Just a lil background on myself. Im a Serato user who has been on their platform since their first release (1.2). Im also a beta tester for them. Prior to Serato I was on Final Scratch 1.1
Last night I took Traktor out and used it for a 6 hour dj set here in NYC. I imported my Serato Database into it - all my crates and cue points were in tact.
Let me start with Dislikes:
Searching - when I type in a song title, i find the song and load. I then hop to another crate/playlist. When I hop back to the first crate, the search query is still in the search box. I then have to X out and then proceed to find the next song. In a fast paced hip hop/mashup/house set where we flip songs and do gimmick-y things like drop a song chorus for a quick 4 bars then mix out, that extra step was cumbersome. The search query should auto-remove itself once you navigate away.
The magnifying glass in track collection view next to artist name. Many times I clicked on that lil magnifying glass mistakenly when I was simply trying to load the song. It then added the artist name to the search box. Does that really have to be there?
Load times of songs - when loading a song, it should start to play instantly. In Serato, I can load a song as the other deck is playing with both faders up and time it where the song loaded is loaded on beat and playing automatically. That lil 2 millisecond lag hampers the quickness of switching songs.
Theres no “load song to first cue point” like in Serato? I know you can set a load cue - but again - another extra step.
Preparation setup, setup screen, overall GUI - It seems its all designed by a computer geek rather than a DJ. You guys made some simple tasks way too complex. I tried to send songs to the Preperation shortcut.. I right clicked on song and sent it. I then clicked on the Preparation shortcut and VOILA, nothing happened. I know - I should read the manual - but I have never really read the Serato manual and still know the program inside and out - thats its beauty. Its workflow and layout is designed with a fast paced dj in mind. Traktor seems a lil too complex. The setup screen is a mess. You cant find what youre looking for. How about like 4 tabbed regions where in those regions things are split - sound routing, efx, midi, file management. In there put the sub-folders of the choices.
Can an active loop have a highlight on top of the waveform instead of just an Active button turned yellow?
Must the multi-core cables be so long? Im connecting the box next to the mixer, not next to the bathroom.
Now the likes:
Sound Quality - wow! I heard sounds in songs I have never heard in this club. I have djed there for over a year so i know how songs sound in there. The sound quality is top notch and even with Serato’s SL3 box, Traktors sound cant be touched.
Tracking stability - This is such a big deal for me. Im a mixer. I like to mix 2 records and let them ride out together for a while. With Traktor I can put a record on beat and never have to touch the pitch fader again. It felt just like using old vinyl. With Serato, the pitch fluctuates due to wow platter flutter. You constantly have to keep your hand on the pitch. Not on Traktor.
Efx sound great.
I like how when the needle gets to the end of the vinyl, the program stays in REL mode so u can still use the pitch on the turntable. Serato will switch to INT mode and u lose pitch control until u bring the needle back to the meat of the vinyl. Will this eventually burn out the end of the Traktor vinyl since the needle will stay in one non-ending groove?
Im not a big scratcher but I noticed that the there was hardly any latency. I was scratching a lil ahead of the beat cuz I got used to the tiny latency in Serato. Traktor is tighter.
Loops on the fly always stayed on beat due to the snap markers - love that!
Traktor overall is a great program. It needs to fix some workflow issues that Serato has mastered. The saying KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid is what comes to mind. I know its just some getting used to. But in a fast paced environment, the extra steps laid out could be cumbersome. Sound quality, tracking, effects - basically all the technical stuff - you guys got right. Just tweak the gui/workflow and it will be complete.
If you think this one’s workflow is cumbersome check out previous versions. I was only Traktor 3 for a short amount of time before it became Pro but I was totally lost in 3’s GUI, it was like a junkyard.
This is an annoyance with me too. Or anybody that hops on and wants to “play araound” with traktor. If i’m not wrong I think you can hit the ESC key and it will clear the field. Much easier than trying to click the X with your touchpad.
3) Load times of songs
This has messed up some of my mixes in the past
4) Theres no “load song to first cue point”
I wish I wish I wish
6) Can an active loop have a highlight on top
This is actually a very good suggestion. There were times that I was playing and I may have had a drink or two and it took me a bit to figure out that i had a loop on.
Next time you are DJing in NYC hit me up. I live out on Long Island.
