The Wedding of Traktor and Maschine, Part 2

This workshop series explains how to use Jack OS X to send the audio of each Traktor deck to a sound configured as Input in Maschine. Once the Traktor audio is in Maschine you can apply all Maschine effects and plugins to it.

Another input of Traktor Audio 10 or Traktor Kontrol S4 will be used to playback the Maschine sounds.

This workshop is for Mac OS X.

The parts of this workshop

Part 1: Setup for external mixer mode with Traktor Audio 10 (Mac OS X)

Part 2: Setup for internal mixer mode with Traktor Kontrol S4 (Mac OS X)

Part 3: Setup for external mixer mode with Traktor Audio 10 on Windows 7 (coming soon)

Part 4: Setup for internal mixer mode with Traktor Kontrol S4 on Windows 7 (NEW)

Part 5: MIDI Clock Synchronisation of Traktor and Maschine (UPDATE)

Part 6: Insert and Send Effects (coming soon)

Part 7: Some free plugins

Download links for this part

• Jack OS X
• ZIP File containing the following files:
  1. TraktorJackRouterKS4.tsi: Traktor TSI File with the audio settings for this workshop
  2. TraktorMaschineKS4.jks: Jack Studio Setup file, contains all routings between Maschine, Traktor, and Traktor Kontrol S4
  3. TraktorMaschineKS4.mprj: Maschine Project file, all inputs and outputs are configured as explained further down in this workshop

Part 2: Setup for internal mixing mode with Traktor Kontrol S4

The advantage of the hybrid DJ controllers (audio interface and controller integrated into one device) is, that you need only one device. Almost all hybrid controllers use the internal mixing mode of Traktor, i.e. the audio of all decks is mixed into the Mix Out signal inside the Traktor software mixer. That’s why almost all hybrid controllers are equipped with two stereo outputs only (one is used to the Master Out signal, the second one fort he Monitor Out/Headphone signal). As the number of audio channels is limited the production costs of these integrated audio interface is lower than for a soundcard that has 10 inputs and 10 outputs, like the Traktor Audio 10.

The limited number of stereo channels that a hybrid controller like Kontrol S4 has, limits the routing possibilities you have, if you want to integrate Maschine into your Traktor setup.

Other than explained in part 1 of this workshop series, you cannot route each Traktor deck individually into Maschine for further audio processing with the Maschine FX and your installed plug-ins. In internal mixer mode you can only route the Master Out signal to Maschine. In the setup explained in this workshop we will route the Master Out of Traktor into Group A/Sound 1 of Maschine. The processed audio will then be sent back to the Master out of the Kontrol S4 audio interface.

Additionally the groups B to H will be used for sounds made in Maschine with either instruments or samples. The output of these groups will be routed as Live Input into deck D and the playback of these sounds will be synced to the Traktor MIDI clock.

The routing schema looks as shown in the following figure:

Even though this workshop will use the hybrid controller Traktor Kontrol S4 as an example, the principle can be transferred to other hybrid controllers easily (like Allen&Heath Xone:DX, Denon MC 6000, or Pioneer DDJ-T1) and even to other controller/audio interface setups, where no hybrid controller is used, but a separate DJ controller and a separate soundcard.

• Step 1: Installing Jack OS X, Basic Configuration
• Step 2: Configuring the Input Routing and Output Routing in Traktor
• Step 3: Configuring the Input Routing and Output Routing in Maschine
• Step 4: Creating the Connections in Jack OSX
• Step 5: Send MIDI Clock from Traktor to Maschine

Step 1: Installing Jack OS X, Basic Configuration

In this step you will install Jack OS X. Then you will configure the same sample rate in Traktor and in Maschine, that you configured in Jack OS X. This is very important as the Jack server will not start properly if the sample rate set up in Jack is different from the sample rate in the applications using Jack.

1. Download and install Jack OS X. When Jack OS X is installed launch Jack Pilot.
2. Go to the menu and select Jack Pilot/Preferences.
3. Select Traktor Kontrol S4 as Input Device and as Output Device.
4. Select the Sample Rate and Buffer Size you wish to use.
5. Use section Jack Router to select the number of virtual inputs and outputs Jack Router shall provide. For our example setup we need two input and four output ports (=channels).
   
