Deck a Dance may be the only dj software out there that can run inside Ableton Live but you can virtually put any software into the powerful audio engine with a free plug in. Cycling 74, the masterminds behind max msp, offer soundflower which creates a virtual audio engine within your macintosh environment.
“To send the output of one application to another, select Soundflower as the output device in the first application and Soundflower as the input device within the second application.”
As usual, this was not intended to be a dj oriented product but its a great tool for adding functionality to your software. Here are just 2 applications that you might want to try out:
1) Route the master mix of Traktor into Ableton and use VST mastering plug ins to sweeten up the mix.
2) route each of the 4 decks into 4 channels of ableton and then individually process and record each deck. Using your ears (and the metronome) you can get Ableton’s grid to run in time with a song and then sample a song in ableton while its playing in Traktor.
The possibilities are endless so download the free plug in and post some other creative ways you might use it. Next we will look at keeping Ableton in time with your software by ear.
HI guys, i´ve been trying
I still dont understand how to set it up..like the routing from traktor to ableton. Can you explain it more detailed?
hate to burst the MAC bubble…it is called virtual audio cable and was designed by cyling 74
I jst have not been able to get it up and running yet
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Thanks for the review! I want to say – thank you for this!
Hi Ean, any vhance of a walkthrough guide for TSP/Mac on this? I’m alonst there with the config, please can you dvise where im going wrong here:
i’m trying to rewire TSP into Ableton. Have Soundflower installed but the routing config is confusing me. Here is what i’ve done so far:
TSP is set to External Mixing Mode:
Output Channel A
– Soundflower 16CH (Out 0)
-Soundflower 16CH (Out 1)
Output Channel B
-Soundflower 16CH (Out 2)
-Soundflower 16CH (Out 3)
Output Channel C
-Soundflower 16CH (Out 4)
-Soundflower 16CH (Out 5)
On Audio 8 i’m taking three outputs from Ch A, B and D into my external mixer.
In Ableton:
Audio Input Device: Soundflower 16CH
Audio Output Device: Audio 8
What Channel Config (Input/Output) in Ableton’s preferences do i need to select? I’m trying to route 3 TSP decks into 3 Channels on Ableton. I can get audio in Ableton but only by selecting Arm on channel.
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Traktor Pro V.1.0.1 : Traktor 3.4 : Traktor Scratch
Macbook 2.4ghz, 2GB RAM, 250GB HD
Imac – 2.16ghz, 4GB RAM, 250GB HD
Vestax VCi100 – Pioneer DJM 600 – JBL 8210 Monitors
Ableton Live 7.07 – Serato 1.8
This does no good with Serato
Ms Pinky can run as a plugin. both VST and AU. You route
the audio in in a audio track in ableton and use the plugin to
select the chosen was, mp3. Ms. Pinky records also work with
other programs.
a)i would like to scratch (an mix!) video with my m-audio torq… any idea how to do that?
b)in the next version of torq (1.5) there will be an outgoing midi clock, given by torq… can i scratch (with) that??
or is it only a bpm information to let other software know the trackspeed?
i managed to connect traktor scratch with live or logic to add effects, but I'm confused with the inputs and outputs in soundflower,so i receive audio from both softwares and i get a huge feedback loop.
anyone knows whats wrong or how to fix it?
thanx a lot!
…
Ms Pinky do it first…
and is Max Msp based…
Nobody wants scratch clips and trigger midi clock to live?
It was to hard for me find some maxmsp (or not) programmer who would do it possible…
…
I am trying to route all this stuff through, yet when I get to Ableton and want to configure the "audio from" it won't allow me. It opens up the audio tab in preferences and says I have to choose Driver Type, Audio Output Device and Channel configuration, all of which I have done. Soundflower is selected as my input and my fast track pro is the output. Any suggestions?
I meant device behavior in traktor triggered by loops in live ie: eqs, efx, deck movements,crossfader actions, and combinations of all of these.
