Traktor Kontrol Z1

[sp222]

Hey - on the Z1 and Traktor Pro 2 - it's not in the box, but you should get an email following registration to give you Traktor Pro 2 - we don't ship CD's with these any more so you always download the latest version.

let me know here if you get any issues

as for what's coming... although it is a backwater here, I still can't quite say yet, but there will be something new soon..

and on Serato vs Traktor - traditionally Traktor has been stronger in Europe and Serato in the US, mainly from their association with Rane and the hardware. They have a very good product, but as Hip-hop was the overriding form of electronic music in the states for many years the divide has been probably pushed that way because of these factors - truth is now that you can make an argument for either - I'd obviously suggest reasons why Traktor is a better choice, but a lot comes down to what you start on, what your mates use etc - I'm pleased if we can support all kinds of music, as long as it's decent stuff thats being played..

[Miguel Alvarez]

That's kind of the impression I got.

I'm glad this thread has come up it's reminded me to go have a look at Traktor.

[8bit]

Thanks sp222

Z1 arrived last night, got it installed ok and checked it works. Licence for Pro 2 arrived this morning so I'll get it registered this evening.

One thing - the Z1 has its' own sound card built in and a pair of RCA line out jacks on the back. The speakers attached to the PC don't have multiple inputs. Is it possible to route the audio from the Z1 through the soundcard and speakers in the PC without having to attach a cable from the Z1 to the PC soundcard's line input? Or some other way of achieving the same end result?

[sp222]

Hey - you can use the audio from your PC - you'd select the soundcard output in the settings inside Traktor (you access the settings using the small cogged wheel icon towards the top right of the screen) - however, unless you're using a mac, you'll probably get some delay (latency) in the audio - the soundcard in the Z1 is probably of higher quality than the PC's built in audio.

You could use the Z1 as the default audio source for your PC so all sounds go through it as an alternative?

Hope that helps

Cheers

[8bit]

sp222 said:

Hey - you can use the audio from your PC - you'd select the soundcard output in the settings inside Traktor (you access the settings using the small cogged wheel icon towards the top right of the screen) - however, unless you're using a mac, you'll probably get some delay (latency) in the audio - the soundcard in the Z1 is probably of higher quality than the PC's built in audio.

You could use the Z1 as the default audio source for your PC so all sounds go through it as an alternative?

Hope that helps

Cheers

The PC sound card is an Asus Xonar D2 so it is good quality but the drivers aren't great. I tried it with the Z1 cabled into the Line In on the Asus card and i get some delay - looks like a Windoze 7 thing. I tried setting Traktor to use the Asus ASIO driver, that worked for 30 sec and then Traktor seemed to freeze and sounded like a stuck CD. I also didn't get any output from the Z1 headphone socket.

The speakers in question are 5.1 so I wouldn't get that output using the Z1 as the main soundcard. Think I'm just going to bite the bullet and move the speakers I use for my Technics to the computer desk for the moment. Just a shame that the audio from the Z1 can't be routed back over the USB bus and out the PC soundcard that way, unless I'm missing something else?

Cheers!

[sp222]

I would do as you suggested and grab the other speakers to plug to the Z1..

The asus set up won't work particularly well with Traktor, although it's interesting that they have an ASIO driver. Best idea with our stuff is to run the set up wizard from the bottom of the window that pops up on the settings window and route through the Z1 - the headphone output should get sorted by itself.

Cheers

[8bit]

Yeah I think I'll get it set up like that at the weekend. Ultimately if I enjoy using Traktor I'll invest in a laptop, maybe a X1 or Z2 so I was just looking for a way to get a basic setup running just now. Thanks for your help.

Actually, any suggestions for a "getting started" guide at all?

ETA - further question - if I was going to get a Mac to use for Traktor, would a Macbook Air be up to the job?

Edited by 8bit on Friday 22 August 13:20

[GCH]

8bit said:

ETA - further question - if I was going to get a Mac to use for Traktor, would a Macbook Air be up to the job?

Yes. No need for the higher ram either - 4GB standard model is just fine.

[sp222]

Hey - I'm looking into some more getting started guides - and check our youtube channel & website (updated recently) for info - the UK office opened this year so we're looking at what we can do with more resources available to us. The great thing about Traktor is that you can get started pretty easily and discover more as you get more comfortable.

As for the Mac - we're still occasionally using a couple of older 2009 MBP for demos and provided you look after them, they work nicely - and a Macbook Air would have much better performance.

I would disagree on the RAM though given Apple's idea to make it impossible to add your own after purchase - if you can afford 8Gb, it will future proof the machine more - you don't need it to run Traktor now, but more RAM is always a good option if you can afford it

[8bit]

Cool, thanks both of you. I'd probably get the extra RAM anyway.

I've spent a few evenings playing about with this now, really enjoying it. So far I haven't really done much beyond mixing tracks together and had a little bit of playing with the effects but I'm glad I got it already