First release of D2/S8 mods

Hi there! Awesome work!
I am an extensive user of STEM tracks and wonder if I can change the top row of knobs(which are currently hard-mapped for FX Units) to stem Filters of rows, so that I don't need to switch left/right to control FX Send and Filters? Use them with D2.

It would also be great to have D2/S8 full Midi-mappable, while still having screens work. Maybe there could be some work-around with the utility that transforms signals from D2 back to normal MIDI-signals and works simultaneously with hard-mapping included with D2. And then have some tutorial to disable hard-coded mappings of D2 so that you can fully midi-map the D2, while still having the screen waveforms. Any thoughts on this occasion?
What's more interesting is that if you achieve that - there is a chance to make 4x of D2 working together.

Also, as for development of your MOD: the cool idea would be to write an application for Mac/PC in which you can turn on/off different functions of your mod and also change the mappings of you mod. Since QML is similar to other code languages, having several variables won't be a problem. Moreover, it would be easier for you to maintain the MOD and also have some website where people could purchase/donate you to have such a utility to customize their D2/S8/S5 devices. I am eager to be extensive beta-tester of such a product.

Best Regards, Alex

#LongLiveStems
p.s. I think Stem format and can have the second life now, with the release of XTRAX Stems 2 software which does the separation of any track. I really liked the results I get, so that now I don't need to find acapella files and beatgrid them manually. Link to software(no paid advertising here): https://audionamix.com/products/xtrax-stems/

 

Thank you!

It should be possible to change the top row of knobs to control the Stem filters. However even with my level of expertise changing things it would probably take me at least 6-10 hours to get everything working nicely. A much simpler option would be to utilise the SHIFT key so when held it took you to the stem filters tab and then when you release the SHIFT key it returns to FX send tab. That might only take 1-2 hours.

I'm very intrigued by your thoughts on making the controller send MIDI signals. I'd done a bit of research into whether there are any MIDI plugins for QML so I could send signals back to Traktor to do things not supported by the API NI produced for the D2/S5/S8. I found one but it is very out of date and is a compiled plugin so I'm thinking a few hours just to prove the principle. Cutting the code back so the only interaction with Traktor was the playing waveform I think would not be too difficult.

Writing an app to update the ModPrefs.qml file I introduced for preferences is just too tedious for me to contemplate lol. One of the reasons my v2 release is slipping is I'm struggling to update the v1 release notes. I like your idea for generating money, but I just know the amount of support needed when people pay for something would be too much.

XTRAX Stems 2 - LIKE!

As a D2 user you may like the mod I've done for my v2 release that does what NI said could not be done - allows you to have AB CD rather than AC BD screen layouts. Photos attached which also shows my latest design, including a 32 beat meter (deck and master where applicable) - phrase matching to 8 16 or 32 beats becomes very simple

 

Pretty cool!
For me having A/B instead of A/C is not a huge case, since I still play all 4 decks at the same time, but it would be welcomed by someone playing with just 1x Z1 and 1x D2 setup.

SHIFT+Knob is also great and may solve some performance struggles along the way, since you can have filters be the main control, and then gradually(using SHIFT) add FX Send to several STEM channels!!

As for QML > MIDI. You can have transitional utility to transform these signals. For example, there are utilities that transform computer keyboard commands to MIDI (e.g. http://vmpk.sourceforge.net/ , after quick search). So basically, u can have "listener" app, that will listen to any signals(e.g. numbers, letters, codes) coming out from QML side, and then transform them into another Virtual Midi Device.
QML > "listener app" > Virtual MIDI
It's going to be less stable, I believe, than doing it all inside the D2 QML code going directly into Traktor, but gonna be a cornerstone to further life of D2/S8/S5 lineup (in addition to screen mods). Moreover, such a utility can be sold for sure, since what it will do is just open up MIDI mappings, which basically should be given by NI. (p.s. I can help with the website - got expertise in creating those ;-)

As for the Phrase/Beat meters - found useless for myself, since already for 7 years in DJing and hearing phrases is kinda essential ear technique. But since I could see people asking for it - awesome work in any case!)

As for the Traktor Pro 2 vs. Traktor Pro 3 support. For now, I could see the only drawback of Traktor Pro 3 - the bug with Remix Decks Pitch(https://support.native-instruments....l-S8-is-not-working-with-Traktor-Pro-3-en-us-), which I hope NI will cover by themselves. And with new Elastique 3 time-stretching(really like it when using STEMS and -30% tempo) and Mixer FX, it's becoming far more functional software than Traktor Pro 2. In conclusion, I guess there should be an exclusive choice made towards Traktor Pro 3, since it's far better software and what's more important lowers the amount of time you, as the developer, need to spend debugging your modifications.

Cheers, and hope hearing from you soon!

p.s. My FB, in case you wanna reach out: https://www.facebook.com/lehanest95

 

Hi Nick, Congratulations on your great work.
I play with D2, I use Kokernutz mood (which I love) but I like to add your layer AB CD function. how can I do this? Thank you for your help.

