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Traktor Pro Setup

This guide covers Traktor's own settings: the MIDI ports, soft takeover, the tempo-fader range and the telemetry Traktor sends back.

It assumes you have worked through Connect Your DJ App, so Traktor is running with the Fusor mapping file imported and the virtual MIDI bus exists (on the Mac, with Fusor Studio open).

Step 1: configure Traktor's MIDI ports

  1. Open Traktor Pro and go to Preferences.
  2. Navigate to Controller Manager.
  3. Click Add... > Generic MIDI.
  4. Set In-Port to the Fusor bus, Fusor Studio. On Windows that is the name you gave your loopMIDI port; on the Mac, Traktor lists it while Fusor Studio is open. This is where Traktor receives MIDI from Fusor Studio.
  5. Set Out-Port to the same bus. Fusor sends on channels 1–8 and receives Traktor's telemetry on channels 9–16 over the same port, so In-Port and Out-Port both point at the one bus.

The Fusor TSI sets In-Port and Out-Port to Fusor Studio on every Fusor device, so check them rather than set them.

Do not select "All Ports". Traktor must bind to the specific Fusor Studio endpoint.

The "In" and "Out" wording is from Traktor's perspective: Traktor's In-Port is where Traktor receives MIDI from Fusor Studio, and Traktor's Out-Port is where Traktor sends MIDI to Fusor Studio.

Step 2: enable soft takeover on your controller

During a transition, the Fusor player moves Traktor controls via MIDI. Your hardware faders and knobs will no longer match the software positions. Enable soft takeover in your controller mapping so moving a physical knob does not cause an abrupt jump.

Skip this step if you don't mix on a hardware controller. Fusor Studio's Guided Setup (Settings → Guided Setup) also walks you through it, under the Controller group.

Soft takeover here is a Traktor setting, applied to your own controller's mapping.

Enable it on every control the Fusor player modulates that your controller can reach, knobs as well as sliders. Without it, a control jumps the moment you touch it: a jumping channel fader drops a track out of the mix, a jumping tempo slider takes the tracks out of beatmatch, and a jumping EQ or filter knob is heard just as plainly.

For every control that the Fusor player modulates (crossfader, channel faders, tempo faders, EQ and filter knobs, and any effect or stem controls on your controller):

  1. Open Traktor's Preferences > Controller Manager. The Device Setup pane appears at the top of the dialog.
  2. In the Device dropdown, pick the controller device whose mapping you want to edit.
  3. The Assignment Table below lists every mapping on that device. Click the row for the control you want to edit (for example, Filter Adjust on Deck A, or Volume Adjust on Deck B).
  4. The per-assignment fields appear below the table. Check the Soft Takeover checkbox.

The Soft Takeover checkbox only appears on assignments that receive incoming MIDI (a mapping that lets your controller drive a Traktor control). Outgoing-MIDI assignments do not show it.

Teach Mode has a per-row note for tracking which faders and knobs you've set.

After restarting Traktor or reconnecting your controller, you may need to move each fader and knob once so Traktor reads their positions. Do this before you start mixing.

Step 3: verify the connection

  1. Load a fusor in the Fusor player.
  2. Set up two tracks in Traktor (one on each deck, outgoing deck playing).
  3. Start a transition: in Auto Run Mode press PLAY; in Manual Run Mode arm the Fusor player and move the crossfader.
  4. Watch the Traktor crossfader and EQ knobs. They should move as the transition progresses.

If controls don't move, see Troubleshooting.

Traktor-specific notes

Tempo fader output range

If you are creating or editing Traktor MIDI mappings manually rather than importing the Fusor TSI, the tempo fader output mapping must use controller range -1.0 to 1.0 (not the default 0 to 1.0).

  • Default (0 to 1.0). Only captures half the fader range: center to bottom.
  • Correct (-1.0 to 1.0). Full sweep. Top = CC 0, center = CC 64, bottom = CC 127.

Stepped controls

For controls with discrete steps (for example, a tempo range selector with 14 positions), map the output range as 0 to N-1. So 14 positions = range 0 to 13.

Telemetry output mappings

Traktor must send feedback to Fusor Studio for these controls to work correctly:

  • Crossfader position. Required for Manual Run Mode's progress, and a Mixed run's progress after its stop, to follow your hand.
  • Deck play state. Required for transition completion detection.
  • Tempo fader position. Required for tempo ramp.

These are configured as Output mappings in Controller Manager. The Fusor TSI sets them up for you.

Tempo ramp

With Tempo Ramp on, the Fusor player runs a setup sequence in Traktor as soon as the outgoing deck is playing, before the transition starts:

  1. Turn key lock on for each deck where it is off, if Turn on key lock during tempo ramps is on in Settings.
  2. Turn off Traktor's automatic master and switch sync off on both decks.
  3. Set the outgoing deck as tempo master.
  4. Read the tempo range of both decks and the outgoing deck's fader position.
  5. Switch sync on for the incoming deck and record where Traktor sets its tempo fader.

The outgoing deck stays tempo master for the whole transition. During the run, the Fusor player modulates the outgoing tempo fader toward a target at which both decks play at the incoming track's natural tempo; the incoming deck follows via sync and returns to roughly neutral by the end.

Traktor can sync a stopped deck (it sets the tempo fader immediately). Only making a deck tempo master needs it to be playing, and the setup sequence needs the outgoing deck to hold that role, so it waits for the outgoing deck to play. If you arm before that, the Tempo Ramp button shows yellow until setup runs.

Two things can stop the ramp before it starts, both reported on the status line: a tempo range the Fusor player has never observed (touch the range selector, or enable Send Monitor State, so Traktor reports it), and an incoming tempo fader that sync sets to the very end of its travel, which means the two tracks were never close enough in tempo to match. In either case the transition still runs, without the ramp.

When the ramp ends (the transition completes, or you disarm), the Fusor player gives tempo master back to whatever held it before you armed:

  • The master clock. The clock is made master again.
  • A deck that is still playing. That deck is made master again.
  • A deck that has stopped. Nothing is changed; Traktor keeps master where it put it.
  • Another deck you made master during the run. Nothing is changed.
  • Traktor's automatic master was on. The player turns it back on and leaves the choice of master to Traktor.

No manual Traktor configuration is needed beyond the standard mapping.

Stem decks and FX

On a deck in Stem mode, a stem reaches the deck's FX units only when that stem's FX send is on. A stem with its FX send off plays dry, so an echo or reverb on that deck does not process it, and its tail stops with the stem. Before a transition whose FX should process the whole outgoing track, switch on the FX send for every stem in Traktor.

Crossfader Assign bindings

The eight Crossfader Assign entries each need their own binding in Traktor's Controller Manager. See Teach Mode for the per-deck recipe.