Moving from Traktor to Ableton. Need help in adjusting?

eskay · Post by **eskay** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:12 pm

In the midsts of not using Traktor anymore for DJ'ing, I have a couple of questions about using Live as a DJ tool. First of all how quickly can I warp tracks. I haven't used Live since version 3, so that wasn't that quick. Somebody told me that, live 7 has automatic warping, which is quicker. Mind you I will be using, mp3's.

Secondly I wanted to know If I can use key commands, to loop tracks on the fly. The can I choose for how many bars it will loop or beats for that matter. Again with using key commands , and not the mouse. Also is how about creating CD stutters on the audio files? Like the CDJ's do, or any other DJ CD player.

Any help will be appreciated.

Many thanks.

Spiros.

p.s. Last question. Can I have cue pointers, saved in the audio file and jump to those points while the file is playing. Again, I would like to be able to do this, with key commands.

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:16 pm

Um, Traktor does what you are asking for so why not just use that?

Not to mention Live is going to have to convert all your mp3s to Wavs, depending on your set I hope you have plenty of drive space.

eskay · Post by **eskay** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:21 pm

Well, first of all I know Live, can use mp3's. Secondly I want to use something simpler and organically laid out better than Traktor. The most important for me though is I want to use some of my favorite plug ins for manipulating my tracks in Live. I'm not happy with the effects in Traktor at all.

I hope somebody can answer my original question?

duckpow · Post by **duckpow** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 1:38 pm

The full version of Live can use mp3, and plays it quite well. The warpping isn't slow, but I suggest, even though i love to make my set on the fly, to load 10 songs or so before you start the set. Then you always have something to fall back on if all other fail.

And for you last question, just make different scenes for the same song and jump between them.

ciw · Post by **ciw** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 1:43 pm

Live 5 onwards does autowarp (which can be done in real time with a cue channel if you're quick, though not without the mouse). If you pre-warp your tracks everything is easy, depends whether you want to have to do that in advance. It also supports MP3s, though it does just do this by decoding them to a cache somewhere on disk. It doesn't do instant looping from the keyboard.

ciw · Post by **ciw** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 1:44 pm

Cue 10 people telling me all the ways we can loop stuff in live. Yes I know. It doesn't work the same way as traktor though. Whether it's better or worse depends on what you do with it.

Pepehouse · Post by **Pepehouse** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 11:36 pm

Live has no cue points and sounds worse than Traktor and you'll also have to level your tracks manually which sucks and is very time consuming, I wouldn't change.

NapalmBob · Post by **NapalmBob** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:11 am

Live, although it seems to be advertised as such, is NOT a DJ tool. Its an audio/midi sequencer or DAW (or whatever else is the buzzword these days) that is designed specifically for performing live. Note: DJ's play other peoples music, artists/producers create and perform their own.

Yes, I'm sure you can load up some tracks and crossfade around and all that, but Live lacks the best features for true DJing. If, on the other hand, you want to make your own music and blend it with existing tracks, I'm sure you can use Live for that too.

IMHO, I suggest Deckadance. Its relatively cheap. It loads VST's and VSTi's and is a VSTi or standalone itself. It also has a nifty peakscope thingy for beatmatching without headphones on.

eskay · Post by **eskay** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 9:38 am

Hmmmm.....that a real bummer. I've just been hearing so much about how everybody uses Live for DJ'ing and how superior it is to Traktor. I guess I will stick with Traktor for now. I find it really strange though how you cannot loop on the fly a part of a song in Live, when it is also marketed as the ultimate performance tool. Doesn't make much sense to me.

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 1:11 pm

You might get better info and a warner reception on DJing with Live here

http://www.abletonlivedj.com

Live can do or emulate a lot of things with workarounds but sometimes you don't want workarounds and just want software to do certain things automatically. IMO if another software package does what you want in the box then just go with that.