Am I Too Oldskool To Use Traktor?

[Mattalik]

Ok,

Here goes......

I am a vinyl Dj I play oldskool jungle and 90's jump up drum & bass

I don’t post much on here, but I am here.....watching....judging......

It seemed to me that Traktor was the program of choice for the majority on this forum (Not trying to start a fight here) so, I bit the bullet and decided to buy it after much....much reading.

I am not a sync dj (Again, not trying to start a fight) and I love mixing on vinyl, nothing beats it, so I purchased traktor A10 literally as a way to lighten the load, and have all the tracks at my fingertips, not having to dig through my crates of records, allowing me to mix more and faster.

I can’t get on with it though. I can mix on vinyl no problem, tight as you like and pretty efficiently. I don’t think Traktor plays like vinyl at all.
The best way to describe the problem I am having with it, is that it is slow to catch up. If that makes sense?
I don’t know how you guys mix, but once I have scratched the first beat, and dropped it in on my mixing point, I don’t touch the vinyl or platter again, until I am taking the record off. It’s all pitch control from there.

I am used to riding the pitch fader, but god damn! I have never had to do so much adjusting in my life, my mixes are all over the place.

Does anybody else have this problem, or am I doing something wrong?

It may be worth noting, that I have done a mod I saw on YouTube, where I no longer need the silver soundcard box that came with traktor, and I use the soundcard in my DB4 mixer.
I was having the same problem before I did this though, but thought it might be worth mentioning.

I am running it through a brand new macbook pro too, so I am pretty sure it’s not the laptop.

Thanks in advance guys, and if I have not explained myself properly, I will do my best to clarify.

Thanks.

Matt.

[Jester]

I started mucking around with traktor when i was 28 ... 37 now mate

[Mattalik]

Do you find that it doesnt feel like vinyl?

[Jester]

sounds like you need to sort your latency out matey, for timecode you should be aiming for around 10ms or better.

[Mattalik]

sounds like you need to sort your latency out matey, for timecode you should be aiming for around 10ms or better.

Thanks Jester, I will have a look at that....

Apreciate the reply mate.

Matt.

[LoopCat]

Let us know how you go. I do find it a little different. Taking pitch lock off might help as well to make it more familiar when trying to beat match. Just a thought.

[Patch]

Sounds like you may need to take a look at the "Tempo" section in Traktor's prefernces, mate.

Do you have the tempo range set to 8% (like 1200's/12010's)? Because, if it's set to a higher setting (10% or 16%, say) then your pitch adjustments will be taking bigger "jumps" than you are used to... You'll be making the same size adjustment that you make with real vinyl (with an 8% pitch range) but the adjustment that Traktor makes (if your settings are at 16%) will actually be DOUBLE the adjustment that you have made on the turntable.

But you'll DEFINITELY want to get as low alatency as possible... <5ms, ideally (mine, I think, is 2.3ms using a DJM-850).

And I know what you mean about Traktor being "slow to catch up". I remember having this problem. If you change your pitch from 0% to +8% quickly, Traktor would take a second or so to make the adjustment, right? I did fix this - but I can't remember how!!! I'll check my preferences when I get home tonight and report back...

This will definitely help:

http://blog.dubspot.com/traktor-pro-...spots-dj-endo/

And you're not "too old school".

Even if you wore a red Kangol and shell toes w/fat laces.

[goodbytes]

I've just been having this discussion on the NI forums, i was having the same problem. I felt like the mix just wouldn't hold... i lowered the latency to 192 (9.5ms) it had no impact on the performance of my machine and as far as i know lower is better. I also worked out the pitch is slightly more sensitive than if i was using regular vinyl, don't know if it's just me but felt like a teeny tiny adjustment on the pitch was just enough to keep the mix in, if i was moving 'as i normally would' when mixing regular vinyl it would be too much (hope that makes sense) ... Anyway, lower he latency give it another go, take more care when riding the pitch i'm sure it will be a massive improvement

[goodbytes]

Sounds like you may need to take a look at the "Tempo" section in Traktor's prefernces, mate.

Do you have the tempo range set to 8% (like 1200's/12010's)? Because, if it's set to a higher setting (10% or 16%, say) then your pitch adjustments will be taking bigger "jumps" than you are used to... You'll be making the same size adjustment that you make with real vinyl (with an 8% pitch range) but the adjustment that Traktor makes (if your settings are at 16%) will actually be DOUBLE the adjustment that you have made on the turntable.

I seen this mentioned a lot when i was looking for a solution but read that the tempo range only effects the 2 internal controller decks (i.e. s2/s4) .. i never tested it to see the difference so can't confirm, nor do i know if it's any different when using an A6.

[Mattalik]

Sounds like you may need to take a look at the "Tempo" section in Traktor's prefernces, mate.

Do you have the tempo range set to 8% (like 1200's/12010's)? Because, if it's set to a higher setting (10% or 16%, say) then your pitch adjustments will be taking bigger "jumps" than you are used to... You'll be making the same size adjustment that you make with real vinyl (with an 8% pitch range) but the adjustment that Traktor makes (if your settings are at 16%) will actually be DOUBLE the adjustment that you have made on the turntable.

But you'll DEFINITELY want to get as low alatency as possible... <5ms, ideally (mine, I think, is 2.3ms using a DJM-850).

And I know what you mean about Traktor being "slow to catch up". I remember having this problem. If you change your pitch from 0% to +8% quickly, Traktor would take a second or so to make the adjustment, right? I did fix this - but I can't remember how!!! I'll check my preferences when I get home tonight and report back...

This will definitely help:

http://blog.dubspot.com/traktor-pro-...spots-dj-endo/

And you're not "too old school".

Even if you wore a red Kangol and shell toes w/fat laces.

Thanks Patch,

I will have a play around, but am looking forward to your response.

Matt.