Questions about Stems files in Traktor Pro 4

DJBite · 2024-07-18T02:28:33+00:00

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I am excited about the new Traktor Pro 4, but have a couple of questions/doubts about the stems feature.

I understand it is not "real-time" stem separation as Serato uses. It's a pity, but I can live with that. However, I also understand it saves the created stems file as a separate file. I like to know the following, please:

Will the stems files be the same quality? If the file is 320kbps Mp3, will it stay 320kbps Mp3, if it is a Flac file, will it stay a (unencrypted) flac file?

Also; how large is this stems file, compared to the original file?

Let's say the original file if 5 MB in size. is the Stems file larger (since it contains more data) or the same size or perhaps smaller? Please let me/us know how the size (percentage wise) will be compared to the actual file. i.e. that file being 20% larger will make the file 6 MB or something like that.

I feel this is quite important to know, in case I decide to create stems of my thousands of tracks, so I do not run out of disk space quite fast.

Thank you for the answers!

Cheers,

DJ Bite

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Comments

DJBite

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/166297#Comment_166297

The HDD is not that small, it's 2 TB, but it is filled with hundreds of thousands of files and if I want to create stems for many of them, so I can use any that I want on the fly, it is going to take a lot more space.

dannys1

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/166309#Comment_166309

2TB and you're worried about MP3 sizes??

You could get close to 30,000 70mb stem files or loss files on a 2TB drive, you don't need anywhere near that in an entire music collection let alone in Traktor! You could fit over 200,000 320kbps MP3s!!

I've only got 1TB and I've never once thought or cared about disk space, and everything i've got is in Apple Lossless and i've been making my old Apple Lossless STEM files which are 120mb each.

RobAky92

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/166320#Comment_166320

I take it you're on Mac with the ALAC encoded STEMs? They still don't work on Windows AFAIK.

Transmission.today

- Comparison for a 7 min track

FLAC file extention.flac 50mb bitrate 1441 kb/s
STEM file AAC extention.m4a 75mb bitrate 256 kb/s
STEM file ALAC extention.m4a 160 mb bitrate 1441 kb/s

for those having concerns with disk space it is cheap and fast in 2024 , if you have a mac or pc you can put it an external nvme drive too in a usb port as long as it has the new usb standards usb 3.1 gen2 or above.
if you have a laptop or pc upgrade internals with nvme drives , file transfer is lightning fast.

INTERNAL DRIVE M.2

PCI Express 4.0 NVMe pro tier: 7,450/6,900 MB/s (read/write) 180EUR for 2TB
PCI Express 3.0 NVMe pro tier: 3,500/2,700 MB/s (read/write)
PCI Express 3.0 NVMe low tier: up to 560 MB/s (read/write)

if you are into music then less than 200 EUR for storage is cheap !

EXTERNAL USB

TB 3 and USB 4: These ports can achieve data transfer speeds of up to 40 Gbps, which translates to a maximum of 5,000 MB/s.
USB 3.1 Gen 2: Ports supporting this standard can reach speeds of up to 10 Gbps, equating to a maximum of 1,250 MB/s.
USB 3.1 Gen 1: This standard offers speeds up to 5 Gbps, which is about 625 MB/s.
USB 2.0: The slowest option, offering speeds up to 480 Mbps, translates to a maximum of 60 MB/s.

In 2024, it's best to consider devices/drives equipped with transfer speeds of 1 gigabit (1000 MB/s) or higher.

- COLLECTION COMPARISON

1000 LOSSY 256 kb/s STEM files take up 60 GB of drive space.
1000 LOSSLESS STEM files would take only up to 128GB of drive space ( not a lot in 2024 )

Standard audio quality pales in comparison once you've experienced the superior sound.
Once you experience the superior quality of mixing, there's no turning back. Even by using budget friendly high-quality flat-profile in-ear monitoring headphones, you'll be able to perceive all the frequencies and master every fine detail. The rush of dopamine coursing through your body, driven by the exceptional audio quality, will keep you engaged in that audio masterpiece that’s right at your fingertips.

ps: the most widely adopted open-source approach currently in use is htdemucs_4

Heisenberg

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/166309#Comment_166309

You have money for hundreds of thousands of music files but are worried about storage space, sounds a bit strange to be honest.

PK The DJ

Well he didn't actually say he bought them…

🤐

Heisenberg

Okay, most people do that sometimes, but then you have no right to complain. 😉

axeldelafosse

I don't like Izotope's separation, I prefer demucs via UVR5

I think that iZotope RX is using Demucs too. Maybe they don't use the same models, I'm not exactly sure.

But it's true that the OG Stem Creator support ALAC output if the input file is ALAC too. But ALAC stem files are not supported by Traktor on Windows… So it never was the default and they never made it easy. This is why I created Stemgen.

Related:

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/33853/lossless-stems

Dogatech

Stemgen is fantastic! I've already created a bunch of stem files with it. Does anybody know how to link these previously created stem files with the original tracks? I believe the cue points will then be shared between the two, which will make managing that aspect so much easier.

lord-carlos

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/167454#Comment_167454

Generate a stem inside traktor, save collection, open collections.nml and take a look how the track looks in there. I would guess it's possible to write a program that does something similar.

@Didier Malenfant Maybe you can update TraktorBuddy to do that?

Something that lubes @axeldelafosse Stemgen with TraktorBuddy would be nice.

Ninesense

following…

I’ve been creating stems from ALAC files to use with the stem creator tool for a few years. Each track is about 7minutes long and the stem file is about 400mb. For me that is totally fine since I don’t really need hundreads of tracks always available.

I do wish NI implement the lossless options at least for those that wanted to use it and not be forced to use lower quality audio. It does make a difference.

DJBite

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/167274#Comment_167274

Well, I did. All on vinyl, ripped to MP3 with 320.

PK The DJ

There's dedication. That must have taken decades.

DJBite

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/167267#Comment_167267

FYI: I have many external disks filled with music (backups of all my stuff, etc) and such, but I use an internal disk (since I know externals can cause issues during a live gig) in my laptop, which is my second disk, my 1st disk being the one just for the OS, drivers and applications. Due to some technical restrictions, that disks maximum capacity is 2TB. At the moment my disk contains about 195000 songs which take up about 1800 GB. Hence my concerns. I have more songs in my digital library (about 5 TB worth, but that also contains stuff, I hardly play during gigs (like soundtracks, which I use for other jobs) I can of course get multiple disks filled with certain songs (based on genre, etc.) But I like to have as much of my collection readily available, since I like to mix up genres and play mostly freestyle/on the fly sets.

DJBite

OK, after checking with the demo for a few minutes, I purchased Pro 4. It works very well and although it takes some time, the Stems are sounding quite nice. The size is about 3x of the original.

Thanks to you all, who have taken the time to answer my questions. 🙏

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