The Wedding of Traktor and Maschine, Part 5

WeddingLogo This workshop series explains how to use Jack OS X to integrate the audio of Traktor and Maschine without using any additional cabling. Once you finished the workshop you are able to manipulate the Traktor decks with plugins running inside Maschine.

Part 5 A explains the setup on Mac OS X and part 5B shows how do preoceed if you are using Windows 7.

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

Part 5A: MIDI Synchronisation of Traktor and Maschine on Mac OS X

This part explains how to synchronize the MIDI clock of Traktor and Maschine. Traktor will be used as tempo master and Maschine as tempo slave.

Step 1: Preparing Traktor as Tempo Master
Step 2: Preparing Maschine as Tempo Master Slave
Step 3: Starting the Sync and Fine Tuning of the MIDI Clock Messages

Step 1: Preparing Traktor as Tempo Master

You need to tell Traktor on which port the MIDI clock messages shall be sent and then you can activate the sending of clock messages.

Open Preferences/Controller Manager.
Click Add, then Generic MIDI Device. Traktor adds a new MIDI device to the device list.
Click Edit, then Edit Comment. Enter "MIDI Clock" in the textbox and click OK. The new MIDI device now has a name.
Make sure that the MIDI Clock device is selected. Open the list In-Port and select the option None.
Open the list Out-Port and select the option Traktor Virtual Output. The Controller Manager dialog should look like this:
Open the Preferences/MIDI clock panel.
Activate the check box Send MIDI Clock.

Leave the Preferences dialog open to adjust the timing of the MIDI clock messages. This is explained in step 3.

Step 2: Preparing Maschine as Tempo Slave

The first section shows how to setup Maschine as tempo slave.

Open File/Audio and Midi Settings.
Switch to the MIDI tab and open the Inputs section, if necessary.
Find the entry Traktor Virtual Output, click the Off value and set it to On.
Close the Audio and MIDI Settings dialog.
Open File menu and click Sync to External MIDI clock.

Step 3: Starting the Sync and Fine Tuning of the MIDI Clock Messages

Open the Master Clock panel in the Global Section of Traktor by clicking the metronome at the very left of the Traktor window (next to FX unit 1).
If the button Auto is highlighted click the Auto button to disable it.
Make sure that the button Master in the Master Clock panel is on.
Press the Master Clock Start button.

Then press the Sync button in the Master Clock panel.
Maschine will now receive MIDI clock messages from Traktor. You should see the BPM display in Maschine adjusting to the current tempo of Traktor's master clock.
Press the Tick button in Traktor's Master Clock panel. You will hear the tick in your headphones.
Activate the Metronome in Maschine and open the channel fader of Deck C so that you can hear the Traktor tick and the Maschine metronome at the same time.
Switch to the Traktor dialog Preferences/MIDI clock.
Move the slider Sending Offset, until the Traktor tick and the Maschine metronome are in sync.

Part 5B: MIDI Synchronisation of Traktor and Maschine on Windows 7

This part explains how to synchronize the MIDI clock of Traktor and Maschine on Windows 7. Traktor will be used as tempo master and Maschine as tempo slave.

Step 1: Installing LoopBe1
Step 2: Preparing Traktor as Tempo Master
Step 3: Preparing Maschine as Tempo Master Slave
Step 4: Starting the Sync and Fine Tuning of the MIDI Clock Messages

Step1: Install LoopBe1

Goto nerds.de, download the installer for LoopBe1 and install it. LoopBe1 is free and provides a virtual MIDI cable on Windows.

Step 2: Preparing Traktor as Tempo Master

You need to tell Traktor on which port the MIDI clock messages shall be sent and then you can activate the sending of clock messages.

