Traktor Update 2.6.1 Reaction

14 Comments
 25 Feb 2013   Posted by Alan Churchill


Traktor Reaction

After almost a week of using the newest update to Traktors software what have been the general thoughts, observations, complaints and Tips? Read on to find out.

Whilst reading what many have to say in forums and on these pages it is clear that the new Traktor update is overall, a winner.
It seems that the developers are listening to the issues that users are experiencing and making relevant changes in the software to improve stability.

Stability

One user reported that a couple of his DJ friends have used Traktor on a Mac for 5 – 6 hours without any glitches at all, another user reports that his windows configuration is more stable, with no audio glitches and better CPU usage. A third users explains that the bug where Traktor used to shut down in Windows 8 is also now gone.

Playback

Some believe that the downbeat detection may have improved the playback, improving the analysis of the tracks may have sweetened up the grid. Would like to know if
anyone else has experienced this?

Complaints

The main complaints are based around the operating system requirements, the new iTunes Syncing requirements and the Key Detection Tool.

Mountain Lion

Mountain Lion with Traktor
The Specs say that you need to have Mountain Lion installed on your Mac. For many, this is quite a jump as in order to run Mountain Lion you need one of the following
Macs:

  • iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
  • MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
  • MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
  • MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
  • Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
  • Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)

Up until just last month I was running a 2006 MacBook Pro, but decided to make the move to the Air. It just so happened it was a good time for me to upgrade, but these upgrades don’t come cheap and I can see how frustrating this would be if the time was not right to buy a new computer. This issue also limits the usability of the new Traktor DJ iPad App too. As this will only work if you have the newest Traktor 2.6.1.

iTunes Syncing

As discussed in the Traktor DJ iPad App post, there is some annoyances from many that the development of Traktor is now governed in some way by Apple. Traktor prides itself on the fact that it can play a huge selection of audio formats:

Traktor music formats

This is great, however, now with the introduction of the iPad App and the requirement to sync with iTunes, many people are feeling left out as iTunes will not play Flac files. Maybe Traktor knows something we don’t – will iTunes be coming out with Flac support in the near future?

You can give some polite feedback to iTunes by using this form requesting the ability for iTunes to allow compatibility of Flac files.

For those using windows, there are a couple of ways to at least play Flac in iTunes, but it may mean a loss of quality – A quick google search will uncover some – but here’s one that may be of use – Bigasoft Flac converter.
Whilst these are not perfect solutions, it’s a start. If you don’t plan on using the Traktor DJ App, then there is no need to worry about making any conversions. It will be interesting to see where the iTunes and Traktor relationship goes from here.

Key Detection Tool

Traktor Key Detection At first people who were already using ‘Mixed in Key’ were upset that Traktor would overwrite the key info. This was incorrect. Traktor creates it’s own column for its’ key analysis. It also seems to use a slightly different naming convention. There are options in the preferences to change how this works.
A Traktor Tips Reader, ‘Bas’ has spoken a little bit about it in the comments section of a previous post. It seems that using the setting ‘Open Key’ Setting results in the same displays as those used in the Camelot system implemented by Mixed in Key. There also seems to be some people experiencing some tracks that simply say ‘none’ in the key column of the track. If this is the case, make sure you have first analyzed the track again to gather the information:

  • You can cut down on analysis time by only asking traktor to analyze the Key of a track
  • You need to highlight all tracks> right click> analyze >special > key.

Conclusion

Overall a great update for windows users, so long as you don’t want to use the new iPad App and are using Flac files. Also a great update for Mac users, so long as you’re Mac isn’t too old and you can run Mountain Lion, costing you $19.99, which is great considering the new update of Traktor is free and includes a Key Detection Tool. Something that previously would have cost you $58.
Thanks for all your feedback – Keep it coming and let us know any more problems or cool things you come across in the in Traktor 2.6.1.

photo credit: kenterlogicvia photopin

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  • John K

    After 5-6 hours on my i3 2.4ghz 512 ssd it traktor 2.61 overloads and sounds distorts then stops then it starts again after 20 seconds.
    And it is not that hot underneath the cpu.

  • DJ Numbdrum

    Ok, I’ve got a question about the new key detection in Traktor. Not sure if I’m missing something but here is my issue, I am in the proccess of analyzing my tracks and I am noticing that after analyzing some of the tracks, when I view the tracks under their original crates the key is showing NONE but when I look at the same tracks in the Track Collection Crate they do have a key?!? Why is this? Thank you for any assistance.

