Finally played out with Traktor Scratch last night..

So it happened.. I finally used Traktor Scratch out at a gig. :)

Last night i got a call from my mate (head DJ) and asked me to gig. Money was good and was only for 3 hours so i thought yeah no problem as it's at my residency anyways. As i was flicking through my playlists organising the final songs to burn my MP3 CD's i thought, the club will have <100 people tonight. Perfect chance to try Traktor because if it crashes i won't really be bothered as it would be empty.

So i sorted out my playlists, copied them from my iMac onto my Macbook Pro and tested a few things on my home setup (same as the clubs but a DJM700 instead of a DJM600). Packed my bag and away i went.

Wow packing my bag, unpacking, setting up etc takes much longer than turning up with a handful of CD's and headphones! Note: I have always been a Vinyl/CD DJ.

So this was when it got a bit scary, powering up the laptop and praying that everything works.. Indeed it did! Everything worked a treat. I used it for the whole night and quite enjoyed it.

Negatives:

I found myself staring at my computer screen a bit too much and i was only looking at the time remaining part!
The cue function for me is still a massive problem as i usually just hit play and beatmatch from there, but with the delay etc it irritated me a bit.

Positives:

Having all my music visually to look at rather than text mode on a CDJ..
Quite enjoyed it.

Wow Photobucket really screws up picture quality :blink:

http://i637.photobucket.com/albums/u...5/abb67993.jpg
http://i637.photobucket.com/albums/u...5/03ab1d20.jpg

Isnt traktor known to be buggy with timecode cds o.O ?
what i do in ssl is put the cdj in vinyl mode, press pay FAR before your ready to drop the track and hold the jog wheel down, helps cut that delay out a bit, or just mash the first cue point (as i do with my dicers if using vinyl)

EDIT: whereabouts is your resident gig? glasgow i presume?

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Originally Posted by Hoodless

Isnt traktor known to be buggy with timecode cds o.O ?
what i do in ssl is put the cdj in vinyl mode, press pay FAR before your ready to drop the track and hold the jog wheel down, helps cut that delay out a bit, or just mash the first cue point (as i do with my dicers if using vinyl)

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Yeah it's a known problem that if i'm correct in saying has been improved recently with the MK2 timecode and the SW updates.

I found a way around the whole cue issue as a temp solution but it would get irritating eventually. I was holding the jog down for a while but it just didn't feel right and i was missing my timing etc. Want to try SSL though.

But this thread was just basically a thread to say i'v tried the digital world i enjoyed it and probably will give it a go again soon since i'm an old schooler ;)

I havent tried traktors timecode since 1.2.1 or something so i cant comment on how much better the delay times are between that and SSL, though i got used to hitting play a half second before the drop

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I was holding the jog down for a while but it just didn't feel right

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yeah you get used to that, and you hold it for less and less time. i did that for quite a while, and still do it on vinyl >.<

guess you never seen my edit ;) wheres your residency about?

glad everything went well for you mate. but i dont understand what you guys are talking about with the dalays on cue/play and buggy timecode?? i use 2.0.3 and obviously the mk1 control media and have never had any such issues :huh: always use absolute mode in software and vinyl mode on cdj, perhaps ive just got used to the slight delay without knowing it??

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Originally Posted by Hoodless

I havent tried traktors timecode since 1.2.1 or something so i cant comment on how much better the delay times are between that and SSL, though i got used to hitting play a half second before the drop

yeah you get used to that, and you hold it for less and less time. i did that for quite a while, and still do it on vinyl >.<
guess you never seen my edit ;) wheres your residency about?

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Yeah i think i will have to get used to hitting the play half a second before too if that's how i want to use the decks..
I still do everything traditionally on TT's but just prefer using different methods on CDJ's :)

My residency is at Deja Vu in Peterhead. Not a big place but the club holds about 700 people roughly. :)

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Originally Posted by brian_johnstone

glad everything went well for you mate. but i dont understand what you guys are talking about with the dalays on cue/play and buggy timecode?? i use 2.0.3 and obviously the mk1 control media and have never had any such issues :huh: always use absolute mode in software and vinyl mode on cdj, perhaps ive just got used to the slight delay without knowing it??

