13
Dec
2009

Reverse-playback in Traktor Pro

25

MusicI always loved to alter the rhytmn of a song by playing one or two beats of a bar reverse.
While this was easily possible in Traktor 3 Native Instruments removed this feature in a recent update of Traktor Pro.
The best solution up till now is to use the Reverse Grain effect which can loops one bar of the song and therefore isn’t what I was looking for.

ns7-reverse

I tried everything, but no luck…until I played around with my NS7 last night. If you press the Pitch Bend – button a really long time  the track will be played reverse.

That brought me to the idea to fiddle around with Traktor some more and I finally have a nice working (almost) clean solution.

You need 6 assignment and 1 modifier per deck (if you’re not using focus).
What happens is:
When you press the button your track will be paused. This is necessary because playing tracks can only be set to a tempo bend of -1. That would mean they are stopped. But when the track is already stopped -1 means playing at -100% speed.
The next what happens is that the “Tempo Bend (stepless)” is set to -1.000 directly. Lastly a Modifier is set to 1.

While the track is playing reverse you can’t stop it via cue, because basically it’s not playing, it’s just pitch-bended.

When you press the button again. The track is resumed, Tempo Bend (stepless) set to 0 and the Modifier to 0.

The following picture shows how to assign a single deck:

traktor-pro-reverse-playback-assignments

Step-by-step guide on how to achieve this:

  1. Create a Modifier action
    Modifier Condition M1 (or whatever you choose): 0
    Interaction Mode: Direct
    Set to value: 1
  2. Duplicate this action and change
    Modifier Condition M1: 1
    Set to value: 0
  3. Create a Tempo-Bend (stepless) action
    Modifier Condition M1: 0
    Interaction Mode: Direct
    Set to value: -1.000
  4. Duplicate this action and change
    Modifier Condition M1: 1
    Set to value: 0.000
  5. Create a Play/Pause action
    Modifier Condition M1: 0
    Interaction Mode: Direct
    Set to value: 0
  6. Duplicate this action and change
    Modifier Condition M1: 1
    Set to value: 1
  7. Assign the right deck to all assignments
  8. Learn the button of your choice to all assignments

Especially DJ Quartz of the NI forums will be very happy about this finding as he has created the currently best.tsi-file for Numark’s NS7 and improves it every day.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/leigh.corrigall Leigh Corrigall

    Do you have an idea how to get the jog wheels pinning on the V7 and have Scratch Control?

  • http://dadizajn.net Tomislav Simić ToS

    This combo does not work in TPro2, right? I at least was not able to reproduce it.

    • http://www.ali.dj Hedgehog

      I will check it and comment back on this soon.

    • http://dadizajn.net Tomislav Simić ToS

      Excellent, thank you very much. How is that NS7 translator going? How about we connect on DJTT forum, I’d like to hear about issues you’ve encountered.

  • sqgl

    t_b *BEWARE* there is a bug at the bottom of the settings screen that Native Instruments keep ignoring in their releases: The “Set to value” number that is displayed is not necessarily the value that is set. eg If you want 0.000 type it in explicitly. Do not accept the default value. SImilarly if you want 1.000 and it says 1.000, type it in again to make sure. This is a really nasty bug and it took me ages to realise what was going on.

  • http://djSquiggle.com sqgl

    Paulogiogno is right.  In response to a request from blendcorp (who still can’t get it to work) I have put full screen captures online for how to toggle Deck A into reverse/forward  (and Ali you are welcome to use these screen shots on your Hedgehog site). NB I have used a MIDI note as a controller but you can of course use a QWERTY keyboard key instead. http://djSquiggle.com/traktor-pro-tip-reverse-playback/

    • http://www.ali.dj Hedgehog

      Thanks for your work. Sadly I can’t check out your site (currently) because I get a timeout every time I load it. Is this just a temporary issue?

    • Anonymous

      Thanks sqgl for uploading pics. i followed both sets of instructions, original and yours, and still no love. do you know of any other required settings for this to work? perhaps some of my other preference settings are clashing. thanks b

    • Anonymous

      Thanks sqgl for uploading pics. i followed both sets of instructions, original and yours, and still no love. do you know of any other required settings for this to work? perhaps some of my other preference settings are clashing. thanks b

  • http://djSquiggle.com sqgl

    blendcorp asked for clarification so I have put full screen captures of the settings (for forward and reversing Deck A) on my site

  • Paulogiugno

    There is a best way:

    Play/Pause (invert) + Tempo Bend (stepless) -1.000 + Tempo Bend (stepless) 0.000.

