switch to Traktor?

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
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switch to Traktor?

Hey there, first post on the forums. I’m currently using Virtual DJ Pro 7 and considering switching to using traktor specifically to get and use a midi fighter classic. I got the demo and messed with it a little. I realized I will have to completely map my numark mixtrack pro myself to whatever I want in traktor. My question pretty much is, do you think that switching to Traktor is a good idea and worth it to use a midi fighter? I can already tell that Traktor is a much more powerful program and I have heard that many times before. Thanks guys!!! let me know what you think!!!

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You can find 30+ mappings for the Numark Mixtrack Pro here:
http://traktorbible.com/freaks/mappingone.aspx?id=150

Maybe one of them can serve as a base for your own mapping

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Honestly I think the audio quality difference between Virtual DJ 7 and Traktor is worth it on its own. I still use Virtual DJ for a quick mixes if I don’t want to plug my mixer in, but the sound makes me cringe after hearing how clean the sound is on Traktor (in comparison). I would recommend changing, it’s a bit daunting at first because there are no overlapping waveforms, but you get used to it quickly.

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i can’t comment on audio quality but i would’t say traktor is more powerful than vdj. midi mapping is waaaay more powerful in vdj than traktor but the effects in traktor are much much better than in vdj. depends on what u want to do i guess. vdj8 may be very interesting… personally i do love the layout and effects in traktor tho but am currently routing audio into ableton to use extra vst’s. in vdj u can use vst’s within itself - no need for a separate app.

this forum is very traktor-centric so don’t believe all u read :stuck_out_tongue:

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Don’t forget: You can also buy a selection of the great Taktor effects as a VST plugin (“Traktor’s 12”) which you could use in every DAW, Ableton Live or in Serato (with the bridge) and maybe even VDJ (I don’t know if there’s a workaround to integrate VST plugins into VDJ but you’ll see.

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no workaround needed surely? at least on pc u can use vst’s. the sticking point may be on mac tho…

good point re: traktor’s 12, i only read about that the other day. i may pick that up and run all my effects inside ableton (even tho i’m routing traktor into ableton :stuck_out_tongue: ) just so i don’t have some effects in traktor and some in ableton.

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MIDI fighter can be mapped to Virtual DJ.

The only thing Traktor has over VDJ is better effects.

I know I will probably get flamed for this since this seems to be a Traktor rich forum. But VDJ offers way more than Traktor does. I came from Traktor and used it for about a year. Switched to VDJ back in Jan 2011. Been doing clubs with it ever since and the few on mobile gigs I’ve done. In clubs I’ve used it as a vinyl DVS, and MIDI. Have been spinning video with it for the past 6mos. Recently running it with Ableton for the past week now. I have still yet able to find any limitations of VDJ at this point.

Just to show some feature of VDJ:
Support for up to 99 decks if you are into remixing
Downloadable samples and effects (granted again, that Traktor has way better effect processor and able to chain effects)
VDJ can support 99% of MIDI controller and other capable devices out there
VDJ run circles around any video software out there
VDJ can run as a DVS
VDJ can run with any soundcard out there, even SL boxes
VDJ can be used to broadcast
iTunes integration
VDJ can recognize keys and can suggest songs that go together key-wise.
Free upgrades for life is you are VDJ Pro user
Oh an for premium members, you have access to Grooveshark so if you have internet access you can play music you don’t even have in the library and it will suggest like music that you are already playing

Previews of VDJ 8 shows Ableton like functions for on the fly live remixing.