Open Preferences/Controller Manager.
Click Add, then Generic MIDI Device. Traktor adds a new MIDI device to the device list.
Click Edit, then Edit Comment. Enter "MIDI Clock" in the textbox and click OK. The new MIDI device now has a name.
Make sure that the MIDI Clock device is selected. Open the list In-Port and select the option None.
Open the list Out-Port and select the option LoopBe Internal MIDI. The Controller Manager dialog should look like this:
Open the Preferences/MIDI clock pane.
Activate the check box Send MIDI Clock.

Leave the Preferences dialog open to adjust the timing of the MIDI clock messages. This is explained in step 4.

Step 3: Preparing Maschine as Tempo Slave

The first section shows how to setup Maschine as tempo slave.

Open File/Audio and Midi Settings.
Switch to the MIDI tab and open the Inputs section, if necessary.
Find the entry LoopBe Internal MIDI, click the Off value in the column Status and
set it to On.
Close the Audio and MIDI Settings dialog.
Open File menu and click Sync to External MIDI clock.

Step 4: Starting the Sync and Fine Tuning of the MIDI Clock Messages

Open the Master Clock panel in the Global Section of Traktor by clicking the metronome at the very left of the Traktor window (next to FX unit 1).
If the button Auto is highlighted click the Auto button to disable it.
Make sure that the button Master in the Master Clock panel is on.
Press the Master Clock Start button.

Then press the Sync button in the Master Clock panel.
Maschine will now receive MIDI clock messages from Traktor. You should see the BPM display in Maschine adjusting to the current tempo of Traktor's master clock.
Press the Tick button in Traktor's Master Clock panel. You will hear the tick in your headphones.
Activate the Metronome in Maschine and open the channel fader of Deck C so that you can hear the Traktor tick and the Maschine metronome at the same time.
Switch to the Traktor dialog Preferences/MIDI clock.
Move the slider Sending Offset, until the Traktor tick and the Maschine metronome are in sync.

Please note that the BPM value shown Maschine is always fluctuating if you use Windows 7. This is caused by different mechanism for MIDI message transport that those operating systems provide. The implemenation in OS X delivers better results and a more stable BPM value.

Author: Rainer G. Haselier
Published: July 17, 2011
Updated: Augsut 12, 2011

Filippo wrote on August 22, 2011 at 4:36 PM i've a question... this guide shows how connect maschine with traktor via software... in the last part is written " Please note that the BPM value shown Maschine is always fluctuating if you use Windows 7." My question is... If I use a MIDI cable making a phisical connection between my audio interface and the midi port of maschine, could the bpm stay with a not fluctuating value? thanks a lot, Filippo from Sardinia, Italy :)
	Rainer G. Haselier (admin) says: It does not matter how the MIDI clock messages are sent between two applications on Windows: you will never get such stable BPM values as on Mac. So the answer is "no", unfortunately.

Greig Bain wrote on September 2, 2011 at 8:25 AM Hi do you know how to use machine so the audio comes through a channel on the ddj t1? i figure it could be the same as the s4 since they are similar? I have midi to rya cable or is that no use what so ever?

Tina wrote on September 11, 2011 at 10:55 AM Boy that relaly helps me the heck out.

gladkiy wrote on October 8, 2011 at 3:57 PM guys, I've tried everything I could find over the web, but still, traktor & live, or traktor & maschine as standalone are going off sync all the time. no matter how long time you spend to set closest offset time, it goes out of sync. so I just can't be 100% confident in my setup to play with maschine patterns during dj set. still don't get - how this djs playing it in perfect sync.

GabiM wrote on October 20, 2011 at 3:16 AM I agree gladkiy. It's useless atm.

Village hideaway wrote on October 26, 2011 at 11:49 AM i Am using traktor 2.1.1 + Maschine + A&H 4d on a MAc I have gone through this forum and watched many a youtube video. One problem i am having with my traktor is that now that i have set up the midi clock the filter and key knobs keep moving themselves ( but only on channel b & d ) thus putting the key of the tracks out of sync. i have restarted and reinstalled several times but they continually keep turning themselves on and messing with my sound. Can any body help??

