Cue points
So, when you get a bunch of new tracks, where do you put your cue points in them? Just wondering if there were standard sort of places to put them, because I’m just starting out, really. When I was recording a mix a couple of weeks back, I set up cue points for each track, specifically for that mix (eg when the next track was meant to come in, when to release a loop, that sort of thing) but obviously that’s no good if you’re doing an unplanned set (ie most of the time).
Cheers!
Personally :
That way i always know i can hit certain buttons without paying to much attention and i know i can get to the right part of a track, especially important for the Load/Start point.
Using the same method all the time is vital.
I’ve recently started to set one at every major change in the song. If it’s a simple song i’ll put some in on the more subtle changes. I drop temp cues when i need to create a little variation. It’s works pretty good for me right now, but this could all change soon. And i do this when mixing with 4 decks. For my top 40, r’nb, funk, and soul; the cue points are all over the place, but when i play these styles i only mix 2 decks and use c&d for sampling, and creating some extra rhythm.
I usually put them in major changes of the song also. That way when im mixing into a song if I want to cut the song im mixing out of straight to vocals I can, or even if I want to jump to a loop.
I used to set up my cues for cue juggling for vocals and stuff but slowly leaning away towards it, unless its just to obvious to ignore , than I will set up cues for cue juggling.
Outro loop was the first thing i start doing with Cues really.
That way…you never run out of track!
SAFE!
I pretty much do it this way, but I’ll do an intro loop sometimes. Sometimes I’ll use them to mark where vocals start or end and I’ll mark them with fade out and fade in markers so they stand out.
Sorry for digging up an old thread, but I was wondering how this is going to work with the S4. Since it has four que buttons, you wouldn’t be able to use them for juggling if you have que points set up like this, since que 1 and 2 are used.
I was wondering about this because Traktor uses que 1 as a grid marker, so would this force you to manually set que 5 as grid marker, so you can use 1234 on the fly to juggle? Or is it set up that S4 uses 5678 for the que buttons?
^ I was wondering that and im now putting the grid in slot 8 to save space. Then a loop in and loop out, and a big change and brake down in slots 1-4. Im assuming there must be a shift function to get 5-8, if not can always make one. Or use a x1 or lpd8.
Could somebody please enlighten me on this?
^Not sure exactly what you need but… Yes you would have to manually move the grid cue point if you want to use 1-4 to juggle on the s4. As the s4 come out the box the cues it would trigger are 1-4. Options to use all 8 on the s4 would require id say a modifier to access 5-8 on the 1-4 buttons or on the sampler buttons.
Or move the sample functions to a kontrol x1 as i here others are using it for or move them to something like the lpd8. Or just use one of those controllers to trigger your cue points.
The way I do it is:
Cue 1 - Start of the beat
Cue 8 - Grid marker on the 2nd beat
Cue 2 - Where the bass starts pumping
Cue 3 - First break
Cue 4 - Where the beat kicks in again
Cue 5 - Next break
etc
This way I can use all 4 cue buttons without sacrificing one for grid marker.
I just put the grid marker somewhere I’d put a cue point and use it as a normal cue point.
The reason I’m asking this, is because in Ean’s vid, he uses shift to delete the cue points. Won’t this mess with the grid marker?
Yes, deleting cue point 1 removes the beat grid unless you’ve changed it to something else. It would be nice to see beatgrids separated from hotcue points in a future version of traktor!
If setting up a track for beat juggling I tend to use 5-8 since there’s a dedicated 5-8 juggle mode on the VCI-100SE, I leave 1 as the beat marker (though sometimes place it at a drop or change in the beat) and place 2-4 at other useful points in the song like breakdowns. My method isn’t set in stone but it’s pretty easy to work out what’s at each cue from the mini wave form in traktor.
There’s a workaround to get your grid marker so that it isn’t a hotcue, but it’s pretty painful and not really worth all the stuffing around to get it, especially if doing it for every track in your collection
Could you possibly link me to an explanation of how this works?
Thanks!
Maybe I’ll have to change the S4 mapping so the hot cues use 5-8, guess that would be the best option 
im pretty sure the s4 has a secondary mode to use the upper buttons as hotcues.
otherwise, and if i’m not mistaken, pressing shift+deck select puts the s4 in an empty bank, aka “user mode”
back, on topic:
If you drop a beatgrid/beat marker first, on say #1, then set a cue point where you want your first cue to be(this will be #2), now use the left and right arrows or the drop down to select you cue point, now click Map and then click 1. This will preserve the autogrid/beatmarker but will free up your cue points, by mapping this to #1. Once you’ve done this you can even delete your cue point, and the grid marker will still be there.
That was a lot less confusing in my head. This is the way i always do it, since i don’t want to waste valuable cues. I’ve been wondering why people have beat markers as cue points. Never made since until now.
If you still need help i might be able to make a little tutorial video.
That sounds a lot quicker than the way I’ve been doing it drew! Does this also avoid Traktor’s irritating habit of reassigning hotcues when you drop another one?