PDA

View Full Version : Traktor Trouble



Dix
04-01-2013, 06:40 PM
Ok, derived from another thread, I am new to traktor because of other software issues. I'm not too sure, I am better off.

Problem 1:
Music in different folders.
I have always organized my music in folders by artist. Currently, I have 1,964 artists, therefore, I have 1,964 folders in my main library. I always load my main library & the songs just load right up. Traktor, doesn't load sub-folders folders..??

Anyone have any idea's how to get these files in sub-folders loaded? As well it looks like when I click the first sub-folder, it puts them in the main play list, If I click the next folder, it removes the first folder of music & replaces it with the next...??? I guess its idea is for me to either have all music files in one folder OR, make like 12 folders & put each one of them in the "Favorites places"???

There is no way I can reassign that many files just to be able to use traktor. I dont really have an iTunes folder with all my music in there. Normally I buy from Amazon but occasionally I buy from iTunes when I cant seem to get it anywhere else. However, when I do buy music,once downloaded, I move it to its appropriate location in a folder for that artist or in a genre like Christmas or Halloween etc.

Any one know any tricks etc to help me get all my sub-folders loaded with one click?


Problem # 2:
It will not let me edit the tags in folders in the "Browser Tree"???

KLH
04-01-2013, 07:13 PM
Problem 1: Music in different folders.
Traktor stores more information than is available in tags (i.e. the waveform, the key, two sets of comments, etc.). For that reason, Traktor uses it's own database - called the Collection - and requires that tracks be "imported" into it. Once imported, you can edit any tag for a track. The Collection is where Traktor executes searches to find your tracks. Prior to import, Traktor can only show what is stored in the tags of the track... and cannot search for tracks that haven't been imported.

Traktor's browsing tree has an option to explore the computer's storage like Window's Explorer - called "Explorer." You can use it to locate the main directory that stores all of your music. Once within that directory, you can right click and select "Import Into Collection" and Traktor will scan all sub directories for music.

After import, I recommend going to the Collection section (above the Explorer section in the browser) to highlight all of your tracks and - by right clicking on the tracks to select Analyze - start the Analyzing them. This will make Traktor create waveforms, BPM, and a beat-grid for your tracks so that when the tracks are loaded, no analysis will be done (which is CPU intensive). Have Traktor do the analysis over night... and most likely into the next day as it takes (depending on CPU) about 15 seconds per track.


Problem # 2:
It will not let me edit the tags in folders in the "Browser Tree"???
Traktor only allows editing of tags for tracks that have been imported into the Collection. Once imported, you can sort your tracks by whatever you want - Artist, Track Name, Size, BPM, etc. - anything that's in the header of the browser. If you want additional attributes, just right click the header and select them.

The importation and analysis is - by far - the most foreign concept that you will encounter in Traktor. The great thing is that you only need to do it once. Should you decide to upgrade to TP, this part will already be done. FWIW, all of the "premier" DJ apps do analysis too.

-KLH

Dix
04-01-2013, 07:38 PM
Thanks man. I read the manual & tried to follow what it says but it didn't explain that you have to import etc before I can do all this. I wish I could give you rep but I still cant. I appreciate the time & effort you have put into trying to help me get this figured out

KLH
04-01-2013, 10:13 PM
No worries. Just remember that this frustration IS worth the effort... even if you don't beatmatch!

-KLH

punky
04-02-2013, 03:07 PM
No worries. Just remember that this frustration IS worth the effort... even if you don't beatmatch!

-KLH

Totally worth it.

alexreedDJ
04-02-2013, 04:55 PM
While on the traktor subject, is there ANY way to delete the demo tracks and demo scratch samples? they annoy the hell out of me as they're always at the top of my collection.

EDIT: ignore that, i've done it. I'm such an idiot :facepalm:

KLH
04-02-2013, 04:59 PM
Yep. Highlight them, right click, and select remove from collection (and/or hard drive).

-KLH

alexreedDJ
04-02-2013, 05:10 PM
Sorry to ask something else on Dixie's thread but is there a quick way of deleting all the duplicates in my track collection? for some reason traktor seems to have copied most of my songs twice into it

KLH
04-02-2013, 05:20 PM
AFAIK, the only way to remove duplicates in the Collection is to do it manually. TP does have the ability to remove duplicates in playlists, however.

-KLH

alexreedDJ
04-02-2013, 05:22 PM
AFAIK, the only way to remove duplicates in the Collection is to do it manually. TP does have the ability to remove duplicates in playlists, however.

-KLH

Oh ok thanks :) what's TP by the way? :lol: traktor pro or something?

contra
04-02-2013, 05:28 PM
lol yeah it's traktor pro. And if you didn't know, TSP is traktor SCRATCH pro lol

KLH
04-02-2013, 05:32 PM
^ Yep. Contra's correct. The ONLY thing that TSP has that TP doesn't is a DVS engine. Everything else is the exact same thing. If it works in TP, it'll work in TSP. You can even play records and CDs via TP - but you cannot use timecodes to control Traktor's decks. To do that, you need the DVS engine in TSP.

