Beginner APC DJ setup - Ableton or Traktor?

**thengz** · 03-01-2011, 10:54 AM

Hey guys, I'm pretty new to DJing but I've been doing a whole lot of reading anything I can get my hands on, and I think I've got the basis of my setup going.

Ideally I wanted to venture into production (and still do, that's why I bought the Live upgrade) but I'm more focused on Djing after watching some of Ean's videos among others! Digital is definitely the way to go, I've decided. I've already got a small but growing collection of tracks from when I discovered beatport 9 months ago.

Altogether I have:
Macbook 2.4 Ghz (plans to max out my RAM soon)
Akai APC20
Akai LPD8
M-Audio Keysation 88E
and a pair of KRK Rokit 6s.

The KRKs are the newest addition, the APC and LPD8 I've been playing with for a couple months now.

I'm also running a full version of Live 8 that's been serving it's purpose quite well but I was curious about using a more traditional DJ software. From what I've read Traktor Pro would be perfect using one of the custom mappings floating around here. A local guy on Craigslist is selling his copy of Traktor Pro and an Audio 2 DJ sound card for $100. It seems like an awesome deal and would kind of tie up my kit. I was also thinking of a dedicated mixer, any ideas? I've seen a lot of good things written about the BCF2000, but I dunno if it's necessary. I'm really interested in doing a lot of beat and cue point juggling, mixing up tracks on the fly.

If I buy the copy of TP does he need to unregister it or anything?

Thanks guys

**fullenglishpint** · 03-01-2011, 11:01 AM

Welcome to the forum!

I'd say definitely go for that deal. In exactly 1 month they're releasing Traktor Pro 2 which has a reasonably cheap update price from TP1, and the A2DJ is a very good quality soundcard.

There's not necessarily any need to go for a mixer just yet since you have the faders on your APC, but it certainly wouldn't do any harm since it's not exactly designed for straight up 2 or 4 deck traditional mixing. You'd have better control of EQs etc.

Read the native instruments online support guide to handing over a licence, I don't think it's that difficult.

**biosyn** · 03-01-2011, 04:44 PM

As someone who has an APC40, and has tried to use it for Traktor, here's my 2 cents:

With your setup, stick to Ableton. With Traktor you really want the streamlined 2 deck symmetrical experience (I don't know how else to word it).

But if you want something inexpensive to round out your setup, go with an X-Session Pro. Though these days, there are even better controllers out there that are pretty cheap.

**Rasti Datajay** · 03-01-2011, 05:00 PM

Originally Posted by biosyn

As someone who has an APC40, and has tried to use it for Traktor, here's my 2 cents:

With your setup, stick to Ableton. With Traktor you really want the streamlined 2 deck symmetrical experience (I don't know how else to word it).

Good define !!
Some body had to name it !!
"2DSE" from now on, stands for: 2 deck symmetrical experience

(sorry i had to remove "streamlined", to fit the 4 letter word category)

**Garygary1** · 03-01-2011, 08:50 PM

make sure that the guy has unregistered his Traktor pro. seriously

**falseads** · 03-02-2011, 01:27 AM

Originally Posted by biosyn

As someone who has an APC40, and has tried to use it for Traktor, here's my 2 cents:

With your setup, stick to Ableton. With Traktor you really want the streamlined 2 deck symmetrical experience (I don't know how else to word it).

But if you want something inexpensive to round out your setup, go with an X-Session Pro. Though these days, there are even better controllers out there that are pretty cheap.

I love my apc40 with traktor. As much if not more than my vci.