How to mix between Traktor and a CDJ or Turntable
… or How to Beatmatch with Traktor and a CDJ
So here it is, the first article for Kana 2010 and what better way to start than by helping you get your groove on with those pesky CDJ’s that people just dont want to give up! Don’t they know laptops are king these days? (Just kidding…hah, enjoy your own flavour I say!)
Apologies must first be made for the serious delay in responding to the initial request for this article, lets just say it’s better late than never, what do you say?
Right, so if you read the first piece on the dynamics of digital mixing which was about beat-matching Ableton Live to any number of CDJ’s, you will have the idea; what we clearly need to do is sort out how you are going to do this if you are a Traktor user and prefer to “sync” your tracks internally.
(Note: If you use software other than Traktor and want a tutorial for it, by all means post in the comment field and I’ll track down a copy to review for you.)
EDIT: For this setup you will need to be using Traktor’s internal master clock to sync your tracks to. I.E. All tracks will have “Sync” highlighted, instead of one track being chosen as the “Master” track, with the remainder syncing to it.
To pull this off I am going to assume you understand the basics of midi-mapping in Traktor, if you don’t then don’t stress I’ll be sure to post something on the subject soon enough but leave a comment if it’s not soon enough for you… or just go read the manual like a good student!
1) First we need to choose a fader on your midi controller on which to assign your virtual pitch slider
In Traktor, open Preferences:
- Menu -> Midi Mappings
- Click “Add” then from the new pop up menu select “Master Clock”, followed by “Master Tempo”
- Now, click “Learn” and then move the slider on your midi controller which you want to be your virtual pitch slide.
- Great, thats now assigned. If you were to close the preferences you would now see the tempo clock in the top left corner moving in response to your movements on the fader.
2) Now we need to adjust the settings of the assignment so it is closer to the “feel” we are going for, restrict the range a little bit if you will.
In that same window below where you clicked “Learn” you will want to set the “Controller Configuration” to:
- Interaction Mode: Direct (this is default)
- Type of Controller: Relative Fader / Knob (need to change to this)
- Assignment: Global (this is default)
Below this you will now see some new configurations entitled “Rotary Encoder”: here you will adjust the slider marked “Rotary Sensitivity” to change the range of the fader, or the maximum/minimum BPM that you can increase/decrease to.
A good place to start is 15% which gives you a range of approximately 6.46 BPM, and will move the BPM in increments of 0.04-0.05 (this is slightly varied for some reason).
If you want a finer level of control then bring the sensitivity right down to 11% which will give you a range of 3.42 BPM which moves in increments of 0.02-0.03.
The only draw back here is if you don’t get a tight “drop” and have your initial tempo close to begin with, then you will find it very hard (read: impossible) to catchup to a beat that you don’t have the range for.
3) Final suggestion is to assign the “TAP” button to a spare key on your laptop, or a free button on your controller (of which there should be NONE if you are seriously into this)
Note: TAP is default assigned to “Ctrl+Space”; by holding Control and tapping the space bar you can “tap” the tempo of the current track. This is fine, but if you are anything like me having to hold one button whilst hitting another for a Single function should be avoided wherever possible. (Granted this is unavoidable in some situations, however, dare I say that this may be a case when its worth avoiding?)
To assign to a single key on your keyboard:
- Preferences Menu -> Keyboard Mapping
- Click “Add” then from the new pop up menu select “Master Clock”, followed by “Master Tempo Beat Tap”
- Now, click “Learn” then hit the key on your keyboard you wish to assign; unclick “Learn” once you’ve assigned so you don’t accidentally assign to something else.
- I like to use the “\” key above my “Enter” key, but choose something that works for you.
4) Putting it into practice….
- Move your new virtual Pitch Slider to the middle position (midi value 65)
- Then, ‘Tap’ your tempo along with the current playing track from the previous DJ
- Once you’ve seen the tempo reading steady out substantially you can be confident you have a fairly close BPM
- Now you need to press “Play” in-time with the current song and get ready to ride the pitch into perfect tempo harmony.
Happy mixing!
Adam
How to Beatmatch with Ableton and a CDJ
If you’ve jumped on the bandwagon and got yourself a copy of Ableton Live, taught yourself the basics, figured out how to DJ with it and are now ready to perform in public, the only question you might be left asking is:
“How do I beatmatch Live to the DJ before me?”
EDIT: If you prefer to use Traktor Pro to DJ with then check here instead
The same problem surfaces (naturally) when you play back-to-back with someone when one of you want to use CDJ’s (or turntables) and the other on a laptop with Live.
Never fear, Live 7 (&8) are here!
There are two ways you can go about this, one requires no extra hardware, the other requires a midi device with at least one slider available eg. Faderfox LV2, Evolution UC-33 or the Vestax VMC-600.
1) Basic (no controller):
To successfully operate a steady tempo device (Live) in partnership with a variable tempo device (CDJ’s etc) without the use of a a hardware controller you will need to get one thing clear first…
Ableton assumes Master Tempo and all other devices are matched to its tempo.
