Torn Between Traktor and Ableton for Playing Live

[Bebopbob]

Sure it's more of a personal preference I guess, but I want to get some opinions on what program you think would be better to not DJ, but 'play' my own songs to an audience.

Again, I'm not trying to dj a party or anything. This is for an open mic night, our first show. We have about 10-12 tracks we're going to play with live drums.

This is where I come to a fork in the road. I could either play the tracks in traktor and try my best to blend them together, orrrr chop up each track in ableton and launch clips.

However, if I chop them up in ableton, do I keep them all in one set, or multiple sets? Also, I could run full tracks in ableton and 'dj' them in there. Ahhh, so many choices!

This whole finally playing live is mind-boggling.

I know there are probably a hundred and one threads like this already and I'm taking the time to search for them, but it's always nice to ask your own specific question as well.

Thanks.

[login]

abletn of course, but it takes more time putting it together

[H20nly]

if you want to play, not DJ then why use DJ software to simulate DJing? i say roll with Live and *bookmark* funken's tutorial to help with conversions if you got lost along the way.

just an opinion though...

[The Carpet Cleaner]

In your case i say use traktor with new F1 controllers. You'll have a blast.

For me, Live is more to produce in a live environment, but in your studio.

Traktor on the other hand is made to perform.

It's fool proof and more stable.

Example : you or someone accidentally pull of the usb cable of your audio interface :
-with Live, your screwed (it crashes or you have to restart the program).
-with traktor (and one of their audio interface, even the cheapest), you simply plug back the USB and it works again. Details like that are invaluable.

[Vios]

If you want more power, more controls, and to not simply DJ, there's no question that Ableton Live is your bet, versus traktor. That being said it takes a lot more time to learn and use Live properly. For a set that's only a few days away it might be worth sticking to Traktor just for that set, especially if you're already familiar with it.

Otherwise this is a really good tutorial for performing for the first time in Live:

Moving From The Studio to Live Performance For The First Time

[Tarekith]

Traktor seems likea weird way to do it to me, but then again this is a Live forum. I love Traktor for DJing, but for playing my own stuff live, well....

[UnCL0NED]

Do you ask the same question on the Traktor forum?

[Bebopbob]

Thanks Funken and Vlos. I've watched Tom Cosm's before. Super informative. Pretty sure that's the route I'm taking, just trying to wrap my head around a couple other minor things.
Traktor is definitely not the way to go for what I'm looking to do live.

Cheers!

[102455]

I'm going to throw a curveball in here and suggest having a look at software such as Mixmeister or Mashup by the Mixed In Key guys.

It's really designed for creating mix tapes, but could well be suited to playing a set of backing tracks.