How can you tell (visually) if a stems slot is muted?

Cityskape · June 2023

So I'm using Traktor 2.11 and have recently started playing around with stems. I'm using an M-Audio trigger finger to control them and have set them up so each pad mutes or unmutes a stem slot. However there seems to be no visual way of seeing what is muted on the screen. The trigger finger is pretty ancient and doesnt have light up LEDs or anything so theres no way of telling which slot is muted (obviously I can hear, but I dont know if say, a vocal is muted if its a section of the track where theres no vocal).

Is there any way of indicating a slot is muted/unmuted that doesnt involve upgrading my hardware? Would I be able to do this in traktor 3?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Sûlherokhh · June 2023

You obviously need something that can provide feedback. If you use your computer's monitor, there is a small symbol that indicates the mute-state. Otherwise, any controller with LED feedback that works with Traktor Pro 2/3 should be able to receive a midi-out assignment via the controller manager.

I don't know the trigger finger. Does it have LED's?

Stevan · June 2023

Add something like X-Touch Mini that you can find for cheap. It has buttons with LED feedback and 8 knobs for the volume control over those Stems.

It is not amazing but it will do the trick.

Otherwise I don't think there is an indicator in UI\Stem Deck that indicates the Slot Mute state. (Like the Remix Deck dimming state)

Cityskape · June 2023

Thanks both for responding. Yeah I cant see any symbol on the screen that states a slot is muted, they all look the same whether they are muted or not (in the below screenshot 2 slots are muted but they all look the same). The trigger finger has an LED display but no backlight. Thanks for the recommendation on the X touch mini, I'll look into that. I take it upgrading to traktor 3 wouldnt solve this either?

Sûlherokhh · June 2023

Stevan was right, no GUI feedback for this. 🤨 And TP3 doesn't differ in this regard.

Stevan · June 2023

Stem Filter On/Off could serve as and indicator in case you won't be ussing those.

Just set the filter knobs to center (so that sound is not affected) and then MIDI map "Mute+Filter" to your pads.

nachopenades · June 2023

Another solution would be to map the volume to a button with zero value, so you would see it on the screen. But when you press it again, it would always return to the same predefined value, for example, 100% (1.000). It is not a definitive solution, but it could still help you.

The ideal, obviously, would be to assign it to a button with led configuration.

Stevan · June 2023

I wanted to keep the Volume control consistant without going into more complex mapping.

Ideally it is possible to "clone" the command and while resseting the Slot Volume value the clone knob is still sitting at it's "current value".. Then MIDI loop back that value to the fader using the Send Monitor State command (when the mute slot is deactivated).

I am too old to create a tutorial for that. But I can make a TSI and add to my TOOLS section.

Stevan · June 2023

Yeah the Stem Volume slider is inpractical here. I got to the point where send monitor state is working but then realized that it is no possible to know how loud the Stem volume is with the value being at 0% ...

I did manage to break the Monitor State command to the point where I could toggle Traktors MIDI indicator on and off. Also this command will not accept all velocity values which I didn't knew before this experiment.

djquartz · June 2023

I noticed there is no feed back either when I mapped stems on a pad bank on the Rane One.

This is definitely needed.

Cityskape · June 2023

Thanks for your help everyone, I'm using the filter on/off icon as Stevan suggested and that seems too be working fine.

BenMasterton240 · March 6

@cityscape or @Stevan could you give me instructions of how to do this please ? Just got my s4 mk1 repaired and want to have a play with stems on it but the limited visuals on the decks ( no lights on pads as you know ) is a pain ! Cheers bois

BenMasterton240 · March 6

Also does anyone have any good instructional videos on stem mixing e.g. YouTube? Can see the potential but could do with some pointers if possible. Thanks in advance. Traktor4Life :)