-KLH

alexreedDJ
04-02-2013, 05:34 PM
ohh ok, thanks for the clarification. Not gonna lie, i didn't actually know there was a traktor pro. Just thought there was traktor and traktor scratch pro. Thanks :D

Dix
04-02-2013, 06:25 PM
Sorry to ask something else on Dixie's thread but is there a quick way of deleting all the duplicates in my track collection? for some reason traktor seems to have copied most of my songs twice into it

Oh no, don't worry about that. I made this a "Traktor Trouble" thread. So, if your having trouble with Traktor, post it here in the "Traktor Trouble" thread.

Now I'll ask another question similar to yours. When I first loaded this program & was going to try it out, I had about 20 songs on a thumb drive named "bridal show music" that I loaded into one of the favorites. Once I played with it, I wanted to remove those & put my complete main music files into. I got the music removed from the favorites data base but I cant get the name/title "bridal show music" of that favorites folder removed. Any suggestions? Can I just drag my "General Music" folder there & it rename it? OR will it still be named "bridal show music"?

Dix
04-03-2013, 10:44 AM
I still can not edit tags. I have imported my tracks into "Track Collection" & it automatically created four folders under track collection... Artists, Releases, Lables & Genres. I put the releases folder in one of the favorite folders for easy access to the play list (where all tracks show up in order to choose one to drag to the deck).
(Just FYI, I am in the middle of analyzing.) I have clicked, right clicked & double clicked on many tracks, one at a time, in the play list and nothing seems to open the edit window. I have also opened each of the four folders (Artists, Releases, Lables & Genres) & tried to edit tags from there... still nothing.
I have tried this with files that have & have not been analyzed... still nothing.

Dix
04-03-2013, 11:48 AM
Also, After analyzing for a while, it kept giving me a red flashing bar at the bottom of the play list stating that this song could not be analyzed. Occasionally, it looked as if it was analyzing one every once in a while, but as I continued to watch it, it was attempting to analyze a few but then as the analyzing bar would finish, it would flash red again and say it couldn't be analyzed. After I watched this process for a while, I noticed it wasn't completely analyzing any of the tracks. WTH????

alexreedDJ
04-03-2013, 12:04 PM
Also, After analyzing for a while, it kept giving me a red flashing bar at the bottom of the play list stating that this song could not be analyzed. Occasionally, it looked as if it was analyzing one every once in a while, but as I continued to watch it, it was attempting to analyze a few but then as the analyzing bar would finish, it would flash red again and say it couldn't be analyzed. After I watched this process for a while, I noticed it wasn't completing analyzing any of the tracks. WTH????

Do you have quick time player on your laptop? I had this problem because some of my tracks weren't mp3's and i got quicktime and it worked fine then.
I also re-added some tracks that didn't play and this corrected the problem :)

Dix
04-03-2013, 12:20 PM
Do you have quick time player on your laptop? I had this problem because some of my tracks weren't mp3's and i got quicktime and it worked fine then.

As I have had these problems, I have referred to the Traktor manual & I noticed that you need quicktime etc for wav or wma tracks. I would say that 99% of my tracks are MP3's. While I do have a few of these files, I would say that 99% of my tracks are MP3's. So, I noticed that it didn't complete the "Check Consistency" check on tracks with these wav or wma file extensions but that should not have affected the analyzing, especially the mp3's. However, that is just an assumption on my part. I dont really know. I guess, with this post, I am just asking for a clarification if, indeed, it would make a difference because I don't have Quicktime...???

KLH
04-03-2013, 12:28 PM
What version of Traktor are you using, Dixie?


Now I'll ask another question similar to yours. When I first loaded this program & was going to try it out, I had about 20 songs on a thumb drive named "bridal show music" that I loaded into one of the favorites. Once I played with it, I wanted to remove those & put my complete main music files into. I got the music removed from the favorites data base but I cant get the name/title "bridal show music" of that favorites folder removed. Any suggestions? Can I just drag my "General Music" folder there & it rename it? OR will it still be named "bridal show music"?
This one was hard for me to understand what you were actually doing because the word "Favorites" is an area in Traktor (located above the song list). I can't tell if you made a playlist called "Favorites" or actually used the Favorite area... or something else.

You mention a "Favorites" folder, but since this is what the flashdrive is called I'll assume that The "Bridal Show Music" folder will stay until you unplug it flashdrive.

I can't answer the General Music folder question because I'm not tracking with what you're trying to actually accomplish.

