Sign In:     

Forum: VirtualDJ Technical Support

Topic: Loading Traktor stems and VDJ stems from external drive
My previous workflow involved computing the stem files on a separate computer from my laptop, copy the files on an external drive, and then plug that in to my laptop to give me access to the stems. This prevented my laptop from over-heating and solved the drive space problem. My main mp3s would remain on my laptop, so I could still mix without the drive if required.

1. I have 15k Traktor stem files (.stem.m4a extension) already on this drive. Is there any way to use these within VirtualDJ? When loaded, the waveform does grey appropriately when the stems are turned on & off, but the output is still the full audio, even when using the "stems split 4-band" pads.

2. Can I have VDJ stem files in a separate directory? When I drag & drop a vdjstems file or call `deck <num> load <vdjstem_file>` I get a File Not Found error unless that file is in the same directory as the mp3. It would be great if I could configure a base mp3 directory and base stems directory, and loading the stems would look relative to the other directory for the mp3.

Thanks!
 
Posted Wed 20 Aug 25 @ 8:10 am
You can't use Traktor stems in VDJ.

VDJ stems can be saved in any external location by using the stemsSavedFolder setting
 
If you are savvy with scripting, you may be able tto write one to deconstruct the Traktor stems with ffmpeg and reconstruct them into the format that VDJ understands, also with ffmpeg, but as @kradcliffe said, the original Traktor stems file in its original currently isn't usable wth VirtualDJ.
 
Thanks!

Re Traktor files: I began to write a script using ffmpeg and noticed the examples I saw that extracted the audio files was very similar to packing them, which led me to try and simply rename the files, and this ended up working! `mv song.stem.m4a song.mp3.vdjstems`. One simple rename and now VDJ treats them correctly. :D

Re stems folder: I have the stemsSavedFolder set. It works for saving, but loading from that folder doesn't work. I think the issue is there is no general "root music folder" for VDJ to try and look up the original mp3 in it's DB - which it needs to find.

As an aside, my guess for requiring the original is so it can find the song in the DB and use the same cue points and bpm/key analyzations. This can create problems like what I'm seeing, but prevents issues like I see in Traktor where they are separate entries and the beat grids are incorrect in the stem files and they are missing cue points placed on the original. I actually prefer VDJ's approach so I don't run into the same issues I've had with Traktor, but I do wish it didn't require these files to be in the same directory to load properly.

I can create copies of the songs onto the external drive, and then they should load, but this has its own issues.
* DB will have duplicates of all my songs - cue points updated on one will not appear on the other.
* Having to maintain some sync process that is not 1:1 since this new directory will also have stem files.
* Waste of drive space.
 
Ah, I see. When I load a track, I should just load the original, and it will look for the stem file in the stemsSavedFolder. I shouldn't be trying to call load on the vdjstems file. I just need to figure out how the User.. subdirectory is determined. Once I have that, I can rename my previously created stem files and move them to the appropriate directories and things should "just work".
 
All you need to do is create one stem in that folder to create the link then copy all the others from the same directory over. Little hack for you!
 
Dogatech wrote :
Thanks!

Re Traktor files: I began to write a script using ffmpeg and noticed the examples I saw that extracted the audio files was very similar to packing them, which led me to try and simply rename the files, and this ended up working! `mv song.stem.m4a song.mp3.vdjstems`. One simple rename and now VDJ treats them correctly. :D


You might want to double check each stem isolation part on your deck is what you expect it to be.

I've never had/used a Traktor stems file, but I do know that Traktor stems files have four stem channels (Bass, Voice Melody, Drums) while VirtualDJ has 5 ( + Hi-Hat), and the container channel layout may not be the same.
 
Yep. Upon further testing simply renaming is not working. I must have had the vdjstems version somewhere where it as able to find it. I found previous posts that said they've used ffmpeg to create it (https://www.virtualdj.com/forums/242727/general_discussion/how_to_create_own_stem_files_(_stem_creator__for_vdj).html?page=2#:~:text=Posted%20Sat%2021%20Aug%2021,Hope%20that%20helps!), but I haven't had that much luck. I need to play around with this more.

On the bright side, I did figure out how to determine the path names, so not all bad luck so far.
 
For anybody coming upon this in the future, here is my completed script: https://github.com/broken/traktor-stems-to-virtualdj

It converts a directory of Traktor stem files into a directory that can be used by VirtualDJ. The Traktor drums are placed on the kick track, and a silent track is used for the hihats.