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Hi guys, I'm a a career DJ & have finally decided to start making my own music so I appreciate your advice on hardware & software for building a simple, portable but capable DAW studio.

In case it helps, I have an ageing (P4, 1GB RAM) but solid desktop PC running XP SP2 as well as a notebook running 32 bit Vista Home Premium (2.20GHz Core 2 Duo processor T7500, 4GB RAM) - when Windows 7 is officially released & the new range of motherboards are released then I'll build a new desktop PC.

My DJ rig is a Denon HD2500 (multimedia player/controller which can control PC DJ software via USB link, onboard wavs or mp3s, as well as dual CD drive) + compatible Denon dual CD drive + Allen & Heath Xone S2 DJ mixer (has: balanced xlr, 1/4" trs, rca + usb I/P & O/P, as well as send & return for external fx). Now I just bought the Ultralite Mk3 to deliver quality sound to & from PC as well as provide expanded I/P & O/P capabilities (especially for live musicians).

Here are 2 questions:

Q1: What good PC software would you guys recommend if I want to create music (using virtual synths, drum machines, processors etc as well as incorporate live musicians which I'll record via the Ultralite) as well as remix/enhance tracks I'm DJing with 'on-the-fly'? I'd love to be able to route different tracks from my PC to discrete channels (mostly stereo) on the Ultralite.

Q2: What would you recommend as a basic set-up - ie hardware configuration - which ties together my DJ rig, the PC & the Ultralite? How would the software interface with this?

Hopefully that's enough info for you to give some helpful advice here.

Marc 'Kundalini'

First off, I would research some professional PC builders and enlist their help with these decisions. You pay a little more, but they test all the hardware configurations and know what works and what doesn't and offer proper support. ADK comes to mind, they did my system. The last thing you want in the middle of a DJ set is some driver-related crash and high-pitched squeals blasting through the PA.

I personally like Cubase a whole lot. Using version 4 right now, but you would likely find a lot of good stuff in 5 regarding DJ stuff. Do some research on Cubase 5. Another contender would likely be Abelton Live.

I know there are a few DJs on here so maybe they can chime in with specifics on configuration of your hardware/DJ stuff.