Native Instruments Traktor DJ Studio 3.0 Getting Started Guide
Native Instruments Traktor DJ Studio 3.0 is a powerful and versatile software solution for DJs of all levels. With its fully modular and customizable interface, you can tailor the software to your specific needs and workflow. The software also integrates with Beatport, the world's No. 1 online dance music store, giving you access to the latest releases from top artists and labels. Additionally, Traktor DJ Studio 3.0 includes the Allen & Heath Xone:92 4-channel mixer, adjustable cross-fader curve, filters, and 4-band EQs, giving you the tools you need to create professional-sounding mixes.
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Welcome to TRAKTOR DJ Studio 3
Thank you very much for purchasing TRAKTOR DJ Studio 3.
What’s new
1. Fully modular and customizable interface featuring 4 playback decks and additional live-audio inputs
2. Integration of Beatport®, the world’s No. 1 online dance music store, providing latest releases of top artists and labels from all genres
3. Allen & Heath’s Xone:92™ 4-channel mixer, adjustable cross-fader curve, filters and
4-band EQ’s
4. 4 professional tempo-synched effects and 3 additional high-end equalizers
Software Updates
TRAKTOR DJ Studio 3 is a powerful and complex piece of software which is constantly being improved by Native Instruments. For optimal performance make sure that you always use the latest version of TRAKTOR DJ Studio. You can download the updates from the Native Instruments homepage in the Support section.
For detailed information regarding known issues and limitations, please check the file
Readme.txt located in the TRAKTOR DJ Studio 3 application folder.
Manuals
A PDF version of the English manual of TRAKTOR DJ Studio 3 is included on the installation CD and in the Documentation folder in your installation directory. Translations of the manual in German, French and Spanish language are available for download on the Native Instruments website.
Contact
For more information about other Native Instruments products please visit the NI website: http://www.native-instruments.com
or contact us at: [email protected]
Quick Start
Starting the Software
• Mac OS X : Go to Macintosh HD >
Applications > TraktorDJStudio3 and double-click on the TRAKTOR
DJ Studio 3 program icon.
• Windows : Go to Start > All
Programs > Native Instruments
TRAKTOR DJ Studio 3 and click the TRAKTOR DJ Studio 3 program icon.
Audio Setup
When TRAKTOR DJ Studio 3 first starts, you will be prompted to configure the Audio Setup . It is best to use TRAKTOR with a multiple output sound card so that you can pre-listen to a track in your headphones before bringing it into the main mix. However, you can also use your built-in sound card and run
TRAKTOR without the ability to prelisten (or Cue ) tracks.
Setting up the Output with your Built-in
Sound Card
By default, TRAKTOR automatically assigns the Monitor Output to your built-in sound card. To verify the correct setup of your output channels, play one of the included
Demo Tracks :
Note: The included Demo
Tracks are displayed in the List
Window (bottom portion of the
TRAKTOR interface).
1. Right-/ Ctrl-Click on a Demo Track in the List Window and choose
Load Track in Deck A . This will load the track in Deck A , and the track Waveform will be displayed.
2. Click the Play button underneath
Deck A .
3. You should hear output from your speakers.
4. If the Waveform does not scroll from right to left after you press the Play button, your Audio Setup is incorrect - refer to the following paragraph and verify your built-in sound card settings.
5. If the Waveform does scroll from left to right, but you hear no sound on your built-in speakers, you may have accidentally moved a knob or fader in the mixer and turned down the volume. Please refer to chapter 3.2 of the included manual for a first sound check with TRAKTOR DJ Studio 3.
Verifying your Output Setup when using the Built-in Sound Card
3. Click the arrow to drop down the
Audio Device menu and select your built-in sound card.
4. Confirm with Apply .
5. Click on Output Routing in the tree on the left.
6. Make sure Mixer Mode is set to
Internal .
7. In the Monitor section, select the
2 outputs of your built-in sound card, one for the left and one for the right channel.
8. Confirm with Apply .
9. Close the Preferences with OK .
Test Drive TRAKTOR DJ Studio 3
Now that the sound card is configured and TRAKTOR is up and running, let’s have a little fun by doing a quick mix. For this, we use the Demo
Tracks that come with TRAKTOR DJ
Studio 3.
The Decks are your virtual turntables, and they behave just like any DJ turntable available on the market.
This means that you can not only play back, stop, scroll forward and backward through your tracks, but you can also change the tempo of a track. This makes it possible to match the tempo of two titles and then mix from one to the other just like you would with two turntables and a mixer!
Test Driving on the Included Demo
Tracks
1. In the Preferences menu, click the Plus (+) sign next to Audio
Setup in the tree on the left.
2. Click on Soundcard in the tree on the left.
1. First of all, let’s load tracks into our decks:
2. Click and hold on the first Demo
Track in the List Window and drag it into Deck A .
3. The selected track will load into
Deck A and the track Waveform will appear in the Deck Waveform
Display .
4. Click and hold on the second
Demo Track in the List Window and drag it into Deck B .
