Serato vs. Traktor Scrach - Pitch Freedom?!

[dodge]

Yeah you would just have to hit the relative button to get it back into relative mode. Just realize that if you switch back to relative it will go back to whatever pitch it is on the cdj/tt's pitch slider, and not the internal. So if you pitched it up/down more than the range on the cdj/tt you will hear the pitch change.

Not true, if you are on internal mode, your time code vinyls are spinning with your needles on them and you hit the relative button, it will switch to relative mode and the internal pitch will stay at the speed is was when you were mixing internally, therefore making a seamless transition from internal to relative (Traktor has no way of knowing where the external pitch slider is, it only knows what tempo the track is playing at due to how fast the record is spinning). Say you are on internal mode with the pitch at +6%, your external pitch on the TT is at -2%, if you hit relative mode the internal pitch will stay at +6%. If this didn't happen things would become an absolute nightmare as tracks would suddenly slow down or speed up when making the transition from internal to relative. The only time the internal pitch will snap to a different position is a.) when you hit sync so it matches the other deck, or b.) when you load a new track into one of the internal decks the pitch resets itself back to zero.

Listen, Apricotjam, trust me when I say what ever you want Traktor to do DJ wise it can do, they've thought of everything. It's a powerful & deep program. The only thing it can't do is sync AND CONSTANTLY LOCK 2 decks if they are both running on time code vinyl (2 timecode decks are only sync'd momentarily when you hit the sync button).

If you're that concerned, list everything you need to know in this post and I'll make a video showing you the answers

[apricotandpearjam]

VIDEO...... perfect.... well these are the main things:

if you could show me how i could pitch using the internal and switch back to relative whilst keeping the music rolling id appreciate it.

the sync button i dont want to use as im going to be mixing tracks in serato/traktor to tracks in ableton, not the other way round so its important this works in 2 ways...

1. when i turn up to a club with only +-8 turntables i can mix records out of range with each other.

2. just mix one tune loaded at a time into the virtual decks at any tempo i want using timecode.

I also want to see how quickly i can jump to the next loop? Are cues loops also or are the always independent?

I have a little mini midi keyboard with 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 & 32 beats assigned for each deck. This allows me at any point during the song to loop a section v quickly and i can choose how long it is depending on which button i hit.

I have seen that traktor does this but i think you have to loop, then scroll down to how short/long you want your loops to be.... this would loose the spontaneous looping fun for me!

Also, any advice on moving from serato to traktor.

Sound Quality.... some people tell me serato has better sound quality.

Can it adjust all your tracks to the same volume like Serato?

Ill post any more ideas i have.

Thanks!

[dodge]

I'll try get a video together. But in the meantime I'll answer what questions I can. I can't comment on running traktor along side ableton, never tried it. I can only comment on each program independently as that's how I've worked with them. What I do know is you can set a master clock and have them both running along with each other as a rewire application, I very much doubt you can do it with timecode though, I'd imagine it only works internally. If you want to change the master tempo you'd probably have to assign a midi controller to do it (again, Ive not tried this so you might have to ask someone else that question).

Answering questions on a Traktor basis alone;

1. Yes you can 100% turn up to a club and mix any tune with each other regardless of how wide the deck pitch range is, and you CAN do this with time code, this is exactly how I work and I probably wouldn't have bought Traktor if you couldn't do it. I use time code and I do mash up sets where I mix shit like hip-hop at around 90bpm with house thats around 130bpm or even DnB that's around 170bpm. I have a folder with all my beat gridded tracks in and mix them all together. Check in the mixes forum, there's a mix I did called something like 'big fucking bouncy mix' or some shit, I mix jay-z with some house track, and then I do the same with beastie boys and some other house track.

2. Yes you can play any tune at any tempo using time code. But, bare in mind if you boot up traktor (again forget about ableton for a minute), and the first tune you load is say 100bpm but you want it to run at 170bpm (outside a +/-8% pitch range)... remembering this is the very first tune you load into any deck so therefore you have no other tune (at 170bpm) to sync it to, you have to either 1.) type in a master tempo of 170bpm and then hit sync so that the internal pitch jumps momentarily to that tempo then ride the external pitch to keep it at 170bpm, or 2.) have an external midi fader or knob assigned to the pitch fader on the internal deck that you can slide up to reach 170bpm, or 3.) use the mouse to manually drag the internal fader up to reach 170bpm, or 4.) have a midi fader or knob assigned to the master tempo, slide that up to 170bpm then hit sync to snap the internal pitch fader up to 170bpm. It wouldn't surprise me if there are more ways then that.

3. You can jump to loops and cues instantly, there is no delay... UNLESS, you have the master quantise settings set to snap, which basically means that when you hit a cue or loop button while another track is playing it will always be in time no matter what. So if you are half way through 2 beats (not bars, so we're only talking a small amount of time here), and you hit a cue button, it won't play until you are bang on the beat (it's a good thing). Basically what that means is if you want to do crazy freestyle drum rolls or mad hits that are shorter than one beat in length you have to turn the snap function off. One thing you can't do is jump from one cue point to a different cue point on a completely different track instantly, there's a split second delay when loading a new track (not really a big deal).

4. You can assign the loops to have individual buttons for 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 etc, beats. OR you can assign loop length buttons, or loop in points, out points, and so on. Basically the answer to that question is yes, and some.

5. Only used Serato for about 10 seconds when a guy in a club let me use it to check the latency with scratching so can't comment on moving over from it.

6. Sound quality; I used Final Scratch before Traktor and fuck me, the sound quality difference is amazing. Somebody put a post up in this forum about the differences between Serato and Traktor. It was the first time they used Traktor in a club but had been using Serato for ages. He said he couldn't believe how good the quality was on Traktor compared to Serato, he said he heard things in the music he hadn't heard before on tunes he's played loads of time on the same system. So if anything I'd imagine Traktor out does Serato on the sound quality front. The post I'm talking about isn't that old so try search for it.

7. Yes, there is an auto volume level option so all the tracks you load are at the correct gain, I have mine on all the time. There is also a master limiter but I turn that off.

Ahhhhhh, damn that was a long ass response! You better be grateful for this shit cos I had no one tell me any of this, I had to figure it all out for myself!

Anyway, like I said before, anything you can think of DJ wise they probably already thought of it and the answer will probably be yes. What I'd recommend is going to your local DJ shop and trying it out for yourself. I dunno how many more questions I can answer, my head hurts! Nah, you're alright mate, hope all that helps.

Peace

[tombruton69]

you could sync the tracks with a button on your keyboard. you could do what you want to do but you would need a midi controller with faders to get the extra range. or you could slow a track down more by setting the timecode speed to 45 and hitting the 33 button to get it to play slower

[apricotandpearjam]

dodge.... thats unbelievable thankyou bro!!!!!

im still trying to decode it all but it all looks pretty promising.

i seriously need to find someone in the UK down south who has it!!!

ill let you know how i get on. if you do make that video holla, im sure its going to be super duper useful...

ez, benji

[apricotandpearjam]

PEEPS - This guy called Konix on the Serato forums did this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdATrZHMTYc

EXPLAINS EVERYTHING!!!