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indeed :stuck_out_tongue: this forum is way too traktor centric. i keep meaning to have a better look at torq 2 as well.

the new pricing of traktor hasn’t made it any easier for vdj tho… i just can’t justify 300usd for a copy of vdj when i already own traktor pro 2. i know updates are free for live but that doesn’t ease the initial purchase pain :stuck_out_tongue: not so bad for users of the mixtrack as i think the upgrade price is only 150. i keep meaning to try and find someone who has a mixtrack and hasn’t registered the vdj license yet or something…

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No doubt you can! But I don’t know if you can use VSTs in VDJ. But what you can do for sure is syncing VDJ with a host for your VSTs (like Ableton) and route your audio :wink:

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I have used both but I do like Traktor better. Traktor has bigger and better waveforms imo. Traktor is much more visual, easier to read the waves, see when you have a loop engaged, also the track info is a lot easier to read in Traktor than VDJ. The overlapping waves in Virtual DJ are just OK for me and the effects are better in Traktor. The effects in VDJ don’t trail off, meanng that in Traktor if I engage an echo and then turn it off, the echo will trail off, in VDJ the echo just stops, also if I stop a track with an effect engaged, like echo, the same thing, in Traktor the effect trails off, in VDJ in just stops. I think there is a way to achieve what I’m saying but I haven’t used VDJ that extensively.

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Well I love using VDJ and can pretty much use it without any issues. I’m into effects and I know that Traktor does have better effects. I pirated VDJ pro 7, so I can’t download any of the other effects. And I know that a midi fighter can be mapped to virtual dj, but its not quite what it is for traktor when it comes to effects and layering them and what not.

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VDJ is a VST host - on pc’s at least - so no need for any other app. not sure about mac tho.

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Alright! Seem to have been a misunderstanding :slight_smile:

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If you have a cracked version of vdj without all the updates and extra plugins then you dont have vdj…

granted all of the native effects are terrible and are from around version 2 when effects weren’t important, but there are some fantastic plugins made by the community that you dont have access to without a registered version. And vst effects work natively however vsti’s are touch and go, I haven’t been able to find a demo of the traktor effects vst to try it out, if anyone has a link i’ll give it a go…

THE EQ IN VDJ SUCKS! no doubt, but for now you can use vst’s, I use “minimal system instruments - ultimate 3 band” which is much better than any internal eq I have heard, but another free alternative is “dj eq3”… for the future for version 8 we will have editable frequency on all three bands and hopefully curve control aswell. dj decks also had much better vst support allowing you to run glitch and stutter edit natively… in vdj you can use any of the sugarbytes plugins like turnado or artillery but the gui of the plugins don’t refresh when you change a parameter, so you can only use presets made in a daw which is severely limiting.

Traktor is honestly a better program if you only wan’t to make small modifications to the way you use it like simple mapping to change your (I hate this word) “workflow”, but this is meant to be a community of tinkerers that like to see what they can do differently, in this respect vdj is far superior as anything that takes traktor middleware to achieve like midimasher or the firmware made by djtt, can be done natively in vdj… It accepts any input from midi or HID natively giving you the tools to incorperate in the program…

If you are good with graphics you can make your own skin to whatever specifcations you desire, so if you want bigger waveforms, no problem draw them and modify the skin xml in the current version… for version 8 looking at the teaser video it showed resizable dockable and lockable effects, if that functionality is extended to regular skin pannels the you have a toolset to design your own interface in pieces and move it around one or multiple screens at will to completely customise your “workflow”… that’s like the one on crack.

If you are good at coding the sdk for video, audio and background tools for mac and pc is available once you register pro. so if you don’t like the effects cool make new ones that run natively in the program, atomix even pay a contribution for the most popular downloads for the month as encouragement.

There is dmx light control support so you can sync lights to the beat and soon you will be able to trigger scenes from preset cuepoints you place in the tracks…This functionality is offered from two plugins one free one for a fee.

