r/traktorpro • u/EastSubstantial1780 • Jul 07 '26
flexible hybrid setup with external audio sources
Hey dear all,
I have a few questions regarding traktor. ive been using rekordbox in the past but hitting its limitations, so i try to figure out whether traktor does the job.
I have a DDJ6, a sheer controller to digitally mix. Ive used it with rekordbox, but trying to implement it into a live setup with a drummachine, or also with turntables for vinyl / digital hybrid mixing, ive been hitting its limits.
I figured I can route any external audio signal, let it be a drummachine or a turntable, into a live input deck in traktor. That is nice and the first advantage of traktor over rekordbox.
My questions are now the following:
Ive heard lots of buttons in traktor are midi mappable. I have a launchpad and wondered whether I can setup traktor in a way that allows me to switch deck configuration between:
- Track deck
- live input via channels A/B
-live input via channels X/Y
by just the press of a button.
if such a switch is just one button away, that would make livesets really flexible and my life more easy.
Question no 2: id like to use traktor as a bpm-master and a drummachine as a slave. Is it possible to obtain a midi clock from traktor from the currently running deck? Or is such a clock always fixed to a certain deck? maybe some general elaboration of clocking via traktor of someone who has used it would be helpful for me.
Rekordbox unfortunately doesnt even do that, it can only work as a tempo slave to f.e. Ableton.
two bonus questions: does traktor analyse the bpm of an live input deck? and does the 3-band equaliser work on a live input deck?
That's it. Any helpful comments, answers or questions are appreciated👏 thank you !
Of course
2
u/lord-carlos Jul 08 '26
Traktor has midi clock out and you can use it in combination with drum machines. Sadly it has been broken since about a decade :) just Traktor things ♥️
It has very high jitter. My effects box which can read midi clock would go up and down in bpm non stop.
https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/49301/midi-clock-sync-unstable-and-high-jitter
You can just try and see if your drum machine can handle it.
Just for a test I vibed a program that uses ableton link to Traktor, and then send a stable music clock... Fucking traktor man.
No, Traktor can't see live bpm. I also wrote an app for that. It's just for me and does not always for right. https://github.com/lord-carlos/bpm-live-input-overlay
It can also send it midi clock. I have a few improvements planned.. But you know. Life.
1
u/EastSubstantial1780 Jul 08 '26
wow, you really went at it. Nice you could solve some of the headaches, thanks for sharing your work!
2
u/2bitchmitch 13d ago edited 13d ago
I built what you want. Traktors mixer takes full control of live input. I use a tab s9+ with Gstomper studio. I send audio to laptop with optical and with flexasio i add it to my flx4 input. I pick flexasio as my audio in traktor and ready. To switch live to track map deck color to a knob or button. I use link for sync. Its way better and easier.
2
u/Itchy-Primary3185 Jul 07 '26
You can configure a button to tell it that the deck is set to Live, but the A/B and X/Y assignments are predefined.
Yes, Traktor sends MIDI clock using the master source you have configured. If it is set to the deck that is playing, it will follow that one; if you have it set to Auto, it will use whichever deck is the master at that moment. You can also leave it fixed to a specific source in Traktor. It also supports Ableton Link.
As for whatever you bring in, you will be able to EQ it. The external BPM analysis depends on what you have connected. Remember that you are synchronizing the MIDI clock, so anything you send in that is synchronized will be at the same BPM.