Traktor Pro - Tutorials, Tips & Tricks & Discussion

Zascar

As I'm now getting into Traktor I've been trawling the web for tutorials, tips and tricks. I compiled a list of some video tutorials, tips & tricks, and links etc - so I thought I would share it here.

If everyone else can add their own links - and then we can also keep all Traktor discussion in this thread it will be a great resource for anyone starting with Traktor.

Video's:

Native Instruments Tutorials:

Part 1 - User Interface: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXOZlK4veR4
Part 2 - Looping: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl21UN5XuEY
Part 3 - FX Setup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTd3i79-QFU
Part 4 - FX Demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQX0DoQNVpU
Part 5 - Crate Flick http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiIV4qdHTmw
Part 6 - 4 Decks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4P9KTmPC68

Richie Hawtin on his Traktor (3) Setup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1H9W_iLff0

MrCuss
Midi Mapping Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQjJsi2nPJ0&feature=related
Midi Mapping Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw9Y5gikiKc


Ean Golden - DJ Tech Tools:

VCI-100SE Walkthrough: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWl79ae6fkM
Traktor Audio/Setup Guide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znUwbqczWIg

Cue Points: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLQuukGhgxI
Beatgrids: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAW8X9RSt7A
Assigning Effects: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsbMJTTGDGo

Dynamic Buildups: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMP7yMvNja8
Dafer FX Theory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjjA0xPkXMs
Live Loop Recording: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgKt-2Sik48
Create Drumroll: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xuu0IKP-yE

Links:

Traktor 3 DVD Tutorials :http://www.dv247.com/computer-music-software/native-instruments-traktor-3-tutorial-dvd--48172 - its a ripoff - I don't think its wroth buying as the tutorials above will cover most of it.

Traktor Pro Bible: http://www.traktorbible.com - proper softcover book by an expert covering all aspects of Traktor pro. Also expensive but I have ordered it - I'll let you know what its like.

Traktor World: http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/home/?pwfilter=dj&page=djworld&content=966 - hardware guide, compatible controllers, DJ Interviews etc.

Can't think of too much more but any links I've missed please post here

Zascar

Quick waffle here on what i have learnt re setups:

There are a multitude of different ways you can use Traktor wit different setups - it will work with any Midi controller - so really its down to personal preference:

The M-Audio Evolution UC33e is a solid reliable controller with loads of Faders, Knobs and Buttons to which you can assign loads of different things to Traktor. As far as value goes for multi use Midi Controllers, this seems to be the best. Comes very highly recommended from Kid Handsome too!

If you want a more DJ-Specific all in one controller, one of the most popular setups is the Vestax VCI-100 - I also believe this to be a good all round safe choice for a setup using Traktor.

Both the VCI-100 and the UC33 are just MIDI controller's - they do not contain Soundcards (The Xponent and the Vestax VCI-300 Do however). So, to Monitor with Headphones you will need a soundcard. The Native Instruments Audio 2 DJ seems to be a good choice.

What i like about the Vestax VCI-100 is is DJ specific and not just a generaic controller that can be mapped for use with Traktor etc. This may not matter to some but I'm just used to all in one DJ controllers so its my preference. It has the basic's laid out as you'd expect and it if you are used to using CDJ's and a mixer etc, with a few extras on there too - some which are assignable for multi use. It also has platters which many say are pointless in Traktor but again, its a personal thing as some people still like to use them on occasion.

The other thing I like about it is that it has a very solid userbase and a dedicated following. From my background of working in the software industry I know how advantageous this can be. www.djtechtools.com is one of the leading websites for digital DJ's and they have their own custom version of the VCI-100 that they have made a custom mapping for, and then applied an overlay on the actual unit itself. It can be bought from here ($600 including shipping, works out at €400).

What I plan to do, is use both the VCI-100 and the UC33 together. The Vestax will do the normal stuff and I'll map the UC33 for some effects and other features I might want to use in Traktor. I'd live to give some of the more advanced features that Traktor has to offer - I'm looking forward to seeing how it works out and I'll let you know more in a few weeks.

acman

Good work Zascar...very useful! Sticky maybe?

Zascar

Cheers, will do.

Another thing i was thinking of doing is having some sort of Traktor Meetup? I'm happy to have a few people around to my place where we can share tips and tricks etc. Who here is a bit of a Traktor expert that would volunteer to come over and teach us noobs a thing or two?

Anyone interested?

run_Forrest_run

yes, I second that Sticky suggestion.

acman

Zascar wrote: »

Cheers, will do.

