The Wedding of Traktor and Maschine, Part 1
This workshop series explains how to use Jack OS X to send the audio of each Traktor deck to a sound configured as Input in Maschine. Once the Traktor audio is in Maschine you can
apply all Maschine effects and plugins to it.
Another input of Traktor Audio 10 or Traktor Kontrol S4 will be used to playback the Maschine sounds.
This workshop part is Mac OS X.
The parts of this workshop
Part 1: Setup for external mixer mode with Traktor Audio 10 (Mac OS X)
Part 2: Setup for internal mixer mode with Traktor Kontrol S4 (Mac OS X)
Part 3: Setup for external mixer mode with Traktor Audio 10 on Windows 7 (coming soon)
Part 4: Setup for internal mixer mode with Traktor Kontrol S4 on Windows 7 (NEW)
Part 5: MIDI Clock Synchronisation of Traktor and Maschine (UPDATE)
Part 6: Insert and Send Effects (coming soon)
Part 7: Some free plugins
Download links for this part
- Jack OS X
- ZIP File containing the following files:
1. TraktorJackRouterTA10.tsi: Traktor TSI File with the audio settings for this workshop
2. TraktorMaschineTA10.jks: Jack Studio Setup file, contains all routings between Maschine, Traktor, and Traktor Audio 10
3. TraktorMaschineTA10.mprj: Maschine Project file, all inputs and outputs are configured as explained further down in this workshop
Part 1: Setup for external mixer mode with Traktor Audio 10
This part of the workshop series explains, how to route each individual Traktor deck into Maschine and how to output the modified audio to Traktor Audio 10. To get this done each Traktor deck will be assigned to one sound of the Maschine groups A-D; this sound will be configured as Input.

Additionally the groups E to H will be used for sounds made in Maschine with either instruments or samples. The playback of these sounds will be synced to the Traktor MIDI clock.
Step 1: The Cabling
The example setup of this workshop uses Traktor, Maschine, Jack OS X and the following hardware:
- Traktor Audio 10 This audio interface is suited
well as it has five stereo outputs: four will be used for the four Traktor decks
and the fifth output for all sounds made with Maschine.
- Mixer Allen&Heath Xone:92 First, the Xone:92
sounds great. Next to this Xone:92 provides four 'normal' inputs and two
Send/Return busses. This workshop will use one of the Return inputs to route the
Maschine sounds into the mixer.

The following connections are set up between Traktor Audio 10 and Xone:92:
TA10 | Xone:92 | Function |
Out Port A | Input 1 | Audio for Traktor Deck A (routed via Maschine Group A,
Sound 1) |
Out Port B | Input 2 | Audio for Traktor-Deck B (routed via Maschine
Group B, Sound 1) |
Out Port C | Input 3 | Audio for Traktor-Deck C (routed via Maschine
Group C, Sound 1) |
Out Port D | Input 4 | Audio for Traktor-Deck D (routed via Maschine
Group D, Sound 1) |
Main Out | Return 1 | Maschine Audio, Groups E-H |
In Port C | Record Out | Audio for Traktor Mix Recorder |
Step 2: Installing Jack OS X, Basic Configuration
In this step you will install Jack OS X. Then you will configure the same sample rate in Traktor and in Maschine, that you
configured in Jack OS X. This is very important
as the Jack server will not start properly if the sample rate set up in Jack is
different from the sample rate in the applications using Jack.
- Download and install Jack OS X. When Jack OS X is installed launch Jack Pilot.
- Go to the menu and select Jack Pilot/Preferences.
- Select Traktor Audio 10 as Input Device and as Output Device.
- Select the Sample Rate and Buffer Size you wish to use.
- Use section Jack Router to select the number of virtual inputs and outputs Jack Router shall provide. For our example setup we need 10 input and 10 output ports
(=channels).

- Click on Save. Go to the menu and select Jack Pilot/Quit Jack Pilot.
NOTE: It is important to quit Jack OS X and then to perform the
following actions, otherwise there can be problems starting Jack Server.
- Launch Traktor and open Preferences/Audio Setup.
Select the same sample rate you choose in step 4 for Jack OS X. Quit Traktor.
- Launch Maschine and select File/Audio and MIDI Settings. Select the same sample rate you choose in step 4 for Jack OS X. Quit Maschine.
- Launch JackPilot. Click in the JackPilot window on Start. This will start the Jack Server who will provide the virtual audio ports.
Step 3: Configuring the Input Routing and Output Routing in Traktor
In this step you will setup the Input Routing and Output Routing in Traktor. If you do not want to do this manually, go to
the Preferences dialog and import the TSI file TraktorJackRouterTA10.tsi. This file contains the audio configuration for Traktor.
- Launch Traktor and open Preferences/Audio Setup.
- Open list Audio Device and select Jack Router.

