So Traktor's effects on the fly...

[Sn0wday]

I can't decide if i'm simply being narrow-minded and not creative enough, or being realistic.

On the real, the majority of Traktors effects are useless, and even more useless on the fly.

Is this the general consensus?

I use stuff like Delay or Gater when I have it planned out to some extent, even Transpose stretch on vocal samples. I can use filter without planning, Ice Verb is pretty easy to use with out planning. Beatmasher you can use on the fly I guess, but it gets pretty tiresome.

The rest? I deem useless. Flanger? Really? Does that EVER sound good? Even using Reverb on the fly is risky because of how heavy handed it sounds unless you have it tweaked and worked out to begin with.

Any tips on incorporating more effects? I think they're fun, and gives me something to do. But I can't decide if I'm just wasting my time and if they're simply taking away from the mix.

Thoughts?

[Audeo]

I agree. In my opinion all Traktor's Effects have a very quick action radius. They go from nothing to WTF IS HAPPENING very quickly. Reverb is a great example. First there's nothing and when you turn it up slightly, there is bass flying around everywhere. Quite unhealthy. Filters have the exact same problem. When in the middle, they're silent but when you even look at them wrong, they cut out half the sound spectrum.

If only NI would adjust that..

[Sn0wday]

Is this easily fixed by getting an external mixer with external effects?

Or are ALL effects sort of like this, relatively gimmicky.

[firebr4nd]

Is this easily fixed by getting an external mixer with external effects?

Or are ALL effects sort of like this, relatively gimmicky.

Try chaining them, you can get some cool sounds on the fly once you know what ones work well together.

[rdale]

+1 on chaining, i think it makes a big difference what you have to fire them off with. i'm a midifighter fan boy for the instant grat mapping, makes it easy to use lots of effects effectively.

[rdej47]

One of the best things I ever did was read the FX section of the manual. Gives you a much better understanding of how all the effects work. Also you'll soon realize you get waaay more control over FX in single FX mode. So far I find that DJTT has the right idea, find some great FX values/parameters that work, map those to a single button that will instantly load and turn on those fx.

[dj matt blaze]

I think its a matter of taking the time to experiment with chaining and also control. Even at its simplest, every effect still has a wet/dry control and an effects range. Its knowing when and how to manipulate that to enhance your mix. Sure, if you just hit an effect in the middle of a track for no apparent reason, it can sound out of place, not add anything to your mix, and just sound like you are putting in an effect just for the sake of it. When used with other effects, or for a build, or a drop, or a transition, or with a loop, effects can be a very powerful tool. Traktor Pro is a professional DJ software that give you the tools, its up to you to learn them inside and out and get creative to get the most of out of those tools.

[tgunn897]

Also check out some videos by "army of me" on youtube, this young lady has a really tight grasp on things efx wise and i have learned a shit ton from her in these regards. highly recommended

[bobalandi]

Also check out some videos by "army of me" on youtube, this young lady has a really tight grasp on things efx wise and i have learned a shit ton from her in these regards. highly recommended

I second this, she's super good!

[Shishdisma]

Well honestly, you're right, most of the effects don't sound very good, and the ones that do are heavily contextual, but that doesn't stop the average "controllerist" from laying on them and religiously adhering to Traktor for them. But shhhh, we don't talk about that here.