Advanced tutorial for midi modifiers in Traktor Pro and Map for Vestax VCI-100
Creating an advanced configuration in Traktor Pro with an intensive use of modifiers is more about a personal choice than something purely technical. In this tutorial we explain the basic principles which will help you to create an advanced mapping in Traktor Pro. We will show you how to implement it technically with help of two examples made by me and by DiJ Cioce, thus finally presenting a new mapping for two decks made by me for VCI-100, which will be available in the download section of DigitalJockey starting from tomorrow.
INTRODUCTION
As I always say, let’s leave technical stuff to manuals; here we talk about what your own console should look like, the choice of software functions directly available, their location on the control surface. This choice depends exclusively on how you use your software and the controller during the show.
This is an advantage which is offered to us by software, in comparison with a common CDJ player, which has predefined commands which are placed in a way that cannot be changed. On the other hand the CDJ is very convenient, because all you need to do is press "On", and everything goes on, and in case with software you often have to spend time changing this or that parameter, and sometimes native configurations are not exactly the best solution.
PRECAUTIONS AND USEFUL TIPS BEFORE SETTING TO WORK
Using the software, you always need to have a clear idea about what you expect and what you want from the software and from the controller; sometimes it is useful to draw an outline on the paper in order to create an ordered and consistent configuration. If you rely only on your memory in doing this (as I often do), you can sometimes lose the thread and, as it happens at times, you will have to restart a mapping again from the very beginning.
But I’d like to underline once again, what will follow is technical stuff, and before you read it - ask yourself what you want to create and give a precise answer, after that you can go on reading below how to create it.
Together with this advanced tutorial on midi modifiers you will find a mapper for Vestax VCI-100 in Traktor Pro 1.1.1 made by me, the version which has fixed the bug of the soft takeover on the modifiers. This mapping doesn’t work correctly in previous versions.
LET’S TALK ABOUT BASICS FIRST
Before this tutorial please read two previous ones which you will find here:
http://www.digitaljockey.it/dij/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=460&Itemid=45
LET’S START WITH NOT TOUCHING THE MODIFIERS…
Let’s start with the commands which you want to be always in operation. The principle is very simple, there can be several buttons in our controller to which we want to give more than one function, meanwhile other buttons should always do the same thing. Very well, it is enough not to assign any modifier to these buttons. They will always have one and the only function and they will be always available.
As paradoxical as it might seem, these functions are the most important in the layout of our setup, exactly because they are the functions which you use most often, and which, even if you confuse something, should always serve for one and the same thing. So we always start with them, and it’s important that they were present in your controller. If possible, avoid giving additional functions to volume sliders, pitch sliders, and tone controls of the decks, otherwise it will guarantee you a waste of time and blunders during the shows.
THEN LET’S GO ON WITH THE FUNCTIONS WHICH WE USE EVEN MORE OFTEN.…
Having done this, we need to decide what basic functions the buttons, which will have more than one task, should have. On the whole we should choose the functions which the buttons should have without modifiers. As you might understand, what we are going to create first is the basic and essential setup, after that we will work with this configuration and add additional features. At this stage it is also useful to split the controller in well identifiable areas for functions, loops, effects, browser, etc... In each area we should choose primary functions of the sections, and auxiliary functions will be assigned as secondary for the same commands.
FOUR FUNCTIONS FOR ONE BUTTON
Now we will explain how you can assign four different functions to every command of the entire controller using only two buttons-modifiers. This is just an example, you can assign even more functions to a button, but remember that application of multiple modifiers requires to follow strict rules.
So every time you add a new modifier to your configuration, you need to check every time how it will interact with other commands in the controller. This will help you to understand how they work better than any tutorial which you can find in Internet.
A SIMPLE BINAR SYSTEM
We know that we can find space for two modifiers for every function in the midi control panel. Using this possibility we can create a very simple sequence of functions which can be converted to a simple binary pattern consisting of 1 and 0. The four combinations are: 0-0, 1-0, 0-1, 1-1
IN PRACTICE...
Now let’s think of creating a fixed modifier button (read the tutorial on this) M1 value 1 and M2 value 2. Remember that it is always important to use buttons which have LEDs indicating their activation, so that you always know in what status the modifiers are.
Now we create a basic function on a button (i.e. the one that works with modifiers off) which will have the values M1 value 0 and M2 value 0. Next it is the turn of the function which works only with the first modifier activated (M1 value 1). Then we will assign the last two functions (M2 value 2, M1 and M2 value 1 value 2). In this way the four functions will be available when the two buttons-modifiers are activated or deactivated in combination.
Another important point, this is not incidental that values 0 are present in the functions, and I’ll explain why they are needed. If we give to a button only one function which is activated by M1 value 1, this button will only be useful when the correspondent modifier is on, with the modifier turned off the button will not have any functions.
THE IMPORTANCE OF MODIFIERS WITH VALUES 0
The modifiers with value 0 also have another very important function. Let’s take for example the button with 4 different functions which you have just created. Now let’s create a modifier M3 value 3 and assign a new function which is activated by this modifier to another button. Once the modifier M3 value 3 is activated by pressing the button created at the beginning of this example, function set with M1 value 0 and M2 value 0 will start working. This option (value 0) allows to leave active the primary functions and to use the secondary functions in other parts of the controller. As we will see in my mapping for VCI-100, the modifier of loops will activate the functions of a part of the controller, leaving active the functions of other modifiers with value 0.
