ableton is the way of the future. i don’t use it live, but i use it to pre-produce shit that i don’t want or am unable to replicate live on two turntables easily. ableton’s timestretching is where it got popular…it has really good key lock (which means the tempo can change without you changing what key it is in…it won’t sound sped up). Download a trial and go into the tutorial on Live performance/DJing. If you are slightly musically or computer inclined, after you install the program it’ll take you probably an hour to figure out the basics and get to playing around and DJing. I will warn you though, Ableton is a lot more complex then Traktor and requires a little more “homework,” however if you fuck with traktor and feel that you’re limited you can REALLY get busy with Ableton. I know for a fact 75 percent of re-edits DJs are playing out in clubs are made in Ableton…it’s great for that. Not many use it live, but I think that’s because everyone’s going to stay with Serato/vinyl for a long long time.
traktor is a program i am not very familiar with, but is also a good look to check out. it’s more like a DJing program then a production program, but it appears a lot simpler. use this with a MIDI controller like this:
and you can manipulate your MP3s on the computer, without the hassle of CD players which are completely useless in this day and age as far as I’m concerned, at least for DJing. There is no real reason to use CD players if you are slightly serious about spinning. All the features of expensive CD players are all available with even vinyl now, let alone computers.
Here’s a screen shot of traktor:
Looks fairly simple to me, I would download a bootleg copy of this and fuck with it…and if I liked it I’d head to guitar center and look at midi controllers.