In relation to video effects i just found out last week you can use petewarden’s video fx, they are free and absolutely amazing to look at and usually have more than 5 parameters to tweek the image, you can even layer them for some really crazy results. There is 3 worthy text to screen plugins one free and two for a fee.

the library is great, it’s fast you can create virtual folders, playlists, you can modify, move, delete and add folders on your computer. you have itunes intigration, it reads serato crates. there is a plugin to batch write information to the id3tags. and you can code smart using any of the information in the database ike

bpmdiff<=5 and keydiff=0 and rating=5 and comment contains “peak” and firstseen>=1204281200 and firstseen<=1204281300

that will find you a track within 5 bpm of the master track, in the same, higher or lower camalot key, that you have rated 5 stars with a comment you typed saying “Peak” that had been added to the database today between 12:00pm and 1:00pm… why did I write an explination of something so easy to understand? that’s my point everything in vdj is relatively easy to understand as a lot of thought has gone into making the more intermediate to advanced features more accessible so your not reliant on someone else to do for you… just learn the tools and you are on your way… I now nothing about computers, but I can make vdj do anything i can think of…

finally advanced mapping on traktor is a joke compared to vdj, and advanced mapping in vdj’s is a joke compared to djdecks… enough said… vdj8 has amazing potential to intigrate all the best features from both programs and innovate new ones, and in the closed area of the vdj forum there is a lot of consideration about vdj8’s functionality.

Also I forgot to add, you can chain effects on vdj already… it follows the activation order not the slot order like traktor… to test it activate a filter or crusher then an echo, by increasing the wet on the filter or crusher you cut the sound and get an echo trail… then do it the other way and you filterout the echoing track leaving no trail, if you have a cracked version get these free vst’s “quadbyte filter”, "dblue crusher "and “tal dub” to test…

And yes Native Instruments have lowered their prices but to me it seems like they want to expand their consumer user base and will introduce another upgrade every 6 or 12 months that you have to buy or get a bit of NI kit to use. seriously I make $200 for an hour of djing… $300 is nothing, and if you upgrade le like the mixtrack which is 70% of peoples introduction controller it’s only $150 that you pay once and you can use anything you like to control it in the future.

shit that was long :stuck_out_tongue:!

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there’s a demo link on their webpage - not sure what it can and can’t do http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/producer/powered-by-guitar-rig/traktors-12/demo-versions/

any chance you’ve got the home page urls for those plugins? all i can find are dodgy looking file sharing links. haven’t quite got as far as working out what eq plugin works best for me - but since i’m doing it in ableton i get more choice now anyway :slight_smile:

this is cunning stuff - but u could just do that with an itunes smart playlist - and vdj has decent itunes integration anyway?

indeed… simple mapping in traktor is fine - tho the gui sucks and can’t understand why they won’t sort that out - but anything getting complex can be a headache. it’s usually possible, but makes you duplicate controls because someone else doesn’t work once u try and add an extra layer with a modifier as you’ve now broken it.

i’ve been trying to find out about scripting in djdecks but their website isn’t very helpful, only an overview? djDecks - Scripting Documentation. don’t suppose you’ve got any examples or anything? if not i’ll have a trawl thru their forum.

and an odd thing… djdecks is nothing to do with pcdj i guess? just that on their scripts doc page it says "To allow you to perform a number of actions at once, djDecks has a scripting system to perform multiple actions at once.
Scripts can be started when djDecks starts, or by pressing a keyboard or midi button." and in a pcdj doc i found it says this "To allow you to perform a number of actions at once, PCDJ DEX has a scripting system to perform multiple actions at once. Scripts can be started when PCDJ DEX starts, or by binding them to midi or
keyboard shortcuts." looks kind of similar to me :stuck_out_tongue:

[quote]
And yes Native Instruments have lowered their prices but to me it seems like they want to expand their consumer user base and will introduce another upgrade every 6 or 12 months that you have to buy or get a bit of NI kit to use. seriously I make $200 for an hour of djing… $300 is nothing, and if you upgrade le like the mixtrack which is 70% of peoples introduction controller it’s only $150 that you pay once and you can use anything you like to control it in the future.

shit that was long :stuck_out_tongue:![/QUOTE]

indeed :stuck_out_tongue: an agreed that if u can get it for 150usd then it’s a decent price given u have free updates for live. buying it outright tho sucks. i’d rather pay less and pay for upgrades. only major traktor updates cost anything and it’s been a while since traktor pro 2 came out.

