Traktor Pro 3.x.x Key Lock Audio Quality

Hi all,

i want to address an issue that is plaguing me in Traktor Pro (my current version is 3.5.1).
The old Eco and HiQ key lock quality settings are gone. (see the screenshot).
There is also a FAQ entry in German and English (the english version is missing the image of the quality settings, the link is broken): https://support.native-instruments....73245-Ändert-TRAKTOR-den-Klang-meiner-Tracks-





The problem is that the new key lock algorithm sounds terrible. Really really terrible. I don't even dare to use the key lock because it degrades audio quality massively, especially in vocals and melodic parts.

I have uploaded a recording of "Global Deejays - The Sound Of San Francisco" which illustrates the problem especially well. In the first seconds you will hear the track at 0% pitch (= key lock at 0% percent = disabled). I then increase the pitch with key lock enabled by a few percent. You immediately hear(!) that the sound is completely messed up. Imagine using this in front of the crowd. Horrible. It's so embarrassing. At the end of the recording, I bring it back to 0% percent which immediately brings relief and reverts the audio back to normal.

This behaviour is present in all tracks with melodies and especially vocals. Traktor 3.5.1 (which I am currently using) is just not usable in this current state. Every pop genre song just sounds awful when changing tempo.

In the old Traktor 2.x.x era, there was a little trick. You could set the key lock quality to Eco, which made it possible to speed up (+%) tracks without any quality issues. Only lowering (-%) the tempo of tracks produced the same results / degrading audio quality as you've heard in my recording of the Sound of San Francisco snippet.

There is also a forum post discussing the the topic, but nobody has provided any recordings, so I here it is. I also added vocal-heavy snippets.

https://www.native-instruments.com/forum/threads/traktor-3-2-keylock-degrades-audio-quality.359069/

https://www.native-instruments.com/...l-of-the-time-stretch-keylock-quality.340743/