Once you’ve started the global play on Live you will not need to stop it. From here the CDJ user can will need to beatmatch each new track to Live’s signal. When its time to mix a tune in from Live, you will need to make any tempo adjustments to the CDJ not ableton.
Ways to do this are:
- a) Beatmatch to a guide track from Live (which will be always playing but never heard)
- Create a new audio channel in your Live project
- Route it to a secondary output channel (one not used for your performance)
- Patch that channel into an unused channel on your mixing desk
- Add a standard percussion loop to this channel and have it playing always
- This will be your mixing guide track, make sure it has a clear Kick, Snare and Hats… or whatever you really want to beatmatch to
- Make sure the channels volume is never turned up on the mixing desk
- Now you can monitor/make any tempo adjustments on the CDJ’s even when no track is playing on Live. This will allow you to refer to Live’s tempo at regular itervals to make sure you are not drifitng out of time
- b) Stop/Start Live as close to the beat as you can then have the CDJ’s adjusted (carefully, subtley)
2) Advanced (controller required):
To control Live’s tempo like a CDJ (or turntable) all you need to do is have a midi-assignable slider connected to the laptop and assign it to the global tempo. Then, the trick is to set your Min/Max values to a range of say 5-10bpm MAX…
The smaller the range, the finer the control. So if your set is starting at 127bpm and ending at 130bpm, then make the range like 125-132 to give some room to push pull. Experiment here as you can get away with settings like 127-130 and you’ll get a real fine adjustment curve 
It is also worth assigning the two Nudge buttons (“<<” & “>>”) as these will be handy to give little ‘bumps’ during the mix. I use a combination of both slider & nudge with fairly precise accuracy.
So, to assign your midi slider:
- Turn ON Midi Map mode
- Ctrl-M (PC) / Apple-M (Mac)
- Click on the global bpm (the whole number section not the decimal part)
- Move the slider you want to assign – you will see the assignment appear in the midi list on the right of screen
-> change the min & Max values now to suit. E.g Min = 125; Max = 130
If you wish to assign the Nudge buttons, do so now:
- Click on the Nudge Left button (this will slow down your tempo as long as you hold it)
The arrow at top like this “<<“
- Tap the midi button you wish to assign
- Repeat for Nudge Right (speed up tempo whilst you hold it)
The arrow at top like this “>>“
- Turn Off Midi Map mode
- Ctrl-M again (or Apple-M for Mac)
Note: I often assign nudge to midi & qwerty keyboard buttons for quick access no matter what I’m doing.
To assign to keyboard:
- Turn ON Keyboard Map mode (everything should go orange)
- Ctrl-K (PC) / Apple-K (Mac)
- Click the nudge left
- Tap the key you wish to assign to (I use the square brackets “[" and "]” )
- Repeat for the other nudge button
- Turn OFF Keyboard Map mode
VOILA! You are now ready to boogie
Boost your screen space with a USB powered 7″ Touch Screen
The time is fast approaching when open-source programmers and affordable hardware combine to make the ultimate customizable dj setup at a very affordable price. Until that day inevitably arrives (when we all have exactly what we want right at our finger tips for every performance) you can start yourself towards that dream with one (or many) of these babies.
Mimo have just released their very affordable 7″ Touch Screen for a meagre $199US. Hosting a resolution of 840×400 and powered by USB, not only is it super light at 600 grams but it has a rotatable screen so you could use it equally well for sequencing as for menu browsing!
I can think of several great uses for a light weight screen like this:
- Keep plugin windows open & out of the way for quick adjustment to non-assigned parameters & preset navigation
- Emulate a Kaoss pad type system for fancy effects
- Have a dedicated browser screen to free up your main screen for more important items
- Can’t afford a Lemur and think an iPod is tacky? Setup your own touch-screen midi controller with the MonoTouch software in style!! It’s only $29US, so thats under $230US for your own Lemur… Nice!
Of course, you can use this for many mroe purposes like triggering visual clips and multi-tasking at your day-job, but thats upto you to decide.
Think you’ve got some great alternative uses for a 7″ touch screen in a performance related environment, let us know by commenting at the bottom!
Top 5 blogs on music production and djing
To start off 2009 with some music related reading here is a list of what i’d say are the top 5 blogs to read about music production and dj technology. Not every blog has the most technical information to share, but sometimes thats entirely the point. Have a read and maybe you’ll get some inspiration or insight you never saw coming.
If you are new to blogs but you like the information on these sites, why not read about Blog Readers and subscribe to the sites you like most (Tip: you get an easy to use reader with your gmail or yahoo accounts…thats a start!)
Happy reading, 
Adam
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by contributors actively involved in the music industry
very good tutorials for thinking creatively about sound
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by Ean Golden & contributors
number one watch for the digital dj
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by Ian Shepard
a regular contributor for Sound on Sound (.com)
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by Beatport & contributors
tutorials are at a very basic level but there’s some good conversations with major artists which has good value. Worth following anyway.
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by Peter Kim
not everything is tutorial based, but some valuable information here also
