Mixing Packages

could check: http://www.mixxx.org/
haven't tried it but heard alright things about it.

Traktor and the Serato itch thing are on a similar tip and Ableton is great but works a bit different (you have to warp all the tracks first). Think you can get fully functional demos of all three, for a limited time at least.

you only have to pre-mark tracks in ableton for 'warping' if you need to beatmatch them.

ableton might not be the best solution for this kind of mixing but you could actually use the free demo version which is complete except for allowing you to reload saved projects. so if you have your music files and you just want to load them in, mix them one time and export as a single file i think it would do that.

just an idea, otherwise you might be happier with one of the other things alfons mentions.

The demo version of Traktor only works for half an hour before it shuts down again, so unless you're really into short mixes - a discipline in itself! - then you might wanna pick another one.

The mixxx thing is more like a DJ package whereas Ableton is more a sequencer in the vein of Cubase etc., which might take a bit of time to learn if you haven't used one before - it's not too hard though. With the mixxx thing, you can just drop the tracks into it, mix them as if you would on decks and then record it through Audacity, which might be quicker and requires less "oh god, how do you do that?" time than Ableton might.

there's tons of ableton tutorials on youtube btw, and once you get going warping a track takes very little time. But like mistersloane said the other programs are more similar to straight up dj'ing.

true, sloane.

but here's some very quick instructions for ableton, cos it's not that hard, though it might help to have someone show you the basics.

0. there are two screens in ableton - session and arrange, start in 'session'.

1. make two or more 'audio' tracks - one for each deck.

2. from the browser at the side drop your audio files into slots in the tracks.

3. press the red record button at the of the screen.

4. click on the play icon on a dragged clip to play it, click again to stop it.

5. it will record everything you do as actions. press stop at the top when done.

6. go to the other screen - 'arrange', and you'll see your mix there.

7. select the whole range and choose 'render' (or 'export') from the file menu.

that's it for starters. it's easy to set up a cross-fader if you like and you can assign midi controllers or keys to faders and mute buttons etc.

Though I agree it makes sense to go with something more straightforward, specially if it's really free. One bonus doing it with Ableton Live offers is that you can actually go back and tweak what you've recorded before rendering it which is nice.

Looks like mixxx will record the output while you do it so you don't need to mess with Audacity.

On a side nite, what is up with audacity? Still feels years behind soundforge or even cool edit pro... Sluggish, ugly, unintuitive.. Gets the job done I guess but barely!

I had a mess around on Mixxx tonight. Main problems 1) it won't respond to certain MP3s, you click on one for the line-up on one channel, and it does FA 2) I can save wav files if they're under 10 mins, any more and it just comes up as 'file not recognised'. It seems really temperamental

Have never tried it, but KraMixer is a free mixing app for Windows that says you can mix down to MP3.

http://www.kramware.com/index.html

minikomi said:

On a side nite, what is up with audacity? Still feels years behind soundforge or even cool edit pro... Sluggish, ugly, unintuitive.. Gets the job done I guess but barely!

Click to expand...

Wavosaur is another free option. For Windows anyway. Much less ugly interface as a starter.

good thread: Your preferred digital DJ system and why