Traktor DJ tips?

[Guest Promo]

I had a fiddle with it on the weekend and apart from basic mixing of one track into another I can't seem to get a lot out of it. Anyone a pro on Traktor? I mean call me unimaginitive but I just don't get it. Like looping shit seems like a nightmare and anything I do just seems out of time and syncing does that ever work? Is there any point to this program or should people just use Winamp to DJ mp3s?

[Chris Moss Acid]

what version you runnin?

 

 

Traktor 2 is what all the pro's use vibert afx cylob....list could go on.

 

and tracktor 3 is more for midi, with midi this is awesome.

 

 

 

personally i prefure Tracktor 2 but im using Tracktor 3 for some weird reason.

 

anyways.. the sync does work and the loops are good to use.. just keep at it it is a good programe.

 

 

Edit. i've just uninstalled Traktor 3 soon as i submitted this. im going back to Traktor 2 :D

 

OOps i seem to have gotten rid of Tracktor 2.

[Guest Promo]

I'm probably gonna use version 2.5. I'm gonna maybe hook it up with a midi controller to see how that goes.

[Guest iep]

eh chris why would you prefer traktor v2 to v3..!?! probably because 'all the pros' use it.. megarockstars like afx and vibert :grin:

 

traktor3 is very nice imo. i use it with a bcr2000 midi controller so i can control all four decks at once.. the midi-implentation in v3 is really extensive, you can control almost everything and you have midi-sync which is very nice too.. the library is alot better in v3 and the EQ and timestrechting sounds LOADS better! i don't really bother with the effects though so i dont know about that. awesome program, the only thing that MAYBE bothers me is that it takes about 10 seconds to boot up.. which is pretty long but seriously i dont really care..

[Guest Promo]

Will it run on a laptop smoothly though? I'm planning on using it on a 2ghz laptop. Gonna practice with it first on a proper pc though.

[Guest iep]

2ghz? sure, no problem. 1ghz is the minimum-required speed.

[Guest ~ism]

i just dont get traktor.

 

i really dont get it. have tried countless times to get my head around the beatmatch/syncing but it just never works. it doesn't seem to quantise or sync the start of the second deck...you hit play on the beat and it delays for a moment then starts the deck out of sync (in sync in terms of bpm, but not beat matched).

 

what gives?

[Guest iep]

works just fine here.. i set traktor to 'CD' mode so i can cue up the tracks more accurately.. then i adjust the bpm and start the track at the right time, like mixing actual records.. maybe you're having latency issues (i run at 3ms latency and thats fine, i notice no delay)?

 

or am i misunderstanding your problem..?

[Chris Moss Acid]

eh chris why would you prefer traktor v2 to v3..!?! probably because 'all the pros' use it.. megarockstars like afx and vibert :grin:

 

traktor3 is very nice imo. i use it with a bcr2000 midi controller so i can control all four decks at once.. the midi-implentation in v3 is really extensive, you can control almost everything and you have midi-sync which is very nice too.. the library is alot better in v3 and the EQ and timestrechting sounds LOADS better! i don't really bother with the effects though so i dont know about that. awesome program, the only thing that MAYBE bothers me is that it takes about 10 seconds to boot up.. which is pretty long but seriously i dont really care..

 

well in the end i didnt go back to 2.6

 

im still on v3 but every time i go into my slsk fodler Traktor 4 errors it still plays but it has a .. i'll post a screen cap.

 

 

 

traktor 3 is good, but as i dont have a midi controller [would a kaoss pad work?] im just using it as i would tracktor 2.6

the 4 deck opion is weird i'd only ever use 4 if i was just doing noise.

[Solo Strike]

i just dont get traktor.

 

i really dont get it. have tried countless times to get my head around the beatmatch/syncing but it just never works. it doesn't seem to quantise or sync the start of the second deck...you hit play on the beat and it delays for a moment then starts the deck out of sync (in sync in terms of bpm, but not beat matched).

 

what gives?

 

OK this happens to me as well. Traktor seems to take a second to work out the new speed it should be playing at if you sync it and press play straight away. However it only does this once, so what I do is have the crossfader over to the other deck, set a cue point for my other track, sync it, press play so it works it out then pause it so it goes back to your cue point. Then bring the crossfader over to the middle, hold down the right hand mouse button and then release to start your track at the appropriate point.

 

I would recommend starting on something simple with a solid 4/4 beat to learn with. Old acid house or minimal techno or something then work your way up to the crazy stuff from there.

[Guest ~ism]

good tip solo, will try this out.

 

cheers dude.

 

[Solo Strike]

good tip solo, will try this out.

 

cheers dude.

 

 

 

Not a problem, be sure to let us know how you get on!