Ive been working on this with jack osx on the mac. LAst summer I started re-routing my traktor audio into live via optical toslink on my ppc g4. This maintained digital signal chain. I also used the motu traveler for re-routing in this manner. I first looked at Jack osx at this time but I got discouraged when I was experiencing feedback during set-up. Just a problem with the operator.
Once i revisited jack osx I figured out the routing and now I am able to re-rout audio between any programs. This also works well for splitting audio as you can take any source as a feed and rout it to numerous destinations.
Combining this with the macs internal midi buses makes a great system. With the Iac buses you can tap the same set of midi signals with any number of programs.
What I have especially interesting is creating midi command chains. I record a group of midi events in Live as I am executing it in Traktor. Then i set that up as a triggerable loop in Live. I then rout that midi signal to traktor.
This way i can trigger a template like device behavior in live. I also programed a pitch adjustment loop in live to adjust for traktor's miscommunication with live's sync.
Interesting. Well, it's possible that it got fixed in a Mac OS update. I should be hanging out with the Core Audio guys this week. I'll have to ask. 🙂
Soundflower works on Leopard. I have Leopard running and it works just like it did on Tiger…
Bad news, Mac fans: Soundflower won't work on Leopard.
http://createdigitalmusic.com/2007/12/03/leopard-…
And apparently IAC for MIDI also has problems:
http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5925…
And there hasn't been an update.
Via the top link is details on JACK — they were making progress toward that working; don't know how it ended but I'll find out. *stick with Tiger if you can!* Leopard introduces almost nothing in the way of audio/music functionality — I think there was a FireWire addition for hardware that doesn't exist yet, if I'm remembering right.
You can now get JACK for Windows; I need to spend more time with it but that's definitely the preferred option:
http://createdigitalmusic.com/2007/09/13/windows-…
cheers dude. have you got a private email address? because i really need some advice on whats the best set up for me!! iv tried asking shops / other people…and i havent met anybody who is half as clued up as you!!
<blockquote cite="#comment-3024">without wanting to sound stupid, how do i subscribe to the blog?
: )
without wanting to sound stupid, how do i subscribe to the blog? : )
we will be posting it as an article, so just subscribe to the blog via email and it will arrive in your inbox 🙂
Nice one Bento! Ean, any chance of sending me a link to Bento's post?
cheers
<blockquote cite="#comment-3002">nice one! send it to me first and I will post it on the blog! good work BentoSan
Hey Ean, that sounds great i should have it finished and edited by tomorrow. Thanks for giving me a shot at posting on the blog!
nice one! send it to me first and I will post it on the blog! good work BentoSan
Decided id give this a go! So i reinstalled Traktor and set to working out exactly how to pull this off in windows. Its a little tricky to explain here so i am currently writing a lengthy tutorial with pictures for the forums on how to pull this off in windows. It will cover a few things, How to sync Traktor and Abletons midi clocks, how to route Audio to Ableton and to make a midi device work for two programs at once all using a smart mixer thats very worthy of replacing those Traktor Zone EQ's. Ill post a link to the tutorial here once its finished 🙂
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=media.video&ID=5a8dbf4d16dfd560fe20293720949e67
check the last third of the vid and see some torq 1.5
http://www.m-audio.com/images/global/videos/NAMM2…
Interesting.
Will try to hook up Torq shortly! Thanks for the heads up!
and torq does VST inside itself 😉
but, if deckadance can run itself as a VST (inside whereever) what is the benefit of that?
there is also a traktor or finalscratch plugin or timecode thing that runs inside pro tools, right?
what is it good for?
the new torq is able to recieve and send midi beat clocks…. (right now, it can be synct already with and too ableton (rewire))
but i gues in future, it can send pitch infos (by midi)(i mean, infos about the speed of your running track) to any application…
so you can controll loads of things with your timecode vinyls i guess 😉
well technically, deck a dance is the only program that can run inside ableton as its the only program that will run as a vst plug in. However thats very good to know about torq. Thanks for sharing that info! 🙂
Ean wrote
"Deck a Dance may be the only dj software out there that can run inside Ableton Live"
WRONG!
