So I've decided to begin my 'dj career' with Traktor. I figured I'd rather invest in some software and see if I am any good at DJing before I invest in expesive hardware. Now is Traktor a good place to start? What about other DJ software options such as Ableton? Is Ableton similar to Traktor in any way for basic beatmatching and DJing?

I've had about two one-hour sessions in traktor so far. The first to get aquinted and the 2nd to actually try a small mix. Well it went awful, but I'm getting there. Luckily I have a 5.1 soundcard so I can hook up my headphones to a seperate channel. Traktor is working my skills now, but I have one question about beat-matching in Traktor. Is it me, or are you easily tempted to read the BPM of the track and just make the second tracks BPM the same as the one before, without using your ear. Is traktors BPM scale always correct? Should I try to beat-match without looking at that number or is it normal to cheat in Traktor?

Also, is hooking up a MIDI interface to use with Traktor worth the 100 dollars?

just hit sync & use the + & - to keep it nicely in sync...line the song up with one of those lines then press play when ur ready to start mixing in.

Thanks, one more question. Sometimes the bass gets really loud while I am mixing two tracks because the bass gets multiplied basically, so should I lower the bass knob on the outgoing track or the incoming track (smoothly of course).

1) No, Ableton is nothing like Traktor, its a sequencer, not a DJ mixing program. As far as I know Traktor is the best program for computer DJs. However, I haven't used PCDJ or whatever since I'm on a Mac, so I can't commment on that.

2) Yes, it's very tempting...you can just hit the Sync button and it keeps it all beatmatched (and key matched) for you, no work or skill needed, that's why I don't like computer DJs

3) Yes, it's worth getting a MIDI interface. I actually just got an Evolution 449c USB/MIDI keyboard, mostly for using with Reason/Cubase for production, but I was playing with Traktor and it was a lot of fun. You can set any of the controllers or keys to any function. I found the sliders good for pitch, EQ, and volume, the knobs good for the filter and other misc things, and the actual piano keys great for stop/start, cue, EQ kills, punch, kill, etc (if you can remember what's what, or label them)

If you're at all interested in producing as well as DJing then definitely get a keyboard MIDI controller rather than just the knobs (like the UC-33e or X-Session) so you can use it for both.

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-tom

Thanks man.

You reckon its better to buy a MIDI interface online or should I look around locally. We have a Long and Mcquade here, but it might be cheaper online. Any good, decent priced, reliable online stores for buying a MIDI interface (nothing fancy, just a simple one). Or any recommendations of stores in Canada that have MIDI interfaces for those of you living in Canada?

I usually buy online.

Or get the best of both worlds, find a store that will price match, then find the cheapest price online.

All I know is the US, but some of these online stores probably ship to Canada:

pssl.com - my favorite, will beat any price from an authorized dealer by 10% of the difference
musiciansfriend.com - the online seller for Guitar Center (one of the biggest music gear stores in the US) both will also price match

I've never ordered from the following but they look like good companies:
zzounds.com
synthplanet.com
samash.com - another big music gear store in the US
novamusik.com

and of course price comparison sites like these are good for finding the cheapest price:
froogle.com
pricegrabber.com
dealtime.com
epinions.com

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-tom

Thanks man. Alright, I'm looking for a solid quality sound card for my computer. I was thinking of getting a SoundBlaster, but I hear in the audiophile world they are hated. I'm not looking for sourround sound, just simple stereo, but I want it to be a really high quality card with 2 inputs, 2 outputs, digital ins and outs and also MIDI in/out.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7...ase_pid/242512/

Is that a good card? I'm looking forward to spending no more than 200 dollars. Any suggestions? Any pointers on the best brands. Kinda like video cards where ATI and nVidia dominate, what are the ATIs and nVidias of the audiophile sound cards. I'm not looking for something too fancy with a slot that goes in the CDROM spot that gives me more controls, but just simple high quality card excellent for recording and solid output.

Thanks if anyone responds.

I just ordered one of these: http://edirol.com/products/info/ur80.html It would be good since you're also looking for a MIDI control surface (except it's in more of a studio mixer format it would work), although I don't know if it can do more than 1 output at a time... bhphotovideo.com has them for $200 if you're interested.

Otherwise check out one of the many soundcard topics in both this forum and the production forum. I'm a Mac guy so I can't really help with PC specific sound cards, but most of the external ones work with both. Definitely check out M-Audio, MOTU, Tascam, Edirol. Basically you're looking for at least 96kHz / 24bit outputs (and inputs).

Just do lots of research (Google is great) before buying anything.

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-tom

Thanks

I use an M-Audio 2496 Audiophile sound card I picked up at a local music store for $90. I'd also reccomend if you actually want to do live sets using a computer and want people to take you seriously to check out getting some decks and virtualDJ + the time coded vinyl. Its like Traktor and Final Scratch put together. Ableton Live is great but its more for doing Live PA sets and remixing on the fly although you can incoporate decks and a mixer but you don't have to if you're using Ableton.

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Uhm...lower the bass eq when mixing...try to lower all the eq's to about -16db or -17db put the volume up all the way on both tracks with the volume faders then move the bass up first a little bit & slowly, then the hi, then mid

The (t) and the (b) buttons are great help . But i suggest getting some decks in the feature. I just got mine, having loads of fun on them.

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