-KLH

KLH
04-03-2013, 12:34 PM
I still can not edit tags... I have clicked, right clicked & double clicked on many tracks, one at a time, in the play list and nothing seems to open the edit window... I have tried this with files that have & have not been analyzed... still nothing.
I am using TP v2.6.1.

When I select any track, I can right-click it and select "Edit" to update any tag information associated with that file.

-KLH

KLH
04-03-2013, 12:48 PM
Also, After analyzing for a while, it kept giving me a red flashing bar at the bottom of the play list stating that this song could not be analyzed. Occasionally, it looked as if it was analyzing one every once in a while, but as I continued to watch it, it was attempting to analyze a few but then as the analyzing bar would finish, it would flash red again and say it couldn't be analyzed. After I watched this process for a while, I noticed it wasn't completely analyzing any of the tracks. WTH????
Are your tracks still located on the flashdrive? If so, is the flashdrive still located in the USB port?

When you "import" tracks into the Traktor Collection, the tracks remain in that location.
Traktor does NOT make a copy of the track during import. For this reason, I suggest dedicating a location on your hard drive to store tracks (and track folders). This way, all of your tracks are in one area and it's easy to back up.

I use iTunes for track management as it is able to rip CDs, juggle directories, tagging, and playlist creation for when I'm not in Traktor. Since Traktor can see everything that iTunes sees, I use that integration to make things easier in Traktor.

Since you were using a USB flashdrive, I wonder if you removed it. The result would be that Traktor would no longer be able to "see" the tracks, even though it has information about them. Traktor would then "complain" via the flashing red banner at the bottom of the screen.

-KLH

Dix
04-03-2013, 01:32 PM
I am using TP v2.6.1.

When I select any track, I can right-click it and select "Edit" to update any tag information associated with that file.

-KLH

Remember, you are using Traktor Pro. I am using Traktor LE which is what came with my Audio 2. For the record, I am using Vs 1.2.2. When I downloaded Traktor, It automatically updated the newest software version. As always, once it updated, I clicked update again, it scanned & determained it was up to date with the latest version.
to go further & to remove any question, I have been reading the manual & it provides a section on editing tags but it makes no sense & doesn't give me the window to edit tracks that it talks about.



This one was hard for me to understand what you were actually doing because the word "Favorites" is an area in Traktor (located above the song list). I can't tell if you made a playlist called "Favorites" or actually used the Favorite area... or something else.

You mention a "Favorites" folder, but since this is what the flashdrive is called I'll assume that The "Bridal Show Music" folder will stay until you unplug it flashdrive.

I can't answer the General Music folder question because I'm not tracking with what you're trying to actually accomplish.

-KLH

The favorites folder that I was referring to is the area you mentioned right above the song/play list.

I am not using my flash drive now & have unplugged it because I wanted to use my main music folder which is what I was referring to as my "general music folder". That general music folder is on an external drive & is currently connected to the laptop. Once my general music folder was located in the browser tree, I imported it to the "track collection folder in the browser tree. From there I drug the music tracks from the tracks collection to one of the favorites in the area just above the song list. At this point, that favorite location was renamed "Releases". So, currently, the bulk of my music is in that "Releases" favorite location (what I was calling a folder). from this point, I can single click the "Releases" favorites location & it will put all of my music into the song list area. From here, I should be able to right click on any song in the play list & an edit window should open to allow me to edit any of the tags in that song (file), but it doesnt.
The manual also says I should be able to go to the song file in the browser tree & edit it from there but the editor would be limited on the tags available to edit. But, I cant access them from that location either.
It doesnt matter what location I right click on a song/file, it doesnt give me an option in the drop down window to choose an edit option.
(FYI, when a song is in the "song list", I can drag it to either deck to drop it & it is in cue in the player.)


Are your tracks still located on the flashdrive? If so, is the flashdrive still located in the USB port?

When you "import" tracks into the Traktor Collection, the tracks remain in that location.
Traktor does NOT make a copy of the track during import. For this reason, I suggest dedicating a location on your hard drive to store tracks (and track folders). This way, all of your tracks are in one area and it's easy to back up.

I use iTunes for track management as it is able to rip CDs, juggle directories, tagging, and playlist creation for when I'm not in Traktor. Since Traktor can see everything that iTunes sees, I use that integration to make things easier in Traktor.

Since you were using a USB flashdrive, I wonder if you removed it. The result would be that Traktor would no longer be able to "see" the tracks, even though it has information about them. Traktor would then "complain" via the flashing red banner at the bottom of the screen.

