Virtual DJ has an effects library where you can access a whole host of effects written by its users.
Reader Utsav Lama has not one but two questions. He writes: “I am a 19-year-old club DJ from Kathmandu, Nepal. I learned about DJing with a laptop with Virtual DJ 7 and now I am using a Traktor Kontrol S4 (my father who is working in Dubai bought it for me).
“I want to ask you whether the .dll effects from Virtual DJ can be put to use in Traktor Pro 2, because I miss some of them. Also, I currently produce music with Reason 5 but I want to change, so please can you tell me which is best production software for DJ/producers?
“You know DJing is very new to our country and only a few from here have made DJing their career (DJ Bickey playing in the top clubs of Europe like Ministry of Sound, for instance) and the gear is often not available in our country.
“Plus most DJs here just play remixes and mixtapes donwloaded from the net, which I’m ashamed of, but there are some DJs who are creative too and we’re trying to teach others what we’ve worked out for ourselves and from the internet. Thank you for your tips – they are working for me and I do earn a lot of gigs now.”
Digital DJ Tips says:
Thanks for you letter Utsav, it’s great to get an insight into the DJ scene in some of the less obvious places around the world. Glad to hear you’re flying the flag for quality digital DJing over there!
OK, in answer to your questions: It is not to my knowledge possible to use Virtual DJ’s effects in Traktor Pro – VST effects are kind of the standard “plug in” effects for professional music software but Traktor Pro doesn’t support them.
It’s always annoying when you switch from one piece of software to another though and miss a certain feature…
I guess you’ll have to make do with Traktor Pro’s effects, which to be fair are high quality and varied enough. It’s always annoying when you switch from one piece of software to another though and miss a certain feature, so I feel your pain here!
As far as production software for DJs goes, there’s no right or wrong, and lots of people use Reason, but I’m bound to say that Ableton Live is the most popular choice. It has an intuitive workflow and the views available to you encourage improvisation and are also great for loop-based music.
Also, lots of DJs perform with Ableton Live, so you could use the same software in your studio and at your gigs – and it is also possible to sync Traktor Pro 2 and Ableton Live so you can really blur the boundaries between DJing and production.
Have you ever switched software and missed something you used to rely on in your previous program? What do you think the best production software for DJs is? And are you reading this in a far-flung location you think we should know about? Let us know in the comments!
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Tags: ableton live, traktor kontrol s4, traktor pro 2, virtual dj pro 7
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@utsav lama:, good to see u bro, m also from nepal,bhaktapur and i use vdj with hercules rmx. How much ur tracktor controller cost in nepali rs. hope to see u bro.
[ link ]Hey Utsav, if you’re looking to switch production software from reason so you can use vst fx etc I would say that Ableton is probably a good start as it is better on processing power than cubase which I use at the moment and I have seen several live instances of it running with traktor and VSTfx at once, check this vid for a good starting point, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_sa71rjvak, also here has some nice clear written instructions too http://blog.dubspot.com/syncing-ableton-live-traktor/ . I would also say that Reaper would be a good choice too as it doesnt differentiate between midi and audio tracks like other DAWS, costs virtually next to nothing compared to Ableton and Cubase but I have no experience as yet using it (this summer I’ll experiment) but has had some great reviews from people that have, and seems really open to using audio from one channel to trigger VSTs on another, which is ace!…… Hope this helps….Penance
[ link ]You can use VST effects in VIRTUAL DJ PRO. Just have a google for VST effects and download and use in VDJ
[ link ]True but his question was can you use Virtual DJ FX (.dll file) in Traktor 2!
[ link ]Dekadance also supports VSTs, but Traktor’s FX are pretty impressive.
[ link ]In terms of music production Maschine deserves a mention. From the makers of Traktor… It’s really great.
[ link ]Agreed!
[ link ]Music Production
In my experience Ableton Live is quite different to other DAWs in its use/method of working. I found it hard to work with as I am used to DAWs like Cubase and Logic. But, that said, if you are beginning from the ground up and are used to Reason maybe Live could be the DAW for you. Nothing clears things up better then a trial/demo version download!
Good luck!
[ link ]I use VDJ for my Gigs But If I had an S4 I would be using Traktor 2 I have it but its not great with my controller. As for producing I use Ableton live logic express Reason and garageband
[ link ]Download the new Traktor 2.6 update if you haven’t already. It has 10-12 brand new effects, that are awesome!!!
[ link ]