I went through a stage…like this…where i was more focused on the gear working than listening to the flow of my set and crowd.
After getting new gear and finding what i actually want to be able to do in my sets, I have become more and more trusting in the gear and look at the screen less and less. Starting to gel with my whole rig now and starting to become 2nd nature…so i am back to focusing on the music.
I know where everything is…its ready to go…and i just GO!
I found this too when I was playing musical instruments when i was younger…you just close your eyes and go! Trust your ability.
But with Controllers and Software etc…there is a lot that can go wrong etc and lots of things going on.. you need to be aware of.
Once again…get used to it…trust it…and JAM.
Look at DJ Inferno for instance…lots going on…but still flowing!
In all honesty the main thing that used to connect me to my music wasn’t the tts, though that was a part of it, it was pulling out a set of records on vinyl before a gig and then being able to flip through them on the night, with an eye for the artwork etc. I just find it really hard to gel with the text on my laptop. Even with artwork enabled I just find myself struggling to feel what the tune should be without just dipping in to a tried and tested playlist.
I used to get real feeling and vibe from records… I don’t know what digital solution can help with that…
i am also an ex-Serato user
i switched from serato (SL1) to traktor due to to traktor’s extra features (beatgrid, beatjumps, effects, quantized hotcue jumps etc) but i do admit i miss the simplicity of Serato, in traktor to make full benefit of the features you have to do some extra work (setting up beatgrids etc which can get REALLY tedious at times, especially before traktor 2.0 came out, the wavorm was really hard to see for precise beatgrid application)
I am now a full Traktor 2 convert, but every once in awhile when i look at new serato products (ie when the SL2 came out) i kinda think back of the road not taken (LOL) i mean the road I used to take, sounds cheesy i know but as much as i enjoy the extra features of Traktor 2 (which i now happily enjoy using) there’s something about Serato’s simplicity and overlapping waveforms that i really miss sometimes, especially when doing my “home work” ie beatgridding many many tunes at once
anyhow just my two cents
if you are already on traktor, stick with it
if you are on serato stick with it
its a win win situation for both, the more you try to think about which one to choose the more time you spent wasting on logistics rather than the actual music/mixing ( i know I did waste a lot of time in this department)
I’m a former Serato user as well and I played with it for the first time in years a couple weeks ago, and it was like nothing’s changed (even though I was using the latest version). The software just gets out of your way in a way that Traktor never has for me. With Traktor I feel there is always a certain amount of baby sitting the software for me to do whereas I’ve never had that experience with Serato.
SYNC is irrelevant to all this, in my opinion. For someone who started with vinyl, beatmatching is not a big deal – if you know what you’re doing and you know the songs you’re beatmatching, actually doing it is trivial. Obviously it’s a skill that it takes months of dedicated practice to learn well, but once you’re there it’s not a hell of a lot harder (though it can be a lot more fun) than pushing SYNC. Traktor is the more powerful software to me but I am starting to think Serato might be more less aggravation (and ultimately more fun)…
Just curious - but did you have the plugins enabled? The SP-6 sampler and FX racks hide themselves quite nicely to free up space.
And of course, The Bridge is quite a beast in the interface now if that’s enabled as well.
I went from Traktor to Seratro and I am now back in Traktor.
I bought a Rane 68 in January, and after waiting 6 months for Windows 7 Asio Drivers I am about to sell the fucking thing. I bought a Rane product not a Serato paperweight but the camps are so closely tied that they won’t release beta drivers to their best customers. I don’t get it. They had asio drivers for products that had not been released, but not their most expensive product? I understand I am in the minority a PC DJ but just give us the betas.
Traktor’s looping is far superior and beat grids are more accurate. That’s my style loops. I can’t say I did not make a huge effort and investment into Serato, I used it exclusively for 6 months on top of the line hardware, but the software is not as good as traktor pro, I have yet to try pro 2.
Nope didnt mess with sampler or bridge and they stayed hidden. I will start playing around with them maybe but I just have an SL-1 so I’m not sure how much mileage I can get out of the bridge yet…
Its good to know the ins and outs of both traktor and serato so your not thrown off… most clubs have serato by default but I’ve seen some with traktor… that’s why I always stress mixing is more important then using all these effects and extra shit we don’t need to dj…pick good music, read the crowd well, and use the program only as a source of music
When I first learned to play violin, I had tape on the fingerboard to remind me where the ‘notes’ are. I’ve played cello now for almost 16 years, and while I know how to play guitar, many times it really feels like cheating.
That said, I come from a background of being the instrument myself, and controllerism really lends itself to that imo (performance rather than mixing) so for me it’s traktor.
But for anyone who has an ounce of a clue about vinyl or even cdj use, then it would seem silly to transpose your skill onto traktor since it takes away part of what is special about your skills. (SYNC)
I am a composer first (classical/film) and a cellist second (wasn’t always like that) so moving to DJing is (for me) an extension of composition, but instead of arranging it all out in Live and giving it to DJs to play for me, the performer (cellist) in me wants to mix it all live. Hence the mashup/midifighter/traktor approach (waiting for my first LP in the post now!)
[also should be mentioned that you can try and use traktor (arrr matey) without dedicated hardware, while serato won’t show me it’s stuff unless I buy that box. Kind of like Apple. At least with Apple, I have a hackintosh right now. Can the same be done with Serato?]
In all honesty, whenever im playing with traktor, everythings perfect, but lately, the only thing thats keeping me going is the crowd because everything is perfect, start the track to early? loop it! start it too late? cuepoints! and tbh its boring.
Sold my TTs to buy CDJ’s which i now love more than anything, because theres always that fear, no sync, no visual feedback, just your ears and your eyes on the crowd. The only downside i have of CDJs is constantly having to burn off new CDs every week, newer CDJs take USB sticks but its not a standard and only one club ive played in the last year has had 900s.
Serato could be that jump backwards i need. Ok theres a waveform, you dont have to look at it? (Do you have to grid things in serato?) and you dont have to change any settings with an SSL box if your using regular CDs/vinyl or using tracks from your hard drive (AFAIK). Also with serato theres no hassle from club owners/promoters/other DJs
You can hide the waves in SSL. So no need to see the waves if you don’t want to.
There is no sync in Serato so no gridding. Only time you grid in Serato is if you are going to use The Bridge and you want ableton to Sync with your tracks. If not, then no - no grids, no syncing.
SSL has a thru button on each deck so you can indeed just play regular CDs or vinyl easily, that said so does Traktor. One of the view options has no waveforms other than the track overview.
