TRAKTOR 3 - REKORDBOX 5 - DDJ RZ - LEAVING TRAKTOR

im pretty sure im in the transitional phase from traktor to rekordbox, my ddj rz has arrived and im currently testing it with rekord box 5 open beta software.

ive been on it for a couple of hours now:

1. i have managed to beat grid chic - goodtimes (original) thanks to the elastic/smart beat grid

2. the next track suggestion feature is going to be very handy during my 7 hour sets

3. being able to view 2 playlists on screen at one time

4. one button tag a tune - goes into a playlist for later plays

5. imported 167 playlists via single click drag and drop - the playlists were imported also named, 2 minutes

6. exported all the playlists and music to a usb key - for safe keeping and obviously fits in any nexus decks that i will come across

7. not used the actual back up feature but i can see its going to be a couple of clicks approx

8. i can now drag playlists up and down the play list tree - being stuck with alphabetical order was enfuriating with 167 playlists

9. so only just scratched the surface and its not looking good for traktor in any department even at this early stage.

10. no point writing about the controller itself here its night and day better than anything in the current NI line, i rate it a better experience than the xdj1000 djm850k i sold last year, has to be seen to be beleived got to be a 10/10 absolutley untouchable.

Look, dont get me wrong i dont want to hate on traktor, ive been using it for 10 years.

i own an s4 - s4mk2 - z1 - 2 x X1mk2 - DJM T1 - 2 x audio2 - 2 identical laptops for work both with identical traktors on each, Traktor blood is running through my veins but f3ck me some one at NI is being paid to leave the once king of kings to rot and decay. (only my opinion obvs)

why else has it been left where it has been left? wheres the new hardware that folk actually want? wheres the oh so much needed traktor 3?

im posting this because i actually care, i want someone from the actual traktor team to come and tell me why i shouldnt be jumping ship and i dont mean karlos (no disrespect) i mean someone from the very top to actually come here to this very forum! and tell us what is happening!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and fill in the blanks.

if you care come and save me xx

 

I agree to a certain extent. Yes Traktor updates are rare nowadays, and other companies seem to fill that void... But as a DJ, elastic beatgrids should not hold you back from using Chic in your set. Being able to beat match by ear is an essential skill that ANY DJ must be able to do.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

Recordbox is not finished yet , you will see in the next days .
"next track suggestion" Really ?
Don't care about the "number" , who cares ? can be Traktor 1 , 2 , 3 , or even 4 .
The day Recordbox can offer to me Tempo master , midi clock , serious mapping with modifiers ... maybe i will give it a try . Just open in 2 computers both , and then you will see how clean is the traktor design , and how dark "serato" style is RB .

 

One of my residencies uses the DDJ-SZ, which works perfectly rekordbox and not so well with a Traktor TSI mapping due to jog wheel lag. Because of this I've been playing a lot on RB.
The combination of rekordbox's tagging and smart filter features saves me so much time as a working DJ. I can add tags when I import new music and use smart filters to instantly create playlists instead of constantly reviewing old playlists and dragging the same song into multiple crates. I love Traktor but since I have to DJ anywhere from 3-5 times a week I don't like wasting time managing crates. These features save me at least a few hours every week. And the track suggestion feature keeps 4+ hour gigs more fresh. Oddly this feature is in Traktor DJ for iOS and not on Traktor Pro.

It's hard to feel motivated that Traktor will upgrade their library management or make improvements to their software when it feels like NI is focused on their other products. Almost all their blog posts are about audio production, I only found one about a DJ. Their best jog wheel controller, the S4, was released in 2010. Their Traktor social media feeds keep spitting out a loop of old marketing material. The 2 times I caught a live presentation the product specialists seem like they much rather be somewhere else. There's dozens of other forum posts like this going unaddressed.

As I watch a lot of the new generation of DJs come up, I notice a fair amount start on Traktor hardware and over the years switch to another platform because they want different hardware options for controllers. Almost never the other way around.

I'm on the tipping point of fully switching over to another platform. I would really appreciate NI letting us know if something is really in the works and that Traktor isn't abandonware.

 

Used Rekordbuddy to import my Traktor library with all cues, grids and tags in RB DJ. Thanks Damien Sirkis!

Day and night using Pioneer Hardware. Platters and mixer latency improved.

The software is a mix of best tricks & tips of Traktor, Serato and VDJ.

Try it!