Another thing i was thinking of doing is having some sort of Traktor Meetup? I'm happy to have a few people around to my place where we can share tips and tricks etc. Who here is a bit of a Traktor expert that would volunteer to come over and teach us noobs a thing or two?

Anyone interested?

Not sure that Traktor is that complicated to warrant a "brainstorming" session but yeah, I'd be up for a meetup with some like-minded individuals.

MikeHoncho

Great thread. Have only just started using Traktor ahead of Torq in the last few months so will be great to get tips from people who have been using it a bit longer.

joker77

Nice post Zascar - good to have a central resource for those tutorials

milltown

I'd definitely be into a Traktor tutorial session, family and work commitments permitting. Though I'd definitely be there for learning rather than teaching.

Zascar

Nice articles on Traktor add-ons on DJ Tech Tools here: http://www.djtechtools.com/2009/11/16/third-party-utilities-for-traktor-pro/

Will be organising a meetup soon pm me if interested

Táck

how are you getting on zascar?

im looking to get into the traktor scene myself so all help is greatly appreciated. cant do the meetups just yet tho

dubsbhoy

good idea

midi-mapping is a mother****ker

will have a look at some of the vids when i get the chance and the paitence

dubsbhoy

I'm getting no joy mapping DJM 700 with traktor, any vids specific for pioneer?

electrogrimey

This one's alright: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w18hImPt8U

Sticky?

copeyhagen

some good info there zascar im watchin all the tutorials now.

had only really scratched the surface with ableton 7 when my sister dropped my laptop :eek: bye bye 90% of my warp files, rest are on the portable hard drive.

obviously im not happy!

but i was gonna go and get the akai apc40 controller for ableton or the new novation one.

i like the look of traktor, but have never used it.

has anyone used both and can provide an un biased opinion as to which is better.

i would still have live 7 for creating edits etc but could use traktor pro for djing.

also, is the beat grid done automatically like the dude in the tutorial says or is it a similar situation to the tedious warping?

cheers

copeyhagen

also one other thing, how hard is the mapping for someone that hasnt done it before for the likes of a a&h xone 1d.

is it plug and play like the apc40 would be with ableton?

electrogrimey

Pretty cool idea in this video, about the beatmasher: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZdAqV_h_YE

electrogrimey

I remember seeing a video somewhere, can't find it now though, about organising playlists and syncing Traktor with iTunes...if anyone can find it.

Zascar

Here ya go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFaqAQa17yE

copeyhagen

guy gerber usin what looks like an M-Audio Evolution UC33e in this video at 2.37...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pZPgRtx4ao

electrogrimey

Yup, and a Faderfox. Surkin uses an Evolution live as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewSlChNJ92U

Zascar

Nice post from Ean Golden from DJ Tech Tools on Traktor Effects
http://www.djtechtools.com/2010/02/03/traktor-fx-tutorials/

electrogrimey

Question here, is there anyway of storing chained effect presets? As in a stored set of three effects, each with a their parameters also stored? Like when you click the little camera button, are they saved anywhere that you can scroll through?

It takes a bit too long to set-up three new chained effects in a club, I'd like to be able to have a few set chains.

Also, what happened to digital.dj Zascar, it seems to be down?

Zascar

Ugh, long story but I never got a renewal notification and someone else bought it and is now trying to rip me off to buy it back.

electrogrimey

Zascar wrote: »

Ugh, long story but I never got a renewal notification and someone else bought it and is now trying to rip me off to buy it back.

Ah shit, that's annoying. You have any other domains?

Zascar

Yeah I have a few but not sure if I can be arsed. I really enjoy making the sites and they are usually quite successful at the start, but you have to keep putting the effort in and updating it constantly - and I often do not have the time or just cannot be bothered, so I might just leave it be. Pity really it was getting 5,000 unique hits a month and I had planned to put advertising on it and see if I could make some money on it - cause those .dj domain names are dam expensive, €90 a year!! With djtechtools and skratchworks it hard to compete so I might just let it die... I do have the registered details of over 3000 users should i ever want to do something else though.

Anyway we digress - here are a few more videos on Traktor:

Traktor Pro FX Tutorials with Kontrol X1
http://www.djtechtools.com/2010/02/03/traktor-fx-tutorials/

VCI-100SE Mapping Tutorials:
http://www.djtechtools.com/2010/02/15/vci-100se-mapping-tutorials/

electrogrimey

The pre-saved chained effects are used in the second VCI-100 tutorial, but it doesn't say how he did it...So it must be possible...

