I was wondering if anyone utilizes the “favorite” section in Traktor to increase their workflow and creativity.
Currently (in the favorite section) I have:
new tracks- for prepping, analyzing, plotting cues, etc.
remixes- remixes that are not generally used but have parts that I use
one shots/samples- one shots and samples
genres- dub, mash-up, trance etc.
Then I have 3 dedicated slots to house(and all sub genres): House 1A-4B, 5A-8B, 9A-12B. While this is convenient for harmonic mixing, I am starting to find/hear that is hindering my creativity.
While I think this system could work, I was wondering if anyone had a better, different, more organized way of categorizing the favorite section.
Mine changes all the time depending on upcoming shows. The only permanent ones I have in there are Recordings, iTunes, track collection and radio jingles.
I do play across the board, so in mine, I have certain folder for genres (Hip Hop, EDM), a folder where I put in loads of new music I pick up that haven’t been tagged and/or placed into playlists (transfer dump), and then several playlists like Accapellas, House, Mashups, Samples.
Mine changes per gig but i always have the Preparation List (renamed Current Playlist , a legacy of the T3 days).
Then i have a ‘LAST WEEK’ playlist which is the set i did the last time i played the gig as a reference to what i played. After that i have playlists that are relevant to that nite. Some are Genre based some are Sets that i have prepared and others are sets that i have done in the passed that were particularly good. I try to use the Favourite slots as much as possible so i dont have to scroll up and down the Browser Tree or look in iTunes.
I would like a Preference Option so you can have more Favourite slots.
There used to be 10 in T3 , now there are 12. I would like more. I think there is a lot of wasted space in the UI. Some of the borders are too thick and i think more could be crammed in with it actually being cramped.
More would be awesome, I almost never scroll down the tree because I do prep work for what I might play. And while we’re on the subject of UI I want color coding.
+1 on color coding. If we had color coding, it would pretty much make this problem no existent (for me at least).
I just get in the habit of “going down the line” with my current setup. I guess for now, I am going to re-group all my music into a “collection” folder. After having a good listen/mix/plotting session, i’ll figure it out… lol.
Is there any help the DJTT community can offer to try and convince NI to address these issues? I whole heartedly agree that the browser interface is archaic and unintuitive, its well overdue for a complete overhaul. Perhaps a petition or something? A few thousand signatures might drive the point home.
I wish it were that easy. The impression I get from NI is that they’re pretty headstrong and once they get focused on something they’re not going to change track easily. I’m not sure what they’re focused on right now, but I doubt it’s the UI. I have read between the lines in a couple of places and do think the UI will be improved, but I don’t think it’ll come in the next couple of updates. Hopefully I’m wrong.
+1 for more favorite slots. Actually, all I really want is built-in smart playlists. They already seem to do this inside the track collection tree. All of the genre, artist, etc folders in there automatically update when new tracks are added. We just need them to polish up a ui for adding your own. Back on the subject of favorites, I don’t use them much except for playlists I’m actively working on and the preparation list.
One thing I tried to do hoping it would just work, was dragging a search input to a favorites slot. It didn’t do anything but it would be awesome if that was possible.
Nah mate thats the one thing that will turn NI off the idea… They hate that kinda thing and i dont blame them.
What people could do is, if they have any good ideas they should post them in the Features Suggestions Subforum on the NI website.
I have forwarded lot of ideas in fact i submitted 2 Improvement requests today.
The Developers have their own road map but they do listen.
Everyone knows that the Browser needs a huge overhaul and it is discussed on the Beta Team but what id say is over the passed few years features like the Sampler have taken priority. I think its time to leave the top half of Traktor and concentrate on the bottom half cus ive got all i need in the top half now.
Lol! Talk about bone headed! “we dont listen to our users, infact we actively ignore them, especially when they want us to do something productive with our software”
If you are right, and ive no reason to dis-believe you, that is pretty shitty management. Reminds me of autodesk . . .
i use the favourites all the time, I have: new unsorted, funky, deep, tech, 90’s, electro, last week set, and one for requests on the night, the others i keep empty for preparing sets for nights.
I don’t think thats a fair representation of NI at all and your quote misrepresents what I said.
They do listen to customers. Through the forum and people making Feature Requests not stamping their feet and making petitions.
That “few thousand signatures” you talk of just need to be a lot of +1’s on a Features Thread. It would work better than a petition because it is part of how NI develop Traktor.
It also breaks a pretty standard rule of the NI forum to “exert pressure on NI”.
A petition could be about anything. This is wholly different to hoards of people giving +1 to a thread that has been developed and discussed by many members.
Believe it or not some people post Feature Requests at NI as if theirs and our lives depend on something happening only to find out that the majority of users actually disagree. An example being “Shuffle Mode”. Every now and again someone posts this request like its something that they cannot live without and make a huge fuss about it and time after time the user-base bats it off as unnecessary.
Extra Favourite Slots have never actually been requested (that i can remember) but NI implemented 2 more in PRO.
Make Feature Request and see if it gets some +1’s but a petition…??? about such a small matter, thats a bit dramatic.
I would be very happy to hear them. The Browser is my pet project but, it would be good to post it at the NI Feature Suggestion subforum as well.
but it would be awesome if that was possible.