Ultimate setup for digital and external effects with Traktor Pro

Hi,

I am researching the ultimate setup for use with the internal effects in Traktor Pro and external effects units. I play a variety of music, but mostly reggae, dub, hip hop, afro-beat, so like to have a lot of control over eq and fx such as delay and reverb, and my main considerations are as follows:

1. Sound quality
2. Lots of flexibility with effects, including the use of external vintage effects units
3. Syncing digital effects to the BPM
4. Previewing internal and external effects before sending to the master output.
5. Applying effects to specific frequencies, ideally both internal and external effects.
6. Some control of the crossover for EQ/cut out.

As I understand it if I use a controller such as Traktor S8 or Allen & Heath Xone:DB4 I don't get an FX send/return for using external effects, so would have to just rely on using the master signal, which means less fine control of the external effects, no ability to preview the effects, apply to separate channels, etc (here I am presuming that I can preview internal/external effects before sending to the master output on most dedicated mixers with a FX send/return loop - is this correct?)

If I go for the Allen & Heath Xone:4D I get the FX send/return and midi control of Traktor, but I wonder whether I'd be better off opting for a dedicated mixer with soundcard and a couple of NI controllers, such as the the D2 or X1, to get controllers that are best mapped to Traktor? In terms of a dedicated mixer with soundcard I am interested in the Rane MP2015, expensive though it may be. In terms of controllers, I wouldn't need to use STEMS, but would like to be able to add samples to the mix using the Remix decks - is there much advantage of the D2 controller over the X1 controller for me?

I am wondering how the FX in the Xone:DB4 compare to the internal effects in Traktor, in terms of quality, BPM sync, etc?

I would be grateful for any advice in getting my ultimate setup together!

Thanks,

Nick

Attachment 26226

This is my set up and It can answer to your question.
I set in ableton some Fx channel. I can send from my Xone62 every channel to Ableton to apply the FX channel from ableton.
It 's mainly possible because the Aux send form the xone62 (also work with xonbe92 with 2 aux send) and a souncard with stereo input. Hope it will help you.

Hi Nick,

Some really specific questions there. I'll help where I can and leave the rest for others in the know :)

I am researching the ultimate setup for use with the internal effects in Traktor Pro and external effects units. I play a variety of music, but mostly reggae, dub, hip hop, afro-beat, so like to have a lot of control over eq and fx such as delay and reverb, and my main considerations are as follows:

1. Sound quality

Very much a question of personal taste and budget. You have companies such as Condessa, ARS, and Super Stereo at the top end, and a plethora of options at the mid - low range of the market.

I am entirely biased, but Allen & Heath sound quite good (to my ears) for a mid priced mixer. The Xone 92 is the pick of the bunch for what you are trying to do (i'll explain later), but you might be able to pick up a Xone 62 second hand that will do the job very well, has arguably better sounding filters and are, generally speaking, significantly cheaper in the second hand market.

2. Lots of flexibility with effects, including the use of external vintage effects units

The Xone 92 and 62 send and return setup gives you pre or post fade options, with full eq control over the return channel :)

3. Syncing digital effects to the BPM

If you are talking about Traktor and Ableton, this is entirely achievable. Plenty of tutorials on how to do it on Youtube. I'll leave the details to someone else as this is not part of my standard workflow.

4. Previewing internal and external effects before sending to the master output.

Xone 62 or 92 enable this.

5. Applying effects to specific frequencies, ideally both internal and external effects.

Full channel strip with 4 band eq on your return channel gives plenty of control with effects on the Xone 62 or 92. I have a 62 and have routed Traktor's effects externally to use the send and return feature as it gives much better control over the output of the effects. Obviously if you are routing external effects units, you will have the same 4 band eq control.

6. Some control of the crossover for EQ/cut out.

As I understand it if I use a controller such as Traktor S8 or Allen & Heath XoneB4 I don't get an FX send/return for using external effects, so would have to just rely on using the master signal, which means less fine control of the external effects, no ability to preview the effects, apply to separate channels, etc (here I am presuming that I can preview internal/external effects before sending to the master output on most dedicated mixers with a FX send/return loop - is this correct?)

I'll leave the S8 questions to others who own them.

If I go for the Allen & Heath Xone:4D I get the FX send/return and midi control of Traktor, but I wonder whether I'd be better off opting for a dedicated mixer with soundcard and a couple of NI controllers, such as the the D2 or X1, to get controllers that are best mapped to Traktor? In terms of a dedicated mixer with soundcard I am interested in the Rane MP2015, expensive though it may be. In terms of controllers, I wouldn't need to use STEMS, but would like to be able to add samples to the mix using the Remix decks - is there much advantage of the D2 controller over the X1 controller for me?


I haven't owned a Xone 4D, but I did own a Xone 3D. My preference is for a modular setup as it allows me to change things simply. From your previous questions, it seems as though having a mixer with a really good effects routing systems is your preference. My opinion is that the Xone 92 and 62 will be a better fit for you than the Xone 4D.

I am wondering how the FX in the XoneB4 compare to the internal effects in Traktor, in terms of quality, BPM sync, etc?

I would be grateful for any advice in getting my ultimate setup together!


Thanks,

Nick[/I]

Hi,

The effects of the db4 are studio grade effects and are really great, they sync up just fine, you can sync the db4 to traktor or let it calculate the bpm, only thing i noticed when using the looper function on the db4 when not synced to traktor it drifts out of time compared to the running tracks, if its synced to traktor it stays spot on. also the effects are more subtle and therefore more usable then the traktor effects witch you can still use of course

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GfA...?v=7GfA5C7B_9s

here is an complete overview of most of the effects

Mind you the db4 has no aux send and return, its possible to get the signal to a external effects unit and back but is a bit of a hassle