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degrading Traktor sound quality when using pitch

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  • July 18, 2017 at 5:05 am #2590811
    Frederick Masters
    Participant

    If Keylock is on, you’re changing Tempo using Time Stretching.

    I have a completely different setup from you. Laptop/Software/Controller/Soundcard, all different, and I can hear the same thing on my rig. When critically listening with good headphones, anything more than a 5% change doesn’t sound as good. I’m not sure if it would be as noticeable DJing live, but like you, I don’t like it.

    So, I try stay within that 5% change limit. Songs that I know I will have to change more than that, I’ve created custom edits in my song editing software, changing the Tempo in the entire song. You can do this in Audacity (free) but there are better sounding software programs for this.

    Serato Audio Research began with a software program for DAW’s that does this. The same (or similar) algorithm is in the optional Pitch’N Time plugin that can be used in Serato DJ in a live situation. I have no personal experience with it. I’ve “heard” it’s good, and it uses a lot of CPU.

    July 18, 2017 at 8:41 am #2591021
    Jeroen Dartee
    Participant

    @Hanginon:
    Thank you for your response. It is good to know I’m not the only one experiencing this and that my problem with Traktor 2.11 has a name: Time Stretching. It is true that when I change the tempo more, the sound becomes worse.
    I experience this even within the 2% range, but maybe my ears have become sensitive to this after I noticed it.
    I believe the degradation is noticeable DJing live, since I experienced this during the end of my last performance, but nonetheless how do other DJ’s deal with this? I don’t think they change the Tempo of each entire song by using other software like Audacity so they can use it in Traktor, but I’m sure you don’t believe this either. It is a good workaround though for emergencies and small pieces. I own Ableton Live 9 Suite, which also has the ability to change the master tempo after warping so probably no need to use Audacity, but thanks for the tip.
    Interesting to know that Serato has the Pitch’N Time plugin, but I think Traktor should also be able to reach the same quality of sound while changing tempo, because many professional DJ’s use Traktor. I wonder how they acheive this. Your response concerning Serato´s Pitch’N Time and it using a lot of the CPU, makes me wonder whether my CPU, which should be good enough, is actually working at full speed all the time. I’ll have to find out how to check this and improve this if needed, but I’m not completely sure whether that will fix the problem. Maybe it does.
    I’m interested to know whether this problem occurs with Apple laptops? Can anyone tell me?
    -> Thanks again for your help. I’ll keep you and everyone interested posted.

    July 18, 2017 at 5:55 pm #2591551
    Chuck Van Eekelen
    Moderator

    Pitch’N Time is good. As is the built-in time stretching in the new Denon Prime SC5000 players.

    I agree with Hanginon that up to about 5% it shouldn’t be noticeable to a degree that the floor notices. After that it can become an issue and probably WILL become an issue at higher %.

    Expensive DAW’s have better time stretching options. You could, theoretically time-stretch in a good DAW (we are talking ProTools level, not Audacity!) and then bounce it to a new track, i.e. save it at the new speed. Lot of work though and it will still only give you ONE new speed.

    July 18, 2017 at 6:26 pm #2591591
    Jeroen Dartee
    Participant

    @DJ Vintage:
    Thank you for giving feedback about Pitch’N Time. It sounds good in Serato I understand, but I don’t own Serato (yet) and changing software isn’t my first choice at the moment, even though my Reloop Terminal Mix 4 is originally designed for Serato.
    So what to do about Traktor? There should be a way to use the Time Stretching procedure in Traktor without a problem.
    For now I will stay within the 5% range. Thanks for confirming!

    July 27, 2017 at 10:46 pm #2596271
    Phill Renyard
    Participant

    If your CPU is powerful enough maybe the time stretching option is on ECO rather than HiQ in the preferences- that might potentially make a difference to the sound if you haven’t checked that, just a thought in case you haven’t checked it yet

    July 28, 2017 at 8:11 am #2596291
    Jeroen Dartee
    Participant

    @PhillRenyard:
    In Traktor in “Preferences” the option Keylock HiQ is chosen (standard ‘out of the box’), I didn’t change that.
    Is that okay and what you mean?

    I tried some other things in the BIOS and installed Windows all new (from the installation disc), and will let you guys know in the coming days what I found out.

    July 28, 2017 at 9:54 pm #2596691
    Chuck Van Eekelen
    Moderator

    Thanks for the update and good luck!

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