Your Questions: How Do I Record My Controller & A Synth?

Digital DJ Tips reader DJ Maestro asks: “I have a Pioneer DDJ-SB controller hooked up to my laptop running Serato DJ. If I want to record my mix, it’s easy because I can record from within Serato DJ. I’ve also got a synthesizer, the Novation Xio 25, which is hooked up to a second laptop running FL Studio. Both the DDJ-SB and synth are hooked up to my loudspeakers.

“My question is how can I record what’s coming out of my Pioneer DDJ-SB and Novation synth?”

Digital DJ Tips Says:

The easiest solution here would be to get a small PA mixer that’s got USB connectivity (such as the Yamaha AG06 pictured above): you hook up the outputs of your Pioneer DDJ-SB controller to one channel, and your Novation Xio 25 to another channel (I’m assuming you’re using the Novation Xio 25 as an audio interface for your laptop running FL Studio).

You then connect your loudspeakers to the Master output of this small PA mixer. It now becomes the heart of your system where your inputs (Pioneer DDJ-SB, Novation Xio 25) are connected, as well as your output (your loudspeakers). You can then connect the USB jack of your PA mixer to your laptop running a digital audio workstation (Reaper, Audacity, or Adobe Audition would be fine), and your laptop records everything that goes through your PA mixer.

Here’s some further advice from our forum moderators DJ Vintage and Terry_42:

“My advice would be to get a small USB PA mixer (my current favorite is the Yamaha AG06). You hook up your DDJ-SB to one channel, and you can hook up 1-2 mics if you need them, and then you can set your laptop running FL Studio to the Yamaha. Now everything you play will come out of the speakers that you also attach to the Yamaha. You can then send the master output from the Yamaha through USB back to your laptop to record that signal. Having a small PA mixer handy is always a good idea in our humble opinion.” – DJ Vintage

“The simplest way would be to add a very small PA mixer with USB capabilities: you connect both devices to that mixer before going to your monitors. Then, you connect the mixer back to a laptop through USB and use a recording app (eg GarageBand or Audacity) to record the output of the PA mixer.” – Terry_42

So there, answers from all three of us. Three heads are better than one (especially when we’re all basically giving the same piece of advice!)

How else do you record your mixes when you’ve got extra gear? Any advice you’d like to share with our reader? Tell us in the comments.