Quant/Sync working different on S4?

**Milgauss** · 01-19-2011, 01:26 AM

Okay, so this is driving me nuts:

In Ean's "AeroDynamic" video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5IfY1IBbh4

...he has the Daft Punk track (deck B) set to "Sync" and is able to beat juggle the hot cues (deck is not playing) off of the beat and/or rapidly. On my S4, I'm not able to do this with Quant turned either on or off.

More info:

Deck A (Planet Rock)
Master
Playing

Deck B (AeroDynamic)
Sync ON
Quant OFF
Not playing

With Sync ON and Quant OFF, I'm not able to quickly press the hot cues. It's like it's trying to quantize them to the beat even though Quant is OFF. If I press play on deck B, I'm able to beat juggle the hot cues off beat/rapidly as expected.

In the video, Ean clearly has Sync turned ON and is able to activate the hot cues at any time. I can only achieve this by turning Sync OFF on deck B.

Am I missing something?

UPDATE: Looking at the mp3s Ean provided, the hot cues don't appear to be exactly on the beat grids (?). I disabled auto-beat gridding and re-added them to the collection just to be sure. They definitely appear to be slightly off.

**VanGogo** · 01-19-2011, 02:47 AM

No you are not missing anything. That is the way it worked in TPro, and the way it works In S4.
I don't think he is getting a true rapid hit in the beginning of the video. With sync and quant on if you hit the button quickly it will jump to before the cue point at times, on the cue at times, etc. He only rapidly hits buttons a few times at the beginning, but it isn't the same note each time he hits it. Watch the Aerodynamic cue points when he hits them rapidly and listen to the notes.

At the end of the video SYNC IS OFF. So he is getting the rapid fire cue hits.

**Milgauss** · 01-19-2011, 11:51 AM

UPDATE:

Okay, I've been able to verify that Traktor S4 is in fact behaving very differently than Traktor Pro.

Here is the link for Ean's mp3s: http://www.djtechtools.com/MP3%20MIx...c%20Juggle.zip

Deck A: Planet Rock (Master, Playing)
Deck B: Aerodynamic (Sync, Stopped)
Quant ON

In Traktor Pro, you can initiate the hot cues on off-beats. In Traktor S4, you CANNOT initiate the hot cues on off-beats.

In Ean's video, you can see that the phase meter is not moving while he's beat juggling in the beginning (with deck B stopped and Sync turned on). When you try this in Traktor S4 (deck B stopped and Sync turned on), you see the phase meter go crazy as it tries to quantize the hot cue into the playing track. This is REGARDLESS of the setting of Quant.

My theory is that Traktor Pro is using Beat Sync (beat only, no phase sync) when the deck is stopped while Traktor S4 is using Tempo Sync (beat and phase sync) while the deck is stopped.

This seems like a bug, and Traktor S4 should follow the setting of Quant!

**fullenglishpint** · 01-19-2011, 11:54 AM

Dare I say... why not just turn off sync? If you want rapid fire cues then surely you want sync off anyway...

**Milgauss** · 01-19-2011, 12:04 PM

So that when I do eventually hit play, Sync mode is already on and quantized to the playing deck. Duplicating Ean's routine on an S4 is much harder than in Traktor Pro. Try it.

I'm more interested in why two versions of Traktor (that are supposed to be the same) behave completely differently.

**fullenglishpint** · 01-19-2011, 12:09 PM

Originally Posted by Milgauss

So that when I do eventually hit play, Sync mode is already on and quantized to the playing deck. Duplicating Ean's routine on an S4 is much harder than in Traktor Pro. Try it.

I'm more interested in why two versions of Traktor (that are supposed to be the same) behave completely differently.

Ok I'll just do that on my nonexistent S4

I've done a fair bit of cue juggling with TSP on my VCI and I can tell you that with sync on you cannot start a cue anything other than quantised and synced. It's kind of the point of the sync button, that while it's locked it can't go out of sync. Hit sync just before/after you press play and you'll be fine.

Btw, the 2 softwares really aren't supposed to be the same... where would be the fun in that!

**Milgauss** · 01-19-2011, 12:30 PM

I'm switching back-and-forth between Traktor Pro and Traktor S4 right now, and they are definitely different. I think it's less that they are operating differently, but that Traktor Pro is more cleanly playing the quantized hot cue press where in Traktor S4 it is more garbled and cuts-out.

I guess it is what it is -- just need to re-train my muscle memory a bit.

**basspenetrator** · 01-19-2011, 12:49 PM

i noticed that too.. did you start a thread over at NI forum?!

**Milgauss** · 01-19-2011, 12:56 PM

I tried to post at NI in Kontrol S4 -> Technical Issues, but it said it's waiting for "moderator approval" (?). Never posted over at there before; if it doesn't appear soon, I'll try again.