Zascar

Just fount this post on the djtechtools forum: http://www.djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3545 - it's an FAQ with loads of links to topics of interest, not just on traktor but all areas of Dj'ing etc too - definitely worth a read.

no money mo pro

Hi, I hope this in the right thread. Could any of you tell me how I go about registering final scratch 2 that I recently bought second hand?

Thanks

no money mo pro

no money mo pro wrote: »

Hi, I hope this in the right thread. Could any of you tell me how I go about registering final scratch 2 that I recently bought second hand?

Thanks

got it sorted

djhaxman

If any of ye are heading to Timewarp at the end of the month, Speedy J is holding a Traktor Workshop at the event. I'd love to be going to see the master at work.

http://www.time-warp.de/content/e4/e6406/e9998/index_eng.html

copeyhagen

i have a traktor query, its the one thing that pishes me off about it.

so i have about 1200 tracks on my new laptop, all of them new (lost 95% of my collection with my old laptop) and when i import new tracks i have to manually load each track up once, to get the beatgrid and the bpm and that.

is there any way of setting traktor to auto load up all the new tracks one at a time so i can do it while im at work or something?!

rob

joker77

copeyhagen wrote: »

i have a traktor query, its the one thing that pishes me off about it.

so i have about 1200 tracks on my new laptop, all of them new (lost 95% of my collection with my old laptop) and when i import new tracks i have to manually load each track up once, to get the beatgrid and the bpm and that.

is there any way of setting traktor to auto load up all the new tracks one at a time so i can do it while im at work or something?!

rob

Should be as simple as right-clicking on the containing folder from the Explorer section within Traktor (bottom left pane), and selecting Add to collection. The go up to the collection, and there's a Check Consistany option and select Analyse. This do it?

copeyhagen

ok i know how i add all the tracks but how do i check consistencyu for the tracks that were added.

im havin a play around here now and i see u can right click the track then analyse

cheers

Zascar

For those of you that have the VCI-100 I highly recommend you get the new DJ Tech Tools .tsi: http://www.djtechtools.com/midi-map/ - its very good, I've just ordered the matching overlay. You need the latest Traktor pro to use it. Play/Pause & Cue are back to normal since the last one, and the other two buttons are assignable effects that you use the jog wheel to play with. Have not used the others too much but over all it works well.

cian1500ww

Has anyone got some good tutorials on how to record using Traktor Pro ?

electrogrimey

cian1500ww wrote: »

Has anyone got some good tutorials on how to record using Traktor Pro ?

Haven't watched it, but this should do the job. If you use an external mixer just use Audacity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mR6NdB481A

garthv

cian1500ww wrote: »

Has anyone got some good tutorials on how to record using Traktor Pro ?

Click the tape icon over the deck on the right hand side and then press the record button.

electrogrimey

Does anyone know a way to extend the maximum length of Beatmasher 2? Ean Golden's always talking about using the beatmaser set to 0 as a sampler, as it loops 4 bars. This isn't that useful for me, but if you could set it to loop 8 or 16 bars then I'd use it all the time...I don't think it's possible though

copeyhagen

garthv wrote: »

Click the tape icon over the deck on the right hand side and then press the record button.

make sure you set it to "split file after 2048mb" so that u dont have to go joining files afterwards

copeyhagen

ok heres another one, i have lost interest in having a 4th deck and will use that section of my 1d for cue monitor and sync and other ****.

anyways, i wanna use like a shift button, so when i press one button in and hit a second, a function will be performed different than if i just hit the second button alone.

do i have to mess with modifiers or is there an easier method?

cheers
rob

electrogrimey

copeyhagen wrote: »

ok heres another one, i have lost interest in having a 4th deck and will use that section of my 1d for cue monitor and sync and other ****.

anyways, i wanna use like a shift button, so when i press one button in and hit a second, a function will be performed different than if i just hit the second button alone.

do i have to mess with modifiers or is there an easier method?

cheers
rob

I tried mapping a shift button to my Oxygen 8, but couldn't figure out how. I think modifiers are the only way. Although, it depends on the controller. If the controller comes with a shift button, like the X1, if you just hit learn, and then the shift button and whatever else, it will learn it as a shift function. If you want I'll have a look at the X1 mapping for the shift button, and see if I can figure anything out.

copeyhagen

electrogrimey wrote: »

I tried mapping a shift button to my Oxygen 8, but couldn't figure out how. I think modifiers are the only way. Although, it depends on the controller. If the controller comes with a shift button, like the X1, if you just hit learn, and then the shift button and whatever else, it will learn it as a shift function. If you want I'll have a look at the X1 mapping for the shift button, and see if I can figure anything out.

yeh cheers electro, havin a fiddle with it here now before the lads come over for our pre timewarp beer session

electrogrimey

Just found this, might help:

To help you understand how to create a mod button, I’m going to try to explain using an example that turns a MOD on when pressed, off when pressed again. Additionally, an LED comes on when it has been pressed, and off when it’s pressed again.

