Currently I’m a bit of an on the side Ableton producer making some songs here and there. I don’t really have any hardware short of a very basic MIDI keyboard. (on board soundcard)
What would be something of a minimum amount of money to get myself running something that can do simple 2 deck stuff, but also let me get into some real controllerism on something like Tracktor and maybe let me run my ableton sets into it as well? What are some suggestions? Ideally, I’d love some expandability and futureproofing, but if the price is right, it wont matter to me.
Ableton is flat-out more powerful than Traktor, and it’s perfectly capable of playing full tracks. It’s looping is a bit more obtuse, but it can be done (you have to hit in & out points as opposed to choosing a length, but they are quantized…or at least can be). Other than that, I think it just wins…especially if you already know it well.
Depends on what you mean by powerful. Ableton can do more and is more versatile, but when it comes to workflow and DJing full tracks I find it incredibly lacking and a huge pain.
If you just want to play your own stuff then it’s a different story.
Are there any options that get me something a bit more traditional in the realm of EQ, jogwheels, mixer, etc? Sure I may end up doing personal tracks with a set or otherwise, but that so far seems more like any tracks I’d have would either be exported as a full track, or I’d route an Ableton Set into Traktor with Virtual Audio Cable so the more “dj” style interface and effect system kind of encapsulates the Live Set.
You can just do a set IN ABLETON without using a “dj” program - daft punk does this, and afaik Skrillexxxxx (sp?) uses it too.
If you want to do DJing as a SEPARATE THING from your production, then yeah, traktor is good stuff, and I personally set up my LaunchPad (along with a korg nanoKontrol) to use traktor. So if you have buttons, faders, and some knobs, you can set it up for DJ use. I’m considering getting an APC40 just for traktor (I’m in the same boat as you, except I use Reason for production, not Live) and it’s been done before.
Check out youtube for Traktor Mapping and odd things come up if you search through - lots of LP things (iirc the original MidiFighter givaway winner was a set done in traktor on a LaunchPad, and that’s a wicked video with a tribe called quest vocals and other stuff- sorry I dont’ remember who it was - someone correct me?)
If you want it set up like a DJ controller and you’re looking at all in ones (a la S2, S4, Vestax VCI, etc etc) then you can’t reallly talk about expandability unless you are talking about getting an S4 and eventually adding TTs and doing a time coded vinyl (traktor scratch pro?) thing.
Having done it, I have really mixed feelings. Traktor was more straightforward, and I liked the limitations it imposed when I switched to it fro Live. But I was also trying to shoehorn my VCM-600 into how I wanted to use Live and pretending it was a Maven…instead of adapting what I wanted to controllers that were actually on the market.
But after going back to TTs and SSL, if I were going to go all-controller, it’d either be a stop-gap “whatever” solution for house parties or it’d be controlling Live.
Yeah. The NI S2 or S4 are good choices if you want to go with a controller. They kind of win for “awesome” and “cheap”.
What can I get away with in the area of a couple hundred. I don’t want to skimp because then I will have just wasted money on something that wont be enjoyable because of quality. At least with nicer stuff like an s2, I can sell that more easily.
s2 will run ya about 400… thats prolly your best bet if you want jogs like you mentioned. stay away from the mixtrack imo. its cheap and feels the same and for that price your better off with an apc40, youd give up the jogs but they are useless on the cheaper interfaces so youre better off not paying for them.
[quote]Ableton, is awesome, however Traktors midi editing makes the APC40 excel in ways Ableton cannot, unless you invest in Bomes or M4L.
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The only real limitations I have found in mapping traktor vs live on the APC40 is the browser controls & cue pointing which are unfortunately pretty mouse bound and I hope to god ableton have been listening and implement more midi control to the basics in live 9 (or here comes bitwig maybe!)
Some semi-creative mapping and a midi to keystroke convertor for live sorts most things out.
In saying that K2’s or New Behringer kit is probably the way I’ll shoot in the next few months for a more compact and flexible rig.