Who actually utilizes Traktor’s sample decks?
I think they are a neat idea and all, I try to like them, but I still haven’t really found a good use for them in my sets. So who has found a solid workflow for utilizing sample decks with loops and stuff for electronic music and any tips or anything? I really want to like them and be able to justify incorporating them into the mix.
out of curiosity what kind of music do you play & what equipment do you have?
I’m still waiting on my MFP to get here, so I haven’t fully implemented sample decks yet, but I have quite a few ideas for what I want to do:
Drops. There have been so many times when I see a DJ playing and I have no idea who he is and I can’t find a flier or bill so I just give and stop caring. Having a drop for your DJ name that’s interesting and doesn’t take away from your mix too much feels like something really beneficial, to me.
More interesting mixes. Taking bits from the next song and turning them into samples can help sprinkle a little bit of one song into another. Obviously there’s lots of room to go wrong here, but the idea is to blend the songs even further together. I’ve always liked mixes where I can’t remember when the song changed over.
Acapellas! Wait a minute, I don’t remember this song having vocals! I’ve always wanted to drop some really random or obscure vocal cut or quote from a movie or something into the breakdowns of some of my songs.
Can do most of that with 3/4 decks and loops as it is…
I don’t use the sample decks at all. In fact I hate em.
Maybe one day i’ll learn to love em.
I don’t use them because I don’t have buttons left to map them to, but I’m building a controller that will let me 
I’ll take 8 cues over 4 sample slots any day.
The thing you can’t do with three or four decks and loops is control the volume and filter of each sample. I’ll usually run the deck volume full and control each slot individually with the X1.
As far as my workflow goes I will almost always grab a bit from either the beginning, a break in the middle, or the end. I’ll incorporate samples from the upcoming song into the playing track. After a little while I’ve got several samples from previous points in the mix loaded into the sample decks that I can throw into the mix.
I find that at the most I’ll have maybe four or five sample slots going at the same time with varying levels of volume. By the end of a two hour set all of the slots will be full, but not active. Usually, at least one of those slots is something from real early in the mix.
This is old, but probably the best example of all that that I’ve done.
I also use them for radio ID’s, but that’s really a no brainer.
In fairness i don’t have an S4…
But i tried mapping my LPD8 to them and just couldn’t get into them.
Im toying with buying an x1 anyway, I’m sure there is a sampler mapping. I might get that and then get into em.
you cant play 4 of the 8 cues from the same deck at the same time, with a sample deck, you can
S4, X1s, ipad midifighter… I’ve got plenty of gear to utilize them I still havent found a way to really incorporate them into a set though. It seems like a lot of prep work to do anything useful.
I would like to be able to pull an auto loop from a playing deck and make it so it seamlessly switches from playing the loop on the track deck to playing the loop from the sample deck and stopping or mutting the track deck so I can then move to somewhere else in the track on the track deck and bring the track back in somewhere else. It’s hard to do that manually on the s4 to get it so you’re not doubling up on the loop when you turn the sample deck you dropped the loop into on.
I don’t find them intuitive either
Same here, it seems like so many clicks just to get a loop to play. I just don’t get it how to use them correctly. For drops or for a turntablist I can see how it makes sense, I just can’t find a good way to use it in a house set. 3 or 4 decks seems to lend it slf better to my style.
I guess I’m not alone then.
I find it much more useful with my s4 to have 4 track decks and leave the sample deck buttons open to be cues 5-8.
I have however been planning on pulling a bunch of quotes from movies to lay over top of a running track in which case I think I would still use 3 track decks and one sample deck.
Exactly. You have to load the loop to the sample deck, then it comes in playing but not activated, then if you want to activate it on top of the playing track it will come in and double the volume unless you can somehow seamlessly switch between the two.
I have felt almost ashamed that I can’t find any use for them and when I try to use them it messes me up. I feel like I’m missing some great potential which really might not be there. I think I would rather just use 4 decks and if I have a loop I want to use I’ll just keep it running in a deck and switch to another deck.
Running a lot of loops could be cool but it just gets too hectic and you can’t see any waveforms really in the sample decks to give you some visual organization.
Just start with the sample deck’s fader at 0.
Fire the sample live.
Smash Sample Fader Up and Deck Fader Down.
Pro Tip:- Do it on beat/phrase and rock out like you did something for cool points.
Hmm with a little practice this might work and actually be fun to do in the mix. 
Gotta set up the s4 and give this a shot tomorrow. I feel like I should have thought of this… Doing a filter sweep swap could work too and add a nice effect.
I still would love to see some vids of people really putting the sample decks to solid use in a house set to get ideas of how to get the most of them and not just for some controllerism routine.
I’ve always found it annoying that you cant change the length once youve got a looped sample going. I’d rather stick to using loops as you can change the length and even move the loop around the song.
You can do that. I believe the loop in and loop out buttons act as 1/2 sample length or double sample length on the S4 controller.
In all honestly I wouldn’t get to bent outta shape about using the sample banks. I feel like they’re something that has to be planned ahead of time. It’s a lot of different things to think about in the heat of the moment. Practice some cool mash ups or looping in different drum patterns during your practice time, find what works, then remember it for the club.
Yar? I’m gonna check that out!
That’s what I do or I kill the volume on the slot and bring it in like that.
I’ve never used that but if I’m not mistaken you can only reduce the loop if it’s at the full size that it was brought into the sample deck at. After you’ve reduced the size it’ll increase back to the original size of what you brought in, but will not add any more to the original loop size.