The chain click any control · the faces behave like Live

Traktor Key Sync 2.1

Key Sync Deployer

Ableton Scale device

Traktor Key Sync

Key from Traktor Pro into Ableton Live. Deploy by hand, on a cue point, or on a bar count, then drive Live's Global Scale, Scale devices, and anything that takes a pitch.

How to Install · 01

The three devices

Key Sync reads Traktor. The Deployer drives a scale device. The Mapper drives everything else.

Traktor Key Sync Device	This midi device reads the data coming from Traktor and sends it out to your project’s Global Scale (if enabled) as well as to the Traktor Scale Deployer Device. The receiver can be placed on any midi track in the project.
Traktor Scale Deployer Device	This midi device receives the data from the Traktor Key Sync Device and deploys it to a scale device.
The Scale Mapper	Reads a scale device’s Base and mode, then drives a Pitch device, another scale device, or a Macro.

Use Key Sync on its own if Global Scale is all you need. Add a Deployer for each scale device you want driven, and a Mapper wherever a device has no scale awareness of its own.

How to Install · 02

Download and install

What is in the download, where to put it, and where to find it in Live.

The download unzips to one folder, CE TRAKTOR KEY SYNC:

`M4L Devices/`	Traktor Key Sync 2.1, the Traktor Key Sync Deployer and The Scale Mapper. See The three devices.
`traktor-api-client-main/`	The Traktor API client and its licence. Its D2 folder goes into Traktor: see Install the Traktor API.
`Manual.html`	This manual. Open it in any web browser.
`README.txt`	The build date and where to send feedback.

Move the whole CE TRAKTOR KEY SYNC folder into your Live User Library. By default that is Music/Ableton/User Library on a Mac and Documents\Ableton\User Library on Windows.
In Live’s browser, open Places → User Library → CE TRAKTOR KEY SYNC → M4L Devices. That is where the devices live from now on: drag a device from there onto a track.

Not sure where your User Library is? Live shows its location under Settings → Library.

How to Install · 03

Install the Traktor API

Step 1: Install 3rd Party Traktor API found in folder [traktor-api-client-main]

Overwrite D2 Folder to allow access to the Traktor API

Mac

Navigate to /Applications/Native Instruments/Traktor Pro
Right click Traktor.app, then click Show Package Contents
Navigate to Contents/Resources/qml/CSI
Make a backup of the D2 folder
Replace the D2 folder with the included D2
Restart Traktor

Windows

Navigate to C:\Program Files\Native Instruments\Traktor Pro\Resources64\qml\CSI
Make a backup of the D2 folder!
Replace the D2 folder
Restart Traktor

If you don’t own a Traktor Kontrol D2:

Go to Preferences > Controller Manager
Below the Device dropdown, click Add… > Traktor > Kontrol D2

The default port number for the M4L device has been configured to 64100 in the ApiClient.js however it can be edited if you’re having issues connecting or a port is already busy.

How to Install · 04

Setting up your Ableton Project

Key Sync on any midi track, and a Deployer before each scale device.

Install the download as in Download and install.
Place the Traktor Key Sync Device on any midi track in the project.
Play a track in Traktor. The artist, title and deck keys fill in, and the connection indicator turns solid red.
For each scale device you want driven, place a Traktor Scale Deployer Device directly before it and leave it in Auto Mode.
Deploy a key to initialize the set up.

Global Scale only? Then step 4 is optional. Turn on Global Scale in Key Sync, enable Global Scale Awareness in Ableton, and any scale aware device follows without a Deployer.

Traktor Key Sync Device · 05

Traktor Key Sync Device

Reads the data coming from Traktor and sends it out to your project.

This midi device reads the data coming from Traktor and sends it out to your project’s Global Scale (if enabled) as well as to the Traktor Scale Deployer Device. The receiver can be placed on any midi track in the project.

The left column follows the deck that started most recently: artist, track title, and the key that Deploy will send. The right column lists decks A to D with the key Traktor reports for each. Press a deck button to deploy that deck’s key, whatever the mode.

Keys are shown in whatever notation Traktor sends, so Dm, Camelot 8A, or Open Key 1m all read correctly.

Traktor Key Sync Device · 06

Manual Mode and Auto Mode

Hold the key until Deploy is pressed, or deploy via Key Cue or Count In.