[Guest Promo]

I gotta crack this Traktor thing 'cause when you get a 4/4 rhythm going and mix another track with it its a lot of fun. Problem I find is that it goes out of sync after about 2 repeats which I'm not surprise by. I wonder how the fuck DJs keep shit perfectly in time that must take some serious fuckin skill.

[Guest Promo]

OK this happens to me as well. Traktor seems to take a second to work out the new speed it should be playing at if you sync it and press play straight away. However it only does this once, so what I do is have the crossfader over to the other deck, set a cue point for my other track, sync it, press play so it works it out then pause it so it goes back to your cue point. Then bring the crossfader over to the middle, hold down the right hand mouse button and then release to start your track at the appropriate point.

Do you press sync before you play a track or during it? The thing that pisses me off about Traktor is it seems to do all sorts of wild shit. Its not intuitive I find. Am slowly getting used to it but seriously if are gonna becoming pro at it then it seems one has to put the effort it. Its definitely not something you can learn in 5 mins. I reckon it'd take me a few months to start to get good at it.

[Guest Coalbucket PI]

OK this happens to me as well. Traktor seems to take a second to work out the new speed it should be playing at if you sync it and press play straight away. However it only does this once, so what I do is have the crossfader over to the other deck, set a cue point for my other track, sync it, press play so it works it out then pause it so it goes back to your cue point. Then bring the crossfader over to the middle, hold down the right hand mouse button and then release to start your track at the appropriate point.

Do you press sync before you play a track or during it? The thing that pisses me off about Traktor is it seems to do all sorts of wild shit. Its not intuitive I find. Am slowly getting used to it but seriously if are gonna becoming pro at it then it seems one has to put the effort it. Its definitely not something you can learn in 5 mins. I reckon it'd take me a few months to start to get good at it.

im using 2.6, it is a lot better than 2.5 - if i remember right 2.5 didnt do any timestretching, and 2.6 has the feature where you can jump forwards or backwards 1/4/8/16 bars which is useful to me. and you can zoom in on the waveform

 

I do pretty much what Solo Strike said to avoid that pause. Load the next track, press sync to match the bpm with the current track, and tap the play button (the one the only plays while youre holding it down, I forget which one that is). Make sure the cross fader is away from the deck you are doing this on of course. Then when you want to start the track press the other play button and it should be virtually instant, but chances are you or your latency causes you to be slightly off the beat. So basically as soon as youve started the second track, tap Sync again and it jumps right in time, and as long as you cued the track fairly close to the beat then you wont notice it.

 

The major thing about traktor that seems to get glossed over in the manual and elsewhere is how to prepare your tracks effectively. if you have got the bpm accurately and some nice cue points you are sorted. Im assuming you arent doing this because otherwise everything stays synced all the time - theres hardly any skill in this with traktor!. Traktor pretends it can work out bpms but its chocolate teapot status on that front.

 

Heres how i do it: find an accurate place for your beatmarker. this is usually where the beat drops, but sometimes you have to use the first snare because it is a sharper peak on the waveform. then play the track and go into the edit bpm window. watch as the beatgrid drifts from the beat. If your bpm is higher than the real one, the grid will drift to the left, if it is lower it drifts to the right. So press the + or - button in the edit bpm window to move the grid back into place. Usually you can do this for a few bars after the beatmarker, and then skip to the end and do it again. Note that the further you get from the beatmarker, the more a small innaccuracy will show up as a large offset between the grid and the beats. So if its all in place at the end, skip back to the middle and see if it still looks perfect. If it doesnt then either your track has a moment where it goes out of time - sometimes there is a pause where the artist has started the beat again and its not in time with the previous section... in this case just put a second beatmarker. Or your track has a varying bpm which is a pain in the arse, so avoid those tracks for now.

 

Try this out with some amon tobin because most all of his tracks seem to be exactly whole integer BPMs, so its a good way to check how precise you are

 

after this i would place a cue point at the start, make sure the beatmarker is where the beat drops, and one or two towards the end at places that might be good to cue the next track

[Guest iep]

ya sync is a nice feature for those without a sense of rhythm :))

 

takes away all the physical challenge of beatmatching (as far as their was any physical challenge left when using traktor, especially without midicontrollers)

[Guest Promo]

Coalbucket PI yeah I've pretty much done as you suggested. It does appear to be hit and miss though. Some tunes sync well and others don't.

 

Yesterday I synced up a 16 bar loop of Grandmaster Flash's 'The Message' with an Aquinas techno riff and the combo was beautiful even though one or two notes were slightly off.

 

When it works it is truly magic when it doesn't its a pain in the arse. I wanted to be to do some loop syncing shit 'cause I'm gonna DJ next month so I thought I'd try and get good at Traktor.