Michael Hinz wrote on November 14, 2011 at 9:27 AM Erst ein mal ein ganz großes dankeschön für diesen wirklich hilfreichen kurs. Ich habe momentan folgendes Problem. Aus gründen der lautstärke Arbeite ich zu hause über Kopfhörer. Ich betreibe Traktor und die Maschiene mit einer Onboard Soundkarte und dem Asio4all Audiotreiber.Das funktiniert auch ganz gut. Wenn ich alles genau so mache wie oben beschrieben habe ich nur ein Audio Signal von Traktor.Von der Maschiene kommt gar nix.Ich habe bei Traktor den Kanal C geöffnet aber da kommt nix!Was

Sam Gendler wrote on November 29, 2011 at 9:12 AM I'm surprised to see no mention of using soundflower for routing audio between the apps instead of having to physical wire interfaces together. In my case, I am not using the S4 controller for audio, just control, so I initially set up Traktor Pro to use my profire 2626 interface with output master going to output 1+2 and output monitor going to a headphone output on the profire interface. That worked very well, with everything on the S4 controller functioning except for master volume and cu

Sam Gendler wrote on November 29, 2011 at 9:16 AM (continued from previous comment) Since core audio doesn't seem to like allowing an application to access multiple interfaces directly, I had to create an "Aggregate Device" in Audio and Midi Settings utility which consists of my audio interface (or S4 controller) and Soundflower 2 channel interface. The soundflower i/o channels show up as the lasy to channels of i/o in the interface. Now, I set up traktor to use the aggregate device, set up deck D the same way, but also set up deck C to

Sam Gendler wrote on November 29, 2011 at 9:20 AM Why do comments get truncated when displayed on the page? At least limit the comment box to only accept as many characters as will fit. The gist of my prior 2 comments is that an aggregate audio device consisting of soundflower plus an audio interface (including S4 controller) allows audio to be routed between maschine and traktor entirely in software on OS X. Also note that maschine allows a negative clock offset while traktor does not. In my case, I had to set maschine to a negative numb

tingmar wrote on December 6, 2011 at 11:59 AM wenn ich den ersten kommentar von "filippo" richtig verstanden hab, kann ich die MASCHINE "mikro" auf die gleiche art sycen, da ein MIDI-kabel nicht unbedingt benötigt wird ??

Anonymous wrote on December 17, 2011 at 6:28 PM so is the marriage of traktor and maschine stable enough then on windows, if not, why are they even bothering to tell us how to do it if it doesnt even work properly

amacord wrote on March 9, 2012 at 5:38 PM oh, i officially ask for a video tutorial on this topic. a noob like me is hoplessly lost in this without some more help. just screwed up my s4 config while tryin to sync with maschine mikro :/

Mayombe wrote on March 11, 2012 at 3:50 AM I am using Traktor Pro 2 with DN MC 6000 as the controller. I use Maschine 1.7 and would like to sync both on a 13" macbook pro 2.7 with 8gb ram. I tried several but was unsuccessful. Can anyone help?

Cr3s wrote on March 12, 2012 at 6:06 PM a good solution to sync traktor with maschine is to select first in Traktor Pro 2 in controller manager the midi-out port set to "virtual maschine" and then in maschine set "on" to "virtual maschine in" in the midi preference...sometimes happen bad syncro and this is the way that i solved. take a look in traktor also for Sync Mode "Temposync" and "Beatsync"...if u need to change your bpm during your dj sets Take kare to the sync with maschine to prevent a shit performance ;) Cr3s soundcloud.com/cr3s www.cr3s.com

Jordan wrote on May 11, 2012 at 12:15 AM The drawback, which I have not found a solution for, is that Maschine will not stop playing when the midi clock is active. To stop continious play, you must turn off the midi clock signal in Traktor. If anyone knows how to pause play on the Maschine, PLEASE let me know because I find it practically useless to have the Maschine device not stop playback when synced. Thanks!

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