EVEN EIGHT FUNCTIONS FOR ONE BUTTON: PROGRESSIVE MODIFIERS
There is another opportunity to set the modifiers which I haven’t used in my mapping, but which our DiJ Cioce has chosen for the mappings of Hercules MK2 and MP3, which will soon be available at the official website of the French branch, the progressive modifiers. Such a configuration will suit you if you have a sufficient number of LEDs which will allow to display correctly the modifier position in which you are. In this way you can assign up to eight functions to one and the same button. Actually, you generate rotation of modifiers with different values on one and the same button.
CREATION OF MODIFIERS STEP BY STEP
You start, for example, with creating a modifier M5 value 1 on a button, then adding to the same very button a modifier M5 value 2 which works with M5 value 1 active and so on… The last will be M5 modifier with value 0 which functions with M5 value 7 to close the circle.
To make the work more convenient, it would be useful to have a LED for every modifier which will switch on to show in what modifier position you are, meanwhile modifier M5 value 0 will not have a LED and the signal will be the absence of visual indication.
At this point, we assign different functions to another button, the first being activated by M5 with value 0, then M5 value 1 and so on up to M5 value 7. In this way, some parts of our controller will have different functions in rotation. However one point must be clear: the rotations of the functions and of the modifiers must coincide, otherwise, if there is no correlation between activated modifiers and functions, at some points of the rotation it will not be possible to use some of the commands.
BUT YOU CAN DO EVEN MORE...
There are many variations on the theme Between these two strategies, the official mapping of Pioneer CDJ-400 is characteristic in this regard. If you want you may look through the attached .pdf file, studying at the same time the layout loading the .tsi file on Traktor Pro, or in the .tsi viewer which can be downloaded from the official forum.
MAPPING FOR VESTAX VCI-100 IN TRAKTOR PRO 1.1.1
Now we will describe the mapping which I made on Vestax VCI-100.
This is a configuration for two decks; I will publish a configuration for four decks soon. My mapping is based on VCI-100 with first firmware version, so if you have later firmware versions, you can have problems with the positions of the commands in the effects section, but you can fix it with several clicks.
IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION
This mapping was made in order to have a simplified (chained) version of the effects on the left bank and full (advanced) version on the right bank.
NATIVE SHIFT HARDWARE AND THOSE CREATED WITH HELP OF MODIFIERS
To begin with let’s say that this controller has two built-in types of shift, one for two jog wheels (the jog-seek shift) and one for the effects section (Mas, Deck A, Deck B). Previously this last shift impacted the loop section too, but this feature was lost in the latest version of Traktor Pro.I added four modifiers to these native hardware shifts which you can see in the picture below marked in red, yellow, purple, and blue. Each of these shifts has precise functions:
- The red shift activates loop commands of Deck A
- The yellow shift activates loop commands of Deck B- The blue shift activates Hotcue commands of Decks A and B
- The purple shift activates other secondary functions (working only with the effects shift placed in "Mas" position).
AN IMPORTANT DETAIL
Another important detail, from these four modifiers which we created, three (red, yellow and blue) remain active when you press them once, and to disable them you need to press them again. The purple modifier instead has to be held in order its functions were active.
MAPPING COMMAND BY COMMAND
Let's talk about the second picture to explain the mapping in details.
- As you can see at the picture, the loop section is activated by yellow or red shift switched on (with modifiers switched off these buttons have no active functions), to which the touch-sensitive parts of two jog wheels should be added (deck A for red, deck B for yellow) with a dual function thanks to a native built-in jog-seek switch which this controller has.
- For the effects section it was enough to use the built-in shift, in Mas-mode there are some functions which are always in operation (including the purple modifier button), in A-mode you have chained effects of the left panel, in B-mode there are advanced effects of the right panel.
- The functions which are always active or which get active with help of modifiers value 0 are indicated in green. So you can see in green all the commands available with modifiers disabled.
- Note that the touch-sensitive parts of jog-wheels in seek mode have functions of browser and loop move (with red-yellow modifier active, the purple shift should be pressed too), while in jog mode they have three functions - jog-pitch bend, seek in the song (by holding down the purple shift) and loop size (with red-yellow modifier on).
- The exterior part of the jog-wheel (the part made of plexiglas), which was traditionally used as pitch bend, here has the grid move function, which should be used with sync function always active. This type of command in combination with autogrids is very important when you use 4 decks.
- The browser section of the controller takes functions of tree browser, expand-collapse tree, and load decks, and they turn into preview functions when the purple shift is held down.
- The blue shift works only with eight buttons located under the jog-wheels and gives to them the function of jumping to the first 4 hotcues of each deck. The mapping of these hotcues is obtained (with the blue shift on) through holding down the key button and then pressing one of the 4 hotcues.
- In the EQ section only the filter control knob has the key function as well, by holding down the purple shift.
- The purple shift has some secondary functions, which can be considered as auxiliary and which, in my opinion, it is important to have in the controller without having to use the mouse.
SOME GENERAL IDEAS
I hope that this tutorial, however complex it may be, will help you understand this high-performance configuration tool, so comprehensive and effective that its application requires a lot of patience. Thus, experimenting with your first configurations, begin with simple things, study thoroughly the configurations made by other users and maybe copy some of their good ideas, without trying to understand everything at once. Do not worry if something does not work, it is normal for the first times, it is normal after some time as well…
AND NEVER FORGET THAT…
Please remember to always check how various modifiers interact, especially if you turn more than one modifier simultaneously.
And the last thing… think simple, remember that normally you use only few functions, make them work well, as for the rest.... it will all come with a little of patience.
(Translted by CyberMix - Edited by Taissia Zubova)
