Controlled Sources

I have solved the issue of brodcast, record, and performance using Traktor DJ studio 3 and Conectiv as my audio card.

The diagram above is a little too small to really make much use of, here’s a full size image you can use to better see the illustration.

Essentially the bad news about Traktor is that you simply can’t return the external audio into the system for recording, or broadcasting when you want to send the audio out of your computer into a real world situation.

This can be because you want to use an external mixer instead of the internal (virtual) mixer, or because you want to bring audio into tractor via the external mixer.

This was confusing to me because I can route turntables, CD Decks, and other sources into Traktor by connecting them to the Conectiv interface, and switching between A and B using the big rotary knobs on the front of the Conectiv interface. Simply connecting rca cables between my turntables, and the interface, and choosing line, mic, or phono on the input source selector makes this totally simple to do.

But you can’t return the main mix from an external mixer. It simply isn’t something which Conectiv does.

I had a lot of trouble with this because I couldn’t work out if it was the software, the hardware, the driver, or me just being stupid. In the end, it is a severely short sighted limitation to the Conectiv interface and Traktor’s input and output routing scheme.

Here’s the work around:

Using a simple audio input device, I am using Griffen’s iMic interface, I can simply return the main mixer’s output from the mixer itself, in my case, the Allen and Heath XONE:92, back into the computer for recording, or broadcasting or both.

I broadcast using NiceCast, and so I grab the returning stream from the input device (iMic) and create my broacast archive within this application.

Thus, I am lightening the load on Traktor, and can continue to archive (record) the program even in the unlikely event that Traktor unexpectedly quits on me. NiceCast will just keep on archiving until I ask it to stop.

Results:

I am now able to include vinyl, Cd’s, external effects, and a mic into my DJ sets. I could do this before, but it was a live only situation. There was no way to return the audio back into Traktor for broadcasting or recording internally.

Using this method, detailed above in the diagram, it’s simple, and it works.

Tonight’s Sunday Soul program will be my debut using this technique, and I’m really looking forward to it.

Hope this illuminates and assists anyone who might have been stuck like I was…

love,
s.

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