If you hit escape when searching it doesn’t clear the search field as though you have pushed X, it only clears what you have written in the search box, but it is still in it’s search state with the cursor in the box. What I do is search for the track I want, click on it so it is highlighted then click on the X button and it takes you out of the search state with your box list in its entirety and the track you are after highlighted, you can then load that into one of the decks and carry on as normal.
Being able to load tracks and instantly have them play would be sweet. That pisses me off too. Didnt realise Serato deals with that. Before I bought Traktor I thought it would do it, kinda like a CDJ, if you set up cue points on one CD you can instantly juggle through the tracks on that one CD, was kinda annoyed when I realised Traktor didnt do it
You sound like you work like I do, quick mixing, throwing things over other tracks, mash-up style. Shame I live in England where most peeps are just playing minimal and tech house. I haven’t been able to find anyone into the mash-up set business yet.
really good post! I’ve just got ahole of serato to give it a go, having been a traktor user, and it’s interesting to hear what you have to say.
the geekyiness does bother me a bit - it’s a very crowded GUI in Traktor, and it can be a bit irritating, but i’m used to it now! However, i always loved the vertical waveforms in serato - which have been dropped for the new version (SL2)! weird shit..
I’m sure Traktor’ll tighten up - i agree the most important 2 things, Sound quality and tracking - Traktor have nailed over SSL..
maybe i’m being a tard, but i have the beta, and as far as i can tell the wave forms are horizontal. but i may be wrong, or it could be an option or something.
I always have a load cue set up to where I set my grid cue. Would be nice to be able to combine two cue points instead of taking up one extra spot if they are in the same place…
I completely agree with you on the search, the loop and the preparation. I never understood why they got rid of the Current Playlist and changed it to whatever they have it at now. It doesn’t make ANY sense to me. shrug
But it’s nice to see a good breakdown of opinions on these two softwares without it being something like “OMGWTF this cr@ked warzes sukzors” or whatever the hip kids are throwign down on the streets.
I dont get this issue of 'Load To First Cue Point"
A Load Marker is a cue point. The only difference is that its where the track will load to and its a Yellow marker rather than a Green one.
Remember if you have the option to load to first cue (Hot Cue) you will never have the Load Marker option unless a Load Marker always takes precedence.
Surely if you want to load to first Cue, that is where you are going to play a track from therefore it is a load point.
Can someone tell me what im missing cus i here this request a lot and i fear that its one of those things that people want for the sake of it.
I think JD76 was making a point that as a Serato user, his first cue is automatically his load point, so when he converted his selection maybe that first cue point could have been automatically turned into a load marker by the conversion tools released by NI, instead of him having to change all his first cue points into load markers if he continues to use traktor.
I have a search command mapped to each one of my list browser buttons so every time I enter the browser the mouse automatically focuses on the search bar and highlights any pervious search query. as soon as i enter the browser I begin typing.
Agreed. This was the default behaviour in Traktor 3.
I now have 2 hot keys:
Search & Search Clear. It works but i preferred the old way
Im not sure about this. Loading a track and having it play instantly with the Fader UP???
Maybe, Traktor is doing way more than SSL when you load a track especially if the track has a grid and mulitple cue point.
Im not sure if a Macro can load and play a track at once, in fact ive tried it and as with a lot of commands they dont play nicely together.
See previous post for my thoughts.
Traktor is just a different application. The whole workflow is vastly different and i would imagine that coming from an SSL background Traktor ‘could’ seem more clumsy but id say really theres just more to learn.
Im not being a dick here. The first time i used SSL i picked it up an really short time but there really is less to pick up. Maybe thats cus Traktor has way more to offer.
Im personally against tabbing unless its totally necessary. I like it all there on screen. It may seem a lot at first but it soon becomes second nature.
As you said “its … complex”
Yeppers..! This will be improved upon. We have big Workflow discussion going on at the moment and improvements to the visual feedback of cues and loop etc is high on the list. Such as floating names over the cue points so you can see all the names at once. Or simply bigger hotcue buttons with names on them. The piddly ACTIVE button was the very first thing i complained about on day one of PRO.
The new one piece multicores are smaller and people have been complaining that they are too small !!!
Maybe one that will never be solved.
Its currently in Private Beta. I think it was meant to go to Public Beta this weekend (that may be wrong) but these guys are having an interesting discussion about it. SCRATCH LIVE 2.0 | Serato.com
Check the YouTube Killerz video thats linked on the page, i think this guy maybe the biggest cock on the internet. Yeah real scary chump.
