Last month BentoSan posted a great tutorial about routing Traktor audio into Live in Windows. It’s here and I recommend you at least skim his article if you haven’t already read it, it has plenty of relevant links. Here is how to do exactly the same thing on a Mac, using free software.
What to expect:
- Routing of the audio of each Traktor deck into Live.
- MIDI clock sync from Traktor to Live. Allows to use Live VST beat synced. Allows to start armed clips in Live on the beat.
- Record your set in audio directly in Live.
- Low latency and excellent stability.
The basic principles of this technique will not require a rocket science degree. I know we usually just turn over the TKS file but in this case I would like to walk you through the basics so you can learn the principles yourself. I was asked the other day “why guitar hero”? The answer is simple, its a medium that the audience can relate to. Tapping on arcade buttons or keyboards may look cool and in many cases work much better but unless the audience can understand and relate to what your doing, they just wont get it. At this point just about everyone has either seen or played guitar hero so when you bust it out in the club the learning curve just got a lot shorter.
Continue reading ‘How to Dj with Guitar Hero’
Nathan Ramella, who is known for his work on the unofficial Ableton live Python API, has come up with something that is sure to shake the very fabric scratching as we know it today. Ammobox promises to finish the transformation of the turntable from a utility device to musical instrument by converting control vinyl signal into midi like values. Using his software in conjunction with Reaktor 5 allows you to take those values and scratch multiple samples at once or scratch a stream of pre-sequenced samples layered on each top of each other. You can even quantize and record the results to quickly “scratch” in notes of a song on the fly. Imagine a scenario where you have pre sequenced a set of well known drum samples and you build a beat from scratch by layering in each sound at a time.
Continue reading ‘Ammobox- Load up your Scratch Samples’
In response to the handy feedback icon you see on your left hand side of this site I will be starting a “FX Fundamentals” series and go through many different uses of FX that you can use inside Traktor or any other software. First on the list is filters, the work horse of a dj’s effects arsenal. Along with a basic overview of the different filter options, I will go into multi mapping a single knob to many parts of a filter and layering 2 filters for even more effective results. Check out the video bellow for the scoop.
Continue reading ‘FX Fundamentals- Filters’
By: Bento San
The following Windows tutorial will get Traktor and Ableton all synced up and implement the concept of smart mixing into your set up. Some of you may be thinking, “What is smart mixing”? This is a good Question, and the Belvario Smart Mixer site answers it well. “”Smart mixing” is a term introduced by Moldover, a controllerist digital musician who uses a sophisticated software and hardware configuration that allows him to make fast changes to the mix with a minimum of control movement. One component of this is his “smart mixer” Reaktor ensemble, which makes it easy to do basic automated EQ mixing with a simple fader move in Ableton Live (in Live 7 it’s possible to do with only native audio effects).
You will learn how to:
1) Route Audio From Traktor and into an Ableton Live smart mixer.
2) Sync Abletons Midi clock to Traktor which will be hosting the master tempo
3) Allowing use of a midi controller in two programs at once.
Continue reading ‘Smart Mixing Traktor with Ableton’
With a limited number of physical knobs to control an ever increasing number of software goodies you need to find a way to get more out of your control surface. Using a single knob to control more than one parameter is one of the best ways to do that. A good example of this is the effects section of my VCI-100SE. Each effect in Traktor has 4 knobs and 4 buttons but my vci-100 only offers 2 knobs per effect. How can this be effective? Super knobs!
Continue reading ‘Super Knobs’
Deck a Dance may be the only dj software out there that can run inside Ableton Live but you can virtually put any software into the powerful audio engine with a free plug in. Cycling 74, the masterminds behind max msp, offer soundflower which creates a virtual audio engine within your macintosh environment.
“To send the output of one application to another, select Soundflower as the output device in the first application and Soundflower as the input device within the second application.” Continue reading ‘Route any dj software into Ableton’
The manufacturers don’t want you to know this, but the truth is you don’t have to plop down $1,500 for the latest Allen & Heath mixer or $3,000 on a JazzMutant Lemur to do creative things with MIDI and DJ software. Sure, having a brand new DJ controller with all kinds of bells and whistles will get you excited about trying new ideas, but you might get more mileage out of something at a fraction of those prices. There are many inexpensive two-octave keyboards that offer mappable controls in a small footprint. Perhaps you still have an M-Audio Oxygen 8 ($149.95 for the Oxygen 8 V2; www.m-audio.com) lying around from your first foray into music production. Take it out and imagine how you might DJ with it. Think of how each knob and slider might best control two or more songs on the fly. It’s actually a lot more realistic than you might imagine, so let’s turn the zillion-selling Oxygen 8 into a controllerist’s dream rig. Continue reading ‘Oxygen 8 Controllerism Layout’
Many, many times I have heard people say: “gosh how did you become a professional dj? That must be so hard!” Or other djs complaining that they could never go full time because the competition is too tight. Well, I can tell you first hand that its not hard to make money, get gigs and even go pro. Naysayers might point out: “Your just lucky or you have special talent- not everyone can get the gigs you have gotten”. Nope, wrong on both accounts. I am not lucky and not even that “talented”, just terribly persistent and painfully stubborn. You see by putting yourself in the frame of mind where you can accept the possibility of easily making good money by doing something you love (sharing music with others). You have taken the first and most important step to making it happen.
Continue reading ‘You Can Be a Pro DJ’
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