-KLH
As noted above, I removed the flash drive from the laptop & its songs/files from the traktor system. I then plugged in my external drive with my complete compilation of songs & proceeded as described above.
My impression was as you described also, in the fact that the music files do not actually move into the system or to my laptop but rather only store "links" to the files at the location on my external drive. In reality, I shouldn't have to move my music to my laptop hard drive & I hope I dont have to. I am trying to leave my laptop as free as I can. I have a main external drive as well as a back up, for a total of two external drives.
FYI, at this point, I can actually play music from Traktor so, we know that Traktor see's the files. I just cant seem to get those file tags edited. In short, its just not giving me an option to edit, in the drop down window when I right click on the song, in the song list or in the browser tree to the right.

KLH
04-03-2013, 01:44 PM
I was afraid that you'd be using a pre-version 2 version of Traktor.

I highly recommend considering using the demo version of Traktor located here (http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/traktor/dj-software/traktor-pro-2/demo-version/). While it only works for 30m at a time, it is a true representation of what the full version of software would be like when purchased. The manual is also located at that link as well.

ONE CAVEAT: If you are still running Windows XP, you'll need to think about upgrading to Windows 7 as NI has dropped support for Windows XP. Traktor v2.6.1 will not load on Windows XP.

-KLH

Dix
04-03-2013, 01:59 PM
I was afraid that you'd be using a pre-version 2 version of Traktor.

I highly recommend considering using the demo version of Traktor located here (http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/traktor/dj-software/traktor-pro-2/demo-version/). While it only works for 30m at a time, it is a true representation of what the full version of software would be like when purchased. The manual is also located at that link as well.
NI sent me an email & said I could upgrade free to "Traktor LE 2". Do you know anything about that vs & if that will give me the upgrades I need to solve these problems? I can certainly D/L it to find out but I just thought I would ask before I did... in case it wont really help.


ONE CAVEAT: If you are still running Windows XP, you'll need to think about upgrading to Windows 7 as NI has dropped support for Windows XP. Traktor v2.6.1 will not load on Windows XP.

-KLH
I still use XP on my old desk top, for my personal use but both of my DJ laptops are Windows 7, so I am safe there. :)

Dix
04-03-2013, 02:41 PM
NI sent me an email & said I could upgrade free to "Traktor LE 2". Do you know anything about that vs & if that will give me the upgrades I need to solve these problems? I can certainly D/L it to find out but I just thought I would ask before I did... in case it wont really help. :)

I googled the LE 2 version & it looks like it is actually Traktor Pro although I cant be sure... but it is Vs 2.6.1. Let me get this downloaded & get the registration number input that they sent me which will make it a full version, then I will play with it & post the result (or any confusion) back in a little while :)

KLH
04-03-2013, 02:45 PM
As you can get the upgrade to T-LE 2, I say do it. The program was updated with many fixes that v1.x didn't get. The great thing is that you shouldn't have to re-analyze.

Please ignore my advice to use the demo. T-LE seems to differ from the demo in that the latter only works for 30 minutes at a time.

Wow, T-LE is quite a step down (http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/traktor/dj-software/traktor-pro-2/comparison-chart/) from TP.

-KLH

Dix
04-03-2013, 05:11 PM
At this point, here is where I am, Traktor LE 2 does NOT allow you to edit tags. So, I am sure that even though the Traktor LE manual says it does allow you to edit tags... its doubtful since LE2 doesnt allow it. I am now trying to find out how much it will cost to upgrade to Pro..

Edit: Upgrade from LE 2 to Pro is no longer available....

SlvrDragon50
04-03-2013, 05:40 PM
Wait what?

Why can't you upgrade from LE2 to Pro 2?

I thought that was a free upgrade.

Either way, you can pick up a used copy of TP2 for ~40 dollars or buy a TRaktor Audio 2 and just resell the Audio 2.

KLH
04-03-2013, 06:01 PM
Either way, you can pick up a used copy of TP2 for ~40 dollars or buy a TRaktor Audio 2 and just resell the Audio 2.
I'd pick up a Traktor Audio 2 and just resell the interface that you have.

-KLH

Dix
04-04-2013, 11:35 PM
Ok, more problems here. Traktor is locking up.

I have 2 external drives with the exact same music for 1 primary & 1 back up. So I get Traktor up & running with all my music loaded from my primary drive & I think, ok, so my primary goes out on me... If I remove the primary & install my back up, will it read the files the same as if the primary was hooked up? So I give it a try. The names of the main folders are not the same nor are the folders in the same location on both drives but the music files & folders are exactly the same. So, when I remove the primary, shut down traktor, install my backup drive, start Traktor (ofcourse it loads the track collection because its stored in Traktor). I go to the browser tree & locate my music & try to play a song (which is already in the collection) & the song wont play because the file cant be found... because its looking for the original files. So, send the tracts from this back up drive to the collection. I do this so I can use either drive in case one drive fails. Now, I have double the music in the collection. Every song is in there twice but as we know now, only half will play because the other half cant be found.
So, I decide I will just highlight all the songs in the track collection (in the play list) & right click on delete files & track information & start over... nope wont work. Traktor locks up, stops responding, so I do ctl,alt, delete & click end program.... after about 10 minutes it wont shut the program down. So I push the power button on the laptop & force a shut down. I finally got tractor back up & it still loads both complete libraries.

