Pioneer DJM 800 with Traktor & Ableton
Hey guys, happy new year !!
So basically what im trying to do is when i turn the dry/wet knob on the send/return i want the sound to go through Ableton and apply a reverb (some vst)
How do i go about achieving this ?
My setup is a;
MBP 2012, 10.12.6
DJM 800
Audio 8
Xone K1
Can you access the Audio 8 in Live & Traktor at the same time on a Mac?
If you can, then it’s pretty straight forward.
You’ll need 2 of these:
Connect the 1/4"'s to the send & return connections on the mixer, and the RCA’s to a free channels in/out on the A8.
Then, open live, set up a channel with the IN’s & OUT’s from the A8 and your VST/Live effect of choice, and you’re done.
Not sure how much use it will be, though. Looks like it’s only applicable to the master out… So no echo-delay or reverb transitions… 
The more flexible way to do this is to use Live for effects routing, wich is a little more complicated but works. You’d need a sound card with 10 channels instead of 8, and you have to watch the levels closely because there’s more of a potential to clip (i.e., don’t do it if you run anywhere near the red at any point).
Get SoundFlower (which is fortunately being developed again).
Set up an aggregate device involving Soundflower’s 64-channel virtual card and the 10-channel physical audio card (SL4, Scarlett 18i20, A10mk2, etc.).
Traktor and Live should both be set to use the aggregate card.
Traktor’s decks output to separate stereo pairs on Soundlfower (not the physical card yet).
Live gets 4 audio tracks with those inputs from soundflower that route to outputs on the physical sound card (and go to the mixer).
Live gets 1 more Audio track with an input from the physical sound card (the send from the effects loop). It’s output should go to a physical output that’s connected to the DJM-800’s return.
Create whatever return tracks you need for live and put your reverb/whatever VSTs on them. Route their output to the same phsyical output that connects to the DJM-800 return.
Use MIDI to control the sends on each channel in Live.
You’ll have the deck output whether the effects loop is running or not. The wet/dry control will actually add the effects return signals to the summed decks, so there’s a very serious risk of clipping there. The answer is to run everything quieter, which you should probably be doing anyway.
What ends up happneing is that a song will go from traktor, to live, to the DJM. They’ll get summed and send out on the DJM-800’s send, where that signal is summed with the effects returns from live and sent back to the DJM (via the return) and then output through the master.
I’ve done this before, and it works. It actually works really well.
DAMN !
Well, unfortunately i dont have a 10 channel interface and i really cant afford to invest in one at this point.
Im using 2 decks in traktor, so … can i make this work still ?
My god I wish we had Soundflower on PC…
You CAN do what Mostapha has suggested using your A8 since you’re only running 2 decks in Traktor. You also won’t need to use the send/return on the mixer, since you can set-up sends/returns in LIve for EACH of your decks (meaning you’ll get your reverb/echo out type transitions).
In fact - routing from Traktor > Live > Output is the dream. You get the full functionality of both programs - the browsing/loading/playing of tracks in Traktor, and the routing, FX, and live sampling/manipulation of Live.
Fucking awesome stuff.
Well i’ll be damned, i will try it asap and get back to you gentlemen
You are in for a treat…
Okay, so i think i did it.
So now i think i have to buy a midi to usb cable so i can control the dry/wet in LIVE with the knob on the mixer
Though i managed to route the wet mix only and can control it with the knob on the mixer but it doesnt leave a tail.
I feel stupid af right now… Jesus christ…
Yep. That works, and I’m pretty sure a USB-midi interface works like that. It might be cheaper to get a different controller, but that also adds a controller.
The only real gotcha is that they’re pre-fader. To get the audio to stop but the tail to continue, you pause the deck in traktor.
And, yeah…sound flower is awesome. It’s also tiny. That’s what happens when a hacker (in the old school meaning) takes on an audio problem.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Could you fix the pre-fader problem by mapping the mixers faders to the channel volumes in Live? I don’t know the mixer so is that possible?
Also - of the mixer is full midi, could you assign some mic knobs to channel sends in Live?
And hasn’t the Audio 8 got a built in midi interface?
No no, a MIDI to USB cable (cheap one) is like 7 bucks
I saw a guide from some guy, i’ll just map some buttons i dont use to controll the send return on both channels
Who knows, maybe i’ll have a Delay as well !
I was hoping to just get a reverb, but to my surprise it might get even better !
P.s. U’ve been a massive help mane !! respect
You don’t need one. Just get a midi cable.
It’ll go from the back of your mixer to the midi in on the A8. You can the select the A8 as a midi input device in Live.
Well how im i gonna be able to MAP any controlls in ableton if its just midi from the mixer to the soundcard?!
The sound card is visible in Live as midi inputs/outputs.
Mixer midi out > Audio 8 midi in > Audio 8 midi out > Live midi in (via usb)
The A8 is also a midi-to-usb interface.
Can i bother you to post me a pic. of what cable i should be looking for, because im a bit confused.
Simple male to male midi right?
DJM midi out ↔ Audio 8 midi in ?
Right right… thanks for good explanation, gentlemen.
I do feel a bit like a simpleton, but you’ve made it quite clear.
We were all learners once mate. 