[Guest Coalbucket PI]

sorry if i patronised you with all that, I just thought it was worth writing out in case anyone needed to know it.

 

It really shouldnt be hit or miss though, especially if you are just looping sections

[Guest epsy]

traktor is the best dj mixing app period. Considering that mixing with a pc takes away the limitation of only being able to mix what you can find on a 12" makes it the best dj related product ever imo.

[Guest djslimchill]

my traktor setup allows me to use it in a similar fashion to final scratch without time coded vinyl. basically, i can use it as though my laptop were simply two cd decks playing mp3s.

 

i have traktor 3 running on the laptop with a usb (maudio sonica) surround sound external soundcard, and i split the signal coming out by deck into the different channels on the soundcard, which i then run into my dj mixer on different channels.

 

then i just beatmatch the old fashioned way.

[Guest blicero]

if i could justify it i'd get Rane/Serato Scratch Live.

 

i believe soap scum picked this up.

 

it looks so sick... since i believe there is no better way to DJ than hands on with turntables and vinyl:

 

 

maybe i'm retarded, but i cannot beatmatch with a mouse, or by using an app that thinks it's beatmatching but really is way off and run amok.

[Guest Promo]

if i could justify it i'd get Rane/Serato Scratch Live.

 

i believe soap scum picked this up.

 

it looks so sick... since i believe there is no better way to DJ than hands on with turntables and vinyl:

 

 

maybe i'm retarded, but i cannot beatmatch with a mouse, or by using an app that thinks it's beatmatching but really is way off and run amok.

Well having DJ'd last weekend using Traktor, I now can offically say its far less hassle and more enjoyable than vinyl. Of course its not like I've ever been a proper Dj but to me draggin and droppin in mp3s is piss easy and gives you time to actually enjoy what you're doing. I spent half the time ravin' on the dancefloor while Djing. Now back in the vinyl only day that would have been somewhat tougher.

[zkreso]

Traktor is extremely simple and fun to use. But to make a track sync up ALL THE TIME, you have to use beatgrids. Here's how you set beatgrids:

 

1. analyze the track. Right click on the name, and select analyze. This will make sure that you can see the whole waveform in the display.

 

2. Find a beat in the track. move the marker to its start. The auto-analyzer will probably have set a vertical bar on the beat so that it will snap automatically, but sometimes it's a bit off, so you might want to use "vinyl" mode to and drag it into place.

 

3. Now, in the "cue edit" box, set the cue point type to "beat" ( or "grid", don't remember right now ) this will automatically lock and save the cue point. All the rest of the beat markers in the song will be placed in a relative distance to this point ( that distance being defined by the BPM of course ) Name your cue point if you want.

 

4. Now it's time to set the proper BPM. Traktor will guess at it after the analyzation, but it will probably be a bit off. Set the correct BPM ( type it in the BPM box ). Now check if the beat markers are at their correct places throughout the whole song. If they are, then you've probably found the correct BPM. If you see that they start drifting a bit, then either decrease or increase the tempo by a small increment.

 

Now you should have a track that stays on beat the whole time. If you press sync it will change tempo whathever is the master tempo at the time ( 120 BPM by default ). When playing another track, first press sync, then press play before the next beat and it will be matched perfectly.

 

Note that beatgrids don't work on vinyl rips because most turntables don't play back a record at a constant tempo. Songs with human drummers won't work either because no human drummer can stay on beat the same way a machine can.

 

Traktor is best for house and techno I think, when it comes to hip hop you can't really use it, as you can't really scratch with it, unless you have finalscrach/serato/something of that sort.

[Guest blicero]

Well having DJ'd last weekend using Traktor, I now can offically say its far less hassle and more enjoyable than vinyl. Of course its not like I've ever been a proper Dj but to me draggin and droppin in mp3s is piss easy and gives you time to actually enjoy what you're doing. I spent half the time ravin' on the dancefloor while Djing. Now back in the vinyl only day that would have been somewhat tougher.

 

i really don't mean any offense, but i would be really disappointed if i watched someone dj like this. i appreciate the skill involved in djing, from the track selection to the mixing. drag and drop is not skill, like you said, "piss easy." you're not supposed to have tons of free time while your dj-ing. if you do, than that's a good indicator that you're a lazy dj.

 

auto-beatmatching/syncing in traktor or ableton is lots of fun in a bedroom, but it's not rewarding or impressive at a gig.

 

wouldn't you be disappointed if rdj pressed play on his laptop, and then walked away, or danced for 3 minutes before returning to his laptop to start the next track.

 

not a very compelling performance.

[Chris Moss Acid]

[image]

 

that song in the left hand box looks terriblly out of beat.