I combined the techniques shown here: http://www.djtechtools.com/2008/05/1...-ableton-4-mac/ with the smart mixer file for Ableton from http://www.djtechtools.com/2009/06/01/smart-mixing-setup-for-ableton/. I get audio out from Traktor, through Jack, into Ableton, then back out through Jack and into my USB soundcard, which then goes to two stereo channels on my external mixer, there's no problem getting audio out through my studio speakers...
My problem is that I can hear both decks A and B from my mixer master output no matter which channel fader is up on my external mixer.
Relevant Equipment:
+MacBook Pro 2.4 GHz, 2GB RAM running:
--Traktor Pro 1.1.1
--JackPilot (downloaded yesterday, don't know version)
--Ableton Live 7
--MAYA44 USB control panel (needs to be running whenever the card's plugged in to
--keep the volume up on the in/out channels)
+MAYA44 USB sound card (4 in / 4 out)
+Numark DM1050 mixer
+Vestax VCI-100 SE 1.3 firmware
My start-up sequence goes like this:
1.) Plug in and turn on VCI-100
2.) Plug in MAYA44USB
3.) Open MAYA44 USB control panel software and turn up the volume
4.) Open JackPilot and "Start" routing
5.) Open Traktor Pro
6.) Open Ableton Live 7 and load BentoSan's LE smart mixer file (I don't have hardware ports for cueing, so I can't use the smart cueing)
7.) Set up routing in JackPilot (Traktor 1-4 send --> Ableton 1-4 receive, Ableton 1-4 send --> System 1-4 receive)
8.) Turn on DM1050 mixer
9.) Rock out
Deck A in Traktor sends to JackPilot inputs 1 and 2. Deck B in Traktor sends to JackPilot inputs 3 and 4. JackPilot sends channels 1 and 2 to the Deck A section of BentoSan's Ableton file, while channels 3 and 4 get sent to the Deck B section in BentoSan's Ableton file. Ableton outputs 1 and 2 (Deck A post-compression?) get sent to JackPilot, which sends them to my MAYA44 outputs 1 and 2, while Ableton outputs 3 and 4 (Deck B post-compression?) get send to JackPilot, which sends them to my MAYA44 outputs 3 and 4. My MAYA44 outputs 1 and 2 go to my mixer's Channel 1 R and L, while my MAYA44 outputs 3 and 4 go to my mixer's Channel 2 R and L.
I've got the VCI-100 controls mapped appropriately to control the smart mixer in Ableton, removing the controls from my Traktor .tsi file to make room. Everything in software appears to work as normal (the VCI-100 controls everything just fine, too).
Now when I play two tracks at once, one on Deck A, and one on Deck B, I expect them to stay separate, as I have them mapped to different stereo pairs, through JackPilot, Ableton, and my MAYA44. What I don't understand is: why when the channel fader for Deck B on my mixer is turned all the way down, and the crossfader is over all the way to Channel A, do I get a mix of A and B out of my master output on my mixer? What this says to me is that Ableton is mixing the two decks together and spreading the signal across both stereo pairs. What I need is for deck A and deck B to be completely separate audio signals (so I can control them on my external mixer), but have the compression applied based on the opposing signal anyway. Is that possible? Is that supposed to be how it works, but I broke it?
The current results sound great, but it's entirely useless for my purposes with my hardware. Having the smart mixing setup running while mixing completely removes any ability for me to hide the stuff I do while cueing in the headphones from the audience, therefore it is unusable.
I can't mix entirely in software, because the MAYA44, while having a headphone output, cannot address it as a separate output. It's a hardware mixdown of all input and output channels, so I can't use it as a monitoring port. I'm not interested in a 100% software mixer. I want the flexibility of my mixer to still be present in my signal path. Is there a way for me to keep it, or do I have to mess with a whole bunch of stuff and find some crazy way to make my sound card allow headphone cueing, while doing all my mixing in software?
Please keep in mind, I have no money for gas to get to my new job on Tuesday, let alone to spend on more DJ equipment or software (or else I'd have a sound card that supported headphone cueing out-of-the-box, like the Audio8 and just call it a day).
I just want a way to do smart mixing in software, but not have it actually mix the signals, just compress the bass, mid, or high on one deck or the other (or both), and allow me to still cue up the next song. I lack the knowledge of Live and back-end audio technical stuff to figure it out on my own, or I'd just make my own rig from scratch.
I hope I didn't provide TOO much information, I just have no idea how to explain this, or what to do to fix it.
Best Regards,
DJ ATP
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