Downsizing traktor library & getting rid of nonDJ tracks, anyway to make this easier?

[Bdubz]

Ah let me clarify, I don't allow itunes to manage or copy my files (I hate how it does it). I have one big music folder called "Music Library Master" and in there I have the bulk of my non-dj music sorted by artist>album>song then I have a few other folders which are giant unsorted clusterfucks of electronic music. I point traktor to "Music Library Master" and it imports everything in this folder at startup.

Now I want to separate my non-DJ type music from here since it is getting too big and confusing to have all this other stuff mixed in with my traktor collection and makes browsing for dance music difficult to browse through. I eventually want to get most of my collection optimized by trainspotter with cover art, release, proper beatport tags, key, etc


I'm afraid the only way to do this is to do some file management surgery- I'm thinking the easiest might be to duplicate my huge music folder onto an external hard drive, then go through traktor and right click and delete all the stuff I don't want in there and click the box to delete it from the disk too so it trims down that folder to dance music. Then I have my non dance music backed up to another location and I copy it to a separate folder. Is there any other way I could do it? I'm thinking I could also just delete the artist folders I don't want in finder after I backup the collection then when I reopen traktor and it does a consistency check it will come up with a bunch of stuff missing, would there then be a way to group all the tracks that are missing files and delete them from the collection at once?

I might be misunderstanding you but if not why don't you just make playlists within Traktor and leave out any tracks you don't want...

[Xonetacular]

It's like being a hoarder.

tell me about it. but... but.. what if I need it and even if I never listen to it one day decide to browse through thousands of songs i've never heard and discover something amazing? That's how my mind works.

[Xonetacular]

I might be misunderstanding you but if not why don't you just make playlists within Traktor and leave out any tracks you don't want...

Makes browsing though songs way too much of a pain when you have to sort through junk

[Nibbsy]

Ok this seems like a good place to get some helpful advice on my library/collection.

completej your posts (and the article you linked) have been really useful for helping me decide how I want to organise my music. I'm just not sure about the integration with Traktor.

Do you not use the Traktor collection at all? Do you just browse in iTunes playlists in Traktor and drag the tracks directly to the decks?

Whenever I use iTunes playlists to browse in Traktor, it doesn't show the artwork. Is there a way around this?

[completej]

NP nibb.

Correct - I do not use the Traktor collection at all. I open the iTunes playlists and load directly with my S4, or sometimes with my mouse.

My artwork loads when I drop the mp3 into a deck and it pops up all the other info (grids, wave form, etc). I don't use the browser window's artwork at the bottom to conserve space for my numerous iTunes playlists, but in checking it just now I noticed it does NOT load the artwork down there. If I click on Traktor Collection however, it does.

Odd, not sure why.

[Nibbsy]

I see, thanks.

The thing is I like to be able to see the artwork when I'm browsing, I just find this a quicker way to find things. So I really like the 'crate flick' feature that TP2 has, but this doesn't seem to work with iTunes playlists.

Also, you mention that when you click on Traktor Collection you can see the artwork. But surely your Traktor Collection is empty? I thought you didn't add tracks to the Collection at all? Am I missing something?

[EchePalante]

Well yeah, what I'm saying is I want to remove all the non dance stuff that is currently in my traktor library and have it so traktor doesn't automatically re-import them without having to rearrange all my files.

Get an external HD, put all ur dance music and Dj songs on there and use that. Way easier then having playlists on iTunes

[completej]

Sorry - at one point in time, I was religiously "Importing new songs" into my new collection, as well as running "Consistency checks" each time I loaded Traktor, thinking it had something to do with how I was playing out of iTunes. This was just a misunderstanding on my part. Also, when I initially switched over to TP2, I thought I had to import the tracks into my collection to analyze and grid them, which is also untrue. I never ended up deleting the collection, so I can reference the differences from time to time.

One thing that drove me from the Traktor collection was I would make a change to a file. I'd find out I had mistyped a file name, or updated an album or artist name - something that resulted in changing the file location. When Traktor would re-import this file to the collection, it resulted in duplicates that I couldn't easily manage or remove without added time, so I shelved that solution.

[Nibbsy]

Ok, so now you do not import tracks into your Traktor Collection at all? But Traktor can still analyse and grid them, without them having to be in the Collection? Am I understanding correctly?

As I said, the cover flick artwork features are pretty improtant to me, so I am going to need to find some kind of compromise between Traktor and iTunes - ie source the tracks from iTunes, but also have them showing in Collection. This seems to be what Trainspotter does - you can sync your iTunes smart playlists with your Traktor Collection, but it doesn't sound like you do this. Is there any reason why not? It sounds like it would be the perfect solution for you.

[Xonetacular]

Get an external HD, put all ur dance music and Dj songs on there and use that. Way easier then having playlists on iTunes

I would not want to play off an external and have a big internal drive for that reason. I want simplicity and organization and my precious 2 USB ports are for controllers and soundcards.