About¶
TL;DR version¶
My biggest Laptop reason is not having to manage USB sticks. It also has much more more features than standalone gear.
My biggest DDJ-1000 reason is big jogwheels.
My biggest Traktor reason is using my OS folders as playlists. I also use the preview player, FXs, mapping, strong sync and hotcues.
About DJ Estrela¶
I'm a DJ since year 2000. Some free contributions for you to enjoy:
a) A quite broad knowledge base that covers Traktor, Mappings, Laptop optimization, Controllers, etc...
https://github.com/pestrela/dj_kb#table-of-contents
b) The most popular traktor mapping for the DDJ-1000. This also works for other 4 deck controllers (SX2, SRT, SZ, XZ, etc)
https://maps.djtechtools.com/mappings/9279
c) CMDR, the free TSI mapping editor for Traktor
https://github.com/cmdr-editor/cmdr/
d) My specific music styles are Trance and 80s Italo Disco. I also play commercial Top-40.
https://djestrela.com/
About this Knowledge Base¶
This page contains my DJ knowledge base. It covers dozens of questions that I've answered over the years in forums and Facebook groups.
These cover why I'm using Traktor instead of eg Rekordbox, what are its limitations, info about Effects, workarounds to elastic beatgrids and the Slow preferences window; closely related is how I organize my files using OS-Folders only without any playlists;
I'm using DDJ controllers from Pioneer and made very large mappings free to use; specific info is on the installation processs and videos showing the features step-by-step; on a technical level please find why I've moved to BOME.
Also described is my free DJ Software Tools, including the latest CMDR TSI editor and many other tools for eg CUE files; there also info on the tricky process to convert DJ collections between softwares without 26-ms shifts for free.
Recently I've written about the Rekordbox v6 migration, and my first experience with MIXXX, which is fully open source. I also found and listed multiple DJ tutorials, in including midi tutorials. Also read about unique Music Styles and how to find new music.
Finally, there is a lot of info on how to optimize your laptop to avoid audio glitches, general tips for Windows, keyboard shortcuts to search in Youtube and Discogs, plus more other stuff.
Below a detailed table of contents of the whole thing, and a MindMap picture to get you started.
Some metrics of my free contributions¶
These are my biggest contributions.
What did you enjoyed the most? please tell me to pedro.estrela@gmail.com
- Knowledge Base: 20K words
- DDJ-1000 mapping: 7K downloads
- DDJ-SX2/SZ/SRT mapping: 5K downloads
- CMDR Changelog: 180 lines
Open questions for 2021¶
Question #1:
What is the future of controleirism in 2021?
Why do the new generation of DJs seem apparently satisfied with the current capabilities of Serato and Rekordbox "as-is"?
Question #2:
How could happen that Traktor/NI dropped the jogwheel in 2014 with the S8/remix decks, but in 2021 is still the ONLY major software without flexible beatgrids?
question #3:
What is your opinion of realtime STEMS seperation of VDJ 2021 and Djay AI?
MindMap Summary¶
This page has my knowledge sharing about Traktor, Mappings, Hardware, DJing, DJ Set, etc.
The picture below summarizes the main ideas and dependencies explained in these blog posts.

ProfBX answer¶
This section is now here
Why I use Traktor¶
This section is here