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Yeah perhaps you have just got used to the delay as i use the same settings as you and it's doing my head in. But it's something i can adjust to, i love the software all round and definitely get used to using it.

I used to use traktor scratch before but it performs so bad that I could never again. For me the time code always had problems, either crashing, cueing not working, play not work, play backwards. I mean my laptop crash at least 3-4 times using it. For a controller traktor is great. For timecode its terrrrrrible imo. Better off going serato for timecode.

But I also just use CDs/USB for simplicity and reliability. Plus wayyyy lesss gear to carry.

I just can't deal with tc CDs or vinyl for playing out. Both serato and an traktor have failed on me.

X1 all the way, got my two deck mapping set up nice

For me its not so much the convenience. Its the reliability. I have had my comp crash because traktor crashed way too many times, plus set up is always a pain in the ass. Additionally switching between DJs is a HUGE pain in the ass.

I'f I'm playing a longer set myself, s2 traktor and x1 with a custom mapping. But for the gigs I play at big clubs warming up some DJs its just cds to cause less complication.

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Originally Posted by MaxOne

I just can't deal with tc CDs or vinyl for playing out. Both serato and an traktor have failed on me.

X1 all the way, got my two deck mapping set up nice

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ive had one crash in a year of using tsp and to be fair it was my own fault for not having my laptop optimised, and once a cdj went down on me, but since that incident i have mapped a scene on my nanopad to basic transport functions.

Glad you liked it, I was curious about your take on this,having you down as a gigging club dj on CDs...
Regarding the "looking at the laptop" too much thing - try playing in library mode, or maybe removing that info from your deck heading.
Sometimes I like to do that and only rely on the minute markers to see where I am. (Wish there was a "fundamentalist" mode where you can hide the cuepoints).
Setting up is a pain but at least with cdjs you take a lot of failure points out of the equation. It's a tad riskier with timecode vinyl especially in rougher environments as you might imagine...

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Originally Posted by guiltyblade

I used to use traktor scratch before but it performs so bad that I could never again. For me the time code always had problems, either crashing, cueing not working, play not work, play backwards. I mean my laptop crash at least 3-4 times using it. For a controller traktor is great. For timecode its terrrrrrible imo. Better off going serato for timecode.

But I also just use CDs/USB for simplicity and reliability. Plus wayyyy lesss gear to carry.

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I *touch wood* never had a problem with the time code CD's it was just the cue thing that pissed me off a bit but o well! I really want to try Serato, but there is no stores close by for me to try.. Closest is 300 miles away. lol!

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Originally Posted by MaxOne

I just can't deal with tc CDs or vinyl for playing out. Both serato and an traktor have failed on me.

X1 all the way, got my two deck mapping set up nice

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I considered doing a controller thing but i still like manually mixing, but i know i will eventually shift over some day :)

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Originally Posted by bumtsch

Glad you liked it, I was curious about your take on this,having you down as a gigging club dj on CDs...
Regarding the "looking at the laptop" too much thing - try playing in library mode, or maybe removing that info from your deck heading.
Sometimes I like to do that and only rely on the minute markers to see where I am. (Wish there was a "fundamentalist" mode where you can hide the cuepoints).
Setting up is a pain but at least with cdjs you take a lot of failure points out of the equation. It's a tad riskier with timecode vinyl especially in rougher environments as you might imagine...

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I know what your saying about removing the information etc to cause less distraction. But i think it was more of a concern incase something had happened like Traktor froze but i hadn't noticed and the music continued or something.

I know what you mean about the 'fundamental' thing, it would be cool if you could do something like that..

But yeah setting up and tearing down took so much longer than usual. I have yet to try the timecode vinyl in the club as the TT's in the club are unhooked just now due to some vibration issues were having. But i took this past Thursday as a big learning experience and overall apart from a few things that i can see past, i really enjoyed playing with the Timecodes.. Maybe HID with Traktor and 2000s might be a bit up more my street. But that's just expensive! haha!

The few times out that I've played out with traktor scratch have always gone fine.

But yes setup is a bit annoying. Overall though less annoying than burning CD's for me. However still annoying so thats why I ended up getting a controller.

That cue problem really pisses me off though, you don't get that problem with the vinyl timecode only with the CD. Really threw me off the first time I encountered it.