Manual Mode: When a new key is received, the key data is held until the ‘Deploy’ button is pressed.

Auto Mode: Automatically deploys the key information from Traktor via ‘Key Cue’ or ‘Count In’ modes

Key Cue	The scale will be deployed from the device when the playing track reaches a specified cue point set in Traktor. To set up a Key cue-point in Traktor, the cue must be named KEY. Our device will watch for the track to pass that KEY cue point and then deploy the scale to ableton.
Count In	Once a track starts playing, the key will automatically update after the specified number of bars. If set to none, the scale will automatically be deployed to ableton anytime a new song is played.

Count In follows Live’s transport. Bars are counted from Live’s playing clock in 4/4, so anything longer than none needs Live’s transport running. If Live is stopped, use none or Key Cue.

Traktor Key Sync Device · 07

Key Cue

Name a cue KEY in Traktor, and the track deploys its own key when it reaches that point.

Key Cue: The scale will be deployed from the device when the playing track reaches a specified cue point set in Traktor. To set up a Key cue-point in Traktor, the cue must be named KEY. Our device will watch for the track to pass that KEY cue point and then deploy the scale to ableton.

This is the hands-off way to run a set. You mark, once, the point in each track where Ableton should take the new key, and from then on the track deploys itself while you mix.

Set the cue in Traktor

Load the track and play to the point where Ableton should change key. The start of the first melodic section is usually the right place.
Store a cue point there, or pick one you already have.
Select that cue. Its number, position and name appear along the bottom of the deck.
Rename it to KEY, in capitals. The cue type can stay Cue.
Save the changes to the track, so the cue is there the next time you load it.

Repeat for every track you want to deploy from. A track with no KEY cue never deploys in this mode, which is a quiet way to leave your Set alone through a tool or a drum track.

A Traktor deck playing, with cue point 2 named KEY — 1 Cue 2 is selected, and its name is KEY. 2 The same cue, marked in the waveform at 0:27.4. 3 The key Traktor reports for the track. That is what gets deployed.

What the device watches

Traktor reports the name of the last cue point each deck has played past. Key Sync watches that name on all four decks at once and deploys the moment it becomes KEY. Two things follow from that:

It fires on the crossing, once per pass. Playing on past the cue does not keep redeploying. Loading a new track arms the deck again, and so does looping back and crossing the cue a second time.
It is per deck. Whichever deck passes its own KEY cue deploys that deck’s key, whether or not it is the deck showing in the key box.

Because the deploy is tied to a point in the track rather than to the moment you press play, you can bring a track in early and blend for as long as you like. Ableton only changes key when the part you marked actually arrives.

The name has to be exactly KEY. The match is case sensitive and takes the whole name, so Key, KEY1 and KEY IN do not match. Key Cue also only runs in Auto Mode with Key Cue selected; in Manual Mode the key data is held until the ‘Deploy’ button is pressed.

The simulated decks at the top of this page have a KEY cue button that does the same thing. Put Key Sync in Auto Mode, choose Key Cue, then press it on any deck.

Traktor Key Sync Device · 08

Global Scale

Controls if the device will update Ableton’s Global Scale Awareness.

Global Scale: This toggle controls if the device will update Ableton’s Global Scale Awareness. Global Scale Awareness needs to be enabled in order for this function to work. This is the easiest way to control all scale devices (along with any scale aware device linked to the Global Scale i.e. Arpeggiators, Auto Shifters, Drift, Meld etc)

Undo. Writing the song’s Root and Scale is a change to your Live Set, so Live records it as an undo step. Version 2.1 only writes when the key actually differs, so redeploying the key you are already in costs nothing.

Traktor Key Sync Device · 09

Popout

Sit the window on top of your screen so it can be visible at all times.

Popout: This allows the window to ‘Pop Out’ and sit on top of your screen so it can be visible at all times.

The window shows the four decks, the key waiting to go out, the Current Key already deployed, and artist and title. Deck pads and Deploy work exactly as they do on the device face.

Traktor Key Sync Device · 10

Settings Page

Edit the port number used to connect to the Traktor Api.

Settings Page: Allows you to edit the port number used to connect to the Traktor Api. This port number must match the port number found in the ApiClient.js - by default this number is set to 64100

Connection Indicator

Black/Blank	Not connected.
Blinking Red	Listening but not receiving data.
Solid Red	Connected & receiving data.

