That’s an obvious given. DJ Tech Tools is all about customization, Traktor is pretty much the only really good heavy duty DJ software that allows for extensive customization and across the board compatibility with custom hardware. Why the heck would Serato solutions really be all that popular on DJTT when Serato’s approach is a integrated hardware + software solution? Pretty much a given.
That’s why i bought my S4. I wanted it to all be fully plug’n’play. I don’t want to mess with stuff that doesn’t just work 100% of the time. Reliability is what i’m after since DJ’ing is my job.
I honestly can’t think of another dedicated DJ software package that has comparable features, versatility (particularly in regards to midi mapping), and freedom with hardware that TP provides without going the whole hog Ableton style DAW route.
VDJ allows for more customization and cunning tricks via it’s xml maps from what i’ve seen compared with traktor. it has built in scripting and i’ve seen people even implement twitch style slicers etc - so traktor doesn’t win there for sure.
djdecks supports very flexible xml and also embedded scripts too - which is being merged into VDJ in some way for the next release afaik.
mixxx supports embedded javascript (i think?) scripting so lets u do way more without 3rd party software (like my midimasher) which will be more and more useful over time as they add/improve features.
haven’t looked in detail into torq 2 so not sure there - but it does have an open XML format for it’s config which should be a hell of a lot easier to edit than being forced into using the NI controller manager - just not sure what u can and can’t do with it.
the main advantage i think of traktor over most others are the awesome effects that are available - but to say it’s the most versatile for mapping is def not correct imho - and i own/use traktor btw and am not intending to switch any time soon - so i’m def not biased against traktor - far from it.
so with regards to midi+scripting, in many ways traktor is one of the weakest of the bunch. itch doesn’t have this kind of customisation but that’s a conscious choice ofc.
I don’t think you understood my point. The things you’ve pointed out are mostly in regards to flexibility with customization but they come at the cost of complexity. I don’t feel that VDJ, Mixx, and DJD are comparable from the full package perspective.
Yes, you have the flexibility for scripting but the problem with that is that one seriously needs to get even deeper and dirtier with them then they had to do even with Traktor (and let’s face it, Traktor is nowhere considered a cakewalk to MIDI map, but at least one did not have to go into full blown coder territory). Basically, I don’t feel that they are more powerful, what I felt like they did with VDJ, Mixx, and DJD was that they did not make mapping proprietary. It’s like trying to win the argument that Linux is better than OSX or Windows while ignoring the fact that Linux has the major prohibitive nature of being inaccessible to most people.
Lastly, let’s not forget that Traktor Pro 2.5 is right around the corner and is going to have it’s own bag of tricks…
true - tho traktor’s control manager is no walk in the park either… but i agree it easy for simple stuff.
indeed i can’t wait for 2.5 to come out… just hoping it’s a free upgrade, but no biggie if it’s not - so long as not too expensive. i can’t wait to start mapping the new sample deck stuff…
I think that it might actually have a slicer function built in this time around. Seems to have become a DJ software standard at this point from all the new controllers featuring a slicer-like feature.
that would be pretty cool - as there’s no ideal way of implementing a slicer in traktor with extra software due to the way you can’t stack certain commands together, i.e: needing a 3ms delay after sending a beatjump +2 before sending a beatjump +1 to jump to beat 3 (after initially sending out a “jump to active cue” type command)
i’m dying to see what extra mapping stuff they may have added. would be cool if they added a slicer natively since it’s been so popular with the twitch. they would be kind of stupid not to… tho i hadn’t really thought about that possibility till u mentioned it
i think the djtt custom vci400 is meant to have a slicer builtin too? i can only guess they have the same issues i had with stacking commands via my midimasher app.
you mean their X1 will? their new F1 must be the most perfect controller for the new sample deck stuff in 2.5 since they’ve been designed hand in hand - tho i still think the K2 is what i want (as those new awesome looking behringer units are maybe 6 months off hitting the shelves)
pads on the F1 are probably going to be a lot nicer than the K2 ones - for sample deck mashing anyway - but a K2 should make for awesome control of eq/level/kills/transport for 4 decks…
be interesting to see what the new behringer ones are like - not that i am short of pad controllers tho with an lpd8 and 2x launchpads
I like Itch, just started using it with my Twitch and despite a few hiccups its all good and I have come from using TP2. I would use TP2 with the Twitch but the standard mapping is pretty bad and I am not confident enough mapping my own layout with modifiers etc so I hope the new Traktor (2.5?) has a new dedicated Twitch map that uses the capability of the software and hardware to its full potential.
I think with the VCI-400 EG edition, I think that they have probably got the slicer style function in there in a roundabout way. Probably baked into the actual hardware firmware rather than it being an actual TP2 mapping. I could be wrong but that seems the more plausible way to do it seeing how Traktor is a pretty closed off and proprietary piece of software.
yep, basically what i meant. they’re pretty much embedding in the vci i guess the code that i have in my midimasher - or at least sending out the same beatjumps etc to traktor that i have to.
i don’t think there’s any other way atm to implement a slicer in traktor without using a method based on that blog entry on djtt a few months back which is to jump to a hotcue and then send 0, 1 or 2 beatjumps to get to the place u needed to be. the “pads animation” could all be done within the vci ofc, synched off the beat phase monitor, which is what my midimasher script does too.
be very interesting to see it in action anyway… main problem with my own previous implementation was that the 3ms delays that had to be inserted actually delayed all events from being processed, but now they get queued up, which is what i would expect their vci firmware to do.
unless they have some cunning backdoor into traktor to do the beatjumps… tho then i guess they would have used a different method in that blog post.
I doubt that there is any real good solution around the lag in this instance because from what I can tell, it’s basically firing off a sequence of button input but it’s essentially doing the same series of actions in the Traktor software itself as opposed to Itch where that functionality is actually baked in at the application level. Basically, unless Traktor actually has the functionality baked it, it’s never going to perform perfectly like the slicer mode does in Itch (with the Twitch hardware of course, seeing how software functions are turned on or off in Itch depending on what controller it recognizes is connected, though I guess if one was to go the length of reverse engineering Twitch and Itch, theoretically you can jury rig a non-Twitch controller to have access to the slicer function).
i can’t wait for 2.5 to come out… just hoping it’s a free upgrade, but no biggie if it’s not - so long as not too expensive. i can’t wait to start mapping the new sample deck stuff…