Traktor + Live?

[ze2be]

Hi guys.

Serato is really not for me. But im considering Traktor. for DJing obviously.
I know some of you have experience with it:
Can you run Traktor with its NI controller, and Live at the same time with the APC40, on the same laptop?? Id like to DJ 4 decks + add loops. If this is difficult, how is the sample player in Traktor, can you trigger audio loops like clips in Live Session?

I don't want to DJ with Live, because I want to be able to nudge each track individually.
Optionally MS Pinky with controller CD, but does it really work? No bugs, no risks??

I have Native Instruments Audio 8 DJ sound card, which should read control cds and control vinyl.

[Lamont]

I just bought 2 X1-Kontrol midi controllers and I also own the Audio 8 DJ interface and Traktor Scratch Pro.
I run Traktor Scratch Pro and Ableton Live 8.2 on a Macbook Pro 13".
Everything is running smoothly but I really had to add a lot of RAM.
6GB RAM is working good for me.

I use decks 1 and 2 for vinyl control and 3 and 4 for triggering loops, one shot sounds ...
I control everything with the X1 controllers and they're plug and play, not a lot of setting up to do.

You can can even use the X1-Kontrol to map and control Ableton Live, you can also deactivate the the X1-Kontrol
in the midi set-up page in Ableton if you want.

I've been on Traktor for a month now and I haven't looked back, being a Scratch Live user.

[#1thelark]

Which version of Traktor are you talking about? Traktor Pro does not have a sample player, you need to join all your single samples into a large file and then you can trigger them via hotcues...
Only the upcoming Traktor S4 will incorporate sampleplayers.
Running Live8 and Traktor on the same laptop could be tricky on a PC... I just tried it and can use my internal Realtek soundcard for both programs (DirectX), but I doubt you will be able to do this with ASIO-drivers.
On a Mac maybe you could use Soundflower, or you might just run your Live into the DJmixer via the internal soundcard and Traktor via the Audio8 DJ.

[Lamont]

Indeed about the comment above about the sample player.
If you make one file with all of the samples in them that you need and assign cue points to them you'll have the same desired effect.

I use two sound cards, the Apogee Duet and the Audio 8 DJ.
SO there is a lot going on in my set up which requires the extra RAM.
There are many solutions.

[ze2be]

Ok, thanks! Yeah, I thought Traktor had samplers as well. Prob mix it up with other DJ software.
2 soundcards and 6 gb ram, it seems a bit heavy for my pc laptop. Cant use more then 3 gb on this 32 bit system anyway.

Maybe I mix it up with another DJ program. Theres one I belive with 4 decks, sample triggers, and a vst rack. M Audio? In that case I could play synths without Live. Theres also Decadance from the fruityloop devs. But what I Love with Djing with Live, is that I can play synths that duck to the kick, gate to my midi patterns, I can use midi effects, and so on. Im very curious if Ms Pinky for Max 4 Live is stable and easy/fast to use. In that case, all my wishes are covered.

Or would you say rather go with Traktor, its safe and stable? I am semi pro, as in I make half a living from this.

[jonesonyou]

Ok, thanks! Yeah, I thought Traktor had samplers as well. Prob mix it up with other DJ software.
2 soundcards and 6 gb ram, it seems a bit heavy for my pc laptop. Cant use more then 3 gb on this 32 bit system anyway.

Maybe I mix it up with another DJ program. Theres one I belive with 4 decks, sample triggers, and a vst rack. M Audio? In that case I could play synths without Live. Theres also Decadance from the fruityloop devs. But what I Love with Djing with Live, is that I can play synths that duck to the kick, gate to my midi patterns, I can use midi effects, and so on. Im very curious if Ms Pinky for Max 4 Live is stable and easy/fast to use. In that case, all my wishes are covered.

Or would you say rather go with Traktor, its safe and stable? I am semi pro, as in I make half a living from this.

I cant say I know for sure, but I do know James Zabiela uses traktor with control cds and Live on the same laptop. I dont know his exact setup though. Also Hawtin uses both, but not sure if he is still running 2 laptops for this, he maybe.

[ze2be]

Im reading about Ms Pinky. Seems dificult to set up, especially if your new to M4L. Hmm.

[JuanSOLO]

I have not used control CD's with Ms Pinky, but Pinky is very easy to set up. Right now it's not as good as Traktor, but it has some different options. However there is progress being made on Ms Pinky that may make it a real contender in the DVS market.

Ms Pinky really needs a better Cue Point setting procedure, as well as Looping needs to be sorted out. If these things get worked out pretty solid in the next update, it will really raise the bar for Ms Pinky. The nice part about it is running it natively in Live. It's runs about average on CPU as well. My set only spikes above 40% on the CPU meter when I start using dummy clips to activate my "Finger" and "Buffeater" plugs. I also run some Terekith EQ's, a couple of Live filter racks, and some other Live FXs.

However I really have just turned Live's session view into a giant browser. All the clips in my set are from Live's utility folder using the "silent" clip. I just name them accordingly to reference the right tracks in my Max path. That may sound complicated if you are new to M4L, but it's really simple.

Lastly, depending on how you load your audio into Ms Pinky, it can get a bit glitchy. For example I load clips using a button mapped to my APC40. One for Deck A one for Deck B. The button will load the "Highlighted Clip" in Pinky. About 20% of the time, if it is a large file, Pinky will have a brief glitchy audio drop out on both decks. This is due to Pinky looking through my Audio folder with a shit ton of audio and then loading the track. Considering the amount of music I keep in that folder it handles it surprisingly well. However this only happens when using the button/highlighted clip feature. If you just drag and drop the Audio from Live's Browser onto Pinky you wont ever get the glitch. This is another thing I am hoping will get sorted out.