So to begin, we’re going to want to make our first MOD. Go to Add > Modifier #1. Now you have an new modifier to work with! Hit “learn” followed by hitting whatever button it is on your MIDI controller that you want to control this MOD. Next, you want to select your interaction mode. Choose “direct” for this example. Next, you want to select what MOD you want it to alter, so select “M1” in the modifier section and select a value of “0”. Next, you want to look at button options and change the “set to value” to “1”. This means when you hit the button and the MOD state (M1) is equal to “0”, it will change the M1 value to 1.

M1=0

You hit the button

M1=1

Cool, so now you set the modifier to 1 but you want to get it back down to, oh, 0.
Hit “duplicate” while the current Modifier #1 is selected, and change the Modifier value from M1 = 0, to M1 = 1. Also, as I’m sure you already figured out, you want to change “set to value” to “0”.
Now the button should work like this:

M1=0

Hit button

M1=1

Hit button a second time

M1=0

Pretty simple stuff right? Well, that’s just an easy explanation of modifiers but how do we get them to work? For the next example we’re simply going to add an LED on/off, so that when the button is pressed and M1=1, an LED light turns on. Then when hit again, it turns off! I have the VCI-100 with LED’s built into the buttons, so just for the sake of learning use a button that has an LED.

Start by hitting duplicate on the Modifier #1, and on the Interaction Mode select “Output” and the type of controller should automatically select “LED” We want this LED to turn on when M1=1, so in modifier select M1=1. For LED options (I still don’t QUITE understand LED options) Do 0-1 for Controller-range, and 0-127 for Midi-Range. Check blend, and leave Invert unchecked, unless you want M1=1 to make the LED turn off, and M1=0 for it to turn on.

Right now you should have a simple button that when pressed, turns an LED on, and when pressed again it turns the LED off. Whoop de doo, let’s give it a function. Our goal for this MOD is so that when M1=0 another button will turn EFX1 on/off for deck A, and when M1=1 the same button will function as a on/off for EFX2

Add> Mixer> Effect unit 1 on

Hit learn, and press the button you want on your MIDI controller. Set interaction mode to “Toggle”(so that hitting the button once =on, and again =off) and set Assignment to whatever deck you want to control the EFX for. Since we want this one to work when M1=0, select Modifer (M1) and Value (0)

Test the button out. When you have the modifier LED off (meaning M1=0) does the button toggle the EFX unit on/off? When you hit the Mod button (setting M1=1) does the EFX button cease to function? Well, let me know if it doesn’t lol. Cool, so we’ve got that down. Can you guess how we’re going to make it toggle EFX 2?

Add>Mixer>Effects unit2 on

Learn the same button you selected for EFX unit 1 on, select toggle for interaction mode, same assignment. In the mod section, as you guessed, Select M1=1. Hit your mod button and see if it toggles the on/off of EFX unit 2.

Well there you have it, an extremely simple example and explanation from a noob who just started messing with Traktor Pro’s Midi half a week ago. I have a few buttons set up for MODs on my VCI, mostly so I can pack the features I want with the limited space. I’ll include my .TSI, but it’s made to work with both my VCI-100 and MPD24, so it probably won’t do everything you want if you try to use it.

electrogrimey

Another guide here.

copeyhagen

electrogrimey wrote: »

Just found this, might help:

i have been going by that guide myself, have the modifier set up, both modifiers.

then i try to set the button and it turns it on ok but somethings deffo wrong.

electrogrimey

copeyhagen wrote: »

i have been going by that guide myself, have the modifier set up, both modifiers.

then i try to set the button and it turns it on ok but somethings deffo wrong.

Did what I should have done at the start...I read the manual. Says this:

Simple SHIFT function
The following example mapping assigns the PLAY function to a button when pressed alone, and the SYNC function to the same button when pressed in combination with another button.
► Add > Deck > Transport > Deck Play/Pause
► Modifier M1: Val = 0
► Interaction Mode: Toggle
► LEARN to PLAY Button on controller
► Add > Deck > Tempo > Deck Sync Tempo/ Phase
► Modifier M1: Val = 1
► Interaction > Toggle
► LEARN to the same PLAY Button on controller
► Add > Modifier > Modifier #1
► Interaction > Hold / Value = 1
► LEARN to SHIFT Button on controller