Note - After 15s of no data from Traktor, the indicator will switch back to blinking. Traktor must be sending data for a solid red connection. If having issues connecting, make sure there is only ever one instance of the Key Sync device. Try restarting ableton, traktor and your computer. If all of that fails, try manually editing the port number in the > Resources/qml/CSI/ApiClient.js to a new number. Adjust the device port number to match and hit reconnect.

Traktor Scale Deployer Device · 11

Traktor Scale Deployer Device

Receives the data from the Traktor Key Sync Device and deploys it to a scale device.

This midi device receives the data from the Traktor Key Sync Device and deploys it to a scale device.

Auto Mode: In this mode, the device will control a scale device that is placed directly after (to the right of) it.

Manual Mode: In this mode, you are given a mapping function to map the deployer to whichever scale device you wish to control.

Relink will resend the last key received and relink the two devices.

You will need to send a new (if it was Am, you must send a different key i.e. C#m) key from Traktor, and make sure it gets deployed via the Receiver device, to initialize the set up.

Use one Deployer per scale device. They all hear the same deployed key, so several can follow at once.

The scale device shows as controlled. While the Deployer is linked, Base and the scale type are driven by the device, the way a Macro drives a mapped control. They are greyed out in Live and will not take an edit by hand. Switch the Deployer to Manual Mode and unmap, or remove it, to get the control back.

Use cases · 12

A DJ set into Live

Traktor plays, Live follows the key without you touching it.

Key Sync on a midi track, Global Scale on, Global Scale Awareness on in Ableton.
Auto Mode, then Key Cue. In Traktor, name a cue KEY in each track where the melodic section starts.
Put your pads, arps and Meld racks on scale aware devices. They now follow every track you play.
Keep a Deployer plus scale device in front of anything that should stay in key while Global Scale Awareness is off.

Reach for a deck button when you want the key of a track that is cued but not playing yet.

Use cases · 13

Producing against a Traktor playlist

Manual Mode, deploy when you are ready.

In the studio, leave the device in Manual Mode. Traktor keeps feeding keys as you audition tracks, the key box keeps showing the latest one, and nothing in your Set moves until you press Deploy. That keeps Live’s undo history about your work.

Turn Global Scale off and use a Deployer if you only want one instrument keyed, for example a bass sampler that should follow the record while the rest of the Set stays put.

The Scale Mapper · 14

The Scale Mapper

Drives devices that have no scale awareness from a scale device.

Plenty of useful devices take a pitch or a Macro rather than a scale: Pitch, a sampler’s transpose, a rack Macro. The Mapper watches a scale device and converts its Base into whatever those devices want.

Map to Scale Base: click Map, then click the Base of the scale device that leads. This is usually the scale device your Deployer drives.
Map to Pitch/Base: click Map, then click the control to be driven.
Pick the parameter type, then set the Mode range.

The Mapper follows the leading scale device, so it keeps working whether that device is driven by a Deployer, by the Global Scale, or by hand.

Shifting the root note of incoming midi

A scale device snaps incoming midi to the notes of a scale, but it does not move the music to the new root. Put a Pitch device after it, let the Mapper drive that Pitch device, and the whole part transposes with the key while the scale device keeps it in the right mode.

Ableton Scale device

→

The Scale Mapper

→

Ableton Pitch device

Deploy a key above and watch it travel: the scale device takes the new Base, the Mapper reads that Base and moves the Pitch device, so a part written in one key now plays in the key coming from Traktor. Click the Mode menu on the Mapper to change which roots pitch up and which pitch down.

Order matters. Pitch after Scale transposes notes that are already snapped to the scale. Pitch before Scale also works, and the scale device then corrects anything the transposition pushed out of key.

The Scale Mapper · 15

Parameter types and ranges

Semitone wrap, Macro scaling, scale mode linking, list offset.

Pitch Device	Sends semitones straight to a Pitch device.
Pitch (Macro)	Same semitones, scaled to a Macro that drives a pitch control.
Scale/Key	Sends the root to another scale device’s Base.
Scale (Marco)	Sends the root to a Macro that drives a Base.
Manual Macro	Semitones scaled into a range you set with Min and Max.

