Are REAL TIME stems ever going to be a thing?

unu_taiyo

Traktor is the only software on the market that requires you to generate stems before using it. Since this is a process that is done solely by the CPU , it takes too long to use if you don't prepare your sets ahead of time.

There are some things to like about the way Traktor handles stems, it's cool to see how a track is visually divided into 4 separate tracks, but for the most part this system is an absolute overkill for what most DJs use stems for these days.

Sometimes all you want is to fade the vocals out of the mix in the last few seconds of a song so they don't interfere with the next track. In such cases, most of us would gladly sacrifice the quality of the separation in favor of being able to react instantly to everything that happens in the mix, without any prep.

Personally i'd love to see Traktor having 2 ways of doing stems, a fast, real time one for more reactive mixing (like stem EQ from VDJ or Neural Mix from Djay) and the current separation system for the tracks you actually play often and want more control over the stem.

TL;DR

Is an alternative stem system being worked on/consconsidered or Traktor is going to stay behind every other software forever in this regard and the slow and clunky "Generate stems" thing is all we're going to have?

PK The DJ

No, Traktor is not the only software that requires stems processing in advance. It's also not the only software that uses the CPU.

Denon DJ's Engine system requires stems to be separated in advance on the desktop software before being copied over to their standalone players. The separated stems cannot even be checked/previewed on the desktop. They have to be synced to the players, and aside from Prime 4+ users, everyone has to purchase a separate license to use stems. The stems files are also encrypted.