And now there is a little curved arrow on everyone of my desktop icons after I forced a shut down & restarted. Whats that about?

So anyway, now how am I going to get the track collection cleared so it wont load it all back up ... so I can start over?

EDIT:
Ok, I decided to try something else & it looks like it may work. Instead of deleting the track & the tags, I just deleted the tracks from the collection. I restarted Traktor & it did not load the collection as I hoped. I am in the process of loading my primary files into the collection. Obviously, this will take about 4 or 5 hours.

So the questions at this point:
1) What are those little crooked arrows on all my desktop icons now, why are they there & how will I get this corrected?

2) So, in case of failure of my primary external drive at a gig, how am I supposed to have Traktor & myself prepared for a quick resolution. I need to be able to remove the bad external drive & get my back up drive attached & continue to play. Traktor doesn't seem to have anything regarding this in the manual. It doesn't seem to be able to adapt for this...???
(FYI, I keep an extra laptop as well as the back up external. So, my idea at this point is to set up my primary laptop with the primary drive & the back up laptop with the backup external drive. So, I do have an out, but it just seems that Traktor should be able to adapt to accommodate the two drives... a primary & a back up in these situations.

Does anyone know if actually cloning both drives or at least making sure that at least all folders & files have the same names & are in the same locations, will work?
FYI, my primary drive is a Seagate & the backup is a Toshiba. I dont know if the software stores that general/specific info when assigning address's etc or not.

SlvrDragon50
04-05-2013, 12:01 AM
I'm not sure what you're talking about crooked arrows? Take a screen shot?

I'm honestly not sure why you're having trouble with the additional hard drive. If your HDD fails, just attach the second HDD. I would just search the HDD instead of adding it to your collection.

Cloning won't work unless they have the same directory (both are drive D: or something)

Dix
04-05-2013, 06:16 AM
I'm honestly not sure why you're having trouble with the additional hard drive. If your HDD fails, just attach the second HDD. I would just search the HDD instead of adding it to your collection.
From what I have seen, you cant just attach a music source, search for the files & start playing. As stated below, all tracks must be put into the collection before they can be utilized. Once tracks are added to the collection, they stay there & automatically loads them each time you start Traktor. So, if drive "A" goes out & you remove/unplug it, the files (links) still remain in the collection. From this point, if you attach drive "B", you must locate your music & import it into the collection. Now you have the contents of drive A & B in your collection which is also in your play list. Now, because you have the content of both drives in the play list but only one drive is connected, half of the songs wont play because, you don't have the files (source) connected. Problem is, you don't know which one of the files work & which doesn't because you actually have two of every file/song (in my case).


Traktor stores more information than is available in tags (i.e. the waveform, the key, two sets of comments, etc.). For that reason, Traktor uses it's own database - called the Collection - and requires that tracks be "imported" into it. Once imported, you can edit any tag for a track. The Collection is where Traktor executes searches to find your tracks. Prior to import, Traktor can only show what is stored in the tags of the track... and cannot search for tracks that haven't been imported.
-KLH

KLH
04-05-2013, 08:22 AM
I have 2 external drives with the exact same music for 1 primary & 1 back up.
I would not recommend always using an external drive... but you technically can. Traktor (and most other DJ apps) uses a combination of files to understand everything about tracks. It has it's own "collection" database that it uses to understand what tracks there are and where they are located. This is the information you see when you browse your tracks (and why it's so simple to resort them).

When you load a specific track, Traktor uses information from BOTH the collection and the track. If the track doesn't exist in the collection, Traktor will generate an entry and create a waveform (which stresses the CPU - which is why I say that it's better to analyze up front).

Now in your situation, Dixie, you have your tracks on removable devices - which use presumably the same drive letter. This will cause massive confusion on Traktor's (or any DJ app with a database) part IF the music directories aren't in the EXACT same place and named the EXACT same thing.

Pulling off that trick isn't easy, which is why I don't recommend using an external drive for your PRIMARY track storage. I recommend using the internal drive for your primary storage and using the external as an OFFLINE backup. In other words, I wouldn't DJ using an external drive. If you want to get technical, yes, you can use a removable drive as both primary and backup, but - for DJ apps - the track directories need to be IDENTICAL.


And now there is a little curved arrow on everyone of my desktop icons after I forced a shut down & restarted. Whats that about?
You'll have to post a pic of this. I don't know what you're talking about here: Windows or Traktor.


