Any opinions on TORQ VS TRACKTOR

[symsy]

On face value one looks like it has lot more functionality than the other I ahve struggled with the layout and some of the functions of tracktor its not that intuitive.

A friend just bought some M Audio gear and I played with a lit style version of TORQ, Much easier.

Ws interested if any one had any hands on experience with the full blown TORQ version and maybe the Xponent Midi SurfaceThanks in advance for any input

[ijed]

How do you want to use it? with timecoded vinyl, midi control or mouse?

I bought the m-audio connectiv and torq as it works with the ms pinky vinyl.
And in my experience Torq does the job really well.
Traktor has heaps more features but like you I didn't find it that friendly to use either...
When you just want to use it like virtual decks and mix on an external mixer you don't need
too much more.

Miss Evil Jed likes torq too and it's a great way of learning to beatmatch and mix vinyl :)

Finding your tracks with torq can be a bit of a pain tho and the auto bpm can be off sometimes, & haven't found a way to set it manually (but might try editing the tqd file)


The Xponent space ship has lots of pretty lights probably a good midground between a behringer 3k and A&H X:one

I think Deckadance is probably worth checking out and I think it supports pretty much all timecoded vinyl and can be used as a vst so is infinitely expandable

Virtual DJ isn't that bad a program but I've had a few stability issues with it.
Serato seems to be the most stable from what I've heard but haven't used it...

[symsy]

Thanks , hmmmmmmmmm more to think about now than I thought

[D4Dirty]

Torq is much cheaper. The vinyls and the audio interface are built well, the audio interface does feel a little on the cheap side.

Program wise, Torq is almost fantastic except on my laptop (which more then meets the minimum requirements) it crashes constantly.

Heres what I did and would recomend... go by torq connectiv pack, but dont use the software that comes with it, buy deckadance. Deckadance is by image line is IMO stomps all over every other DJ app out there, works with all other vinyls and is very stable. So for about $450 you will have a great system.

[adamphetamine]

ok, background first- no make that a rant!

I spent 6 months trying to organise this gig at a local but inner city pub. Got it going, invested thousands in gear only to find out that nobody gives a shit about my mixing skills, or my fantastic catalogue of 20 years of dance music. Yes, I really have been a bedroom banger for that long! So I thought, fuck it- I'll buy the upgrade to Traktor Scratch (I already own an earlier version of Traktor DJ studio) and use that....... but due to their awful activation software it wouldn't work - remember this is legally bought software. Several emails went unanswered and it was only when I threatened to buy the Xponent that they finally sent me an activation file for Scratch- but they didn't allow me to activate DJ Studio 2 which I've owned for years- this would have been the simplest way of handling the problem, as it would then have enabled me to get everything else activated. AAARGH.

So after sending one more email which they still have not replied to, I went and bought the M-Audio Xponent.

What do I think? I think it's a great first effort. It's very stable- only got it to crash once after 8 hours of pre analysing songs! The pitch controllers are too sensitive, ie. they change by .1% minimum, punters may not be able to hear it isn't smooth, but I can.... The online manual is in html so you can refer to it while you work, but it does not cover the buttons on the Xponent which differ slightly from the Torq software. It auto beat matches for you which is nice and makes you lazy, er I mean creative, but if you bump the pitch control you will scare and confuse people.....

It's a bit plasticky, doesn't have balanced audio outputs (none of the 5 or 6 alternatives I looked at have these), finding and loading songs could be improved and the auto bpm function is less accurate than my 10 year old Red BPM counter.

Summary? I love it! Being able to take thousands of songs to a gig where people might request Cold Chisel (sorry Sir I'm right out of that, looks crestfallen) or Rhianna (I love drunk chicks) or even god forbid, good music, far outweighs any small niggles I have with the h/w and s/w combo. Just make sure you use it on a laptop that you use for nothing else, or at least start up from a drive dedicated to your music. Nothing beats interrupting your mix with the chime of an incoming email!

My spare set of Technics SL1200s will be up for sale on ITM as soon as I can be bothered to list them.

phew! apologies for the long post.....

[symsy]

Thanks

All good insights, I am still sitting on the fence , sounds like all of thiose technical dilemas buy now buy later...better go work out when I need it.

Cheers

[silvaside]

Best bet would be to get as much hand-on experience with both and make your decision.

Dunno what people find so daunting about Traktor?

[ac1d3o3]

Nothing daunting about traktor.
i quite like the interface myself.

traktor is just more expensive.
you can get torq for about $400.
compared traktor scratch which is 800-1k

[Pro Tool]

THe soundcard factor with Traktor is pretty attractive and explains a lot of the price. 8x8 interface with super drivers and Cirrus Logic converters. They sound real nice. Though Torq is at a great price.

[Grafite]

The Traktor Scratch software looks madd...and as pro tool said, i think you will be much much happier with the soundcard :D +the vinyl/latency is supposed to be the best out of em all (important if you like to scratch)

..i dont see what people could find intimidating about the traktor interface??? (traktor dj studio -- user myself :D)


In terms of deckadance for vinyl use it would probably be great (i use a midi controller myself, so im not quiet sure about the vinyl) but i still think it has to fix the basics before it will be a real contender...brilliant in what it does well though :D....giv it a little while i think ;) if you are interested in it i did a quick info/review on it a while back on here...search for deckadance and im sure you'l find it ;)

best user support i've ever seen though!

[redmond_herring]

we held a demo night recently which compared TORQ to Numark's Virtual Vinyl and Serato.

Having sold Serato for years, we are all convnced TORQ is by far the best value, being the cheapest (of all the others worth their salt)

Serato has been known to crash and burn on international gigs reasonably often, and so far customers have been raving about TORQ's stability.

Xponent is on fire, and again, I think its the first hardware/software package solution that is more than fine for mobile/party DJ'ing. (however balanced outputs would be VERY much appreciated thanks)

As for club use there can be no doubt CDJ's are now the 'SL21200's of the 21st century, and whilst integration of laptops into sets is rapidly increasing, its generally guys playing off Ableton (to accompany the CDJ's) rather than DJ software of any kind.

Until one of the main players (Serato, TORQ, Tracktor or Virtual Vinyl) becomes the CLEAR winner, clubs will stick predominantly to CDJ's

[DruK]

One thing to also mention is that TORQ is not yet compatible with Windows Vista. Most newer laptops come with Vista as standard so you'll need to fiddle around with dual booting or getting rid of Vista all together for XP.

[DjReal]

Majority of people dont have the issue with incompatiblity with Vista as a lot of people use mac's. Those with windows PC's can have a problem in that regard though, yes.

[Pro Tool]

Is that so?

Cos Macs never have incompatibility issues. Cos MacOS INCREMENTAL Updates NEVER affect overall stability. Like the x.x.5 - all those Logic users, man, they're stoked.

And of course, everything just ran sweet out of the box for that whole first year of OSX too. Soundcards and software. Just worked so well.

And who can forget how kind it was of Apple to keep he support for all the people with PCI cards. Especially the Tools guys with their really CHEAP HD cards.

And it was particularly thoughtful to cancel the upgrade route for logic just recently too. Thank god all those people paid good money for the latest version seeing as they are going to discontinue it. But of course, they can't tell you that. Y'know, they way we work 'n' all.

HI, I'm a mac.