Mode sets which roots pitch up and which pitch down. At -5st/+6st the notes up to F# shift up and the rest shift down, so nothing ever moves more than half an octave and your samples stay close to their recorded pitch. Pick the range that keeps the part sounding right.

The scale types add Link Scale Modes: map the mode menu of the leading scale device and the mode menu of the device being driven, and minor follows minor. List Offset shifts the index when the two devices order their modes differently.

Reference · 16

Undo and saved state

What version 2.1 changed about Live’s undo history.

In 2.0, every key from Traktor wrote several Live parameters, and each write became an undo step. A busy set could fill Live’s undo history in minutes and push your real edits out of reach.

In 2.1 the devices keep their state without touching undo. Per deck key storage is no longer a parameter, the deployed key is saved with the Set but assigned rather than set, the Deployer and the Mapper drive their targets the way a Macro does, and the pop out buttons no longer press the device face buttons behind them.

Costs an undo step	Controls you click yourself, and a Global Scale write when the key actually changes.
Costs nothing	Keys arriving from Traktor, deploys to a scale device, everything the Mapper drives, and redeploying the key you are already in.
Saved with the Set	Mode, Count In, Global Scale, port number, the last deployed key, and both Mapper mappings.

Because a driven scale device is controlled rather than edited, Live saves that device’s own last edited value, not the deployed one. After reopening a Set, Key Sync sends its stored key again as the devices link back up.

Reference · 17

What is new in 2.1

Undo, size, and a few small fixes.

Undo	Automatic key updates no longer fill Live’s undo history. See Undo and saved state.
Smaller devices	Artwork is stored at the size it is drawn. Key Sync went from 1.6 MB to 0.4 MB, and the three devices together dropped by about 2.2 MB, so Sets load quicker and each copy holds far less in memory.
Quieter Max window	The devices no longer print every Traktor message to the console.
Key Cue on deck A	Deck A never deployed when it passed its KEY cue point. All four decks now fire the same way. See Key Cue.
Key reading	Written keys such as `Eb Major` now parse, and out of range Camelot or Open Key numbers are ignored instead of deploying C.
Settings page	Carries the Cloverdale Engineering mark, and the default port in the device matches the 64100 in ApiClient.js.

Reference · 18

Troubleshooting

Quick fixes.

Indicator stays black: The listener is not running. Make sure there is only ever one instance of the Key Sync device, then hit reconnect.
Indicator blinks but never goes solid: Traktor must be sending data for a solid red connection. Confirm the D2 folder was replaced and that a Kontrol D2 is in Traktor’s Controller Manager. Try restarting ableton, traktor and your computer. If all of that fails, try manually editing the port number in the > Resources/qml/CSI/ApiClient.js to a new number. Adjust the device port number to match and hit reconnect.
Keys arrive but Live does not change: In Manual Mode the key data is held until the ‘Deploy’ button is pressed. In Auto Mode, a Key Cue needs a cue named KEY, and a Count In longer than none needs Live’s transport running.
A KEY cue point does not deploy: Check the cue is named KEY in capitals and nothing else, that the device is in Auto Mode with Key Cue selected, and that the deck plays through the cue rather than stopping on it. The deploy happens on the crossing, so a track already past its cue waits until the next pass. On version 2.0.3, deck A never fired at all; this is fixed in 2.1.
Global Scale does nothing: Global Scale Awareness needs to be enabled in order for this function to work.
The scale device does not follow: In Auto Mode the scale device has to be placed directly after (to the right of) the Deployer. Press Relink. You will need to send a new (if it was Am, you must send a different key i.e. C#m) key from Traktor, and make sure it gets deployed via the Receiver device, to initialize the set up.
I cannot edit my scale device by hand: A linked Deployer drives Base and the scale type, so Live greys them out. Unmap in Manual Mode, or take the Deployer off the chain.
The Mapper moves the wrong way: Check the Mode range. It decides which roots pitch up and which pitch down. For linked scale types, use List Offset when the two devices order their modes differently.
Push 3 Standalone: Not supported. The devices need the Traktor API on the same machine, and Node for Max does not run on Push.

If you encounter any issues, have feature requests or just want to say hi - please email alex@cloverdalestudio.com and I’ll try my best to get back to you as soon as possible!