Do We Really Need Gain Knobs?
If your a traktor user then you most likely use auto gain- so if your mixing digitally (all internally with a vci-100, 300 and so on) do you really need a gain knob?
I have found, at times, the auto-gain to not be very helpful. The times are so few and far between, but sometimes I am spinning music that is mixed so low (ie: early 80’s industrial that was probably recorded in a basement directly into a four track recorder and mixed down using a sock) that I need to pull the gain back on the newer track and boost the volume on the old one.
But, all in all, I’d say no. An understanding of gain/volume/levels: yes. A gain knob… no
now I need to figure out what I’m going to remap my gain knob to do
Yea im with you on the gain knobs…they are pointless.
Make them into superknobs! And then glue something to is so you dont have to pinch the damn thing.
I tend to use faders and gain. So for me I need them.
(For headroom and on manual gain correction)
Also making use of two knobs mapped as x fader and loco x fader.
Of course you still need gain knobs; autogain is nowhere near reliable enough, and sometimes the eqs are blunt instruments - to cut a certain frequency you want to lose will also take the oomph out of a sound you want to keep in the mix, without a gain knob how would you compensate?
My 2p.
I use autogain, but sometimes you still need to manually adjust the gain.
I guess if you wanted, you could transcode all your songs with the volume auto-adjusted.
Another that uses auto gain on traktor. I use the gain in the begining of the track, to pull it up if nessesary. After that I tend to use the volume slider to alter the db through out the song… its faster. But I kinda like it. Then again, I could see why its a waste of space to.
just wondering- I am working on a mapping of the vci-300 (there are precious few knobs) and was considering re-using the gains as a single fx blend.
it seems like gain is too important to loose but not nearly as important as it was 5 years ago.
I think that you the fx blend nob would be more beneficial. You can always grab you mouse for 2 seconds.
i’ve been looking for this auto-gain feature in traktor and can’t seem to find it. where is it?
I like to use gain as a “gate.” I can have a reverb or some other fx engaged and then drop the gain out.. so the end of the effect trails out but no more music goes into it.
auto gain is in your master channel settings I think. At the top with all the other information.
Interesting, I’m going to try that out 
Death to gain knobs i say, i gain the tracks correctly as part of beat griding. Watching the levels of the songs with an RMS meter gives you a pretty good idea of the perceived loudness, its a good idea to load up an RMS meter Ableton as a VST if you are routing your audio from Traktor. That will get you in the general vicinity of the gain needed, then you need to compare the level of the audio against another track that you have already worked on. Its a pretty good idea to have a “control track” for your levels too, to try to keep the perceived loudness uniform across all your tracks.
/me gives Bento a karatechop…
Baaaaah!
Rotaries for ever! 
What do rotaries have to do with my post ? Its a post about not using any knob whatsoever.
Everything, can’t you see… I am the mounty. 
if they improved the auto gain capabilities of traktor then I wouldnt nead to use them but until then i think its important to have the option should you need it…
i would rather have it and not need it - then not have it and need it
My two cents exactly!