got it, i tried to look for more info about the sound card on the rmx,
but couldnt"t find it any where..

how quality is the sound card (built-in) ?
16 bit ? 24 bit ? maybe ready for 32 bit ?

41 mhz ? 48 mhz ? or maybe 96 mhz ?

and another questions is:
can i use it just as a midi controller ? without the sound (while im sending sound from external sound card ?

thanks
shy

Hello,

DJ Console Rmx integrated sound card is great for DJing.
- 16 and 24-bit sampling step,
- 44 and 48 KHz sampling rate.

You can use it as a MIDI controller without the sound, but it requires another software than the version of VirtualDJ DJC 5 delivered with DJ Console Rmx (VirtualDJ DJC 5 plays sound on the sound card integrated on the DJ Console Rmx only), you need another software as VirtualDJ Pro 5, Traktor 3 DJ Studio, MixVibes 7, Deckadance, DJDecks, DeejaySystems, FutureDecks...

Regarding 32-bit audio sampling step
A 32-bit audio depth can make sense as internal audio processing resolution in a software / processor, but it makes no sense as output sampling step in music since a 24-bit resolution can produce a dynamic range up to 144 dB (6dB per bit), while hearing becomes painful at 125dB, so increasing the resolution over 24-bit has no benefit in music.

Regarding 96KHz sampling rate
As we mix music coming from CD audio (sampled in 16-bit / 44 KHz), MP3 files (whose quality is generally not higher than CD Audio), or we mix videos from DVD Video (with audio track in 48KHz - 16 or 24 bit), a 96 KHz or a 192 KHz sampling rate is not relevant from such sources.
96KHz or 192 KHz sampling rates are useful to record music, in studio work and in studio production, but I don't think they make much sense in live performance.

Hey VJ Purple Eye,

The audio codec in DJ Console Rmx is a Wolfson WM8770.

It is a 24-bit / 192 KHz codec with
- a digital to analog converter (DAC) Signal to Noise Ratio of 106dB (A weighted at 48KHz),
- an analog to digital converter (ADC) Signal to Noise Ratio of 102dB (A weighted at 48KHz).

The second 24-bit / 192KHz stereo ADC (coming in addition to the ADC integrated in WM8770) is a Wolfson WM8781 whose signal to noise ratio is also 102 dB (A weighted at 48KHz).

The quality of the codec and the additional ADC are excellent.

VJ Purple Eye,

For latency reasons, DJ audio interfaces operate only up to 44.1-48KHz, even if the hardware has higher capabilities.
- Serato Scratch Live operates up to 48KHz ( http://www.scratchlive.net/about/scratchlive/ )
- Torq Connectiv operates up to 48KHz ( http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/TorqConectiv.html )
- ESI Maya 44 USB,  U46DJ, U46XL operate up to 48KHz ( http://www.esi-audio.com/products/?m=23 )

DJ Console Rmx WM8770 codec is a 24-bit / 192 KHz, but the DJ Console Rmx plays audio files only up to 16-bit / 24-bit in 44.1KHz and 48KHz, since playing higher resolutions would not be useful for DJing (as higher resolutions files would be slower to load in the DJ software, and as the buffers would be bigger, it would increase the latency which is not good for live performance).

Thanks People...

Its a lot of technical info, and of course I understand it has High Quality soundcard
And - I do love my Hercules Rmx.
But,
the bottom line:
Is the sound good/quality enough for a club (1000 people) ?
Is the sound good/quality enough for a festival (3000 people and up)  ? Or Even for a Bigger concert ?

Just for compering - How quality is the sound card of big Djs, like pual Van Dyk, poul okenfeld, tiesto etc ?

The Gold question ?
How much KHz and BIT -  is the Great balance between Quality and latency for DJ live performance ? (Im talking about an up to date Pc - 2.4 dou-core, 4Gb ram, 7200 Harddrive, 256Mb Grafics) 

My hats off to you...

Special Thanks...

www.VJPurple-Eye.Net 

VJ Purple Eye,

Big DJs mix either with
- vinyl discs (then the sound is not digital, so Khz and bits are not relevant to measure it)
- CDs : then the sound is sampled in 16-bit / 44.1KHz
- audio files extracted from CDs : then the sound is still sampled in 16-bit / 44.1KHz
- audio files extracted from DVDs: then the sound is either sampled in 16-bit / 48 KHz or 24-bit / 48 KHz.

So yes, the Rmx audio quality is good enough to mix in clubs or festival.
What you must check is that the output level of your audio source (Rmx or analog mixer) matches the input level required by the amplifier or patch-bay to which you are connected (to avoid saturation), that you have no ground loop (to avoid noise), and your computer and your amplifier are connected to the ground (to avoid growing differences of potential, which can be dangerous and create discharges similar to electro-static discharge but due to the difference of potential between the different devices you use.

When you use your dj console just as a sound card, with Winamp for instance, how can you benefit frm all the possibilities of this sound card? I mean, when you're not dj-ing, like a DAC between your laptop with playslists and amplifier.

Letgetsirius,

WinAmp operates in WDM (Windows Driver Model) mode, and it uses Microsoft WDM USB Audio driver.
Microsoft WDM USB Audio driver uses USB audio devices in 16-bit / 48 KHz (and resamples other resolutions and rates into 16-bit / 48 KHz) so whether your audio file is in 24-bit / 96 KHz or in 8-bit / 22 KHz, the WDM driver plays it all at 16-bit / 48 KHz (Microsoft WDM drivers don't resample everything like that for PCI or FireWire Audio interfaces, but that is the way in USB audio interfaces today in Vista and XP).

DJ Console Rmx drivers let you play/record sound up to 24-bit / 48KHz in ASIO, so if you have a player operating in ASIO, you can play sound in 24-bit / 48KHz.

Thank you for your answer Maxdjack. I've seen in a forum the possibility to combine WinAmp with Asio. I will to bypass the WDM. Otherwise (I know it's a bit off topic) do you recommend a player, kind of "audiophile", to use with djc soundcard, I mean beside vdj & co, just to play music while sitting on the sofa?

Letsgetserius,

Even if you have a better quality is ASIO 24-bit when you playback 24-bit audio file, the audio quality in WDM 16-bit remains good to listen to music from a sofa.
I use iTunes (which is a WDM player in Windows) to play music on either my Hercules DJ Console Rmx or on my FireWire audio interfaces (Hercules 16/12 FW and Echo AudioFire 8) because it is a good music library player on PC and Mac, so I play music from the same external hard disk whether I play iTunes on my PC or my Mac. The limit of iTunes is its high CPU consumption in Windows, but it is OK if I play it while sitting on a sofa, since it is only if I run another heavy CPU consumer software at the same time (as an imaging software) that iTunes my exceed the CPU ressources of my PC (it is always OK on Mac).