Serato or Traktor and Acer One or Asus EEE

I wrote in my previous blog that we tried Acer One and Traktor Scratch, and that it didn't work. However that was with controll vinyl and I figure that demands quite alot more processing power then by just playing dirrectly in the program. So... If anybody out there can tell me if Traktor Pro works with Acer One or Asus EEE, but not using controll media (CD or Vinyl) and report back to me. :)

On the other hand I've heard that Asus EEE worked fine with Serato, but I have not had this confirmed. Serato is a much lighter suite and I don't think it requires that much process power (If not counting playing video-files). Can anybody give me a holla if they've read about this somewhere or tried it out them selves? Thanks...

I won't change to Serato (never ever), but I'm curious to know if it works.

Setting up Midicontrollers for Traktor

I've recieved quite alot of mail asking for the default MIDI template for the controllers and there are alot of templates stored. I had some trouble finding it my self, and I got so desperate that I actually called the support and they showed me. Hehe... =S And for your convenience I'll show you where to find it.

In Traktor Pro you need to open the settings window and click import (It's in the bottom left corner of the window along with export).

The folder it default opens directly should be the Traktor settings folder:
C:\Users\[USER]\Documents\Native Instruments\Traktor\Settings

Click on the folder "MIDI Mappings" and then select your gear.

The list I have is:
Allen & Heath 1D/2D/3D/4D ( I WANT IT!)
Behringer BCD3000/DDM4000
Denon DN-HC4500/DN-S1200
DJTech iMix/iMix Reload
Ecler NUO 4
EKS XP series
Hercules DJConsole MK2
Numark OmniControl/TotalControl
Pioneer CDJ-400/MEP7000
Reloop Digital Jockey (Interface)
Vestax VCI-100/VCM-100

Midimodifiers for Traktor Pro

Traktor 3 had Midi pages for changing functions of the buttons and knobs. Traktor Pro has Midi Modifiers which basically is like midipages on steroids. You have eight modifiers which all have eight positions and the possibility to have two modifiers, so that’s 8*8*2= 128 functions per button.

You can make a button for instance do one function when Modifier #1=0 and one function when Modifier #1=1. In my TotalControlABCD.tci I have a couple of different examples with various complexities. In the original setup file for the Total Control there is only on example, and it is fairly simple. One clicking the button beneath the browser knob you can turn of or on the jog wheels. There is also a function for turning on the light on the adjacent button.

The setup is like this

As you can see the field corresponds with the setting M1=1 to Modifier #1 = 1. The blue field where it says that it is suppose to be changed back to the 0 state.
Notice that the CD DJ-jog only works when M1=1.
Hopefully this will explain the basic usage of the midi modifiers.
Have fun!

MIDI-mappings for Total Control

I’ve revised the original file for Total Control that comes with Traktor and done some upgrades.
You need to download and import the file. Be sure to import the layout aswell…

DOWNLOAD HERE

1: C & D decks
On the top of the controller there are two segments for effects. The effect on and off function on the upper left of these segments seemed to not have any purpose, so they are now used to turn on and off control to either the C or the D deck. If you activate it it will light up. You can activate either C or the D decks separately. Once toggled the effect unit will change mode to controller mode. J You’ve got to love the new Midi modulators. I’ll explain in a later blog.

Now that you press it you will find that the view mode changes to 4 decks.
Controls are as follows:
Button 1 (upper left): Toggle deck/effect
Button 2 (upper right): Toggle Loop on/off
Button 3 (lower left): Cue
Button 4 (lower right): Play
Knob 1 (upper left): Volume
Knob 2 (upper right): Loop Length
Knob 3 (lower left): EQ low value
Knob 4 (lower right): Search

OBS: Once the mode is activated the Load and Sync button on the player side will be assigned to the deck. (I will add Key in the next revision).
Note that there is no pitch bend function yet and the search is a bit rough when playing. I’m thinking of adding these in the next revision by just lowering the sensitivity once the deck is playing.

2: Search functionality
First off: The browser knob I refer to is the big knob in the center.

If you press the browser knob the browser will go in to search mode. When you click load it will go back to the native state. Note that this also works when in the mode described above.

By holding the button bellow the browser knob down you’ll see that both load light start to glow… This will give more meaning in the next revision, but bear with me... ;) Once you press and hold this button the browser knob will now skip by page instead of line by line for faster scrolling. Hurray!

When holding this button down and pressing the cue deck button (for cueing the deck in the headphones) for the A deck. This is the button located to the left of the browser knob. It’s important it’s in that order. First press and hold the button below the browser knob and then the button to the left. When holding these buttons down, you will be able to browse the folders with the browser knob. Clicking the browser knob down will expand or collapse the folder.

That’s about it. There will be more functions added and some bug fixes as well… I know the lights on the effects don’t work very well when working with the additional decks, but I hope I’ll figure it out.

Traktor Pro + Total Control

I just bought my first set of turntables and mixer. I ended up with Technics 1210 MK3 and Pioneer DJM-400. But I've also been playing around with Numarks Total Control... The sync function segnificantly freed alot of time and now setting up a mix takes about 5 seconds. So, what to do with the free time? Loop, effekts, mashing and so on takes on a new dimention once you free up this much time. And then only two decks can limit your productivity. So you need additional decks which Traktor Pro provides out of the box. :)
I've modified the Total Control MIDI template for Traktor Pro to be able to work with four decs. There are also segnificant upgrades to the search functionality, so I hope it will be usefull for someone else aswell. I'll explain the additions in my next blog, so stay tuned.

In the meanwhile you can download the template and try it yourself. :)

DOWNLOAD HERE

If it doesn't work please email me and I'll send it. =)
fredrik(a)sevendays(dot)no

Traktor Pro

I've bought Traktor Pro and I'm very pleased with the upgrades. The new effect unit was a blast and the loop function is soooo much better now. To top it of the coverart is finaly included and I've done a great deal of work on getting coverart to all my files. LOVE IT!

My first blog

Hi there.

In this blog I'm gonna be telling you about my life as a DJ and my take on the gadgets, technology, trends, music and so on...

I'm a part of a DJ team called Sevendays and hopefully the rest of the crew will start blogging.