Why so many use Live instead of Traktor to do a ... DJ set ?

Hey what's up ?

I love Ableton Live to produce and I have fun creating the arrangement for my tracks while actually jamming and recording. Ableton live brings "Life" into the creation process. Ok, that's clear.

Now, to play outside, doing a mixtape, or something simple, that include playing songs from other artists... I tried Live, but really I didn't like it that much. You have to be really precise in your warping, you don't have a clear browser for tracks. If you want different cue point you have to duplicate all the tracks. All in all, you can't just arrive and use it with all your track. You have to get a proper set, with also all the mapping ready... you can't see two waveform at a time.

So basically, Live is not a pure DJ software. And there is no problem with that.

On the other hand, I find traktor (or serato maybe, I don't know this software), to actually combine all the pros of using software (don't need to burn CDs...), and also to do a DJ set I think it's better focused : you have cue point integrated to songs, a clean browser , lots of inbuilt effects, you even have dedicated midi controller to save you most of the midi mapping.

So now, can you can tell why do you think Ableton is still so popular amongst "digital DJs" ? I see a lots of artists that just have Live with two or 4 tracks in ableton and try to recreated the classical 2/4 decks DJ paradigm. But I keep thinking traktor is much more adapted for this kind of job. So, why ?

Give your opinion.
Cheers

 

If you come from a production background...and want to get out and perform without learning a second piece of software - Ableton is the way to go.

Those people have no concept of two (or more) decks - they see them as tracks. They have no concept of visually watching the wave forms, nor do they care about being able to manipulate CDs or turntables. They are simply playing the 30 songs they pre-arranged at home and that is that.

Traktor is for DJs - it is based on live DJing and allows a person with a DJ background to take the basic 2 deck mixing to another level....while remaining true to the basis of vinyl / CD DJing. It gives you the ability to warp and pre plan some parts of your set...but also makes it easy to mix anything you want on the fly.

Two totally different work flows....for two totally different constituencies.

I use Ableton all the time, but for production and help with warping old school tracks with strange tempos. I would NEVER consider using it in the club....it is simply not made for that IMO. But to each his own.

 

actually, i have never seen one personally. traktor is designed for the needs of DJs, ableton is designed to achieve other goals. if you want to dj, try traktor!

 

I think you are very confused between DJ and music production... Live is not any sort of DJ software..it is for music production...

Live is as good for DJ use as Traktor is for music production.. ie sure you can use it if you want but its not that great..

 

Hum I think you didn't read my message correctly. But it's fine no worries.

 

ok fine..lol "they" confuse DJ with music production!..

 

Live can be used for DJ'ing. I have a friend who started out as a "traditional" DJ. He now uses Live with an APC 40. His sets are more like live remixing. While his work is prepared at home, he can play anything on the fly such as requests as well. But no 2 sets are ever the same.... his remixes are never the same either. It is just a different style of DJ'ing.

 

This is how I see it. The techno Dj, Surgeon, uses Live and does so to mix two tracks at a time but also remix them on the fly and switch between genres very easily. He comes from a pure Djing background and was one of the first to use Final Scratch, but switched to Ableton when it came out.