Torq can via rewire ( not with vinyl or cd control though)works quite well to
keep it up Ean
soundflower is great
I found something that might be cool in the future
http://www.macworld.com/article/132666/2008/03/sa…
touch screen with vibrations to simulate real buttons and stuff
imagine a jazzmutant with sliders and wheels that actually felt real.
I agree with Bento. With any type of computer, software and even controllers you can always find a way to get things done. Sometimes taking the harder road can lead to more exciting results. If anyone else has experience with similar products on the windows platform let me know and I will update the thread.
Thanks for the reply Ean 🙂
There is XP/vista alternatives for this "Virtual Audio Cable" is one of them and i am sure they are more. Ive yet to give them any testing in terms of latency so downloader beware. For every piece of mac software there is a piece of pc software to match it and vice versa 🙂 A great reason to keep those pc's is that that vst support is much better in windows.
In the end though it comes down to whatever floats your boat – its possible to make great controllerism sets with the same level of control over the mix with enough work on both consoles. Being on a Mac or a Pc inst going to make your sets any better its your hard works and persistence. So go spend that money on more midi controllers for unprecedented control over your mixes. So please, lets not have pc vs mac wars here :p
correct me if I am wrong but this app has actually been out for a while now.. its not new.. and I never took much notice of it before because I want really into DJ'ing at the time and never even had a laptop, let alone a mac..
nice heads up though to the mac users out there… I wonder if the sound architecture in vista would allow for something similar perhaps… guess I will just have to wait and see if and when I can get a mac
Like corporation said, another reason to get me a mac. 😉
yet another reason for me to travel to the land of mac.
i have yet to find anything like this for the pc…
<blockquote cite="#comment-2669">Id immagine this would put more lattency on the mix? id like to be proved wrong :p Anyone have any idea of the overall lattency using a decent soundcard ??
Also does a midi device work for the two seperate programs at the same time ? this would enable routeing the 4 channels though ableton.
Should also be possible to route the 4 decks though 4 ableton channels and use your own VST/built in effects as well as ableton mastering effects, if you do this you will not be able to use Traktor master effects – but this is a minor trade off considering the powerfull effects availible in albeton and the VST effects you can download.
Hell if all this is possible i see no reason why it wouldnt be possible to use Moldovers smartmixer/smart knobs setup along side traktor, throw in some beats, bass, vocals and melodies into ableton and you have yourself a powerfull setup.
Cool stuff Ean – keep up the brainstorming 😉
no additional latency as its all internal. Latencey generally gets introduced when there is an A/D process.
yes, a midi device would work for 2 programs or more.
yes, you can use traktor effects and ableton effects. Your routing the individual deck outputs of traktor into ableton (in external mix mode) then using the line faders, eq and cross faders in ableton. Each decks effects still work in internal mixing mode.
Id immagine this would put more lattency on the mix? id like to be proved wrong :p Anyone have any idea of the overall lattency using a decent soundcard ?? If the latency is low this could be quite usable.
Also does a midi device work for the two seperate programs at the same time ? this would enable routeing the 4 channels though ableton.
Should also be possible to route the 4 decks though 4 ableton channels and use your own VST/built in effects as well as ableton mastering effects, if you do this you will not be able to use Traktor master effects – but this is a minor trade off considering the powerfull effects availible in albeton and the VST effects you can download.
Hell if all this is possible i see no reason why it wouldnt be possible to use Moldovers smartmixer/smart knobs setup along side traktor, throw in some beats, bass, vocals and melodies into ableton and you have yourself a powerfull setup.
Cool stuff Ean – keep up the brainstorming 😉
NEXT LEVEL-stuff once again.this is fantastic.Ean,you are truly on the forefront of new and exciting wonderful stuff.
I din't know exactly, because i don't have a Windows PC. Is JACK avaliable for Windows?!
Can somebody tell me a simular solution that works with winXP?
Soundflower is so great! I use it regularly for my Tutorials and Netcasts …
This is good to know!