Laptop DJing - Learning how to use Traktor Pro?
Discussion
I've never engaged in any form of DJing in my life - never touched a pair of decks or CDJs - so I'm a complete novice. I do fancy getting into DJing though and, with this in mind, bought myself a copy of Traktor Pro a while back when Native Instruments were offering it to download from their site at half price. It's sat unused on my laptop since as I haven't had a chance to start getting into it, but last night I tried. Initially I didn't have a clue where to start but after Googling and finding the Sonic Academy site and watching the first of a series of tutorials (the first was free, the rest you have to pay for) I was up-and-running.
Can anyone tell me a good source of further knowledge so I can advance? There's loads more to learn and on the strength of the first Sonic Academy tutorial I'm inclined to pay to subscribe so I can watch the rest. Is anyone here aware of Sonic Academy and able to comment on the overall quality of their courses, or able to advise me as to an equally good, or potentially better, source of learning?
Can anyone tell me a good source of further knowledge so I can advance? There's loads more to learn and on the strength of the first Sonic Academy tutorial I'm inclined to pay to subscribe so I can watch the rest. Is anyone here aware of Sonic Academy and able to comment on the overall quality of their courses, or able to advise me as to an equally good, or potentially better, source of learning?
Hi Mitch,
good to hear that you have Traktor installed - it can appear pretty complicated at first, and the good thing about this means that you can expand your knowledge as you spend more time with it. The basics are fairly simple, and one thing you could do at first is select the view you see (up towards the top right of the screen), so you may want to select 'essential' so you just see 2 decks and your track collection.
As you have it running already, you probably have the audio set up so you don't get any delays (latency) between when you press a key on screen and you hearing the effect of the key press - if you do have delays you need to look at what you're using as an audio interface.
You may also want to look at a controller - Native Instruments have a number of different controllers available (and here I should tell you that I run the sales operation for NI in the UK), but there are other options available on the market - if you want an all-in-one controller, your options start with something like the Mixtrack Pro from Numark, which is about £200.
The controllers from NI start with the X1, and this gives you control over the transport as well as hot-cues, effects etc, but you would need to pair this with an audio interface. The all-in-one controllers from NI start with the S2, and this kind of controller, like the mixtrack Pro will give you the kind of experience you'd get with either vinyl decks/CDJ's and Mixer.
back to your original question - Sonic Academy do offer some really good tutorials, and NI offer some too via their Youtube channel.
hope that's helpful
Steve
good to hear that you have Traktor installed - it can appear pretty complicated at first, and the good thing about this means that you can expand your knowledge as you spend more time with it. The basics are fairly simple, and one thing you could do at first is select the view you see (up towards the top right of the screen), so you may want to select 'essential' so you just see 2 decks and your track collection.
As you have it running already, you probably have the audio set up so you don't get any delays (latency) between when you press a key on screen and you hearing the effect of the key press - if you do have delays you need to look at what you're using as an audio interface.
You may also want to look at a controller - Native Instruments have a number of different controllers available (and here I should tell you that I run the sales operation for NI in the UK), but there are other options available on the market - if you want an all-in-one controller, your options start with something like the Mixtrack Pro from Numark, which is about £200.
The controllers from NI start with the X1, and this gives you control over the transport as well as hot-cues, effects etc, but you would need to pair this with an audio interface. The all-in-one controllers from NI start with the S2, and this kind of controller, like the mixtrack Pro will give you the kind of experience you'd get with either vinyl decks/CDJ's and Mixer.
back to your original question - Sonic Academy do offer some really good tutorials, and NI offer some too via their Youtube channel.
hope that's helpful
Steve
Thanks for the info Steve.
Complicated but very intuitive - the first Sonic Academy tutorial was all I needed to get up and running. Plenty more to learn of course so I'll be keeping an eye on the NI YouTube page and probably the whole Sonic Academy course for Traktor.
There's no latency at the moment so I guess I'm set up right - I'm currently using nothing more than a MacBook Pro and a pair of Bose in-ear phones, so there's plenty more gear for me to get. I have looked at some of the controllers online (not tried one yet) though I'm currently renting a tiny house and working out of a spare room that's barely big enough to be called a room, so buying more gear might have to wait 'till we've moved and there's more room. The hands-on physical kit will, of course, be another learning curve for me.
Ultimately it'd be nice to have an interactive relationship with my favourite music, rather than just listening to it, so what I'm really wanting to do is get as far as possible into Traktor with the minimum of outlay - make sure it's something I really want to do, have an aptitude for, and can maybe even make a bit of money out of - before I start spending a lot of money.
