Getting track name + play position from Traktor?

[zorg]

Hi guys,

I'm trying to integrate Traktor with some visuals I'm building using Quartz Composer patches and VDMX. What I basically want to do, is to be able to improvise which songs are playing, but plan visuals for specific parts of each song.

It seems that most people who integrate sound and visuals this way use Ableton Live/Max, but I really want to use Traktor because I find it a lot better for improvising.

As far as I can tell, I need two feeds of data: which song is playing, and the playing position in the song. The only approach I have found so far is to send the Seek Position MIDI control for track position, and to parse broadcast stream metadata in real time for track info. However, the seek position has very low resolution (128 values, which for a 4-minute track means you may be off by almost 2 seconds - imagine strobes coming on during the silence before a Big Drop!)

To phrase that as a couple of questions:

1. Is there anyone out there who have tried (and hopefully succeeded) controlling timed visuals from Traktor?

2. Does anyone know of an easier way of learning which track is currently playing?

3. Does anyone know of a more exact+reliable way of getting the playing position?

[sleepytom]

use Virtual DJ or Serrato and then you can just play video clips with the audio burned into them in perfect sync.

[seriouscyrus]

Originally Posted by sleepytom

use Virtual DJ or Serrato and then you can just play video clips with the audio burned into them in perfect sync.

Serato video will even play quartz files, play position and song titles are just some of the parameters that can be picked up by the compositions. Mix emergency also plays QC files well with serato, with more flexibility I find.

[leolodreamland]

yeah but traktor's a lot better than virtualdj and you don't need specific hardware (yet) like serato. here's how to do the song position...

Video / A/V Scratching with Traktor - YouTube

Video / A/V Scratching with Traktor - YouTube

you have to use the broadcast options to stream metadata, should be easy enough to pick that up in flash or quartz. look at how twitterdj does it, for more info see the manual http://twitter.dj/beta/downloads/TwitterDJ-Manual.pdf

[zorg]

Originally Posted by leolodreamland

yeah but traktor's a lot better than virtualdj and you don't need specific hardware (yet) like serato. here's how to do the song position...
Video / A/V Scratching with Traktor - YouTube
you have to use the broadcast options to stream metadata, should be easy enough to pick that up in flash or quartz. look at how twitterdj does it, for more info see the manual http://twitter.dj/beta/downloads/TwitterDJ-Manual.pdf

Thanks for the link! This is along the lines of what I've been thinking, so at least then I know what work needs to be done

[seriouscyrus]

I didn't know traktor had any way to send out stuff like that. It appears to be only the song name for this app. Is there anyway it can do the position on the track to a higher resolution than the OPs orginal suggestion?

I wonder how it does it exactly, there seems to be some OSC stuff going on, i guess there's something that reads the ogg vorbis stream and converts the data to OSC. Would the stream know the position of the track?

[6071842]

I think Richie Hawton's Plaskitman show does something similar with Traktor and also touch Designer... I think.

[zorg]

Originally Posted by seriouscyrus

I didn't know traktor had any way to send out stuff like that. It appears to be only the song name for this app. Is there anyway it can do the position on the track to a higher resolution than the OPs orginal suggestion?

I wonder how it does it exactly, there seems to be some OSC stuff going on, i guess there's something that reads the ogg vorbis stream and converts the data to OSC. Would the stream know the position of the track?

In that video he is simply interpolating, smoothing out the signal (guessing he measures the time between two values to find the right speed), leaving it up to you to correct the phase/offset yourself with another fader (the up to 2 seconds for a 4-minute song that I mentioned in my initial post).

You might be able to make a more accurate position by combining Seek Position, Beat Phase, the MIDI Clock and possibly other signals (load, play etc), but I'm not sure yet. Will give it a shot tonight, and report back here.