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Pavi

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  • December 18, 2015 at 5:33 pm in reply to: Choosing between Serato and Traktor – specific questions/functionality #2322721
    Pavi
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    Yes, I agree that it generally comes down to personal preference about what FX are “better” than others and as you say, an audience isn’t usually going to differentiate between what’s used and what isn’t or compare different effects.

    I recognize there’s a difference though between an audience’s attention depending on the context and the style. I used to DJ in chillout rooms, playing deep ambient mixes. People would be lying around on cushions and often intently listening/journeying to the music – so I felt subtle FX could make a big difference. I used them sparingly but relevantly, if that makes sense.

    However playing say a trance set to hundreds of people dancing in a main room, then a subtle effect is less noticeable as the audience are in quite a different place, and the music already contains a lot of effects itself.

    December 17, 2015 at 5:17 pm in reply to: Choosing between Serato and Traktor – specific questions/functionality #2320831
    Pavi
    Participant

    Yes, you can, but they’re still preset Serato-made FX. And most are the kind of things you’d rarely ever use.
    https://serato.com/dj/expansion-packs/fx#chippack
    You can’t load externally sourced FX with Serato as far as I can tell.

    I’m not someone who uses FX a lot, certainly not all these weird ones which twist keys and mutilate the sound. I’d just like some very good quality basic FX – delay, reverb, flange etc. And as I said, the basic Serato FX sound far less clean or natural than the Traktor FX.

    This video compares many side by side: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZIw1xOhWws

    December 17, 2015 at 3:55 pm in reply to: Choosing between Serato and Traktor – specific questions/functionality #2320771
    Pavi
    Participant

    Would be great if all the main software allowed external effects to be loaded. In fact I can’t see why they don’t, as I think it would be a big plus for prospective buyers.

    December 17, 2015 at 6:00 am in reply to: Choosing between Serato and Traktor – specific questions/functionality #2320121
    Pavi
    Participant

    Yeah, it definitely all depends on our own experience.

    My previous experience is fully manual with CD decks – they had a single Loop In/Out/Reloop buttons right there on the deck, so for me the most “obvious” way to implement multiple loops would be to use the SX2 performance pads and then simply:
    1. Choose a master “Loop Mode” button
    2. Choose a performance pad
    3. Hit the Loop In/Out buttons to save a new loop to that pad

    I haven’t used any DJ software other than trialling in-store.
    Serato seems pretty intuitive and I really like the waveforms displayed next to each other. But the basic effects I tried seemed pretty awful compared to Traktor. For example the Flanger on Traktor sounded much cleaner and smoother than Serato’s, and the Reverb sounded much more “natural”.

    December 17, 2015 at 4:20 am in reply to: Choosing between Serato and Traktor – specific questions/functionality #2319811
    Pavi
    Participant

    Thanks for the feedback, everyone. Really appreciated.

    It sounds like Serato does some things in a slightly less obvious way, but can still do everything I need.

    Next step – go out and get that SX2!

    December 16, 2015 at 9:04 am in reply to: Choosing between Serato and Traktor – specific questions/functionality #2318701
    Pavi
    Participant

    “However, it would be simple enough to store an actual looped sample and put that under a performance pad. It would then play in the sampler/remix deck and you would have both sounds going.”

    This would be fine, if I know I can save multiple loops for each track. I’ve looked through the Serato manual and also asked a couple of people at DJ shops and been told that Serato only saves cue points, not loops…although that sounds like a really basic function to be missing.

    Also with Performance pads, can they trigger a sample and continue to loop indefinitely, or do they only play while they are being pressed and jump back to the track when released? (sorry, maybe dumb question, but for me performance pads are a completely new thing…)

    December 16, 2015 at 8:49 am in reply to: Choosing between Serato and Traktor – specific questions/functionality #2318641
    Pavi
    Participant

    Thanks for the replies.

    Yeah Deathy, Serato comes with the SX2 so I’d begin with that (as long as it can do the things I’ve asked about) and only switch to Traktor if there’s something important missing.

    To be honest, even if I end up using Traktor I think I may be happier using it with the SX2 rather than the S4 – I really love the feel of the SX2, whereas the S4 felt a little bit “lightweight”, even though functionally it’s great.

    But if what you say is true, DJ Vintage, and that may not be possible after Traktor updates, I guess I’d just have to decide if the current Traktor version is good enough for eternity…

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