New iOS Controller for Traktor (or any midi enabled apps)

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p00p00

DJ
Jul 30, 2020
5
9
51
Amazing what being sent home from your job and and being commanded to stay at home can do for your productivity...

For years I'd used a Liine Lemur template that I made as a control surface for Traktor - I'd always said I'd make a standalone version so people didn't have to fork out $20 or whatever Lemur costs these days. Now I need some friendly Traktor users to kick the tires for me a bit - tell me how to make it better:

ipad_12.9inch_mixer-650x487.png

It's free and runs on any device running iOS13 or better. It's for a certain use case i.e. a beatmatched DJ set where your tunes are already prepared, so no vinyl mode or anything like that but I've been using it happily to do streaming shows for a local music venue that's currently closed.

Web page for it here - Pogo DJ homepage
AppStore page for it here - Apple App Store

If anyone has any trouble getting set-up, contact me here or via the web page for it above - it's pretty easy though.

I am after feedback and I can take it. I'll do my best not to cry etc.
 
Any feedback gratefully received - I do notice it is being downloaded (in Japan, and Angola, and less far flung spots as well) - I just wouldn't want anyone to have a go, get nowhere with it and say nothing.

I mention it because I'm just working on a BPM display, a flashy beat indicator, and a nice way of doing larger / sudden tempo changes - and maybe it totally didn't work for you in the first place and I should work on that before doing fancier stuff.

Anyhow, have lovely weekends. I'm DJing here Sunday night 19-21:00 - wonky / out-there electronics 60-120bpm...
 
I have Traktor, but honestly haven't used it much.

This app seems more geared to club work. Most of use are mobile DJs and don't typically runs "sets", though I'm sure a few do. Most of us probably have playlists and crates made, but are on the fly searching and replacing songs based on the crowd. It would be rare to actually play a set through start to finish for other than a few rare events. Tools for helping rearranging playlists and searching would definitely help.
 
Hey fellows. Good afternoon, good evening, or goodnight - depending on physical locations obvs.

My main enhancement for this is to be able to have any playlists / folders you have right there on the screen, a quick touch away from the DJing controls - at the moment Traktor doesn't play very nicely like that with most controllers, other than the ones they make (funnily enough).

What I meant by 'prepared' was, that you have a virtual crate of tunes, and they're all prepared for traktor to play them - i.e. the beat grids set for each tune, and cue points in the tune where you want to drop it in, or jump to. This app doesn't help manage all that.

For the internet radio thing I do once a week (mixing only, no chat) i have a big pile of tunes and they get played in whatever order depending how i'm feeling, it's good with that but at the moment you have to look at your computer screen to see what's in your crate...i believe they call it 'Traktor face' when a DJ's engrossed in a computer.
 
I have Traktor, but honestly haven't used it much.

This app seems more geared to club work. Most of use are mobile DJs and don't typically runs "sets", though I'm sure a few do. Most of us probably have playlists and crates made, but are on the fly searching and replacing songs based on the crowd. It would be rare to actually play a set through start to finish for other than a few rare events. Tools for helping rearranging playlists and searching would definitely help.
You're a rane mp4 user I see - is it 4 input in the sense that you can mix 2 stereo signals together at any one time, and each of those 2 can be either a digital or an analogue source (so 2 x 2), or could you actually do 4 deck mixing with it? Good sound quality?
 
You're a rane mp4 user I see - is it 4 input in the sense that you can mix 2 stereo signals together at any one time, and each of those 2 can be either a digital or an analogue source (so 2 x 2), or could you actually do 4 deck mixing with it? Good sound quality?
That one is 2 deck (though each is selectable to input .. USB or RCA) and I use it mainly as a backup or when I have no space allocated since it has minimal mic support. Normally I use the Denon 6000mk2, which while compact, has pretty good features (other than no performance pads). The MP4 (or the MP2 which doesn't have USB) both are quite clean sounding .. I wish manufacturers still made rack mount gear .. so nice for a mobile in that you can pre-cable it to other gear and keep it together.
 
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I downloaded the app to my iPad (wouldn't work on my iPhone 6 .. won't run a current version of the OS). Tough thing for me would be the unlabled control knobs .. especially if they are mapped to FX functions. Also I didn't see a way to toggle between 4 decks (no A/C or B/D).

Not sure you need the reset buttons on each rotary control .. the usual function is to double click and they reset. How is this connected to the software app to do the MIDI control .. WiFi or USB?
 
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I do not want to diminish your fine work, but I do not understand the mad rush away from laptops.

iOS, all-in-one controllers, etc, IMHO are all compromises vs a 15" or 17" laptop and good controller/sound card.
 