  • http://DJsquiggle.net sqgl

    A slightly neater version is in steps 5 & 6 to use “Interaction Mode: Toggle” (instead of “Direct” which requires having to then set the value to 0 or 1).

    • http://DJsquiggle.net sqgl

      Sorry, glitch (2) was my fault… I think… It works now although there is an unavoidable pop rather than the nice way the old Traktor used to sound like vinyl reversing.

      I made two more assignments to get around problem (1) (I toggle “Key Lock”) and it kind of sounds nice, especially for ambient music; like the way a harmonica changes key when you suck rather than blow :)

  • http://DJsquiggle.net sqgl

    A slightly neater version is in steps 5 & 6 to use “Interaction Mode: Toggle” (instead of “Direct” which requires having to then set the value to 0 or 1).

    • http://DJsquiggle.net sqgl

      Sorry, glitch (2) was my fault… I think… It works now although there is an unavoidable pop rather than the nice way the old Traktor used to sound like vinyl reversing.

      I made two more assignments to get around problem (1) (I toggle “Key Lock”) and it kind of sounds nice, especially for ambient music; like the way a harmonica changes key when you suck rather than blow :)

  • http://DJsquiggle.net sqgl

    As you say an: “almost clean solution”. Let’s spell out why:

    (1) Because it uses a pitch-bend trick, it only works when the “KEY” knob is turned off.

    (2) The track will stop when you press the button, only reversing when you let go. That isn’t so bad if you are quick. No problem going from reverse to forward though.

  • http://DJsquiggle.net sqgl

    As you say an: “almost clean solution”. Let’s spell out why:

    (1) Because it uses a pitch-bend trick, it only works when the “KEY” knob is turned off.

    (2) The track will stop when you press the button, only reversing when you let go. That isn’t so bad if you are quick. No problem going from reverse to forward though.

  • http://DJsquiggle.net sqgl

    Hey Vinicius Hoffmann, howabout *you* make those demo videos? I think Ali has done more than his share for the community.

  • http://DJsquiggle.net sqgl

    Hey Vinicius Hoffmann, howabout *you* make those demo videos? I think Ali has done more than his share for the community.

  • http://DJsquiggle.net sqgl

    Thanks, I didn’t know this “stepless” pitch bend existed and have been missing the reverse function ever since it disappeared. Beginners will be happy with the nice clear instructions, very generous of you.

  • http://DJsquiggle.net sqgl

    Thanks, I didn’t know this “stepless” pitch bend existed and have been missing the reverse function ever since it disappeared. Beginners will be happy with the nice clear instructions, very generous of you.

  • http://www.gianpaj.com GianPaJ

    hey Hedgehog,
    i just discovered your blog and it’s super nice!
    thx for this tip
    i added also to disable the key function while doing the reverse because if not it won’t work, and to enable it back when pressed again.

    the only question is if the key function is disabled before doing reverse can i make it not enable afterwords?

    i don’t know if you can do it. anyway thx
    and please post more tricks using midi!
    (i have a Faderfox DX2) ;)

  • http://www.gianpaj.com GianPaJ

    hey Hedgehog,
    i just discovered your blog and it’s super nice!
    thx for this tip
    i added also to disable the key function while doing the reverse because if not it won’t work, and to enable it back when pressed again.

    the only question is if the key function is disabled before doing reverse can i make it not enable afterwords?

    i don’t know if you can do it. anyway thx
    and please post more tricks using midi!
    (i have a Faderfox DX2) ;)

  • Vinicius Hoffmann [Brazil]

    Hey man, can you put a Demo .mp3 with this effect going on? And how is it sounds when you use reverse grain instead of your technique?
    Thanks!!

  • Vinicius Hoffmann [Brazil]

    Hey man, can you put a Demo .mp3 with this effect going on? And how is it sounds when you use reverse grain instead of your technique?
    Thanks!!