Quality Ableton vs. Serato/Traktor

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
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wellwellwellwell
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Quality Ableton vs. Serato/Traktor

Post by wellwellwellwell » Fri Jun 09, 2023 7:47 pm

I DJ now some years with Ableton. I like it a lot but one thing which I just often notice is that the sound quality by playing for example a MP3 320kbit on Ableton just sound less good than on Traktor or Serato. (Sometimes I just do not have it in WAV)
I tried Compressor on Master, Limiter on Master is a must.
Increase sampling rate in preferences. Played around with some mastering VST. But nothing comes to the sound quality of Traktor or Serato.
I do not think that the crowd this really notices but I do.

I guess Traktor or Serato has a better master.
What are your tips for the master channel to get closer to the other products?

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Re: Quality Ableton vs. Serato/Traktor

Post by login » Fri Jun 09, 2023 9:27 pm

The difference must be in the warping algorithm, that is something Live does differently to traktor and Serato.

the second thing that will be different is auto gain, tracks can have different average loudness, traktor has autogain to compensate for this, live doesn't

Other thing, how are you mixing? what effects are you using?

IMHO djing in Live is too much hassle, prefer to use traktor.

wellwellwellwell
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Re: Quality Ableton vs. Serato/Traktor

Post by wellwellwellwell » Fri Jun 09, 2023 10:07 pm

I mostly use Complex Pro as Warping Mode.
I mix with two "audio tracks rows like Deck1 and 2" and one shots on 3rd and 4th row.
Sometimes even with an instrument on a 5th row.
I use MLovers Effects on the Decks. But i can disable them and still feel like the quality is not as good as with Traktor.
It might be the auto gain.

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Re: Quality Ableton vs. Serato/Traktor

Post by Tarekith » Fri Jun 09, 2023 11:56 pm

I'm 95% sure that both Live and Tractor use the same Zplane time stretching algorithms, so I would definitely try to volume match them as best you can before deciding if one sounds better than another.

FWIW, I've used both Live and Traktor for DJing for many, many years now and never thought when everything is equal that one sounded better than the other. If anything the fact you can try different algorithms in Live is a huge plus, Complex Pro is not always the best choice depending on tempo and the source files.
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