So, in case of failure of my primary external drive at a gig, how am I supposed to have Traktor & myself prepared for a quick resolution. I need to be able to remove the bad external drive & get my back up drive attached & continue to play. Traktor doesn't seem to have anything regarding this in the manual. It doesn't seem to be able to adapt for this...???
What you are describing is an elegant no-single-point-of-failure for hardware in a computer system. Traktor is merely an application that executes within the OS. Traktor assumes that the laptop environment does not change. I know of no other DJ app with a database that doesn't make this assumption.

-KLH

KLH
04-05-2013, 08:36 AM
I'm honestly not sure why you're having trouble with the additional hard drive. If your HDD fails, just attach the second HDD. I would just search the HDD instead of adding it to your collection.

From what I have seen, you cant just attach a music source, search for the files & start playing. As stated below, all tracks must be put into the collection before they can be utilized. Once tracks are added to the collection, they stay there & automatically loads them each time you start Traktor... Problem is, you don't know which one of the files work & which doesn't because you actually have two of every file/song (in my case).
You've got it.

While SlvrDragon50 is correct, you can manually locate tracks and load them - without prior importing and analyzing - Traktor will simply import and analyze on the fly as you load. The result will be the same - duplicates that will point to different removable drives.

The only neat thing is that Traktor will not be able to load missing files and will flag them (as you try to load them) so that you will know - at a DJ event - that the file is not able to be found, so that you can load the "other" file (that will be found).


****

Backing up (get it?) from this removable drive issue, I have a suggestion on how to do what you want to seem to do, Dixie:

* Designate a primary laptop and primary drive
* Get Traktor running with your tracks on the primary drive
* Install Traktor on the secondary laptop
* Prior to any gig (or just periodically), DELETE ALL TRACKS in the secondary Traktor collection
* Make a copy of the primary drive's tracks and directories to the secondary drive so that the track locations are identical
* Import the secondary drive's tracks into the secondary Traktor collection
* Test both instances of Traktor swapping the primary and secondary drives (i.e. Primary laptop uses Traktor to load tracks from the secondary drive and vice-versa)
* DJ away knowing you have a backup of laptops AND music tracks

-KLH

jazzyj
04-07-2013, 03:55 PM
KLH - had any problems with updates? Working on playlisting today, and granted it's been a few months since I really used tp 2, but all my songs were gone, and i've re-imported the collection but it's only re-importing about 1009 songs as opposed to the 17,000 that's on the external. I've tried the music folders import and importing directly from the drive - but in traktor says there are only 1009 songs; but finder says there are 17,000+

KLH
04-07-2013, 04:56 PM
KLH - had any problems with updates?
I've not had problems so far with up****** causing lost tracks... although I've heard of this happening to a few people (via NI's forums). The remedy seems to be to add where your music is located via Preferences -> File Management -> Music Folders.

-KLH

jazzyj
04-07-2013, 05:21 PM
Found the culprit. My backup app that is sposed to copy all files to the backup drive, moved them instead and only left a shortcut in the main drive. sigh. lots of file mgt work ahead. :argh:

Dix
04-07-2013, 05:51 PM
So, to update, in reality, all I do is "re"-import the same data base of music that's already imported into the collection & it only imports music not already in the collection? OR, whats the process to update?

jazzyj
04-07-2013, 06:37 PM
So, to update, in reality, all I do is "re"-import the same data base of music that's already imported into the collection & it only imports music not already in the collection? OR, whats the process to update?

That is correct Dixie. Once you do the initial import, it should only import those that were not previously listed. And the import should only take seconds from now on unless you have a ton of new stuff.

Dix
04-08-2013, 09:35 AM
Ok, in all honesty, I had gotten aggravated with Traktor because the manual is poorly written because it doesn't cover many things. As well, while I REALLY like many aspects of Traktor, I REALLY hated some things about it & after dealing with this thing for several days last week, I had decided not to use it. However, one of the things I hated about it, was that you couldn't update without removing, then reloading all your "collection". After Jazzy's post, I decided to give it another try.
While I HATE that its not "back-up friendly" for me, as I stated previously, I do use two lap tops & two externals, one of each being a back up. So, I decided rather than the idea of using a back up drive for one lap top, I will just dedicate a lap top & external drive as a dedicated back up, in the event that my primary external drive goes out or quits at a gig, I can just swap to my dedicated back up lap top & external drive.

Now, to my question. In up****** some music this morning, I attempted to import my general music folder in to the collection. However, I clicked & imported "all music". Now I need to remove that music from the collection without having to individually click & highlight about 2000 files like Christmas, halloween, sound effects, TV themes, Gospel, etc, etc... that I don't need in the in the collection for regular gigs? The new files are the last of the files in the collection by number, so I can sort them so that they are all together.
So, any idea how to highlight or select a high number of files in the play list in a row without having to manually select each file individually?

KLH
04-08-2013, 10:10 AM
Using import date to sort might help you here.