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I do not want to diminish your fine work, but I do not understand the mad rush away from laptops.

iOS, all-in-one controllers, etc, IMHO are all compromises vs a 15" or 17" laptop and good controller/sound card.
If you use a large enough screen, you basically have a tablet .. add a keyboard and you have a laptop. Picture an iPad (you can get them under $300) set into a controller box with a few knobs and maybe some pads or tactile devices .. I believe that will be the basis of the next wave of controllers .. Denon Prime boxes are basically that now.

The benefit of a screen based UI is you can rearrange and customize it easily.
 
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Picture an iPad (you can get them under $300) set into a controller box with a few knobs and maybe some pads or tactile devices .. I believe that will be the basis of the next wave of controllers...

Whoa...that sounds kinda cool!
 
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Screen is too small for these old eyes....:pillhuh::sqlaugh:
They'll get larger .. no reason they can't be as large as a monitor if that's what the market wants.
 
Again, doesn't make sense. My 17" diagonal laptop screen is a 15" x 8.5" rectangle, is connected to a real (tactile) keyboard, folds up to be portable, can be loaded with the software of my choice, and connects to my controller/sound card with one USB cable.

I realize there are still people who are not comfortable with a "real' computer. For example, my wife can run circles around me with her iPhone, but she does have trouble with a PC. Software, and setting up the software, can still be a problem for the average Joe, and some companies do capitalize on this. For example, one of Serato's great strengths is it's basically plug and play - the "hardware" essentially automatically sets everything up, so those who have trouble tying their own shoes can easily DJ - but one of Serato's great weaknesses is it's now a 608MB(!!) download with all the drivers and other crap that runs in the background.

Moving to an iOS app obviously circumvents all of this, but it just feels to me like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Again, just my 2 cents.
 
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These products will not survive in today's world. I applaud the creativity and ingenuity but compared to a computer with Serato, this is just a toy and would be great for a beginner dj who just only has a small library. I am sure there is a small niche market for bedroom DJs, but for a working professional, not so much.

It's also not very efficient either. Having the computer store music + act as the OS with the availability also go outside of the app, and use a laptop as one intends to organize, create, and prepare music is much more attractive. Better have a backup too! With a laptop, you can just buy two (always keep one cloned).

There is just so much more one can do with a real OS. Even if the screen was bigger, one is so limited. Just having a real keyboard makes me so much faster compared to the touch, cramped squeazed screen here.

I have yet to see anyone DJ with these other than demos and to highlight the features. It feels like these products would have been cool in 2008.
 
These products will not survive in today's world. I applaud the creativity and ingenuity but compared to a computer with Serato, this is just a toy and would be great for a beginner dj who just only has a small library. I am sure there is a small niche market for bedroom DJs, but for a working professional, not so much.

It's also not very efficient either. Having the computer store music + act as the OS with the availability also go outside of the app, and use a laptop as one intends to organize, create, and prepare music is much more attractive. Better have a backup too! With a laptop, you can just buy two (always keep one cloned).

There is just so much more one can do with a real OS. Even if the screen was bigger, one is so limited. Just having a real keyboard makes me so much faster compared to the touch, cramped squeazed screen here.

I have yet to see anyone DJ with these other than demos and to highlight the features. It feels like these products would have been cool in 2008.
You're all assuming some limited functionality in these things. Pretend it's a nano computer embedded inside running an i5 or i7 and Windows 10. It would be NO different than anything else except for the form factor.

Nothing wrong with a laptop .. just hypothesizing that screen heavy, touch-driven controllers WILL be mainstream and probably a leading category.
 
Well, definitely would not use it if it was Windows 10, lol. JK.

Fist, my main problem starts with the screen size and touch part. It's simply not big enough and full-size keyboard is so much more efficient when DJing. That alone will prevent me from ever using something like this. I am sure this will change, but it needs to be around 13"

Maybe, more importantly, I don't want to have to do all my prep work on a real computer to then transfer everything I just did to a hard drive of some kind. That's an extra step and kind of seems pointless. It just makes things more complicated (not hard, just more things to do to prepare/more steps). Anyone who buys this unit already has a laptop so why not just plug into a simple USB controller.

And what if the unit freezes up or stops working. There is a lot of tech going on and I would be worried. My computer is super stable and has been running Serrato since 2006. Why switch? With laptops, you just double for backup and clone them.

Also, using a real OS allows me to do other things from that computer while DJing. Once in a while, I have to download, and it is super easy to just drag and drop from the download folder straight into Serato. I also use my computer for background music (Apple Music or Megseg)

I don't see a single upside at all, not even one. I am already taking my laptop to gigs, so why not use it to DJ. These units all make it more complicated. Like I mentioned, back in 2008, I could have seen this being a good step for those who want to DJ digitally but don't want to have a dedicated laptop. I think it's a cool tech piece, but a little too late.