Laptop Keyboard & Traktor Pro (rewrote the default for messing around on the go)

[dsharps]

I was always frustrated with the Traktor's default mapping for a laptop keyboard, so I made a new one. It's designed for messing around with on the go, I'm not sure if it's performance proof yet. It was made for a mac, so if anyone's rocking windows, it may require some tweaking. Here's the layout:

It's made for two-deck playback, so the keyboard is split into two sections basically. The top row of letters, Q-[ is for the first deck, and A-' is for the second deck, so the controls for the second deck are identical to the first, just shifted a row down.

Q - Play/Pause
W - Cue
Shift+W - Cue Play
E - Set to master
R - Sync

::Loop Mode::
The keys U-[ are a bank that can operate in either loop mode or FX mode. You can toggle between the two by hitting Cmd+U. By default, it starts in Loop Mode.

U - Drop 8 count loop
I - Loop In
O - Loop Out
P - Decrease Loop Size
[ - Increase Loop Size

These next five controls act like the Dicer, dropping a short loop that's active for as long as you hold the key

Shift + U - 1/16
Shift + I - 1/8
Shift + O - 1/4
Shift + P - 1/2
Shift + [ - 1


::FX Mode::
Cmd+U - switch into FX Mode for Deck A
U - FX Advanced On/Off
I, O, P, [ - FX Advanced Parameter 3 (sets it to 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% respectively, allowing you to quickly control the length of a delay, etc
Shift + Z, X, C, V, B, N, M, ,, ., or / - Hitting Shift and any of the bottom row of keys assigns an effect to the FX1 panel. This bank of 10 is easily reassignable.

Cmd + J - switch into FX Mode for Deck B
J - FX Advanced On/Off
K, L, ;, ' - FX Advanced Parameter 3 (sets it to 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% respectively, allowing you to easily control the length of a delay, etc
Option + Z, X, C, V, B, N, M, ,, ., or / - Hitting Option and any of the bottom row of keys assigns an effect to the FX1 panel. This bank of 10 is easily reassignable.

::Cues::
Number keys 1, 2, 3, and 4 are Hotcues 1, 2, 3, and 4 on Deck A
Number keys 5, 6, 7, and 8 are Hotcues 1, 2, 3, and 4 on Deck B
Hitting ` (tilde key) changes the two banks from activating cues 1-4 to cues 5-8. If the cues aren't already assigned, hitting the key will drop it right there.

::Other fun features::
The arrow keys are assigned as High Kill, Mid Kill, Lo Kill, etc (works with the Xone mixer setting too)

Hitting Shift + Space activates a manual gater (I made it up, I'm not sure what to call it), but it zeroes out the volume of the selected deck, until you tap the space bar and then keeps it up until you let go. Hitting Shift + Space again deactivates.

There's also a feature called FX Supermode. Hitting Tab switches Traktor from the normal key layout to Supermode for FX1 (advanced). The number keys 1-0 control Dry/Wet (10% increments), Q-P control Parameter 1 (10% increments again), A-; controls Parameter 2, and Z-/ controls Parameter 3. You can slide your fingers across the keyboard and have it act like a touch slider. This allows for a lot of expression with the FX. Hitting Tab again switches to Supermode for FX2 (also advanced), with the same control scheme for the parameters. Hitting Tab one more time cycles back to normal operation.

That's about it! I hope you guys find it useful.

[dsharps]

Tweaked it a little. In normal operation, keys Z-/ now control the crossfader (swipe your finger across for slider-like action), hitting space resets the crossfader to center. Left and right arrows tick the crossfader left and right, if you prefer that method. FX Supermode still works normally.

Tell if you think anything else needs work!

[lethal_pizzle]

Liking some of your mappings here! Might use the manual gater one myself!

The problem with your 'dicer' controls is that they set loops, so your track is now out of sync. I'd consider replacing these with a momentary beatmasher function set to the same lengths as the loops.

[Negotiator]

Many, many thanks for sharing!!

Low mixing techniques are easy as pie with this mapping, only FX is a bit weird to control (default limitation of keyboard)
The Big plus if you are on a notebook: touchpad to Gabela style gate FX
(with http://www.analogx.com/contents/down...o/mousemod.htm perhaps )

[dsharps]

Liking some of your mappings here! Might use the manual gater one myself!

The problem with your 'dicer' controls is that they set loops, so your track is now out of sync. I'd consider replacing these with a momentary beatmasher function set to the same lengths as the loops.

Yeah, I've been trying to figure out a way around that quirk. The problem I ran into though was that with the beatmasher, it has to record a full 4 beats before it activates, so its not like an instant thing, you know? Is there another way to do it? I just recently found out about a feature called Beatgridding i think. I saw it in one of ean's videos. That might work. I'm not sure though

[dsharps]

Many, many thanks for sharing!!

Low mixing techniques are easy as pie with this mapping, only FX is a bit weird to control (default limitation of keyboard)
The Big plus if you are on a notebook: touchpad to Gabela style gate FX
(with http://www.analogx.com/contents/down...o/mousemod.htm perhaps )

Glad to help! I'm gonna look into that link...

[Negotiator]

Yeah, I've been trying to figure out a way around that quirk. The problem I ran into though was that with the beatmasher, it has to record a full 4 beats before it activates, so its not like an instant thing, you know? Is there another way to do it? I just recently found out about a feature called Beatgridding i think. I saw it in one of ean's videos. That might work. I'm not sure though

There is a technique for making a looproll, so that you can jump right back in where the track position would be if you hadnt looped before
-> this is not the same as releasing loops on time, but better than nothing

its based on copying the deck into another deck, making the loops on the copied deck and then switching to your original deck when your done

The problem with your 'dicer' controls is that they set loops, so your track is now out of sync. I'd consider replacing these with a momentary beatmasher function set to the same lengths as the loops.

one thing i dont get is: doesnt the beat switch back to the grid if you have snap and quantize enabled? thats supposed to work like that or? what do you mean then with "....the track gets out of sync..."?

[dsharps]

Yeah, the deck copy thing would work, but that would mean that you couldn't be mixing with another song. Unless you did 4 decks. But that would be super messy. Actually now that I think about it, deck copy might not be terrible. You could hit a button to throw it in Dicer Mode that would load the same track, start it playing, flip the x-fader to one side, then when you exit Dicer Mode, it would flip to the other side and you'd keep mixing.


I think what lethal_pizzle meant was that the flow of the track would get messed up. If you threw it a 1/8th loop and it cycled 3 times, then you've extended the track by 3/8ths where it shouldn't have been you know?

[thunderclapper]

this has changed me! who said you can't dj without hardware! hot keys are the future!