I feel like i’m finally starting to get the hang of proper use of FX with Traktor. Before it just felt like a fog when trying to us FX I had no idea where I was going with them. Now after watching some videos, especially Ean’s X1 video my mind is racing with possibilities. There is one thing i’m still struggling with. After using FX to do some really cool build ups it seems when I take them out it totally loses the impact. It feels like the cut is just too sharp from some dynamic FX to just a plain playing track. Does anyone here have any suggestions. It’s very noticeable with delay, reverb, beatmasher/slicer.
Even in Eans videos when he releases the effect the track just seems to slam in so perfectly.
Yeah,I’m going through the same dilemma too. I think just having cue points on songs to be able to pop to a really intense part after a buildup might work. but I haven’t practiced enough.
when i first started using traktor effects, my instinct was to have the dry/wet up way to high, nearly 100%. for example, the reverb effect. I would crank up the dry wet and begin to start to increasing the other parameters for a build-up. at 100% wet, the reverb engulfs the entire dynamic spectrum and even raised the tracks levels noticeably. naturally I found that setting the dry wet of some effects to 50% or below created a nice sounding build-up with out zapping the energy out of the drop.
so to summarize, try having your effects a bit more dry.
Agreed with Sm00sh. Also experiment with using effects that limit frequencies (pass filters, etc) and/or simultaneously remove frequencies with your EQ’s as you culminate a build up (try cutting the lows right at the end then slamming them on at the drop). This way there is actually more sound returning after the drop than there was in the last 4 bars of your build. Good luck.
I never use an effect to long. Like at longest 8 counts or something so it won’t become boring. Maybe it depends on the music u spin but i use effects like a drum fill, not to long before a new sound is added in a track so you won’t return to “just the same sound” (if u know what i mean).
iceverb, not too ‘epic’ and still leaves a trail. if you’ve got controls for every knob, just bring it in a little bit towards the end then release.
as an example;
in bank one i’ve got peak filter / gater / reverb. on my nanopad up/ down controls the filter, left/right controls gater and reverb. so i keep my finger all the way left while setting the filter, then move it right to start some verb going on, but only go as far as needed.
as the gaters there to, though, it chops things up and gives the verb room to breathe a bit more, and all the way right creates some choppped filtered static sounds which while flattening things down really have an impact when released on a big beat or bass drop. and at the speed it chops still gives it some rhythmic qualities.
I break my effects up personally into different groups of effects that sound better in different dry / wet ranges
Personally for instance i think the Beat Masher, Gater and Filter sound best together chained at 100%. This is really in particular with the beatmasher as when using the beat masher with anything less than 100% wet i feel there is too much phase cancellation going on and it just doesn’t sound nice to my ears.
Alot of the other effects sound better at less than 100% (the reverb is a really good example for instance).
Some really good points made in this thread thus far. Callibrating your ears to hand coordination takes time. Personally mostly I like to follow J-curve and exponential functions (instead of linear) as they feel more natural to me. What does this mean? I typically don’t slowly fade in a build up with a linear speed but hold it back more and push it the last few beats. This keeps the boring factor in check and also mimics the patterns of almost any natural phenomena–I believe there is a sub-conscious attraction to these patterns.
Also when using FX for a build up I find it helps to slow reduce the volume on that channel as the FX start to increase the overall volume too much. Then in the moment before the drop remove the FX and pump the volume back up to full.
Drops are all about impact - either the bass or the overall volume level needs to increase significantly on the drop,
Wow awesome information here guys, DJTT FTW once again. I had definitely been making the mistake of cranking the dry/wet all the time. I’ll try experimenting with these things a bit more. I’m loving the FX in Traktor now, has anyone else recently had the AHA moment with FX. For the longest time I just couldn’t make anything sound good with FX, now all the sudden it’s like I just know what sound I want and how to make it work using FX.