-KLH

Dix
04-08-2013, 03:49 PM
1) How do I remove a song from a deck? I cant get that figured out. I have looked & looked to the point I am probably looking over a very simple solution. The only way I know to get a song out of a deck is to put another one in there.

jazzyj
04-08-2013, 04:51 PM
look in settings>controller. i have found the keyboard shortcuts are great. there may be one for clearing a deck but ive never used it.

you can make up your own shortcuts too

like is p to load a song in the previewer.
a to add a song to a preparation list.
well those are my main two lol

KLH
04-08-2013, 05:34 PM
1) How do I remove a song from a deck? I cant get that figured out. I have looked & looked to the point I am probably looking over a very simple solution. The only way I know to get a song out of a deck is to put another one in there.
This is a funny question, because I've often thought about this. Traktor reasons "Why clear a deck? Just load another track." True. That works.

It's taken me a year or so, but the only way I've found to just clear a deck is to make it another "type" of deck ("Remix Deck" or "External Source") and then make it the original "type" of deck. You do that by clicking on the Letter of the deck ("A", "B", etc.).

-KLH

Dix
04-15-2013, 03:23 PM
Just wanted to pop back in with my decision on Traktor. Sorry about the long read.....

While Traktor is probably a great program for a LOT of applications & a lot of DJ's, I just dont think its for me. So, I have decided not to use Traktor software for several reasons. I realize that a person needs to give new software time to grow on you & to learn how to properly use all of its features, but for about two weeks, I played with it at home & between problems & lack of features, while it does have some extra & beneficial features I want, again, its just not the software I am looking for.


Again, after playing with it for a couple of weeks & after using it at a ceremony & reception this weekend, I just am not happy with it. I am certainly not saying its not a good product, I'm saying its not what I need or want for myself.

I know a lot of you guys can't appreciate the DJ software that I have used for 11 years now, because its simple & inexpensive. Keep in mind that what I do as a DJ is simple. I don't scratch or mix like you guys do. I play "radio style". I play one song completely through & as one fades out, I start the other. Its a simple process. I just use my laptop, sound card, mixer, amp & speakers. For what I do, its very functional. I dont use CDJ's, turntables, controlers etc.

Traktor
Pros: once setup, it loads 20,000 file links within 15 seconds or so. Very fast & easy.
User friendly search. I like the way the search feature narrows down several potential possibilities rather than specific typed information.
Enables me to use multiple lines/sliders/volume controls/pots/channels on my mixer. Each channel able to handle to one song each. Which was my only need over my current software when considering a change.
I really like the "favorites" idea, but to me, its too much. It's format simplifies, yet adds confusion & complicates a great, simple idea.


Cons: Needs to load & store song/file links but, at the same time, it takes 6+ hours to load, scan/analyze the data base. If any problems occur, you have the whole data base to reload.

I cant utilize both of my primary & backup data bases with one tractor program. Its either one or the other. Not both.

While you can (& I did) create a "current" favorite/playlist to put songs in for the current night/gig, it just doesn't work well for me. I agree its probably something I need to get used to but its just really an awkward format to use. By this statement, I mean that, lets say I am at a gig & I am looking through the entire database/playlist for "Butterfly Kisses". Once I find it, I can move it to my favorite named current playlist which only contains songs for tonight's gig. I can also drag it to my "Most Played" to have on hand for any gig I play, if I am likely to play it again on a regular basis at other gigs. The problem that I THINK happened, was once "Butterfly Kisses" was dragged to the current playlist favorites folder, then later dragged to the deck to play... then once its played, I need/want to remove it form the "current playlist" favorites folder. However (& I didnt double check this cause I was too busy at the time, but) when I went to the file to remove it form the playlist... it removed it from ALL the play lists. It obviously didnt remove it from the hard drive, but it removed it from the main data base/playlist, from the current playlist favorites folder & the "most played" favorites folder.... not just the current play list for the night. If in fact it did remove it from all three places I had it up, then I would not be able to access that song through the rest of the night. Its just too much switching around from this playlist to that one. Its just too many playlists to go back & forth with. And without utilizing a "Current playlist" favorites, you dont have anyway to keep a running current playlist. In other words, whats up next, or what is 6 songs down the list or where is "Butterfly Kisses" in the mix? I have to have a playlist where I can readily look at & know whats coming up. Having to keep up with & switching back & forth between two, three or four play lists, just isnt user friendly to me.

There's just too much that the current user manual doesn't cover & doesn't explain well. There is no search for keywords in the manual. Nothing in the manual about up****** the music database for example. There is just too much trial & error trying to figure this thing out. For the first week, I spent hours & hours & hours reloading & analyzing the data base because I did this or that wrong & had to delete the data base & reload it to start over. Lets say I am at a gig & something goes wrong. It takes 6 + hours to reload?