  • matt

    ALAC and FLAC are both lossless and therefore same quality, “the closest thing” quip is misleading.

    • Alan Churchill

      Also Matt – it seems as if Traktor won’t even play Apple Lossles aka ALAC (.m4a) files. The article has been adjusted to reflect this. Thanks for pointing this out!

      • matt

        traktor absolutely plays ALAC (the majority of my iTunes library is wav, aiff, or FLAC that I have transcoded to apple lossless) and the only issues i’ve ever run into using ALAC is traktor won’t play 24 bit ALAC.

        • Alan Churchill

          I guess, I was going off some old info – thanks again!

  • http://twitter.com/justinpywell Justin Pywell

    Just did a 5 1/2 hour radio show and 2.6.1 did not miss a beat

    Windows 8 laptop with i5 processor 6Gig of Ram.

    Also had Google Chrome open (to tweet now playing and connect with chatroom for the station)

    • Alan Churchill

      Sweet!

  • http://www.rekordkrate.com Ian Ossia

    I can confirm this update 2.6.1 is running with no problems on Mac os 10.7.5, so I don’t think mountain lion is strictly necessary. The key detection algorithm is good, on a par with that included FREE with Pioneer’s rekordbox software and Mixed in Key’s. The tracks suggestion is using the same method as mixed in key – ie. Master Tempo has to be ON. If you, like me, don’t like master tempo due to the timing and and quality degradation, take a look at my ios app RekordKrate.

    • Alan Churchill

      Maybe the mountain lion is necessary if you want to use the iTunes Syncing function with the iPad app?

  • http://djbladesparx.com DJ BLade Sparx

    I also have 1 track that Traktor 2.6.1 could not detect the key key even after loading it onto one of the deck by itself. I agree that the the human ear, if you are not tone-deaf, is still a wonderful tool.

  • http://www.djbladesparx.com DJ Blade Sparx

    HOW TO EXECUTE THE KEY DETECTION IN TRAKTOR PRO 2.6.1
    —————————————————————————————————

    This has been a large topic of discussion online on many sites so I want to set the record straight on how this works since I was also stuck on this.

    I was successful at discovering how to run the key detection in Traktor Pro 2.6.1.

    The detection must be run on a full directory, one directory at a time, and allowed to complete, so be patient.

    Since no one seems to have posted detailed instructions (including NI), here is how I succeeded. These are the directions for Windows-based PCs but should be similar for the Apple platform.

    Because this takes time, I proposed you start this and let it run overnight as needed if you have large directories of music.

    1. I suggest you enable the Status Bar in the Traktor Preferences window under “Browser Details” and check “ Status Bar/Error Messages” to allow you to monitor the progress of the detection.

    2. Pick any music directory.

    3. Right-Click in the title bar for all you tracks in that directory, then enable the “Key” Column.

    4. Click on any track to highlight it, then execute a “Control-A” to select all tracks in that directory. They should all be highlighted now.

    5. Right-Click in any track and select “Analyze (Async)”.

    6. In the Analyze window, select Special, Select Key, and then click “OK”.

    7. The detection process will start and you will see the status bar progress for each track until it reaches the last track in the selected directory. DO NOT INTERRUPT THE DETECTION AND LET IT FINISH THAT DIRECTORY.

    8. When the current directory detection is finished, then you can repeat the above process on other music directories.

    9. All the keys will appear in white initially and will only assume their assigned key colors when you sort on the Key column by clicking the Key column header.

    10. I also noticed that when you re-start Traktor Pro 2.6.1, the keys are in white again and you must sort the keys again to have them assume their assigned key colors.

    Hope that helps many of you with this puzzle and please share this information.

    DJ Blade Sparx (djbladesparx.com)
    Newington, CT, USA
    House, Electro, Techno, Dance, Euro, and Mainsteram Club Music

  • Freddy

    After upgrading to 2.6.1 and analyzing my library. It seems that tracks tha I have ripped from vinyl, there key is not detected. They display none in the key column.

    • Alan Churchill

      I have been told that even Mixed in Key sometimes fails to find a key code for some tracks. Maybe the software is struggling with it!? Unless someone else knows otherwise, I would maybe use your finely tuned ear for these tracks!