I also have LogicPro and knock out the occasional, if admittedly ropey, trance/progressive demo, so I'm not completely alien to music production!
Complicated but very intuitive - the first Sonic Academy tutorial was all I needed to get up and running. Plenty more to learn of course so I'll be keeping an eye on the NI YouTube page and probably the whole Sonic Academy course for Traktor.
There's no latency at the moment so I guess I'm set up right - I'm currently using nothing more than a MacBook Pro and a pair of Bose in-ear phones, so there's plenty more gear for me to get. I have looked at some of the controllers online (not tried one yet) though I'm currently renting a tiny house and working out of a spare room that's barely big enough to be called a room, so buying more gear might have to wait 'till we've moved and there's more room. The hands-on physical kit will, of course, be another learning curve for me.
Ultimately it'd be nice to have an interactive relationship with my favourite music, rather than just listening to it, so what I'm really wanting to do is get as far as possible into Traktor with the minimum of outlay - make sure it's something I really want to do, have an aptitude for, and can maybe even make a bit of money out of - before I start spending a lot of money.
I also have LogicPro and knock out the occasional, if admittedly ropey, trance/progressive demo, so I'm not completely alien to music production!
Since you have Logic and are playing with Traktor, I would suggest a basic controller with a built in audio interface which you could use for Traktor and also for Logic or any other purpose which uses midi (over USB).
I have Traktor Pro and use an Allen & Heath Xone K2. This allows me to browse my library, select tracks, control and play them. As it has a built in sound card, I can cue the next track in my headphones too.
If you decide to take it further, you can remap it to do other things. Do a google search. It is probably the cheapest pro level controller available.
I have Traktor Pro and use an Allen & Heath Xone K2. This allows me to browse my library, select tracks, control and play them. As it has a built in sound card, I can cue the next track in my headphones too.
If you decide to take it further, you can remap it to do other things. Do a google search. It is probably the cheapest pro level controller available.
If you're using a mac, you can use the standard out, and you won't get the same kind of latency as you would with a PC laptop. The only drawback is that you won't have a seperate headphone output for cueing, but that's not hugely important if you're just learning the ropes..
K2 is a good suggestion from A&H if you do want to cover both bases with one controller/interface. Nicely built and you can download a .tsi file for it (probably one in the box), so that it plays nice with Traktor..
I can't say too much, but keep an eye out for some developments in the summer that maybe interesting for you.
K2 is a good suggestion from A&H if you do want to cover both bases with one controller/interface. Nicely built and you can download a .tsi file for it (probably one in the box), so that it plays nice with Traktor..
I can't say too much, but keep an eye out for some developments in the summer that maybe interesting for you.
had a quick look at the Edirol - I can't see if the headphone out is the same as the main outs - if it is then you'll just hear the main mix on the headphones, rather than the signal from the deck you're cueing.
You can check by looking in the settings menu (the cog/wheel at the top right of the screen) and clicking on Audio Settings (to select the Edirol) and then on Audio Routing - if there is the option to take a seperate stereo out to the headphones it will appear in the drop down menu when you select the different outputs.
Don't worry too much if not - you can look at that later on.
Have fun
Steve
You can check by looking in the settings menu (the cog/wheel at the top right of the screen) and clicking on Audio Settings (to select the Edirol) and then on Audio Routing - if there is the option to take a seperate stereo out to the headphones it will appear in the drop down menu when you select the different outputs.
Don't worry too much if not - you can look at that later on.
Have fun
Steve
Have a look at Digitaldjtips , it's a friendly site run by a dj who's nights I attended far too long ago.
Speaking as someone with a load of vinyl and a pair of technics in the loft, I can honestly say that using a laptop ( and more recently djplayer app on an iPad) is every bit as enjoyable, if not more so. The music and what you do with it is what matters. Enjoy.
Speaking as someone with a load of vinyl and a pair of technics in the loft, I can honestly say that using a laptop ( and more recently djplayer app on an iPad) is every bit as enjoyable, if not more so. The music and what you do with it is what matters. Enjoy.
It's a pretty old book now but check out 'How To DJ Properly' by Bill Brewster. Whilst the book is quite old now and mostly focuses on vinyl/CD DJing it will teach you about the craft of DJing which I think is paramount. Traktor itself is incredibly intuitive to use - if you understand the concept of a mixer, and know how to operate a CD player then using Traktor is pretty much falling off a log in terms of ease of use. You do need some kind of hardware controller to get the most out of it, it is better than most packages at being operable with just keys and mouse though.
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