Traktor Pro INTO Ableton Live - it's heaven right now!

[Madureira]

Hi guys,

So, recently I got into djing with traktor. I wanted to have the best of both worlds: Ableton's flexibility, and Traktor's dj interface with proper dj-friendly browing, auto-grid, EQ on the fly etc.

I also love traktor's remix deck concept (somewhat Ableton inspired), but I found lame that they would hardcode them into their own controllers. Lame it's an understatement.

I finally got to make everything work!

Here's the setup:

Soundflower (free software) allows me to send Traktor audio to Ableton, without any latency issues.
Using external mixing in Traktor options, I routed everyting into Ableton in such way, that now my crossfader only works in Ableton. In other words the actual mixing is done inside Ableton. I then mapped my controller's crossfader in Ableton.

Denon MC6000 - Controls everything in traktor. Only Deck A and B. Deck C and D are live inputs for my partner in crime.
Novation Launchpad - regular clip launcher, 4 tracks side A and 4 tracks side B with about 40 rows of clips (instead of the 16 that Traktor remix decks allows).
Evolution UC-33 - just the faders mapped to individual track volume on my sample tracks in ableton.
Novation Nocturn - Still figuring out what to do with it, probably will map it to some crazy effects.

Ableton is working as a slave, the master tempo comes from Traktor via midi-clock. Works great, as long as you keep your master tempo fixed in traktor. In other words, your tracks follow the master tempo, not the other way around.

So here's the basic concept. Best of both worlds. Traktor DJ ease of use (for me at least), together with Abletons creative possibilities.

If anyone wants to know more, shoot some questions.

I like to share my new found knowledge.

Cheers,
DJ Boudjouman

[Madureira]

Apparently there's a pretty good guide right here:

http://teragonaudio.com/article/DJing-w ... ether.html

Anyhow, comments/questions...share the knowledge!

[xzusa8ky]

.....i dont like the static of traktor so i do it the other way around! Live into live that really rocks the socks out of traktor.....

[alien factory]

nice setup, very similar to mine, BUT... !!!!

as soon as Ableton live is in external slave mode the internal delay compensation is OFF, means that my MASCHINE is not in sync any more with Ableton itself... !!!

So I have to turn off syncing Ableton lIve and Traktor and sync them manually...

@Madureira: How do you deal with the circumstance that internal delay compensation inside ableton is off when sync mode is Slave ???

Cheers
Stefan

[Madureira]

nice setup, very similar to mine, BUT... !!!!

@Madureira: How do you deal with the circumstance that internal delay compensation inside ableton is off when sync mode is Slave ???

Cheers
Stefan

I just map the Sync button in Traktor to a scene launch button in my launchpad, and just press sync when nothing is playing or on a downbeat like 1-2-3-4 with a kick playing in ableton. That way it looks like you're just making a build-up with a kick, but you're actually sync-ing everything.

Something else I allways do is before playing any music, put both metronomes working (Traktor + Ableton) and then play with the midi offset in the preferences, under the Traktor virtual midi input - which is where your midi clock comes into.

There's also this way:

http://www.djtechtools.com/2012/09/30/f ... -together/

Scroll down and search for the sub-heading MAD ZACH’S ON-THE-FLY SYNCING SECRET

[beats me]

It’s kind of disappointing that neither Ableton nor Native Instruments seem to be interested in a solution that should be dead simple. The software complements each other and I don’t think either would lose business to the other if they just played nice together…they could probably actually gain customers.

[Madureira]

It’s kind of disappointing that neither Ableton nor Native Instruments seem to be interested in a solution that should be dead simple. The software complements each other and I don’t think either would lose business to the other if they just played nice together…they could probably actually gain customers.

I completely agree, but that's a lost cause. Since Ableton decided to match up with Serato, I wouldn't get my hopes up.

My take on it, is that it was a pretty wrong move from Ableton. Traktor is becoming much more popular than Serato, and people are starting to see the possibilities of working with Traktor alone so...

In the meantime, as long as soundflower keeps on working, i'm a happy camper!

[sigabort]

Agreed. Never really understood the serato rather than traktor hookup other than the fact that some abe guys came from NI in the first place so maybe history coming into play. I'd say tho that as most abe producers have NI products and integration, this would be the smarter route to have taken.

[Tarekith]

Agreed. Never really understood the serato rather than traktor hookup other than the fact that some abe guys came from NI in the first place so maybe history coming into play. I'd say tho that as most abe producers have NI products and integration, this would be the smarter route to have taken.

+1, meh to Serato.

[beats me]

I don’t know where we are at now with the state of things, but at the time of the partnership Serato was the preferred software of choice in the US and mostly used by Hip Hop DJs and Traktor was the software of choice outside the US mostly used by House DJs. I’d say at this point Hip Hop has fallen off a cliff and just about all popular music of any genre has fused with House. I'd say the advantage goes to Traktor now, especially with the hardware they've released over the last couple years.

I much prefer Traktor for DJing, never spun vinyl so I never saw the need to emulate that. Obviously I also own Live but never had the desire to use the 2 together, but that’s largely because it sounds like a huge hassle. If it were easy I’d probably at least experiment with it.

Props for posting a method on here, but that’s still too much effort for my lazy ass.

[Madureira]

I don’t know where we are at now with the state of things, but at the time of the partnership Serato was the preferred software of choice in the US and mostly used by Hip Hop DJs and Traktor was the software of choice outside the US mostly used by House DJs. I’d say at this point Hip Hop has fallen off a cliff and just about all popular music of any genre has fused with House. I'd say the advantage goes to Traktor now, especially with the hardware they've released over the last couple years.

I much prefer Traktor for DJing, never spun vinyl so I never saw the need to emulate that. Obviously I also own Live but never had the desire to use the 2 together, but that’s largely because it sounds like a huge hassle. If it were easy I’d probably at least experiment with it.

Props for posting a method on here, but that’s still too much effort for my lazy ass.

I urge you to give it a try, the possibilities are endless!!!