5. The track Waveform will appear in the Waveform Display of Deck B .
6. Once we have the decks running, we can make our first attempt at mixing:
7. In case you are test driving
TRAKTOR DJ Studio 3 on your built-in sound card, turn the knob called Ph Mix all the way to the right. Now the Master signal is routed to the Monitor Output .
8. Make sure the Crossfader on the mixer is all the way to the left, so that only the track playing in Deck
A will be heard.
9. Click the Play/ Pause button underneath Deck A .
10. The track in Deck A will begin playing and the track tempo will be displayed in the tempo window.
11. Underneath Deck B , click the Play button. The Demo Track in Deck
B will begin to play, however, you won’t hear it in the main mix.
12. The two tracks will most likely have different tempos and you will need to synchronize their tempo and beat. You can observe current beat offset in the display above the waveforms of both decks.
13. Click the Sync button above
Deck B .
14. The tempo of the track in Deck
B now matches the tempo of
Deck A .
15. Click, hold and drag the Crossfader slowly to the right.
16. You will hear the track from Deck
B slowly blend in with the track in Deck A , eventually becoming the main audible track.
Test Driving on Your own Music
You now have learned enough to make a few mixes with the included tracks.
As you probably already have a collection of music files on your hard drive, you might want to test drive TRAKTOR DJ Studio 3 with your own music. Nothing is simpler than that:
1. Open a window of the Mac
Finder or the Windows Explorer containing the tracks that you want to play.
2. Click and hold one of your tracks and drag it from the external window to the TRAKTOR DJ Studio 3 window and into Deck A .
3. After a short loading time you should see the Waveform of your track building up in the display.
4. Click and hold one of your tracks and drag it form the external window to the TRAKTOR DJ
Studio 3 window and into Deck B .
5. Play and mix the tracks as you have learned in the previous chapter.
Note : You may not be able to use the Sync function with your own tracks as their tempo has to be analyzed in order for this function to work properly. Read more about the import and the
BPM detection of TRAKTOR
DJ Studio 3 in the chapter 5.1. of the included manual
Updating from
TRAKTOR DJ Studio 2
These are the differences to consider for those who are updating from a previous version of TRAKTOR DJ
Studio:
Folders
• Your TRAKTOR 3 Collection ,
Playlists , Key Commands and
Stripes will be stored in a new folder called Traktor 3 in your user (Mac)/My Documents (Win) directory.
• The folder Traktor containing all of your TRAKTOR 2 data will remain untouched.
Collections & Playlists
• The structure of the collection file format has been extended with this update, what results is the incompatibility of TRAKTOR
3 Collections and playlists to
TRAKTOR 2.
• When opening TRAKTOR 2
Collections and Playlists with
TRAKTOR 3 you will be warned that by using these files you will make them incompatible to
TRAKTOR 2.
• TRAKTOR 2 will not warn you that it will delete certain fields from
TRAKTOR 3 Collections.
• Right-Click/Ctrl-Click the Collection
Icon in the TRAKTOR Browser Tree and choose Import Collection to import your TRAKTOR 2 Collection.
This process will create a copy of your TRAKTOR 2 Collection in your
TRAKTOR 3 folder and give you the choice of replacing the current
TRAKTOR 3 Collection or to merge the content of both Collections.
The following parts of a TRAKTOR 3
Collection get lost, when opening and saving it with TRAKTOR 2:
• The content of the fields: Mix and
Catalog Number (Mac & Win) .
• Path information with special characters, resulting in broken links to the tracks (Mac).
Hotkey and MIDI Assignments
The structure of .tks files containing
Hotkey and MIDI assignments has been considerably extended in TRAKTOR 3 offering different sensitivities, auto repeat, MIDI/
Hotkey pages and much more.
This makes TRAKTOR 2 .tks files incompatible to TRAKTOR 3. You will have to reprogram these files for your controller, something you would probably have done anyways, as the extended features allow you to do much more with your controller than before.
Using TRAKTOR 3 and TRAKTOR 2 Side by Side
As TRAKTOR 2 and TRAKTOR 3
Collections are incompatible using both applications side by side should be done with care.
• Do not share the same user folder with both applications. The
Collection of TRAKTOR 2 should be stored in the folder Traktor while the Collection of TRAKTOR
3 should be stored in the folder
Traktor 3 .
• To transfer information from
TRAKTOR 2 to TRAKTOR 3 you can import a TRAKTOR
2 Collection or Playlist into
TRAKTOR 3.
• Do not transfer information from
TRAKTOR 3 to TRAKTOR 2 in the same manner. It is safer to write the attributes into the tracks, using Write to ID3 and reading with TRAKTOR 2 by re-importing the tracks into the TRAKTOR 2
Collection.
Getting Help
Clicking on the TRAKTOR DJ Studio
3 logo opens the “About TRAKTOR
DJ Studio 3 About Screen, which contains the exact version number and version date as well as your serial number and interesting support links concerning TRAKTOR DJ Studio 3:
You should always have your Serial and Version Number on hand, when contacting Native instruments tech support.
Enjoy the power of TRAKTOR DJ
Studio 3!
Your Native Instruments Team

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