   
   
6. Click on Save. Go to the menu and select Jack Pilot/Quit Jack Pilot.
   NOTE: It is important to quit Jack OS X and then to perform the following actions, otherwise there can be problems starting Jack Server.
7. Launch Traktor and open Preferences/Audio Setup. Select the same sample rate you choose in step 4 for Jack OS X. Quit Traktor.
8. Launch Maschine and select File/Audio and MIDI Settings. Select the same sample rate you choose in step 4 for Jack OS X. Quit Maschine.
9. Launch JackPilot. Click in the JackPilot window on Start. This will start the Jack Server who will provide the virtual audio ports.
   
   

Step 2: Configuring the Input Routing and Output Routing in Traktor

In this step you will setup the Input Routing and Output Routing in Traktor. If you do not want to do this manually, go to the Preferences dialog and import the TSI file TraktorJackRouterKS4.tsi. This file contains the audio configuration for Traktor.

1. Launch Traktor and open Preferences/Audio Setup.
2. Open list Audio Device and select Jack Router.
   
   
   
3. Open the Output Routing panel and configure the routing as shown in the following figure. The Master signal is sent via Jack Router to Group A of Maschine and from there back to the outputs 1/2 of Kontrol S4. The Monitor signal is routed via Jack Router and will be sent directly to the outputs 3/4 of Kontrol S4.
   
   
   
4. Open the Input Routing panel sand configure Input Deck D as shown in the following
   figure. This step is necessary to route the output of Maschine groups B-H as live input
   into deck D.
   
   
   
5. Open the Decks panel and set the Deck Flavor of Deck D to Live Input.
   
   
   
6. Close the Preferences dialog, keep Traktor running and continue with step 4.
   
   

Step 3: Configuring the Input Routing and Output Routing in Maschine

1. Launch Maschine and select File/Audio and MIDI Settings.
2. Open the Audio tab and select Jack Router in list Device.
   
   
   
3. Switch to the Routing/Inputs tab. The assignment between the four external inputs and the virtual Jack channels should look as shown in the following figure:
   
   
   
4. Switch to the Routing/Outputs tab. The assignment between the first five outputs and the virtual Jack channels should look as shown in the following figure:
   
   
   
5. Close the Audio and MIDI Settings dialog.
6. Load the Maschine project file TraktorMaschineKS4.mprj (see Downloads).

This Maschine project file contains the following settings:

• The group A is renamed to Traktor Master.
  
  
  
• The first sound of Group A is configured as Input. The source for this input is set to Ext In 1. This external input will be connected in Jack Router to the Master Output of Traktor.
  
  
  
• The output for group A is set to output Out 1. Out 1 will be routed in Jack Router to the outputs 1/2 (Master Out) of the Kontrol S4 soundcard.
  
  
  
• The output of gropus B to H is set to Master. The output of Master is set to Out 2. Out 2 will be routed later in Jack Router to the two inputs that are used as Live Input for deck D.
  
  
  
  

The last step for the audio routing is connecting the virtual and physical ports.

Step 4: Creating the Connections in Jack OSX

Now you need to configure the connections between the virtual ports of Jack OS X and some connections to the ports of Traktor Kontrol S4.

1. Switch to the window of JackPilot.
2. Click on Routing. The window Connections Manager is opened.
   
   
   
3. Go to the menu and choose File/Load Studio Setup. Load the file TraktorMaschineKS4.jks (see Downloads). This studio setup file contains all connections that you need for our example setup.
   
   
   
4. The number of connections (8) is shown in the JackPilot window next to the CPU meter.
   
   

You can setup all required connections manually as well. Click in list Send Ports on one of the nodes (for example Traktor). Then select the port you want to connect. Then go to list Receive Port and click the target node, to open it (for example Maschine). Finally double-click on the target port.

Step 5: Send MIDI Clock from Traktor to Maschine

To get the Maschine sounds tempo synced to the tempo of Traktor, you need to create a MIDI clock connection between the two applications.

Part 5: MIDI Synchronisation of Traktor and Maschine shows how to proceed.

This ends part 2 of this workshop series, have fun with the advanced routing and all the new possibilities you have with this setup.

Authors: Jens Krzikalla/Rainer G. Haselier
Published: July 25, 2011

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