Is Traktor in trouble
id love to hear some opinions on this subject
I don’t think any software is in trouble. Each program seems to be catering to a specific group, some groups with more software solutions than others. I think this just adds to available arsenal for Live users.
Vinyl control doesn’t really make much of a difference. If you like Traktor’s interface you’re going to live traktor’s interface.
If you like Ableton’s then you like Ableton. And they are so vastly different, at that.
I think NI Traktor could in trouble, i can see alot of user making the switch to Ableton given enough time (thats if traktor stays as it is)
But then i am sure NI have some unexpected stuff up their sleeves too 
Time will tell !
traktor and ableton are two different beasts…
theres more preparation to an ableton set, and if the crowd aint vibing to your selection its difficult to change what you had in mind - i dont fancy warping or bringing in untested tracks in ableton, whereas in traktor i can just beatmatch them and give it a go
so no, i dont see traktor going away anytime soon
You can use time code vinyls with Traktor already, they just need to add warp markers and VST support in the new version and everythings cool again.
I think your missing the point of just how much max for live is going to change all that for djs
honestly, not that impressed. i guess it’s not really my bag. i love traktor, and have respect for ableton..but until there’s something i see that appeals to me, or see it demonstrated in a way that makes me say “oh man that’s what i want to do”.. i say traktor is for me.
vst support would be awesome though.
Re: Is Traktor in trouble
That’s the thing about m4l, you decide what you want to do then you do it. No longer are you kept to the boundries of what what the software manufacturer allows you to do. You get an idea and you do it, without having to wait for the company to give you the feature you have been wishing for. Pretty much you immagination and your CPU power are the only things holding you back.
maybe, we shall wait and see… more interesting will be what they are coming up with serato.. i have a valid live 7 licence so i am intrigued
i still dont see how max for live will make ableton easier at bringing in unwarped tracks?
Yeah but if you dont have the Serato Hardware you wont be able to use the new Ableton/Serato software.
just watched the m4l video on the ableton site.
i may have been wrong about it. 
Re: Is Traktor in trouble
maybe, we shall wait and see… more interesting will be what they are coming up with serato.. i have a valid live 7 licence so i am intrigued
i still dont see how max for live will make ableton easier at bringing in unwarped tracks?[/QUOTE]
In ableton most tracks are as easy to grid as in traktor. It’s only tracks with changing tempos that are dificult. If you don’t want to grid at all you could simply create a live patch that acts like a traditional turntable. Like I said the limit now is only your imagination m4l opens up some huge doors.
M4l, i believe, will breath some new life into my VCI-100.
woooo…time code with ableton sounds yummmmy…
yeah i know its easy to warp tracks in live, thats not the issue.
my point is you dont want to be warping tracks in the middle of a set, in traktor all i do is beatmatch it by ear using pitch faders - simple.
maybe you could create a patch to re-create this in max4live but traktor has this capability now, so i dont see how live is going to blow traktor out of the water by copying this feature?
plus ableton has no cue points, looping is a pain in the ass to say the least and it doesnt read mp3 metadata so i cant tell the key of a track, you gonna write patches for all these issues?
and to all who think creating patches in max4live is gonna be walk in the park, think again, its gonna be frustrating and buggy
but saying all that i still hope max4live is gonna be great, as i have a copy of ableton and love it… i still feel traktor is the daddy of dj’ing tho
I also think that M4L could be a game changer. The point being that it can create an eco-system on top of Ableton. Someone could sit down and programm DVS support appearently. So why not also programm on the fly looping like in Traktor? Quantize magic?
The difference to Traktor is that this is an eco-system that pushes the bounds away. Ableton will be a platform and not just a single product. With Traktor whenever you hit the limits you have to either accept them or switch to something else. With M4L you can just extend Ableton when you hit the limits .. or others can do it for you.
If i don’t, someone else for sure will
now all they need is OSC and AAC support to make me a happy camper ..
as cool as m4l is, when I’m in the mood for djing the last thing I want to think about is mickey mousing around with programming my own instruments/patches when there are software’s like traktor that already have what I need available to let me do the work I want to do.
As it is DJing is a huge time investment to do it properly for those of us who are more than hobbyists. On top of the obvious chores like finding music and organizing playlists, there’s also networking/self promotion, gigs/ event promoting, as well as producing music/remixing - just to scratch the surface.
Where would one find the time to also program their own software? I’m sure it’s not impossible to squeeze it in, but if I have the choice I will choose something that’s ready for me out of the box with all the tools I need instead of the the D.I.Y. alternative - max4live.
To me that’s why I think software like Traktor is safe and sound for now, but Native Instruments is going to really need to up their game with the successor to Traktor Pro or else they could definitely be left in the dust when more flexible alternatives become available to the market. Up until the last couple years the DJ software realm has been ruled by Traktor but now that DJs and software manufacturers are giving digital djing more attention we’re gonna see many more programs and innovations like m4l that may very well give Native Instruments a run for their money.
If we’re lucky this could mean a really really good successor to TraktorPro that is the ultimate balance of intuitive user friendly software that we love about Traktor and extreme flexibility more similar to Ableton. I’ve got my fingers crossed! 