One huge problem that happened several times. For some reason that I never got figured out was, when I put a song in (for example) deck A, the tempo adjustment would move & I couldnt move it until the file started playing & the other song in deck B completely finished & the deck stopped. Then I could move the tempo adjustment slider in deck A to adjust the pitch of the song. That happened about to a third of the songs I loaded Saturday. When this became a problem, I couldnt mix my music. The tempo was either way to fast & sounded like the chipmunks, or it was way too slow & sounded like Tennessee Ernie Ford for several seconds until I could get the tempo adjusted. There was no way to keep a dance floor continuously between songs. (I could imagine you guys who mix trying to play like that) :lol:
Eventually, (you guys would be proud of me) I give lots of thought & discussed my options with Kaye about switching from Traktor to DJ Mix Pro while dinner was going on & before the dance period. I went through every aspect of where I thought I might encounter problems between the music & both software loading & trying to load music. So, I decided to load an artist into a Traktor deck which was way down the line like Van Morrison or the Village People or something.. I cant remember. Once that file started playing, I loaded DJ Mix Pro & let it load the music from the hard drive into its data base. It dragged something like Alan Jackson into its play list. When the Traktor file quit playing, I started Alan Jackson in DJ Mix Pro. It was flawless & worked well. I exited Traktor. So, with the data base not loaded in Traktor any longer, there were no conflicts loading any songs from the same hard drive/data base into DJ Mix Pro. At this point, I shut down Traktor & played comfortably all night :)
My biggest fear in transitioning from one software to the other was both software trying to use the same file/files/database at the same time and giving me an error OR worse, causing a conflict & freezing or "program not responding" & locking up where I would have both programs stuck & having no music for a few minutes or worse having to restart the laptop.

My current little DJ software is simple. It doesn't do everything I would like but compared to the inability to do some things I need to do that isn't in Traktor or the difficulty in doing some simple tasks, Traktor is just not a software that is feasible for me. Traktor honestly seems to create more problems for me than its ability to solve problems I need to solve.
The need to manually control the volume on two songs at the same time is not something that is detrimental to my ability to DJ radio style. While I would like to have the ability to fade one song out while bringing the other up (in some situations), its not as important an issue to me, to need to solve... as is the problems in Traktor I will need to solve. I just like the security of having back up at a moments notice, the ability to see my master song list & my current play list at the same time. I can still search for songs, watch my current songs status, edit song tags, view any statistics about the song just as in traktor like, name, artist, time, genre, comments etc while in any list, as well as sort those fields. Traktor does have some excellent qualities & its appearance if far superior to my cheap DJ software which has little color to its skin, but my little software's performance is satisfactory to what I need.

Its not my intent to degrade Traktor or any of its many, many users here on DJF or any other users. It has many fine features & I am sure it works well for others, but you know, its just like anything else in this world, everything has its place. Its like many other products such as vehicles. I am sure that Mercedes Benz makes a fine, fine road car, but for my use, its probably not going to be much good for rounding up the cow in a muddy field or pulling a 20' flatbed with a tracktor & bush hog.

I appreciate everyone's input especially KLH. He spent a lot of time with me on this trying to promote that product & discussing things as well as hunting down & providing me with troubleshooting. This is a forum for DJ's to help one another but its not Traktor customer support but, he went well over & above, & I appreciate his help as well as everyone else who contributed useful information.

KLH
04-15-2013, 04:14 PM
Great summarization of your experience, Dix! Obviously, I've got to rep that. (I just tried to write "Ol' College Try Rep" but I hit return instead of ').

Anyways, I had a very similar experience when I first started out. Traktor does have a learning curve. Traktor does not explain things well. Traktor does have a lot of complexity due to its flexibility. How do I learn it? I cheated and bought a controller for Traktor (the S4). Traktor then laid itself out and became easier to grasp.

In order to even use Traktor, I had already committed to using my laptop's internal drive. I keep an external hard drive as backup, but don't intend to use to perform. From prior experience with databases, I know how finicky they are with file systems... so I avoid that.

In any case, you have a method and tools that work for your workflow... and that cannot be overstated. Use the tools that fit your style of performance.

FWIW, Traktor seems to be the most complex of the DJ apps that I've tried. Virtual DJ, Torq, and ITCH were similar in that they maintain a database, but only Traktor required importing into its database before tags can be changed. Analysis is a pain no matter which DJ app you use.

Throughout this adventure, I must say that I wondered why you'd switch over to TP. For your performance style, you'd only really gain the ability to manually fade tracks. Everything else - loops, cues, effects, sampling, and remix decks - wouldn't be used.

I think that you've made a great decision.

-KLH

Hippie
04-15-2013, 05:09 PM
It does sound like overkill for your needs.

You can map a command via midi or a keyboard shortcut to unload the deck btw (I missed the question at the time)
Deck Common > Unload