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veering steadily but surely off topic… i managed to find a few script snippets in the djdecks forum and looks interesting:

adding extra events on startup:

addtrigger swapcue0 -1 string TrackInfo,,0 click ExecuteScript,swapcue.djscript 0
addtrigger swapcue1 -1 string TrackInfo,,1 click ExecuteScript,swapcue.djscript 1

swapcue.djscript called by the above when u use a cue:

setabs Variable,other 1-%player%
if Volume_Cue,,%player%<0.01 click Volume_Cue %player%
if Volume_Cue,,%other%>0.01 click Volume_Cue %other%

swap cue volumes automatically:

keydown:
if Volume_Cue,,0<0.01 if Volume_Cue,,1<0.01 click Volume_Cue 1
if Volume_Cue,,0>0.01 if Volume_Cue,,1>0.01 click Volume_Cue 0
click Volume_Cue 0
click Volume_Cue 1

seems like the same could be done in vdj’s syntax if you could have multiple chains of commands linked to a control. atm there is some limit to the blah1 ? blah2 & blah3 : blah4 type syntax i guess (in vdj)

edit: looks like PCDJ and DjDecks use the exact same script syntax and just saw that they really are the same app :stuck_out_tongue: i think… (tho maybe PCDJ DEX 2 is different…)

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nah can’t give a link to MSI-U3B eq as they don’t sell it anymore, probably due to all the warez copy’s out there, but for what it does the bad karma’s worth it lol… Loading...

the djeq plugin is made by David Ross, who doesn’t have a website but this is a trusted source David Ross VST plug-ins, free equalizer and filter effect plug-ins for Windows

I’ve only every found random things in the djdecks forums about the possibilities, but you will feel right at home as it looks the same as midi masher and just ended up hurting my head LOL… i just paid attention to the discriptions of what the code could do and asked a couple of former djdeck users what you could do with it

you can have start up scripts that are attached to skins or controllers for automating specific settings, eg a guy wanted to load a playlist of videos that automix, then have his logo for the club in the corner and have a predetermined scrolling text and change the video transition every song. This was so when no one that knows the system is around they just open the program and everything automatically happens…

if you want to do other things like record the activity or something like in the bridge that can be done but plugins must be made as every vdj script is performed when requested. but the other general plugins can run in the background doing anything you like done with c++… this i know nothing about though lol

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cool - i’ll check them out and then do something very good somehow to get the good kharma back :stuck_out_tongue:

lol :smiley: ofc what i am trying to do is come up with a new syntax for midimasher that doesnt make peoples head hurt :wink: so i think you’ve answered my question as far as whether i need to dig deeper into the dkdecks scripting or not :wink: i also found a skin called nightshade for djdecks that contains a bunch of scripts. main difference really with vdj, apart from the diff syntax, is that each action u want to map gets saved in it’s own file - which makes editting them outside of the app easier - but would be nicer if they were all in one file.

yep - quite cool feature. i have that covered in midimasher with custom lua code - i’m trying to come up with something that lets people do 90% of that they want in a format/syntax 90% simpler than it is now :wink:

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Where is VDJ at for Mac users? Seems I downloaded a demo a year or so ago and it couldn’t do anything it was supposed to (or at least I couldn’t figure it out if it could); are most of the capabilities described above available for Mac versions too or is VDJ pretty much a PC-only community at this point?

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the only “demo” is the home version which doesn’t support controllers VirtualDJ - Download VirtualDJ. what would be nice is a time limited full vdj pro version really…

afaik the mac version won’t support vst’s but does support plugins that have been compiled for the mac platform. not sure why there’s not a “vst host” plugin if that’s the case tho…