Steelo

They can still have an ok beatgrid but I often find if the mp3 is dodgy then there will be problems somewhere whether its sound quality or something else. I would suggest ripping CDs with another piece of software. I’ve got a Mac and use a free one called MAX. Its not the fastest but you can choose which encoder you want and the sound quality is excellent.

PS Traktor 2.5 has just been released early! Check out the thread in the DJ software section for instructions. Apparently its significantly improved.

reason808, post: 20808, member: 831 wrote:

Has anybody seen beatgrid drift go away when they bought or found another mp3 of the same exact track?
I’d like to know before I buy a bunch of ‘catch up’ mp3s.

I have found this to definitely be the case. In the past I have downloaded lots of crappy MP3s from dicey places in attempt to getting my hands on hard to find tracks. It often ends badly, with them either having poor audio quality, being too quiet or drifting badly. I’m willing to bet if you get the original CDs or purchased the MP3 legally, they would be fine.

ellgieff, post: 20806, member: 129 wrote: Taste isn’t the same thing as genre. Like, not even close to the same thing. Taste is about personal preference – and the system you’re talking about has no personal preference.|
You’re also confusing deductive logic with intelligence (which is based, in part, on inductive logic).

Seriously, you’re postulating an automatic jukebox. These already exist – and pose no threat to the people I think of as good DJs. The difference between a DJ and a jukebox: the DJ makes choices based on his or her own knowledge, as filtered through his or her own personal taste. A jukebox plays what the punters tell it to.

Whether the punters tell the jukebox by voice, or by their phone jiggling when they’re shagging some girl in the toilets – wait, dancing their behind off on the floor, it still has no relevance to what I do as a DJ.

*shrugs*

Couldn’t have said it better myself!

My DJ software is Traktor, and this is why: It gives me the flexibility to get a little crazy with mapping, effects and looping but also allows me to do standard mixing just as easy. The 2.5 update will add another level to mixing, all in the same software.

Please tell us a bit more information about your mixing style. The S2 is only a 2 deck controller whilst the N4 is 4. It would be fairer to compare the S4 instead with the N4…but its more expensive. They both seem like legit controllers but I haven’t physically used the N4

If you are prepared to get the beatgrid, BPM etc for every tune you play perfect then the twitch is an excellent controller but for a lot of traditional DJ techniques, scratching and for riding out tracks if something is wrong with the beatgrid, jogs are pretty essential. I won’t buy a controller without them but thats just my preference.

I’d say it comes down to a combination of what D-Jam said, just above, and the fact you are using dicey MP3s from dicey sources. I find its typical of most vinyl rips to have atleast a minute amount of drift too.