 

I can't save you . I pretty been saying exactly what you saying for some time now and i agree with all your points. I also use RB, Serato and Traktor. Instead of "leaving traktor"... look at as your broadening your scope of tools... use RBDJ.. but if traktor returns with some things you like, you have that option if RB progresses you have that option too.

A call for better communication (other than the moderators) have been demanded for years now and i see little sign of improvements I doubt anyone other than the mods will reply to you to via the forum. Would be nice though.

I also agree about the using Rekord Buddy make using different software easy.

Funny how the only people that knock RBDJ are people that have never really used it and the people that knock Traktor are long long time users.

 

Same here - I'm sitting on all chairs at once, but I'm not happy with either of them as I think all have massive shortcomings, either out of negligence (NI/Traktor), catering for the 'convenience'/da-user market like Serato or on-purpose like RB with their walled garden philosophy.

As for this:

What was that based on ? m3u playlists in single/multi folder (if the later, did it respect folder names/structure ??) ? itunes .xml library drag & drop ?

As for RB - I would not get attached too much to their tags/MyTags system... afaik, this only lives inside of RB databases, so once you rely on these and painstakingly create them by hand, you have no way of ever using your tags you rely on anywhere else but in RB, essentially locking yourself into their walled garden... (unless Damien or some other kind 3rd party dev develops a database tag to metadata converter for RB...).
So tread with caution...!

Cheers.
c.

 

Some excellent features, and some of them so simple you'd think any DJ software should have them. Rekordbox is only likely to get better and better because it seems Pioneer actually listen to DJ's needs.

I wouldn't hold your breath for a response on here though.

 

And this is different to having all your loops, cue points and beat grids stored in Traktor how? They all have their own propriety meta data systems. Nobody wants to switch platforms. It's a lot of time, money and effort invested, but a lot of users now think they have no option with Traktor.

 

Bit of a side note, but it seems to me with a bit of work that things like cue points, loops, etc. could potentially be stored as metadata if a newer metadata tagging system was implemented (i.e. IDv4 or something like that) or perhaps a secondary tagging system that can be added into the files themselves separate from the existing IDv3 system. Wouldn't be too hard if, say, 8 cue points, 8 loop in and loop out points, beat grid lengths and so on were agreed upon to begin with and then expand from there. Can't be too hard, surely.

 

First, Serato as well as Traktor do store their cue points as well as beatgrids in file afaik (I do not use cues or beatgrids much, but Serato for sure does, and I thibnk Traktor can rebuild Stripes purely from in-file data too... ), so you can rebuild either from file data alone (after a lengthy import session...). As a side note - I have never been a fan of how they handle metadata ownership / respect user data... but that's a whole other topic...
But, Pioneer does go two steps further as they store all their file relative data in database only afaik and suggest their users to also store more elaborate metadata in their database based MyTags system, while ignoring the strengths of in-file metadata, i.e. multi value delimiters & custom (TXXX for id3) fields.
For me that is another 2 steps in the wrong direction. If you do not see a difference there, fair enough.

True that. But things have gotten much better thanks to Damien & RekordBuddy, unfortunately still only for Mac users.

c.

 

There's an option for RB to write all the tags you selected into the track's comments field. So when using other softwares it'll show everything tagged, which is searchable or can be used in a smart folder.

 

Interesting, thanks for the info! (off topic - does it handle appends or alternative fields ? or what's the suggested approach if the user already uses the comment field ?)
c.

 

The tags get added after whatever is already in the comments field. So if it says Purchased at Beatport, the tags will get posted after that.
You can find it in Settings > Advanced > Browse > My Tag

 

picture this:

7hr set every saturday
100's of playlists
cant move playlists up and down the tree
1000's of tunes god knows where they are

a suggestion now and then is really going to help me out and frshen up my sets.

not interested in midi clock, modifiers or mappings - im a dj not a scientist, i just want stuff to work when i need it to work

 

i exported them 1 by 1 out of traktor into a folder, highlighted them all, dragged them into rekord box and it named them all correctly.

walled garden? i can now use the pioneer usb drive in the decks at the club exported from the same laptop i use at the bar, i am in a working eco system you are are stuck in the walled garden.

 

Word

 

AGREEEE!!!!! JUST PLUG AND PLAY

 

I suspect most DJ's feel the same way. A few of my mates have ditched Traktor and gone to CDJ/XDJ setups for that reason.