 

Hi the changes required were significant across the main QML file, and my simplified deck switching mods should probably be included as well. When I release v2 of my mods someone should speak nicely to Kokernutz to see if he’s interested in incorporating the changes.

 

kokernutz can you?
we would appreciate

 

I'm sorry but I don't think I will be updating my MOD so each screen either shows decks A & B or C & D, unless it is a simple switch in the code. Mod writers, is it just updating deck IDs in the Templates?

 

My intention was to use a single D2 when I only play with two channels on the Traktor.
if it is very laborious, I understand your position. I will continue to be very satisfied with your work. Thank you.
(if I knew this programming language, believe me I would help in the development)

 

Hey Nick,

first I say THANK YOU! for your great work and the sharing of your results with us.

Your modification unlocks the the whole potential of traktor pro 2 to control 4! decks with just one kontrol d2. amazing!!

I really hope, that you release a update for TP3...

I have only a few questions, I dont know if its possible:
Is it maybe possible, to have the fullscreen view of a stem deck and also above or underneath the view of a running track deck?.

What about the coloured waveforms? is it possible for you to unlock the waveform colors like kokernutz is using for his mod?

btw. I really like that its possible to see the elapsed and remaining time of two decks running, this is very good! never haven seen this activated in another mod. also on the cdjays its still not possible to see both time information parallel. keep on having this in the display, this is important for a fluent and exact mixing. I mention this, because I saw in your last mod screenshots, that you removed this in the view of two decks.

carry on, amazing work! thank you so much until now!

 

I have some time off work over the Christmas period, so plan to release v2 of my mods before the New Year. As its taken me so long, I've frozen development on the TP 2.11.3 version and started the task of migrating to TP 3. Due to the massive amount of code changes I've made to so many parts of the system I'm having to do this very carefully - my first attempt at making the changes all at once didn't end well and as there's no means of debugging, I'm having to do it the slow way.

 

Hi,

TP3 update before New Years

I'll have a think about the Stem deck idea...

Coloured waveforms - I've added a preference to allow and easy swap to all 17 of the pre-defined NI schemes plus Erik Minekus's Prime and Nexus color schemes.
// 0 = Factory Default
// 1 = Red; 2 = Dark Orange; 3 = Light Orange; 4 = Warm Yellow; 5 = Yellow; 6 = Lime; 7 = Green; 8 = Mint
// 9 = Cyan; 10 = Turquoise; 11 = Blue; 12 = Plum; 13 = Violet; 14 = Purple; 15 = Magenta; 16 = Fuchsia

Remaining time missing from split view on new mods - I suppose I could display both if I shorten the track name/artist/release info which scrolls anyway...

Thanks for the feedback!

 

The changes to make it work as AB CD involved enhancements to around 55 sections of code in Deck_S8Style.qml, D2.qml and Screen.qml. Some of the logic statements I wrote are complete head fucks! I've marked the sections so not impossible for someone to re-implement into their mods.

 

How's it going Nick Moon, you winning any battles?

Hope your making some progress on your ideas, I know you've invested a lot of time in your mod.

 

Thank you for the nudge.

I resolved the issue with Windows version not working, had upgraded and checked on 3.1 (macOS) last weekend and tonight I was slowed down with the 3.1.1 upgrade on both macOS and Windows. Started writing the minimum set of notes for the beta release as well, which will form part of the notes for the main release. I will launch a beta version hopefully before Saturday, but definitely before the end of the weekend.

I'm keen to move forward with seeing if parallel waveforms are possible and also to improve the remix deck headers (I've started using remix decks and was horrified about how basic the implementation is).

 

haha, all good dude. it can be hard to keep going, especially when battling platform updates.

 

"definitely before the weekend" of course meant next weekend lol. I have actually done a significant chunk of the user guide and whilst doing that squashed a few bugs I'd not seen before. The most painful being that Windows doesn't come with a decent narrow font (macOS has Arial Narrow) so I got an OpenSource copy of Roboto Condensed (Roboto being the new font NI introduced a while back), only to find there are issues with it not working in macOS. So then had to write a function to detect which OS is running (by looking at the format of the file paths used in Traktor Settings.tsi) to ensure the right narrow font is being used.... Some further tweaking to the split screen track deck header means it includes elapsed as well as remaining time & current BPM.

Will do a bit each evening to push things forward...

 

Go Nick go!! You are almost there! As i've already told you, really looking forward to your MOD and apply the things which interest me the most to my mod!

 

I hate taking pictures of the controller screen using a phone camera and many a time have tried to get things so lighting and angle looks ok even though the colors don't.

Finally I have a proper solution sorted which will make finishing the documentation a happier task - crystal clear screen grabs:




I did have to apply a couple of filters in PhotoShop - the raw captures were very dark and the colors way off.

 

Geez! It's looking gorgeous, Nick. Really mouth watering... I'm getting as excited about this mod as I would be for a new TP version! (lol)

 

Thank you for the words of encouragement, I decided I would not release without reasonable documentation - writing it means I'm doing some testing and sanity checking. I've not been on here for 2 weeks but I'm spending 2 hours tonight on documentation