I get down with Traktor sync … But do you guys think it degrades sound quality?
I use sync … but I’m not the hugest fan of it … Not for any “purist” reasoning regarding beatmatching properly … But, because I feel like it degrades the quality of my sound. Even at the true bpm of the synced song. I feel like I can hear the sub bass get tighter and the vocals lose a graininess when I deactivate sync.
Now .. I do use Key Lock .. and KNOW that, that will be the source of most of my degradation. But I stick to rules when I play to offset these limitations … One of those being to mostly stick within + or - 7 BPM of the original track … AND … believe or not … I never change the key of any of my songs. I just mix harmonically based on the songs in my library’s true keys.
I find myself using sync as kind of a helping hand through my tougher transitions … but I try to kill it ASAP. And every time I do … I swear I notice things tighten up a touch.
Look at the Transport section in the settings of Traktor. Under key lock, set both to fast cpu. There is a super noticeable difference between slow and fast when songs are key locked. Maybe that difference is what you are hearing.
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I’m gonna check that out shortly! I hope mine is set on slow … because I don’t recall ever noticing that parameter. If this works … You’re getting a night of drinking on me .. if we’re ever in the same city! Thanks for taking the time to reply!
i don’t notice any quality difference but i don’t use keylock either. when i tried using it on the fast cpu settings i had a problem with glitches and pops in tsp 2.5 so i just turned it off and all was fine. i haven’t upgraded to the latest traktor to see if this was fixed, but to be honest i’ve never really liked keylock for the reason that it does tend to degrade the audio quality.
did you say +/- 7 bpms? that seems like quite a lot at house tempo…maybe not as bad if you play d&b. that would be pushing you past 6% at slower bpms. you should really be sticking under 3% or maybe even 2% if you want to be really safe. if you turn keylock off, the key makes a full change at 6% and anything less than 2-3% isn’t going to throw your mixes out of harmony in my experience.
I think you’re right … I think my problem is having “key lock” on even at 0% … I don’t recall exactly what convinced me to ultimately leave it on at all times. I don’t use it. I think I had a flukey trainwreck and scared myself into using that crutch as opposed to correcting my technique that lead to said trainwreck.
I don’t think there is any possible degradation in sound quality when key lock is on and the track’s pitch is at +/- 0%. There is no time stretching to be done by the algorithm so why would it?