- Open the Output Routing panel and configure the routing as shown in the following figure.
The four decks will send
their audio to the selected Jack channels. We will later configure the routing in Jack and Maschine in a way, that each Traktor deck
is connected to the sound input of one Maschine group.

- Open the Input Routing panel sand configure Input Deck C as shown in the following figure.
This step is necessary if you want to record your mixes with the Traktor Mix
Recorder. We will later connect the virtual Jack ports used here to input port C
of Traktor Audio 10.

- Open the Mix Recorder panel. Set Source to External (yes,
this is a typo in the Traktor UI), and set External Input to Input Deck C (the
same input that has been used in the previous step).

- Close the Preferences dialog, keep Traktor running and continue with step 4.
Step 4: Configuring the Input Routing and Output Routing in Maschine
- Launch Maschine and select File/Audio and MIDI Settings.
- Open the Audio tab and select Jack Router in list Device.

- Switch to the Routing/Inputs tab. The assignment between the
four external inputs and the virtual Jack channels should look as shown in the
following figure:

- Switch to the Routing/Outputs tab. The assignment between the
first five outputs and the virtual Jack channels should look as shown in the
following figure:

- Close the Audio and MIDI Settings dialog.
- Load the Maschine project file TraktorMaschineTA10.mprj (see Downloads).
This Maschine project file contains the following settings:
- The groups A-D are renamed to Deck A-Deck D.

- The first sound in groups A to D is configured as Input. Group
A/sound 1 (deck A) is set to Ext In 1, group B/sound 1 (deck B) is set to Ext In
2, etc.

- The output for group A is set to Output Out 2, for group B it is
set to Out 3, for group C to Out 4 and finally group D is set to Out 5.

- The output for groups E to H is set to Master, and the output
setting for Master is set to Out 1.

The last step for the audio routing is connecting the virtual and physical ports.
Step 5: Creating the Connections in Jack OSX
Now you need to configure the connections between the virtual ports of Jack OS X and some connections to the ports of Traktor Audio 10.
- Switch to the window of JackPilot.
- Click on Routing. The window Connections Manager is opened.

- Go to the menu and choose File/Load Studio Setup. Load the file TraktorMaschineTA10.jks (see Downloads).
This studio setup file contains all connections that you need for our example setup. The number of connections (20) is shown in the JackPilot window next to the CPU meter.

You can setup all required connections manually as well. Click in list Send Ports on one of the nodes (for example Traktor). Then select the port you want to connect. Then go to list Receive Port
and click the target node, to open it (for example Maschine). Finally double-click on the target port.
Send Port | Receive Port | Description |
Traktor Out 1/2 | Maschine In 1/2 | Deck A to Maschine |
Traktor Out 3/4 | Maschine In 3/4 | Deck B to Maschine |
Traktor Out 5/6 | Maschine In 5/6 | Deck C to Maschine |
Traktor Out 7/8 | Maschine In 7/8 | Deck D to Maschine |
Maschine Out 1/2 | System Playback 1/2 | Audio Maschine Groups E-H to TA 10,
Main Out |
Maschine Out 3/4 | System Playback 3/4 | Audio Maschine Group A/Deck A to TA10,
Out 1 |
Maschine Out 5/6 | System Playback 5/6 | Audio Maschine Group B/Deck B to TA10,
Out 2 |
Maschine Out 7/8 | System Playback 7/8 | Audio Maschine Group C/Deck C to TA10,
Out 3 |
Maschine Out 9/10 | System Playback 9/10 | Audio Maschine Group D/Deck D to TA10,
Out 4 |
System Capture 7/8 | Traktor In 7/8 | Record Out of Mixer to Input Deck C in Traktor, is needed for the Mix Recorder |
Step 6: Send MIDI Clock from Traktor to Maschine
To get the Maschine sounds tempo synced to the tempo of Traktor, you need to
create a MIDI clock connection between the two applications.
Part 5: MIDI Synchronisation of Traktor and Maschine shows how to proceed.
This ends part 1 of this workshop series, have fun with the advanced routing and all the new possibilities you have.
Authors: Jens Krzikalla/Rainer G. Haselier
Published: July 18, 2011
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